Photographic 'Gems'

Photographic 'Gems'

These photographs, like those in the case below, show how photography helped to make the Lake District a popular tourist destination. Wordsworth’s poetry suggested scenes to photograph, and collections of photographs shaped how readers understood his poetry. Together, poetry and photography convinced tourists that Wordsworth's description of his garden applied to the whole region—that the Lake District might be ‘the loveliest spot that man hath ever found’. These photographs come from a luxury portfolio of large images of the Lake District, probably produced in the 1860s. The portfolio doesn’t mention Wordsworth, but many of the scenes have a Wordsworthian interest: Stybarrow Crag, shown here, is the setting of an important scene in The Prelude. You can see more Victorian views of it in the case below.

Francis Frith (photographer)

GRMDC.KA.2