The Francis Frith Collection

Francis Frith (English, 1822 – 1899)

Francis Frith was a Victorian pioneer photographer who established a firm which set out to photograph every town and site of interest in the British Isles. This collection is owned by Birmingham Central Library and comprises 316,000 negatives and some 4,000 prints by Francis Frith & Co. taken between c.1870-1970. Whilst these are currently unavailable (pending re-location to the new Library of Birmingham), a micro-fiche edition is available.

• This can be consulted in the Archives and Heritage secure area within the Central Library, by appointment only.

• It is arranged by country (England, Scotland and Wales), by county and then alphabetically by town.

• Please note that this micro-fiche is only a partial edition and does not reflect the full extent of Frith’s work. It covers locations within some (post 1974) counties and regions. These are listed below, but not all locations which were originally photographed are covered by the micro-fiche.

• Unfortunately, severe pressures on staff time and complexities within the edition prevent us confirming whether individual locations or images are represented. Researchers will need to check the micro-fiche themselves.

• Self-service micro-prints can be taken for private or personal study purposes, but we do not have the capacity to take orders for prints by telephone, post, email etc.

England

Avon
Bedfordshire
Devon
County Durham
Essex
Hereford & Worcester
Hertfordshire
Humberside
Greater Manchester
Merseyside
Oxfordshire
Tyne & Wear
Warwickshire
West Midlands
Wiltshire
North Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
West Yorkshire

Scotland

Borders
Central
Dumfries & Galloway
Fife
Grampian
Highland
Lothian
Shetland
Strathclyde
Tayside
Western Isles

Wales

Clwyd
South Glamorgan
West Glamorgan

The book jacket illustrated is Palestine & Nubia Vol. II, Lower Egypt and Thebes. London, William Mackenzie 1863.

See also The Early and Fine Printing Collection

E-mail archives.heritage@birmingham.gov.uk

The Early and Fine Printing Collection
Central Library Photographic Collections
Glossary of Photographic Terms
Birmingham Archives and Heritage Service