Sir – I read with great interest your article on the Quaker photographer Francis Frith and his relevant work in the recent Oxfordshire Limited Edition.
Frith was not only a traveller in the UK, but during the late 1850s went to photograph the Nile Valley, Palestine and Syria, visiting many Biblical sites.
One can imagine the difficulties involved of carrying many pounds of equipment by animal over uneven tracks,then having to prepare and develop his glass plates (up to 16 by 20 inches in size) on the spot in a tent at elevated temperatures.
Looking at the comparatively tranquil scenes of Oxfordshire, his Middle Eastern exploits seem remote. But Frith’s pioneering work in places that were then, only names to the vast majority of people, should never be forgotten.
S.Wyatt, Oxford
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