part of the jonathan ross collection
Stereoviews
George Washington Wilson.
No.36 Ellen’s Isle – Loch Katrine
The work of the pioneering Scottish photographer, patronised by Queen Victoria, whose inspiring images helped promote tourism in the Highlands during the 19th century.
From his base in Aberdeen, G.W.Wilson made expeditions all over the British Isles, from the 1850s-70s, creating stereoviews of beauty spots and architectural landmarks which were exported to many countries.
This collection has been assembled over more than 30 years, and contains over 1000 images.
Scroll down the entire page to access all of the section.
Includes early stereoviews, featuring images from GWW’s 1856 list and cards with handwritten titles.
Nos.1-25
Includes views of Loch Katrine, Balmoral, Staffa and the Trossachs Hotel.
Nos.26-50
Includes more views of Loch Katrine, along with stereos of Oban, Iona, Glasgow and Stirling Castle, amongst other locations. Including variants and some unlisted views.
Nos.51-80
Includes views of Elgin Cathedral, Loch Achray, Bracklinn Falls, Castletown of Braemar and more of the Trossachs.
Nos.80-105
Includes uncommon seaside views, Holyrood Palace, Roslin Chapel, Melrose Abbey, Dryburgh Abbey and Abbotsford.
Nos.107-135
Includes views of various Edinburgh landmarks, the Loch of Park sunset series, and Balmoral Castle.
Nos.136-167
Includes various waterfalls, Glen Ey, the Linn of Dee, Fingal’s Cave on Staffa, Glencoe, and Iona
Nos. 168-191
Includes views of Dunkeld Cathedral, various waterfalls, Hawthornden, Roslin Chapel, Abbotsford, and several Instantaneous views of Edinburgh.
Nos. 192-230
Includes views of London, including Westminster Abbey, St.Paul’s Cathedral and Instantaneous views of Regent’s Street.
Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, The “Great Eastern” in Southampton Water, and shipping in the Firth of Forth.
Includes Views from Ryde Pier, the Isle of Skye, the Island of Mull, and Iona.
Includes more views on the Isle of Skye, in Glencoe, a second series at the Loch of Park, Exeter Cathedral and Gloucester Cathedral.
Includes views of Cornwall, Shipping in Hamoaze, The Thames at Greenwich, Loch in Dorb, and Roslin Chapel.
Includes views of York Minster, Durham Cathedral, Peterborough Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and Winchester Cathedral
Nos. 410-459
Includes views on the Thames at Greenwich and Woolwich, Shipping in Portsmouth Harbour, Roslin Chapel, Balmoral Castle and environs, Windsor Castle and St. George’s Chapel, and Lincoln Cathedral.
Includes views of Beverly Minster, Loch Polney, the Pass of Killicrankie, and various Castles and Waterfalls in Scotland.
Includes views of various Highland beauty spots including Glen Almond, Loch Tummel and Gairloch. Also views of Edinburgh, Abbotsford, Jedburgh Abbey and Fountains Abbey.
Includes views of Furness Abbey, some beautiful views of the Lake District including Coniston, Borrowdale and Ambleside, and interiors of Abbotsford.
Includes views of Edinburgh, York and Scarborough and some fine studies of Worcester Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral and Wells Cathedral.
Nos. 651-710
Includes views of Wells, Exeter, Carlisle and Durham Cathedrals, Loch Lubnaig, Loch Lomond and Loch Fyne, Inverary Castle, Melrose Abbey and important buildings in Edinburgh
Includes views of Balmoral Castle, Braemar, Glen Urquhart, Iona, Fenchale Abbey, Durham Cathedral and Castle,
Killiecrankie, Dunkeld and Dumbarton.
Includes views of Glasgow, Loch Lomond, The Bonnie Doon, Dryburgh and Abbotsford
Includes views of Edinburgh, Loch Katrine, The Giants’ Causeway and other scenes in County Antrim
Includes views of Sweetheart Abbey, Dumfries, Moffat, Callander, Warwick Castle, Kenilworth Castle, and Lichfield Cathedral
Includes Lichfield Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral, Oxford Colleges, Hereford Cathedral, Tintern Abbey and Raglan Castle.
Includes mainly Scottish locations, such as Jedburgh, Rothesay, Dunoon, Dunkeld, Thurso, and also a few from Orkney.
Includes late views from the 1870s and ‘80s, some from the ‘Scottish Scenery’ and ‘English Scenery’ series, unnumbered and pirated views.
For further study, I recommend Roger Taylor’s ‘George Washington Wilson, Artist and Photographer (1823-93), available from https://shop.londonstereo.com/lsc-books.html
Peter Blair’s ‘George Washington Wilson –Stereoviews, A Collector’s Catalogue’Available from https://scotlan3d.com/p3db-publications/
Acknowledgements are also due to the late T.K.Treadwell of The Institute for Photographic Research, with whom I corresponded in the 1990s.
And thanks to the many dealers who supplied me with material, including Gwyn Nicholls, David Hooper, Beryl Vosburgh, June Stevens, Philip Banham, Graham Wood and Paul Burford.
Jonathan Ross
February 2025.
A comfortable size for freeviewing (parallel viewing) the images in the linked pdf documents is 125% or 150%. This can be adjusted at the top right of the document.
Stereoviews replicate the way we see the world by taking two views of a scene, one from the right eye position and another from the left. When these are mounted together and viewed in a stereoscope, the brain merges them into a 3-dimensional or ‘stereoscopic’ image.
The technique emerged in the 1850s, soon after the invention of photography, through the work of Charles Wheatstone and Sir David Brewster, and developed into a worldwide craze with thousands of practitioners.
Stereo photography has gone out of fashion several times over the past couple of centuries, only to be rediscovered by later generations. Most of the images on this site are by European photographers working in the 1850s and 60s.
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