| Names: | | | Dates: | 1834, 30 October - 1912, April | | Born: | Great Britain, Staffordshire, Mucklestone [Shropshire, Muccleston] | | Active: | England / India / Himalayas | | Gender: | Male |
English photographer who arrived in India in early 1863. During the summer of that year Bourne traveled to the Himalayas where he states in an article in the British Journal of Photography, he decided “to see what elements of beauty and grandeur lay concealed in some of the higher and little known regions of the Himalayas.” This was followed by two more excursions into the Cashmere [Kashmir] and the Himalayas (1865-1866). Bourne’s determination to photograph the most picturesque and remote areas of Northern India resulted in the finest examples of scenic photography ever produced by a single photographer. His travels and photographic work was recorded in a string of articles in the British Journal of Photography in the late 1860s.
By 1865 he had established a partnership with Colin Shepherd in the hill town of Simla. And additional studios were established in Calcutta (1867) and Bombay (1870). With more than 2200 images in his catalog by the time he left India seven years later, in 1870, Bourne has to be considered one of the finest artistic photographers of his time.Preparing biographies
 
General reading
Fergusson, James, 1873, Tree and Serpent Worship, (London: India Museum, W.H. Allen & Co., publishers to the India Office) [Δ]
Haas, Frédéric, 1885, L'Art Hindou. Voyage aux Indes Orientales, (Paris: Typographie Chr. Krüsi) [Includes albumen plate(s) by Samuel Bourne] [Δ]
Readings on, or by, individual photographers
Bourne, Samuel, 1860, On Some of the Requisites Necessary for the Production of a Good Photograph [Reprinted in Hugh Rayner, ed., 2009, Photographic Journeys In The Himalayas by Samuel Bourne, 3rd edition (Bath: Pagoda Tree Press)] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1862, The Original Fothergill Process [Reprinted in Hugh Rayner, ed., 2009, Photographic Journeys In The Himalayas by Samuel Bourne, 3rd edition (Bath: Pagoda Tree Press)] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1863, 1 July, ‘Photography in the East‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.10, no.193, pp.268-270 [Part 1 of 2] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1863, 1 September, ‘Photography in the East‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.10, no.197, pp.345-347 [Part 2 of 2] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1864 (ca), Scenery in the Himalayas and the highlands of Perthshire, ([S.l.]: [The Author]) [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1864, 1 February, ‘Ten weeks with the camera in the Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.11, no.207, pp.50-51 [Part 1 of 2] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1864, 15 February, ‘Ten weeks with the camera in the Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.11, no.208, pp.69-70 [Part 2 of 2] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1866, 19 October, ‘Narrative of a photographic trip to Kashmir (Cashmere) and adjacent districts‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.13, no.337 [Part 2 of 9] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1866, 2 November, ‘Narrative of a photographic trip to Kashmir (Cashmere) and adjacent districts‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.13, no.339 [Part 3 of 9] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1866, 23 November, ‘Narrative of a photographic trip to Kashmir (Cashmere) and adjacent districts‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.13, no.342 [Part 4 of 9] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1866, 28 December, ‘Narrative of a photographic trip to Kashmir (Cashmere) and adjacent districts‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.13, no.347 [Part 6 of 9] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1866, 5 October, ‘Narrative of a photographic trip to Kashmir (Cashmere) and adjacent districts‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.13, no.355 [Part 1 of 9] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1866, 7 December, ‘Narrative of a photographic trip to Kashmir (Cashmere) and adjacent districts‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.13, no.344 [Part 5 of 9] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1867, 25 January, ‘Narrative of a photographic trip to Kashmir (Cashmere) and adjacent districts‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.14, no.351 [Part 8 of 9] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1867, 4 January, ‘Narrative of a photographic trip to Kashmir (Cashmere) and adjacent districts‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.14, no.348 [Part 7 of 9] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1867, 8 February, ‘Narrative of a photographic trip to Kashmir (Cashmere) and adjacent districts‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.14, no.353 [Part 9 of 9] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1869, 17 December, ‘A photographic journey through the higher Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.16, no.502 [Part 3 of 11] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1869, 24 December, ‘A photographic journey through the higher Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.16, no.503 [Part 4 of 11] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1869, 28 November, ‘A photographic journey through the higher Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.16, no.499 [Part 1 of 11] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1869, 3 December, ‘A photographic journey through the higher Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.16, no.500 [Part 2 of 11] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1869, 31 December, ‘A photographic journey through the higher Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.16, no.504 [Part 5 of 11] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1870 (ca), India, A topographical photograph album, ([S.l.]: [The Author]) [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1870, 1 April, ‘A photographic journey through the higher Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.17, no.517 [Part 11 of 11] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1870, 14 January, ‘A photographic journey through the higher Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.17, no.506 [Part 6 of 11] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1870, 18 February, ‘A photographic journey through the higher Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.17, no.511 [Part 8 of 11] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1870, 18 March, ‘A photographic journey through the higher Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.17, no.515 [Part 10 of 11] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1870, 28 January, ‘A photographic journey through the higher Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.17, no.508 [Part 7 of 11] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, 1870, 4 March, ‘A photographic journey through the higher Himalayas‘, The British Journal of Photography, vol.17, no.513 [Part 9 of 11] [Δ]
Bourne, Samuel, n.d., Scenes in Kashmir and northern India, ([S.l.]) [Δ]
Heathcote, Pauline, 1982, ‘Samuel Bourne of Nottingham‘, History of Photography, vol.6, no.2, pp.99-112 [Δ]
Ollman, Arthur, 1983, Samuel Bourne: Images of India, (Carmel, CA: Friends of Photography) [Δ]
Rayner, Hugh (ed.), 2009, Photographic Journeys in the Himalayas 1863-1866 Samuel Bourne, (Pagoda Press) isbn-13: 978-1904289647 [Δ]
Sampson, Gary D., 1992, ‘The Success of Samuel Bourne in India‘, History of Photography, vol.16, no.4, pp.337-347 [Δ]
If you feel this list is missing a significant book or article please let me know - Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com | |
Family history
If you are related to this photographer and interested in tracking down your extended family we can place a note here for you to help. It is free and you would be amazed who gets in touch.
alan@luminous-lint.com |
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 | Samuel Bourne: India: Agra |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Ahmedabad |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Alipore |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Benares |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Bombay [Mumbaii] |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Calcutta |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Cawnpore [Kanpur] |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Darjeeling |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Delhi |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Delhi: Tomb of Shums-ood-Deen Altamsh |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Gwalior |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Lucknow |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Madura |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Simla |
|  | Samuel Bourne: India: Trichinopoly |
|  | Samuel Bourne: Portraits |
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All photographs by this photographer
| Wikipedia has a biography of this photographer. | Show on this site | Go to website | | Getty Research, Los Angeles, USA has an ULAN (Union List of Artists Names Online) entry for this photographer. This is useful for checking names and they frequently provide a brief biography. | | Go to website | Grove Art Online (www.groveart.com) has a biography of this artist.
[NOTE: This is a subscription service and you will need to pay an annual fee to access the content.] | Show on this site | Go to website |
The following books are useful starting points to obtain brief biographies but they are not substitutes for the monographs on individual photographers. |
• Auer, Michele & Michel 1985 Encyclopedie Internationale Des Photographes de 1839 a Nos Jours / Photographers Encylopaedia International 1839 to the present (Hermance, Editions Camera Obscura) 2 volumes [A classic reference work for biographical information on photographers.]
• Beaton, Cecil & Buckland, Gail 1975 The Magic Eye: The Genius of Photography from 1839 to the Present Day (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown & Company) p.73 [Useful short biographies with personal asides and one or more example images.]
• Capa, Cornell (ed.) 1984 The International Center of Photography: Encyclopedia of Photography (New York, Crown Publishers, Inc. - A Pound Press Book) p.75
• Lenman, Robin (ed.) 2005 The Oxford Companion to the Photograph (Oxford: Oxford University Press) [Includes a short biography on Samuel Bourne.]
• Weaver, Mike (ed.) 1989 The Art of Photography 1839-1989 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press) p.452 [This exhibition catalogue is for the travelling exhibition that went to Houston, Canberra and London in 1989.]
• Witkin, Lee D. and Barbara London 1979 The Photograph Collector’s Guide (London: Secker and Warburg) p.91-92 [Long out of print but an essential reference work - the good news is that a new edition is in preparation.]
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