Samuel Aitken was a bookseller with the Edinburgh firm of Bell & Bradforte. He was Dean of Guild and a friend of the poet, Thomas Carlyle. The print is inscribed on verso in pencil "Mr Saml Aitken Bookseller" and "118". This photograph was most likely taken out of doors, at Rock House, on Calton Hill, in Edinburgh. The exposure time, even in sunlight, was probably close to a minute, but the pose here remains remarkably confident.
