1381
Further Reading
Modifi cation apportée au procédé de photographie sur collodion,
Comptes-rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie
des sciences, vol. 40, 1153, 1855.
Rapport sur deux procédés photographiques de M Taupenot,
Rapporteur M. Chevreul, Comptes-rendus hebdomadaires des
séances de l’Académie des sciences, vol, 41, 383, 1855.
Bulletin de la Société française de photographie, Paris: Société
française de photographie, vol, 1 (1855): 233–253.
Bulletin de la Société française de photographie, Paris: Société
française de photographie, vol. 1 (1855): 279–282.
Lacan Ernest, Esquisses photographiques, 111–113, Paris:
Grassart, 1856.
TAYLOR, A. & G.
Company
Andrew and George Taylor founded a highly successful
string of photographic studios which capitalized upon
the 1860s craze for collecting and commissioning por-
trait photographs. They were previously engaged in the
production of miniatures and like many others in this
trade they made the transition to photography. Their
fi rst photographic studio was opened in London around
1864 with an address at 11 Cannon Street West. They
were soon to establish branches outside London and
numbered the following locations among their outlets:
Birmingham, Carnarvon, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool,
Manchester, Newcastle and Dublin. They also opened
further studios in America including New York, Bos-
ton, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Newark.
A Paris studio was opened some time after 1879. In
adevertisements and upon the reverse of photographs
they regularly claimed to be the ‘Largest Photographers
in the World.’
In 1882, a detailed account of their central operations
at Forest Hill, London was given by H. Baden Pritchard
in his publication entitled The Photographic Studios
of Europe. Here a large number of staff, many of them
female, were engaged in processing and printing the
images which were sent to London from the firm’s
branches throughout England. The account took the form
of a guided tour given by the works manager, Mr Smith.
This factory demonstrated a strict division of labour with
entire fl oors of the immense building being designated
to particular tasks, for example, the Enlarging Room.
Daily targets were set for the employees who worked on
assembly lines. Taylor’s success may have stemmed from
their centralized approach to production which utilized
high quality equipment such as lenses by Dallmeyer. In
Dublin they were the fi rst photographic studio to estab-
lish an instalment method of paying for photographic
portraits. It is probably through the introduction of such
shrewd business methods that they were able to sustain
successful studios in a multitude of locations.
It is also thought that the basis of the company’s
success was the sale of many copies of a carte-de-
visite of Queen Victoria and Princess Alexandra. The
publication in 1860 of a set of royal portraits started a
fashion in Britain for collecting carte-de-visite portraits
of famous people. Though the validity of Taylor’s claim
to royal patronage may be in question as the company
lost a court case in 1884 for illegally representing
themselves as photographers to the Queen, which was
a matter widely reported in the photographic press of
the time. Like other portrait studios they utilized the
verso of carte-de-visites and cabinet portraits to name
royal customers and to boast of medals awarded at the
many international exhibitions which took place during
this period. Taylor’s exhibited at numerous exhibitions
including the Edinburgh Photographic Society’s show
of 1890.
The fi rm was also engaged in the production of pho-
tographic furniture. This consisted of the many studios
props that appeared in the background of carte-de-visites
and cabinet cards. Their advertisements offered items
such as posing chairs, ornate cabinets and head rests.
The need for such a service was indicative of the in-
creased popularity of the studio portrait. It also explains
the sameness that was found in studio portraits of the
era, where every sitter appeared in a refi ned middle-
class setting. There was also evidence that they were
involved in the production of postcards from 1901. Their
premises at Hastings was used for this purpose from
1914 onwards where processes such as the Collotype,
Albertype and the ‘Lichtdruck’ which was a variation
on the Woodburytype, were employed.
During the period between July and October 1869
Andrew left the fi rm. However he is listed as the man-
ager of the Head Offi ce in Regent Street, London, in
the 1880s. Throughout this period they employed a
network of managers and the whole business seems to
have been run somewhat on a franchise basis. Although
George Taylor died in 1911, branches were to continue
in business for many years afterwards.
Orla Fitzpatrick
See also: Dallmeyer, John Henry & Thomas Ross;
Cartes-de-Visite; Collotype; and Woodburytype,
Woodburygravure.Further Reading
‘G Taylor, Obituary.’ British Journal Photographic Almanac
1913 , 571–572.
Matthews, Oliver, The Album of Carte-de-Visite and Cabinet
Card Portrait Photographs 1854–1914, London: Reedminster
Publications Ltd, 1974.
Osman, Colin, ‘The Studios of A& G Taylor—The largest
photographers in the world’ in PhotoHistorian Supplement,
March, 1996.
Pritchard, H. Baden, The Photographic Studios of Europe, Lon-
don: Piper & Carter, 1882, 37–42.