12th May, 2026 11:00
Photographs, Optical Toys & Science
Hill and Adamson Carbon Prints
3 carbon prints from David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson calotypes.
William Etty (1787-1849) from a calotype negative dated 16th October 1844. Carbon Print (145x195mm) pasted on album leaf and loose mounted in card with window.
Robert Haldane, Principal of St.Andrews. Carbon print (155x205mm) pasted on album leaf and loose mounted in card with window.
Unknown group of men. Carbon print (185x140mm) pasted on album leaf and loose mounted in card with window.
Hill and Adamson set up one of the first photographic studios in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1843. They produced an impressive body of work in a short space of time, due to the death of Adamson in 1848.
These prints are from the original calotype negatives, are printed later. Thomas Annan's firm were commissioned to produce carbon prints in the 1880s. Miss Jessie Bertram produced carbon prints between 1910-1920.
Provenance: The John Randall Plummer Collection
John Randall Plummer is a collector of photography whose interest in the medium began in 1973. Working in close collaboration with his associate, Harvey S. Shipley Miller, Plummer assembled an important and wide-ranging collection that reflected both scholarly depth and a refined aesthetic sensibility.
The collection achieved international recognition in 1983 with the landmark exhibition Particulars: Selections from the Miller-Plummer Collection of Photography, organised by the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. Curated by Robert A. Sobieszek, Director of Photographic Collections, the exhibition subsequently travelled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Wellesley College Museum, further cementing the collection’s reputation.
A publication accompanying the exhibition, also titled Particulars, was issued in 1983 and remains an important reference work, highlighting the intellectual and visual coherence of the collection.
In October 2009, the Miller-Plummer Collection was dispersed at auction by Christie’s, New York, achieving a total just under $2 million—an indication of both its quality and the esteem in which it was held.
Beyond his role as a collector, Plummer has been actively involved in the institutional world of art and photography. He has served as a trustee of the George Eastman House, the Museum of American Folk Art in New York, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and The Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia. He was also a member of the Prints, Drawings and Photographs Acquisition Committee at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Today, works from the John Randall Plummer Collection reflect a sustained engagement with the history of photography.
3 carbon prints from David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson calotypes.
William Etty (1787-1849) from a calotype negative dated 16th October 1844. Carbon Print (145x195mm) pasted on album leaf and loose mounted in card with window.
Robert Haldane, Principal of St.Andrews. Carbon print (155x205mm) pasted on album leaf and loose mounted in card with window.
Unknown group of men. Carbon print (185x140mm) pasted on album leaf and loose mounted in card with window.
Hill and Adamson set up one of the first photographic studios in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1843. They produced an impressive body of work in a short space of time, due to the death of Adamson in 1848.
These prints are from the original calotype negatives, are printed later. Thomas Annan's firm were commissioned to produce carbon prints in the 1880s. Miss Jessie Bertram produced carbon prints between 1910-1920.
Provenance: The John Randall Plummer Collection
John Randall Plummer is a collector of photography whose interest in the medium began in 1973. Working in close collaboration with his associate, Harvey S. Shipley Miller, Plummer assembled an important and wide-ranging collection that reflected both scholarly depth and a refined aesthetic sensibility.
The collection achieved international recognition in 1983 with the landmark exhibition Particulars: Selections from the Miller-Plummer Collection of Photography, organised by the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. Curated by Robert A. Sobieszek, Director of Photographic Collections, the exhibition subsequently travelled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Wellesley College Museum, further cementing the collection’s reputation.
A publication accompanying the exhibition, also titled Particulars, was issued in 1983 and remains an important reference work, highlighting the intellectual and visual coherence of the collection.
In October 2009, the Miller-Plummer Collection was dispersed at auction by Christie’s, New York, achieving a total just under $2 million—an indication of both its quality and the esteem in which it was held.
Beyond his role as a collector, Plummer has been actively involved in the institutional world of art and photography. He has served as a trustee of the George Eastman House, the Museum of American Folk Art in New York, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and The Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia. He was also a member of the Prints, Drawings and Photographs Acquisition Committee at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Today, works from the John Randall Plummer Collection reflect a sustained engagement with the history of photography.
Auction: Photographs, Optical Toys & Science, 12th May, 2026
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