Thomson, J. (John), 1837-1921

John Thomson was a talented and influential photographer, who had spent ten years travelling in, and taking photographs of, the Far East. On his return to London he joined with Adolphe Smith, a socialist journalist, in a project to photograph the street life of the London poor. The volumes were published in monthly parts as Street Life in London , and were an early example of social and documentary photography.

From the guide to the Street Life in London, 1877, (British Library of Political and Economic Science)

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