Two Photographs (Early Gelatine Prints) of James Glaisher and Henry Perigal, 1897

Two gelatine prints mounted on card, evidently part of a page from an album or scrapbook. Portraits of James Glaisher and Henry Perigal together, one indoors and one out. In the top one Glaisher, head and shoulders, sits at a table left examining a book or object, Perigal, head only, sits in a lower chair or couch to right; they are indoors in a study, probably Perigal's. In the bottom one Glaisher, full length, with walking stick and deer-stalker hat, sits in a folding canvas-bottom chair left, looking towards Perigal who lies in a hammock wearing his top hat; they are outdoors in a garden. Brown or sepia with yellowy highlights. The mount, which is just a fragment of the original sheet or page, is very brittle and decayed.

If Glaisher is 88 the date is 1897 and Perigal is 96. Other informal photographs of Perigal in the Museum's collection were taken by Washington Teasdale (for instance 80981 and 83890), and one of him at this age was taken on April 4, 1897 by Teasdale and George Smith (76721); but these charming photographs of the two aged scientists and friends cannot be attributed with certainty, and the handwriting on the mount has not been identified.