Photograph (Carbon Print) of Henry Perigal at Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire, by Washington Teasdale, 1883

Black carbon print with good contrast and detail; brown mirror image on back. It shows the elderly scientific amateur and geometrician Henry Perigal sitting in the ruined Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire, during a visit to his friend Washington Teasdale, who lived near Leeds. Teasdale was a photographic pioneer, but more particularly shared with his subject (and with Richard Inwards, from whose collection the photograph comes) an interest in geometric curves and mechanical devices for generating or analysing them. Several of his photographs demonstrate his ability to compose a perfect and deeply evocative photographic image; this small print (it is less than 4 by 3 inches) is one of the finest images in the Museum's collection. Compare also 96943.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary see narratives.