Victorian Scotland

Product Description

The Victorians were the harbingers of the modern age, their society driven by curiosity, a zeal for invention, & an enormous appetite for economic & imperial consumption. The boiler room of the era was stoked furiously, & its frequent combustions produced advances in everything from science & philosophy to industry & architecture. By the end of the nineteenth century, Scotland was a nation transformed. Glasgow had exploded into the second city of the Empire, the majestic Forth Bridge was celebrated as a wonder of the modern world, & railways had opened the remote Highlands to new industries of leisure & tourism. But for every grand museum or gothic-revival country house, tenements & slums rose in their thousands overcrowded living for the vast army of workers that sustained the great Victorian machine. Ambition & wealth saw social divisions become ever more acute, producing a society obsessed with class hierarchy. Now, for the first time, the Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) is showcasing images from its National Collection in a remarkable illustration of this landmark era. From the pioneering work of photographers like John Forbes White & Henry Bedford Lemere, to never before seen excerpts from private family albums, Victorian Scotland is a window into the lives of the generation who changed the world.