A Village Lost and Found

DESCRIPTION

This book is the perfect antidote to the stress of life in the 21st century, portraying the idyll of life in an 1850s English village “far from the sound of the train’s whistle.” Based on 30 years of research, Brian May’s painstaking excavation of exquisite stereo photographs from the dawn of photography transports readers to the lost world of an Oxfordshire village of the 1850s. At the book’s heart is a reproduction of T. R. Williams’ 1856 series of stereo photographs, “Scenes In Our Village.” Using the viewer supplied with this book, the reader can become absorbed in a village idyll of the early Victorian era: the subjects seem to be on the point of suddenly bursting back into life and continuing with their daily rounds. The book is also something of a detective story, as the village itself was only identified in 2003 as Hinton Waldrist in Oxfordshire, and the authors’ research constantly reveals further clues about the society of those distant times, historic photographic techniques, and the life of the enigmatic Williams himself, who appears, Hitchcock-like, from time to time in his own photographs.

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REVIEWS

“While he is still involved in making music and has hinted that he and Queen’s drummer, Roger Taylor, might reunite to play together again, he seems perfectly contented these days taking the stage behind a lectern, with a pair of reading glasses perched on his nose. Surveying the quietly admiring bookstore crowd in TriBeCa on Thursday night, he cleared his throat and deadpanned: “This isn’t exactly Madison Square Garden, but I think it will do.”
The New York Times

“The work is the result of over 30 years of research, including the detective story aspect of discovering in 2003 the actual village that Williams photographed. Details about rural Victorian society, photographic equipment of the 1850s and the life of the enigmatic Williams himself promise to make this a major contribution to studies of the early history of stereography.”
Stereo World

“The awesome thoroughness of this book is worthy of a PhD thesis…a triumph of scholarship and credit to all concerned.”
The Royal Photographic Society

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AUTHOR BIO

Brian May, founder, member, songwriter and guitarist with the rock band Queen, and co-creator of the internationally successful rock theatrical, We Will Rock You, is also a Doctor of Astrophysics, a leading campaigner for animal rights, and a lifelong 3-D photography enthusiast. Most recently, he has become a successful publisher, dedicated to sharing his vast collection of Victorian stereo photographs with the world through the books released by The London Stereoscopic Company (a fond recreation of the highly successful company of the same name founded in 1854). Brian currently tours with Queen for much of the year with Adam Lambert as lead vocalist, as well as composing, recording and performing in collaboration with West End star Kerry Ellis, an original luminary of the cast of We Will Rock You. His many other recent projects include working on 3-D 360-degree virtual reality movies, and the movie, Bohemian Rhapsody, the award-winning biopic of Freddie Mercury. Brian lives in London with his wife, his partner for over thirty years, actress Anita Dobson. Elena Vidal has worked as a conservator of paintings in Florence, Spain and the UK. She graduated as an MA in Photographic Conservation at the Camberwell School of Arts, and has subsequently specialized in the history of stereoscopic photography.