The British Library photography exhibition
Updated on 30 October 2009
From rudimentary drawings to a portrait of nineteenth century Britain: hundreds of unseen images are going on display in the British Library's first ever photographic exhibition.
Drawn from its 300,000 strong archive, the photographs reveal a rapidly changing society: celebrities of the day, scenes from working class communities, even people crowding to catch their first ever glimpse of a hippopotamus in London Zoo.
View a gallery of photos included in the exhibition here.
Opening today the Points of View exhibition is made up of over 300 000 early images the British Library has in its archives. They include the entire private collection of William Henry Fox Talbot, the father of British photography.
Hidden away for decades, a select 250 pictures have been chosen to tell the story of photography's early days - the emphasis not so much on how images were captured but why.
