Stereograph by T. R. Williams from the 'Scenes in our Village' series, entitled 'Rick Making' No. 492 in the set of views. Great Britain, ca. 1856.

Stereoscopic photograph of rick making.

T. R. Williams’ masterpiece, “Scenes in Our Village”, is one of the most intriguing groups of stereo photographs of all time. It comprises a series of photographs, almost certainly taken in the first half of the 1850’s, depicting rural life in an English village. Each carefully composed image, usually including some local characters, is accompanied by a dedicated verse, printed on the back of the card. In fact these verses probably warrant the title ‘poems’ – since each is not only the perfect foil to the photograph, but complete in itself. The result is not only a valuable document of a bygone era, but also a work of intrinsic beauty, and a gentle, thought-provoking comment on life.
The whole series of stereo cards comprises about 59 views, but there are numerous variants, and related views, which effectively bring the total number of “scenes” to about 80. The series has recently been republished with accompanying texts by Brian May and Elena Vidal under the title "A Village Lost and Found" (2009).

153-1957