This albumen print from a glass negative, a type of photograph dating to the 1860s to 1870s, is of a lectern for Durham Cathedral were it was photographed in situ in about 1870-1876. The brass lectern was made by the firm of Francis Skidmore (1817-1896). The photograph is thus a record of the work done and comes from an archive of designs and photographs from the firm. The lectern is decorated with a pelican 'in her piety'. The pelican wounded herself and fed her chicks with her blood. The bird thus became a symbol of Christian charity. This lectern was described by Nikolaus Pevsner and Elizabeth Williamson in their publication on Durham as 'laboriously ornate and highly dangerous to the shins.'

Skidmore made a number of these elaborate lecterns. One of them was in St. Michael's Cathedral, Coventry but was destroyed when the cathedral was bombed during the 2nd World War. Lecterns were reintroduced into churches in England from the 1840s and they were used to read the Bible from at morning and evening prayer.



There are printed designs for lecterns in a pattern book lettered 'Skidmore's Art Manufactures Co. Book of Designs' in Coventry Public Library which dates from 1865 when the firm was called 'Skidmore's Art Manufactures and Constructive Iron Comapny'. In 1872 Skidmore's firm went into liquidation and was taken over by Winfields of Birmingham.