The city of Glasgow contained some of the worst slums in Europe in the mid nineteenth century. In 1866 the city finally passed an act which enabled it to destroy the decaying buildings of the old city center. Thomas Annan was commissioned to record the buildings, streets and alleys before they were demolished. The resulting images are a haunting record of poverty, yet beautifully rendered examinations of architecture and atmosphere. Forty of the images were first published as carbon prints in 1878 as Photographs of Old Closes, Streets, &c., Taken 1868 – 1877. Glasgow City Improvement Trust. Annan continued to make pictures of these locals, and in 1900 the present edition, with additional images, was published utilizing the photogravure process. Although not stated, it is presumed that the photogravures were made by James Craig Annan, who is considered one of the master practitioners of the process. [1]

In William Buchanan’s J. Craig Annan : Selected Texts and Bibliography, he states that there were a total of 250 copies printed with two imprints, that of MacLehose comprising 150 copies, and 100 copies with the imprint of T& R Annan & Sons. This work is regarded as a monument of photographically illustrated social documentation. It is also a monument of photogravure.