The Fjords of Norway, Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane

We hope you’ll enjoy this collection of hand tinted lantern slides depicting popular tourist destinations in Norway around the turn of the 19th century. The collection consists of slides produced by at least two British photographers – professional photographer Samuel J. Beckett and amateur photographer P. Heywood Hadfield.

Hadfield, a ship surgeon, was employed by the Orient Steam Navigation Company, both servicing their Orient-Royal Mail Line to Australia and their various Orient Line pleasure cruises to Norway and other destinations.

Hadfield was an eager amateur photographer, and produced several illustrated books from his travels. One such title is “With an Ocean Liner (Orient Co’s S.S. “Ophir”) through the Fiords of Norway. A Photographic Memento of a Fortnight’s Cruising”, published in several editions by the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Co. Ltd in the early 1900s. In the book it is stated that the company is “prepared to supply Lantern Slides of the Photographs either coloured or uncoloured”.

Both the book and the lantern slides would most likely have been marketed as souvenirs to the cruise passengers.

Of Beckett we have less knowledge, but what we do know is that he also published books from his travels in Norway. Several of the slides in this collection illustrate his travel handbook “The Fjords and Folk of Norway”, first published in 1915 by Methuen & Co. Ltd.