Dominic Winter Auctioneers in South Cerney, Cirencester is selling the collection in its Photography: the first 150 years auction on March 9.
Around 230 lots, with an estimate value of £40,000-60,000, have been consigned by photographer, writer and photographic historian Prof John Hannavy.
The top lot of the sale is expected to be a print of one of Cameron’s portraits of polymath and chemist Sir John Herschel. Estimated at £30,000-50,000, it came from the family of Sir John Herschel, by direct descent through his daughter Amelia and her husband Sir Thomas Wade. Herschel coined the terms 'photograph', 'negative', 'positive' and 'snapshot'. He invented the photographic use of sensitised paper in 1839 and introduced hyposulphate of soda (hypo) as a fixing agent. This portrait, from April 1867, was one of a series of four taken at his home, Collingwood in Hawkhurst, Kent.
Another example of Cameron’s work is this 1864 print titled Love featuring Cameron's housemaid Mary Hillier with semi-nude children Elizabeth and Alice Keown on either side of her. It is estimated at £1000-1500 and is consigned by Hannavy. It comes from the collection of Major-General Charles Wake Norman (1891-1974), and was acquired by the art and photography collector Erich Sommer who later gave it to Hannavy.
Alexandra 'Xie' Kitchin was one of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s (Lewis Carroll) favourite photographic subjects. This example was taken in Oxford, in May 1873 and is estimated at £500-800.
Cameron’s friend and early photographic mentor, Rejlander took this photograph in the 1870s called Mrs C.H. Palainet Standing, Her Hands on a Boater Hat. It is estimated at £300-500.
Victorian Giants
The National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition Victorian Giants: The birth of art photography, features the relationship between four Victorian artists: Cameron (1815-79), Carroll (1832-98), Rejlander (1813-75) and Lady Clementina Hawarden (1822-65). The exhibition, which runs until May 20, explores how the photographers were “influenced by historical painting and frequently associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood” and “formed a bridge between the art of the past and the art of the future”.
Last month a photo album by Cameron was temporarily barred from export in the hope a buyer in the UK can match the asking price of £3.7m.
