The Lawrence Collection
The most important source of Irelands photographic history has got to be the Lawrence collection. This collection of 40,000 glass plate negatives of the villages, towns and cities of Ireland has contributed to almost every History book relating to 19th and 20th Century Ireland ever published.
William Lawrence was a businessman who saw an opening in the then booming photographic market. In 1865 he opened his studio overhead his Mothers toyshop in Sackville Street (O'Connell St.) in Dublin.
In 1880 when the technology of Photography changed to a "Dry Plate Process", Lawrence employed Photographers to Travel Ireland and photograph the tourists scenes of Ireland.
Most of the negatives made throughout Ireland are credited to a photographer by the name of Robert French.
French was an employee of Lawrence from the 1860's and became Lawrence's Chief photographer.
Robert French is known to have been behind the lens for an estimated 30,000 prints of the Lawrence collection, incorporating nearly every village in Ireland.
The two cards shown above are typical 1900's Lawrence postcards.Cathedrals and Churchs were well photographed during this period
The Postcard Collection.
In the late 1890's Post Office regulations were relaxed to allow correspondence to be sent without envelopes and with picture views on one side. This was the beginning of a whole new market for Lawrence and for the vast collection of tourist related photographs built up by his chief photographer Robert French.
In order to keep his Picture Postcards up to date; many of the more popular scenes were re taken on an annual basis. Lawrence's postcards were printed in large quantities and even today it's quite easy and inexpensive to purchase original cards.
The original photograph taken by French would have been developed and printed by Lawrence's large staff in his Dublin premises, he employed touches and colorists to enhance French's work.
Many of the late Nineteenth Century postcards were Black and White photographs, which were later hand coloured by Lawrence's staff, and mass-produced in Germany.
Limerick City
Limerick County
The Postcard Collections
Dear Old Limerick - Mark Spain - January 2003
