Product Description

This book is the perfect antidote to the stress of life in the 21st Century. It portrays the idyll of life in an 1850s village, "far from the sound of the train's whistle". The identity of the village was lost to the world for 150 years, and only by a miracle does this magical set of stereoscopic views survive, brought together for the very first time by Brian May and his co-author, photohistorian Elena Vidal. Their research is amazingly in-depth, but the book is utterly readable, and the pictures leap into glorious 3-D, viewed in the new focussing stereoscope which May has designed and produced, to bring the stereos to life, and then fold neatly into the slip-case of the book. The book gives an extraordinary insight into everyday village life at the time - with a woman at her spinning wheel, the blacksmith outside his smithy, three men at the grind stone sharpening a tool, the villagers in the fields, bringing in the harvest as well as often taking time to enjoy a good gossip. In every case the original verse which accompanied the view is reproduced. In addition, May and Vidal have researched and annotated all the views, revealing another layer of meaning, by exploring the history of these real characters, this idyllic village and its links with the present day. The result is a powerfully atmospheric and touching set of photographs." A Village Lost and Found brings master pioneering stereographer T. R. Williams's passionate life-work Scenes in Our Village to a new audience - in glorious 3-D, as never before.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2047 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Review
T. R. Williams seems to have created Our Village as a labor of love, recording the scenes of his childhood summers and documenting a place and way of life that was already vanishing through the effects of the industrial revolution. His extraordinary dedication to the project and his quest for perfection in stereographic imagery are both honored and mirrored in the years of research, photographic explorations and thoughtful presentation that have made possible this book, A Village Lost and Found - clearly another labor of love. --Stereo World

The effect is amazing. It takes a moment to adjust to the viewer, but once you have got the knack, the villagers and their surroundings seem to leap from the page, bringing scenes such as these to life and helping you appreciate details you might otherwise miss. The book is superbly produced and bound in large format with a separate slip-case for the easy-to-assemble stereo viewer. a bygone age indeed but I can assure you one thing: it will rock you. --Mail on Sunday

About the Author
Brian May, CBE, PhD, FRAS is a founding member of Queen, a world-renowned guitarist, songwriter, producer and performer. Brian had to postpone a career in astronomy when Queen's popularity first exploded, but, after an incendiary 30 years as a rock musician, was able to return to astrophysics in 2006, when he completed his PhD, and co-authored his first book, Bang! The Complete History of the Universe, with Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott. Stereography has been a life-long passion for Brian. ELENA VIDAL has worked as a conservator of paintings in Florence, Spain and the UK. She graduated as an MA in Photographic Conservation at the Camberwell School of Arts, and has subsequently specialised in the history of stereoscopic photography. Since meeting Brian May in 1997, Elena has collaborated with him on a long-term study of Thomas Richard Williams, and has published a number of articles.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
'Somehow, in the first ten years of stereo photography, a handful of Chemist / Artist / Photographers both technically and artistically did it all'. 'One does wonder if this secrecy [over the location of the village] might have been deliberately engineered ... perhaps he intended a dual purpose for the project: privately a trip back into the idyllic world of his own childhood, and publicly, a symbolic celebration of a universally disappearing way of life.'

Customer Reviews

Beautifully packaged stereo card series with stereoscope
This beautiful book collects a complete series of 1850s stereo views, all from in and around one small English village. May and Vidal have done considerable research, both to track down the best examples of each card (which were sold in many versions, tinted and untinted, throughout the 1850s and 60s), and to find the locations from which each card was shot.

TR Williams, the photographer, posed each shot carefully; although they appear by the standards of the time to be candids, they are obviously not; many of the same props appear in different photos, for example. Nevertheless, the effect of the 3d is to put you right into the image and I think May is right in his view that this is one of the finest of all stereo series.

The book is magnificent; a large book in solid slip case, with first rate colour printing throughout. The stereoscope is much better than any other I've ever seen bundled with a book. I'm not very knowledgable about lenses and so on, but I found it easy to use and well designed.

The views are enchanting; I am in any case transported by early stereo (the picture that got me hooked on stereo was one of the 1851 Crystal Palace -- perhaps even one of TR Williams' views as he did a whole series). Many of these views are brilliantly clear and the scenes leap to life. The printing is very good; it's fair to say that most Victorian cards that I've seen are not as clear as the reproductions in this book. The depth of scholarship and the painstaking work to establish history, camera structure and alternate views is also very evident.

This is by some margin the loveliest 3d book I own, though I am not a collector. It would be good value at £35 and is astonishing value at £21.

If you are known to be a fan of stereo photography, then beware; I have already had three conversations with friends and relatives who were thinking of buying me this for Christmas, and I am now very concerned to round up the rest. Perhaps Amazon needs to have an 'anti-wishlist' for things your family are likely to buy you but which you already own.

Alison

A VILLAGE LOST AND FOUND
Today, I have received the new book "A Village Lost And Found" by Brian May and Elena Vidal here in Switzerland, which I have ordered from Amazon UK many weeks ago. It was a big surprise, because for this cheap price, the quality of this book is really outstanding. It comes in a beautiful cardboard box, which contains also a special package for the owl stereoscope with a detail instructions how you have to use the owl. It has many stereo pictures to look at and with this wonderful high quality owl stereoscope (designed by Brian May himself!), I can see the first time what the secret is of this stereo photo -> 3D!!!! The book has a lot information about the magic of the stereo photographie and is highly recommended!

I can only say "Well, done Elena Vidal and Brian May!!!""

Much more than a wonderful Book!
This fascinating work is a very much deserved and heartfelt celebration of the 3-D masterpieces by T R Williams... but there's much more to it than this!

I preordered this book at an unbelievably low price, yet it is of the stunning highest quality... not only the pictures reproductions are wonderful and the text very inspiring, but every detail of it was carried out to perfection. I guess the authors were determined not to make it a book for an élite, but to share their passion with the vastest possible audience.

The accompanying stereoscope is a very special instrument, carefully designed, very easy to use, adjustable and versatile. And it is also a nice object to look at: I am amazed at how smart and classy a plastic-made, fully functional stereoscope can be! Its use is not to be limited to this book at all: it works perfectly to view old and new stereopictures, and also the ones you can easily take yourselves, following the simple hints in the book... it is magic! It is also very useful to view 3-D pics on a pc screen in my opinion - if you don't mind some sort of `mosquito-net' effect due to the low resolution of the screen.

In conclusion... a charming book that will certainly delight you and an outstanding stereoscope that you can't miss!