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AHDS Visual Arts is pleased to present Photographic Exhibitions in Britain 1839 – 1865 a new digital resource featuring records of over 20,000 photographic exhibits held in Britain from 1839-1865. Originally published in book form by the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2002, Photographic Exhibitions in Britain 1839 – 1865, was later digitised as part of an AHRC* funded project by Professor Roger Taylor with Knowledge Media Design at De Montfort University. According to an old dictionary definition, an exhibition is ‘a public display of whatever is interesting either as a matter of art or curiosity.’ Professor Taylor demonstrates through Photographic Exhibitions in Britain 1839 – 1865 and in his corresponding book and website that photographic exhibitions were more than mere curiosities - they were of crucial importance to both the photographers and the organising body because they defined the way in which photography was perceived and understood by the general public. William Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of negative-positive photography on paper, said that photography is, after all, ‘a little bit of magic realised’. (Introduction to Photographic Exhibitions in Britain 1839 – 1865: http://www.peib.org.uk/about/context.php) Photographic Exhibitions in Britain 1839 – 1865: Records from Victorian Exhibition Catalogues is available to search at http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/collections/PEIB.html. *Arts and Humanities Research Council