A good source for background on Fenton (mostly post-Crimean War) and the culture of realism in British Orientalism, as well as Fenton's training as a painter and how he translated the "high art" of painting to photography. Assists in understanding that, given the constraints of photographic techniques at the time, Fenton sought to create, through the poses in which he set his subjects, photographs that could be viewed as paintings (paintings depicting military scenes being considered "high art").

Fenton, Roger. Roger Fenton : Photographer of the 1850s : Hayward Gallery, London, 4 February to 17 April 1988. [London] : South Bank Board, 1988. Call number: TR647.F46 1988

A very good representative sample of the range of Fenton's work from an exhibit at the Hayward Gallery, London, in 1988. Unfortunately, not all the Crimean War photos are included in this volume, though does include all eleven views issued as the Panorama of the Plateau of Sebastopol. In her introduction to the Crimean War section of the exhibit, Valerie Lloyd says, "...the photographs demand to be ‘read' for the detailed observations they provide. The Literary Gazette, virtually alone, read the evidence most accurately: [...] it is obvious that photographs command a belief in the exactness of their details which no production of the pencil can do...." (p. 16) There is a glossary in the back which discusses the photographic techniques available to and used by Fenton, also included is a checklist of the exhibition which identifies some of the photos as albumen.

Fenton, Roger. Roger Fenton : with an essay by Richard Pare. Aperture masters of photography series, no. 4. New York, N.Y. : Aperture Foundation, 1987. Call number: TR654.F4625 1987 [P&P]

Offers a small but nice selection from the range of Fenton's career as a photographer, with an overview essay by Richard Pare. Fenton's "contribution to the early history of photography is one of the most wide-ranging in all aspects of the medium, technical, polemical, and most important, aesthetic. [H]e was able to use what he had learned of composition and organization of the picture plane in a way that was entirely suited to the photographic method." (p. 6) Features a concise chronology in the back.

Fenton, Roger. Roger Fenton, Photographer of the Crimean War: His Photographs and His Letters from the Crimea, with an Essay on His Life and Work by Helmut and Alison Gernsheim. London : Secker & Warburg, 1954. Call number: DK214.F45 [P&P] [Frequently cited as "Gernsheim"]

The essay on Fenton's life and work offers a good perspective of the constraints Fenton was working under; the letters illustrate this further and address aspects of the war not being photographed. Includes 85 photographs, six of which are by James Robertson and a few are by other photographers. Not all are of the Crimean War. The Gernsheims may have had the most complete collection of Fenton's Crimean War photographs "said to include all of those issued on mounts by Agnew Brothers" (Vanderbilt, Guide to the Special Collections of Prints & Photographs in the Library of Congress, 1955, p. 57). One could conclude from this that the titles used in this publication represent those as published in 1855/56. The Gernsheim collection now resides at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin.

Gernsheim, Helmut. The rise of photography 1850-1880 : The age of collodion. London : Thames and Hudson, 1988. Call number: TR15 .G37 1982, vol. 2, pp. 92-99.

A section on the Crimean War under "Early War Photographs." A rather hasty account presenting the generally known facts concerning the early attempts by Szathmari, initial attempts made by the British government, an account of Fenton's time in the Crimea, and the war photographs taken by James Robertson and Felice Beato.

Gilbert, George. Photography: The Early Years : A Historical Guide for Collectors. New York : Harper & Row, Publishers, 1980. Call number: TR15.G55 1980 [P&P]

Two chapters are of interest regarding Fenton's photographic career: Chapter 2 - "The Calotype: the first photographs on paper" (the salted paper print process used by Fenton); Chapter 7 - "The wet-plate print: the photograph that opened the west" (the photographic process used by Fenton). Appendix B - "Making calotype (salt print) paper" may be of interest as well.

Green-Lewis, Jennifer. Framing the Victorians: Photography and the Culture of Realism. Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1996. Call number: TR15.G69 1996

A study of photography in Victorian times, in particular, how photography was seen and used by those who practiced the art. One chapter and the beginning of another (p. 97-148) discuss Fenton's Crimea photos in the context of the "culture of realism." Green-Lewis presents the Victorian view of the role of photography as verisimilitude achieved by taking the brush out of the artist's hand and replacing it with a camera through which Nature creates an image. Drawings, watercolor sketches, oil paintings depicting scenes of action, which photography could not do, were necessarily impressionistic, therefore lacking the veracity, the realism, imbued in photographs. That Fenton's photographs fail to present a realistic view of war stems as much from the technical limitations of the photographic processes as from the limitations imposed by commercial and political demands. "[A]lthough startlingly unrevealing of the war's hardships, the photographs provide us today with markers of how the fact of the war itself was represented."(p. 101)

Hannavy, John. Roger Fenton of Crimble Hall. London : Gordon Fraser Gallery, 1975, p. 44-64. Call number: TR140.F43 H36 [P&P]

Perhaps the only biography of Roger Fenton written to this date, it offers the fullest account of his life (of which little is known) and treats each aspect of his career in photography. Chapter 5 offers a useful, illustrated account of the war photographs, including Fenton's own report to the Photographic Society "Narrative of a Photographic Trip to the Seat of the War in the Crimea, By Roger Fenton Esq." (p. 50-60). Fenton's account adds much that does not appear in his photographs.

James, Lawrence. Crimea 1854-1856: The War with Russia from Contemporary Photographs. New York : Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1981. DK214.J35 1981 [Frequently cited as "James."]

James offers an overview of photography in the mid-1850s, discussing briefly the several photographers involved photographing the Crimean War. He presents the important points about the circumstances which precipitated the Crimean War, the British, French, Turkish, and Russian roles, and the strengths and weaknesses of the British and Russian armies. Includes 85 photographs by Fenton, Robertson, and others.

Kerr, Paul. The Crimean War. London : Boxtree, 1997. DK214.K47 1997

Collection of illustrated essays by several authors treating all aspects of the Crimean War and reproducing many photographs by Roger Fenton, James Robertson, and Karol de Szathmari, along with original artworks by artists/illustrators stationed in the Crimea. Essays are broad overviews highlighted with numerous quotes from the writings of participants and observers. Features many one- or two-page sections devoted to specific topics, such as: "The armies", "Wives and warriors", "War reporting", and others.

Lalumia, Matthew Paul. Realism and Politics in Victorian Art of the Crimean War. Ann Arbor, Mich. : UMI Research Press, 1984. N6767.L34 1984

Chapter 3 "The Crimean War 1854-56" and Chapter 6 "Photography" are of particular interest. Chapter 3 puts British involvement in the war into perspective and chapter 6 treats photographing the war and Fenton's role, both commercial and political, in the enterprise. For another perspective, placing Fenton's photos into the context of civilian concern over the conduct of the war, chapter 4 "The Popular Media" discusses the presentation of the war through the popular press (the implicit role of Fenton's photographs was to refute the negative reports appearing in British newspapers).

Milhollen, Hirst D. "Roger Fenton, Photographer of the Crimean War" in A Century of Photographs, 1846-1946. Compiled by Renata V. Shaw. Washington : Library of Congress, 1980, p. 18-23. Call number: TR6.U62 D572 [P&P]

A brief introduction to the Library of Congress's Roger Fenton Crimean War photograph collection.

Nolan, Edward H. The Illustrated History of the War Against Russia. London : J.S. Virtue, [1857] Call number: DK214.N78

Comprehensive two volume history of the Crimean War with engraved portraits, some after Fenton photographs, views of cities and landscapes, battle scenes, and seven maps.

Trachtenberg, Alan. Reading American Photographs : Images as History, Mathew Brady to Walker Evans. New York : Hill and Wang, A division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989. Call number: TR820.5.T73 [P&P]

Trachtenberg does not deal with the Crimean War, but the chapter "Albums of war" offers corroborating support to issues raised concerning the limitations of 19th century photography and the photography of war. "[I]t is noteworthy that Civil War photographers frequently resorted to stagecraft, arranging scenes of daily life in camp to convey a look of informality.... However composed and staged, they bear witness to real events."(p. 73).

Further Background on the Crimean War:

Barbary, James. The Crimean War. New York : Hawthorn Books, Inc, 1970. Call number: DK214.B3 1970

Cadogan, George and Somerset J. Gough Calthrope. Cadogan's Crimea. New York : Atheneum, 1980. Call number:DK215.C332 1980

Duberly, Frances Isabella. Journal kept during the Russian War. London : Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855. Call number: DK214.D81

Godman, Temple. Letters Home from the Crimea, ed. by Philip Warner. Gloucestershire : Windrush Press, 1999. Call number: DK215.G55 1999

As a member of the 5th Dragoon Guards, a cavalry unit, Godman was among the first troops to leave England and among the last to return in June 1856. He was both critical of and caught up in the British military's purchase system, and his letters to his father are filled with concern over promotion and the possibility of getting his own troop, either by purchase or by advance. The 5th Dragoon Guards, as part of the Heavy Brigade, made a gallant charge during the Battle of Balaklava. It was the only real action Godman was involved in, but as an adjutant officer he was kept very busy at the troop level with official duties. He describes his own living conditions, with respect to the privileges of being an officer, so that one gets the sense of what camp life must have been like for the regular troops.

Gooch, Brison D. "A Century of Historiography on the Origins of the Crimean War. The American Historical Review, (1956) 62: 33-58.

Gowing, Timothy. Voice from the Ranks : a Personal Narrative of the Crimean Campaign. Edited by Kenneth Fenwick. London : Folio Society, 1954. Call number:DK214.G64

Hart. Henry George. Hart's annual army list. London : J. Murray, 1840- (annual) U11.G7 H3

A valuable source of names of soldiers, their ranks, and military units to which they were attached. Used to identify many of the officers and men photographed by Fenton.

Lambert, Andrew D. and Stephen Badsey. The Crimean War. Dover, N.H. : A. Sutton, 1994. DK214.L42 1994 [P&P]

Presents the viewpoint of the published press through excerpts from the Times war correspondent William Howard Russell. These excerpts cover the full scope of the war, offering descriptions of battles, the hardships faced by the Allied armies, criticism of the conduct of officials both at home and in the Crimea, and good descriptions of the landscape over which the troops traveled and fought. This is also a good source for the names of many of the major participants, as well as bits about their lives and deaths, as the case may be.

Palmer, Alan. The Banner of Battle : The Story of the Crimean War. New York : St. Martin's Press, 1987. Call number:DK214.P3 1987

Rich, Norman. Why the Crimean War? A Cautionary Tale. New York : McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1991. Call number:DK215.R53 1991

A very good, thorough analysis of the diplomacy surrounding the Crimean War.

Royle, Trevor. Crimea : the great Crimean War, 1854-1856. New York : St. Martin's Press, 2000. Call number: DK214.R69 2000

A comprehensive account including the diplomacy that led to war, the Baltic campaign, the battles in the Crimea, and the final peace negotiations, as well as some analysis of the long term implications for the end of the 19th century and into the 20th. Contains minor flaws, some derived from Palmer.

Tolstoy, Leo. Tolstoy : Tales of Courage and Conflict. Introduced and edited by Charles Neider. New York : Cooper Square Press, 1999. Call number: PG3366.A15 N45 1999

Contains Tolstoy's "sketches" of the siege of Sevastopol and related tales of his experiences as a Russian soldier.