As the Swinging Sixties took flight, a new publishing venture began life in Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England.
Oriel Press was the brainchild of Bruce Allsopp (1912-2000), an architectural historian with a dazzling array of accomplishments to his name.
©️ Tyne Tees TV.
His vision was to create a publisher independent of the big-name London firms that would provide a platform for his ideas.
Launching Oriel Press Ltd in July 1962, he hired 22 year-old Ursula Clark (1940-2000) as its Photographic Editor.
©️ Historic England.
Through two decades, Allsopp & Clark collaborated with other leading authors on a series of popular architectural history guides.
These featured areas of Britain such as Northumberland and County Durham; cities like Newcastle upon Tyne and Leeds; and countries from England and Scotland to France, Italy and Spain.
To mark the 25th anniversaries of Allsopp & Clark’s deaths in 2000, I am presenting a talk later this month about Oriel Press with particular focus on Ursula Clark’s role as a photographer and photographic editor.
The talk will draw on her archive of 20,000 black-and-white negatives now in the care of Historic England.
If you register via the link above, you will receive a recording of the talk afterwards.
Pressphotoman 
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