Portrait painters frequently give their sitters a book to hold or even to read. To keep them still, to imply a cultured quality, sometimes to suggest piety with a holy book.

Such is the case with photography too, and the main difference now is that the book is frequently replaced by a newspaper or magazine. It is said nowadays that reading, in the way that these postcards show it, is a dying activity. That will make this book a useful record of a long-lost habit.

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Package Dimensions: 19.4 x 14.4 x 1.4 cm

£12.99