Over 200 images of the Grand Harbour and Cottonera areas in the period circa 1870 to the 1930s, feature in the second volume in the series Richard Ellis, The Photography Collection, which has just been published.
The photographs were taken by Richard Ellis (1842-1924), the Foreword is by President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici and research is by Natalino Fenech.
The first part of the book contains a concise history of Malta aimed at introducing and complementing the photographs, each of which has an extensive caption.
The book is replete with social history and anecdotes.
Speaking at the book launch, Dr Fenech said that, much as one romanced with the past, it does not follow to say those were better times. He notes that the book chronicles change but also cyclical repetition. It is a book that shows massive development and re-development in the Cottonera area, which brought about loss of heritage, an issue that still haunts the country today.
It is also about shifting realities that show how the introduction of new technology created new opportunities for some but caused hardship to others. It shows how projects inevitably got delayed and took longer to complete and also cost more in the process. Leafing though the publication one realises that theft from places of work by employees is as old as the trees, that budget deficits are rooted in the country's history.
"And who said that red-rape, bureaucracy and an overmanned civil service are afflicting us only now? The contents of a 1908 report may sound as if they were written only yesterday," Dr Fenech noted.
The production team included the publisher Tony Gatt, Ian Ellis, who made available the original glass plate negatives, and Patrick Fenech who did the layout and artwork.
The first volume was the only book to win two prizes in the National Book Award. It won the best book in its section, together with President Emeritus Guido de Marco's autobiography, and the best production.
Richard Ellis, The Photography Collection is published by Book Distributors Ltd.