From glass plate negatives to Istanbul’s visual memory
Traces of Istanbul on Glass Plate Negatives – From the Empire to the Republic was developed as a book and exhibition project based on historic glass plate negatives from the collection of the National Library of Turkey.
A significant part of the collection consists of glass negatives and positives discovered in the attic of a wooden mansion in Anadolu Hisarı during restoration work in the first half of the 1970s. The images primarily document Istanbul between 1894 and 1919, together with a number of photographs extending into the Republican period.
Tablet İletişim undertook the project’s digitisation, publication coordination and design. The editorial work and texts were developed in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Ziya Kenan Bilici.
Stories hidden in the traces of Istanbul
The archive reveals more than Istanbul’s historic buildings. It brings the city’s streets, squares, ferries, recreation grounds, families, ceremonies, political events and details of everyday life into the present.
The book brings this extensive visual memory together in six thematic sections: Urban Spaces, Public Areas and Buildings; The Bosphorus and Ferries; Recreation Grounds and Races; Family, Close Friends and Portraits; Political Events, Demonstrations, Celebrations and Processions; and the 1894 Istanbul Earthquake.
We transformed the Istanbul preserved on glass plates into an urban memory that can be read anew and shared with new audiences.
Our Role
Digitisation and Image Preparation: High-resolution scanning of the original glass plate negatives, digital restoration and colour separation for print production.
Publication Coordination: Managing the visual archive, editorial content, design and production processes within a unified publication system.
Editorial Development: Establishing the historical context of the photographs and developing the thematic structure.
Design and Publication Production: Developing a visual system integrating Turkish and English content, designing the book and managing its production as a prestige publication.
Exhibition Design and Production: Preparing selected historic photographs for display and adapting them into exhibition materials.
Promotional Materials: Developing communication and promotional materials for the book and exhibition.
From archive to book, from book to exhibition
The editorial approach was shaped around one principle: the text should never overshadow the photograph. The historical moments witnessed by the images remained at the centre, while the accompanying texts were structured to make their context visible.
Images recovered from the glass plate negatives were transformed into a comprehensive publication, while selected photographs were also reproduced for exhibition. The book, exhibition and promotional materials were developed within the same visual and editorial system, bringing Istanbul’s historic visual memory to audiences across different formats.
