A NEW book showing a collection of early Dartmoor photographs was launched in Tavistock last week by its author, Dr Tom Greeves.

The book 'Dartmoor's Earliest Photographs; landscape and place 1860 — 1880' includes a large number of Dartmoor photographs, with expert commentary and many scenes from Tavistock and West Dartmoor.

By the mid-19th century the new discipline of photography was attracting many skilled practitioners.

The book contains some 125 images of Dartmoor in the 1860s and 1870s.

Most have never been previously published in book form and are the earliest precise record there is of the Dartmoor landscape — familiar, yet different to today, with some remarkable changes in vegetation and buildings.

Fascinating subjects include popular landmarks, archaeological sites, bridges, churches, farmland, houses, military training, mills, mines, towns, viaducts and woods, giving a unique view of Victorian Dartmoor, often with people giving scale and context.

The nationally renowned photographer Francis Bedford is well represented, as are many local photographers, such as William Merrifield of Tavistock and William Spreat of Exeter.

Tom Greeves is a leading authority on the archaeology and history of Dartmoor.

Since 1998 he has been chairman of the Dartmoor Society and he is to be president of the Devonshire Association from June 2015.

His varied career has included being sites and monuments officer for Devon 1976-79 and archaeologist for Dartmoor National Park from 1979 to 1985.

The gift of a photographic stereoview of the early 1860s led him to 15 years of research and collection of the images presented in the book.