An Olive Edis photograph of Thomas Hardy.

Photos by famous Sheringham photographer fetch double estimate at auction

Friday, March 22, 2013
3:10 PM

A collection of evocative celebrity portraits and post-war scenes shot by celebrated Norfolk photographer Olive Edis fetched more than double their estimate at an Aylsham auction.

The novelist John Galsworthy photographed by Olive Edis.

Mrs Edis, who had studios in Sheringham and London in the first half of the 20th century, was famed for her photographs of some of the big names of the day.

And in 1919 her fame spread further when she was commissioned by the National War Museum to photograph of British women in Flanders and France after the first world war - at the same time capturing moving images of the desolation of war.

Today, numerous shots, including of war commander Marshall Ferdinand Foch, the writers Thomas Hardy and John Galsworthy, plus shocking scenes of the destruction of Verdun, went under the hammer at Keys.

The collection of 12 lots, estimated to fetch between £520 to £660, was sold to a number of different local and telephone bidders for £1,362.