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Edinburgh at play, 1910 - 1930

Edinburgh at play, 1910 - 1930
Edinburgh at play, 1910 - 1930
This exhibition comes from a set of glass negatives which were kindly donated to Edinburgh Libraries for digitisation for our digital collections.

They are wonderfully evocative pictures showing leisure time in the city during the early years of the 20th century.

Many images show Portobello beach where children are playing in the sand and some of the different amusements such as the fairground carousel and the helter skelter.

There are images of bonfires in streets. Was this for a special occasion, or perhaps just children celebrating Bonfire Night?

Images taken of visitors and animals at Edinburgh Zoo show a very different view of the zoo than what you would see today. Although the perennial favourites, the penguins, are still as popular.

You can see more brilliant pictures from this glass negative collection in the exhibition: Early aviators and their flying machines.