Festival City: A pictorial history of the Edinburgh Festivals

Author: The Scotsman

Festival City: A pictorial history of the Edinburgh Festivals

On the 24th August 1947, Paul Paray raised his baton to conduct L’Orchestre des Concerts Collone and so began the first Edinburgh International Festival. Allied with the Festival Fringe, the Book and Film Festivals and the spectacular Military Tattoo, the Edinburgh Festival has grown over the subsequent six decades to become the largest and one of the most prestigious arts gatherings in the world.
This unique pictorial collection, selected from the archives of The Scotsman Publications, illustrates the history of the Festival and features many of the greatest actors, dancers, musicians, conductors and comedians that have graced the stages, church halls, vaults and makeshift theatres of Edinburgh.
The Festival has launched the careers of numerous performers that are now household names and contained within the collection, shown taking the early steps in their careers.
The collection also shows the main star of the Festival - the city itself, capturing the sights and the atmosphere the Festival creates.
Many of these photographs have not been seen for over thirty years and some are being published for the first time.