A rare collection of colour photographs showing Edinburgh's Portobello seaside in the 1950s and 1960s are the subject of a charming new book.
The publication, 'John Brodie's Portobello ...plus a little more', features digital reproductions of 35mm glass slides taken by the late Edinburgh Corporation worker John Brodie, a Portobello local, who had a particular interest in capturing every day scenes around the area he lived.
The photos, many of which have never been seen before, were first made public as part of an exhibition at Portobello Library in 2019 and show various scenes, including people having fun at Portobello's famous beach, promenade and the district's legendary open-air pool, which closed in the 1970s.
READ MORE: Incredible Edinburgh 1960s footage shows family visiting the Forth Road Bridge
They capture a bygone age when Portobello was a major holiday destination for people from all over Scotland, and show everything from pleasure boat rides and children on donkeys, to the rollercoaster and fairground rides of Fun City.
Written by Portobello historian Archie Foley and Peter E. Ross, John Brodie's Portobello is being launched at an event at Portobello Library for the Portobello Book Festival on September 30.
Very little is known about the photographer, John Brodie, other than the fact that he died in 1980. Alan Wilson, a family member of John Brodie had kept the images for a number of decades, before sending them to the admins of the Lost Edinburgh Facebook page in 2015 from his home in Australia.
Archie Foley says he is delighted that John Brodie's collection of Edinburgh and Portobello slides have made their way home and can be enjoyed by future generations.
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Archie Foley told Edinburgh Live: "The first decision that Peter and I made was that this book wouldn’t be just another photo album; there had to be informative text alongside the images and captions. Secondly, it would include Portobello’s neighbouring settlements - that’s the little more of the title.
"Did I learn anything about John Brodie while trawling through his photographs? Yes, I think so. He wasn’t a people person when it came to taking photographs, being much more concerned with street scenes, buildings, landscapes and the like. When they do appear, people are purely secondary.
"Also, I think he cared enough about his photographs being a record in time that he had them printed on glass slides so that they had a better chance of survival after he was gone."
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