Frederick H. Evans, friend of George Bernard Shaw and Aubrey Beardsley, retired from his successful business as a London bookseller in 1898 to devote himself entirely to photography. His exquisite platinum prints of English and French cathedrals, parish churches, chateaux, woodlands, and landscapes established his lasting reputation as a pure photographer at a time when the manipulated gum print was the accepted medium of the London photographic salons and clubs.