Author: Edward Stokes
Publisher: The Photographic Heritage Foundation (HK) with NUS Press, Singapore 2019
Format: English hardback, 254mm x 280mm, 192 pp.
Photos: Duotone and colour
ISBN: 978-981-3250-90-1
The book records the work of pioneer photographer Marjorie Doggett. From 1952–1957 she roamed Singapore capturing for posterity the then colony’s cityscapes with striking images and text.
The photos and narratives in Marjorie Doggett’s Singapore offer a fresh presentation. Many of the book’s photos have not been previously published. The work reflects on Marjorie Doggett’s thoughts that vividly captured 1950s Singapore, then on the cusp of great change.
Doggett’s 1957 Characters of Light is considered a classic photo book on Singapore. Marjorie Doggett’s Singapore offers the reader a new, wide-ranging view of Singapore and Doggett’s life. The photographs are enriched with evocative texts by Edward Stokes.
Marjorie Doggett recalled, “As night descends, heralded by a short twilight and a sunset that is often a riot of colour… we know that Singapore has taken a part of our hearts for her own.”
Born in England, Marjorie arrived in Singapore in 1947 with her future husband, Victor Doggett. Far more than most expatriates, they lived beside the city’s other communities. Singapore took hold of them and they made it their home.
Nick Doggett at the printing of his mother’s book. Pallet loads of printed sheets wait to dry in the Pristone pressroom. A Singapore art quality printer, Pristone’s director is Linus Lee.
Edward Stokes’ Marjorie Doggett’s Singapore oral history recordings with Nick Doggett, Marjorie’s son, are held by the National Archives of Singapore. The NAS also holds all of Marjorie Doggett’s original negatives, prints and materials.
