You probably remember those old collector plates your parents or grandparents might have proudly displayed back in the 70s and 80s. They're pretty, but only a few of them are worth anything today.

Thomas Wedgwood, another inventor, had previously created photograms, silhouettes of objects like leaves, but these images were ephemeral and quickly faded. In 1827, Joseph Nicéphore de Niépce ...

Alexandra Harris tracks our enduring love affair with gallery gift shops, from eighteenth-century tea cups to postcards in space.