New photobook, Original Ravers, compiles unseen portraits from the Haçienda

A new photobook, Original Ravers, compiles previously unseen portraits taken inside Manchester’s famed club, The Haçienda.

The book, which is available for pre-order here, features 51 photos shot by legendary rave photographer Peter J. Walsh. The portraits were taken in 1991, not long before the iconic club closed its doors for a brief period. 

Looking back on this time and how he can to take these photos, Walsh said: “I’d been documenting the rise of Acid House for NME, The Face, and i-D, and as a regular, I knew how central the club was to Manchester and far beyond. I asked to photograph the final nights and got the OK to set up a studio in the basement via the Gay Traitor bar. I found space among old props and barrels, hung a cloth backdrop, and aimed for stark black-and-white portraits – this was 1991, pre-digital photography.

“On the last Friday and Saturday, I set up early, waited for peak time, and – with my assistant Leslie pulling dancers off the floor –photographed whoever came down, many still in coats in the January cold.”

Paul Wright, founder of the British Culture Archive publisher, added: “These portraits have become a time capsule of culture and fashion, an intimate celebration of an era that continues to influence today.”

Original Ravers follows the publishing of another photobook, Not Going Home, by the British Culture Archive earlier this year, which captured late ’90s UK clubbers in the early morning. 

Last year, a book called The Haçienda Threads was released, documenting the music and fashion of the legendary venue.