This print shows a MacLean and Company cellar light.

Cellar lights provided a way of letting light into Glasgow’s many sub-street basements. They consisted of a metal grid with each square containing a semi-prism which directed light into even the darkest corners of a basement.

Cellar lights using round lenses were first patented in 1845, but this form which used square semi-prisms, and provided a lot more light, was patented in 1871.

They were originally manufactured by the Hayward Brothers in London, and were later produced under licence by MacLean and Company in Glasgow.

Once a common sight on the city’s streets, they have largely disappeared in the last thirty or forty years, but some still remain.

The print itself is 7.25 inches by 9 inches (18.5 cm by 23cm), and it comes mounted in a white 1.5 inch (3.5 cm) mount with a total size of 10 inches by 12 inches (25.5 cm by 30.5cm).