The Golden Summer: The Edwardian Photographs of Horace W. Nicholls

British photojournalist Nicholls, who learned his profession covering the Boer War, went on to stalk English sporting events during the Edwardian era, photographing the hordes of enthusiastic commoners and aristocrats who turned out to view regattas, horse races and the like. ``Individuals pursuing communal pleasures kindled Nicholls' imagination,'' notes Buckland, former curator of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, in her instructive commentary on the 150 duotone photographs collected here. The oversized beflowered and beribboned hats of women, poker-faced as they study the movement of boats and beasts, are testament to the seriousness of Edwardian entertainment, while droll portraits of impeccably dignified men in top hats and tails are timelessly amusing. Nicholls cast a wide net in surveying the sporting scene, capturing beggars in A Rush for Crumbs Which Fall from the Rich Man's Table and the exhausted sleep of countrymen obliged to walk a great distance to witness Derby Day at Epsom. (Oct.)