Tomfoolery.

The magic and vertiginous tomfoolery of 1930s Cambridge undergraduates climbing the city’s buildings by night ...

"Some airy devil hovers in the sky," reads a delightful, hand-written note on the verso of an inserted photograph from Thomas Mailaender’s The Night Climbers of Cambridge, recently published by The Archive of Modern Conflict. "It was this quotation," it continues, "which gave me the idea of the climb."

Mailaender, a Parisian artist described as "Bernd and Hilla Becher under the influence of Pastis", recently acquired this curious collection of prints depicting Cambridge University undergraduates from the 1930s, who photographed themselves in action whilst climbing the city’s rooftops. At times, the students exhibit a reckless disregard for their own safety as we see them scaling 40ft high walls or hanging off window ledges and guttering.

Elsewhere, we watch them clambering up drainpipes and perched atop spires, all pictured under the glare of the moon, camera flashes and the watchful eye of the occasional policeman. Like escaping fugitives (yet wearing blazers and ties), these daredevils come alive in the shadows and fog, absorbing the energy of the night-time to test their limits and discover those passions that are suppressed all day.

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