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diff --git a/38866-h/38866-h.htm b/38866-h/38866-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..549cb4b --- /dev/null +++ b/38866-h/38866-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13156 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Evolution of Photography , by John Werge</title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + +h1,h2,h3,h4 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + +p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; text-indent: 1.5em;} + +hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + +hr.tb {width: 45%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em;} +hr.full {width: 95%; margin-top: 2em;} +hr.r10 {width: 10%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +hr.r20 {width: 20%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +.mrt4 {margin-top: 4em;} + +table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-collapse: collapse;} + +.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; + font-size: .8em; text-align: right; color: #808080;} /* page numbers */ +.brdbt {border-bottom: solid #000 1px;} +.brdbt2 {border-bottom: solid #000 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center; margin:0; text-indent: 0;} +.center2 {text-align: center; margin: 1.5em 0 0 0;} +.justify {text-align: justify;} +.vtop {vertical-align: top;} +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} +.smaller {font-size: 0.8em;} +.larger {font-size: 1.25em;} +.mlarger {font-size: 1.5em;} +.big {font-size: 2.5em;} +.vbig {font-size: 4em;} +.undrln {text-decoration: underline;} +.gesspert {letter-spacing: 0.125em;} +.ls5 {letter-spacing: .5em;} +.wsnw {white-space: nowrap;} +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdr {text-align: right;} +.tdl0 {text-align: left; padding-left:0;} +.tdr0 {text-align: right; padding-right:0;} +.tdr05 {text-align: right; padding-right:0; padding-left:.5em;} +.p0 {text-indent: 0;} +.p30 {margin: 0 0 0 30%; text-align: left;} +.p35 {margin: 0 0 0 30%; padding-left:.5em; text-align: left;} +.p99 {margin-left: 3em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +.mrb1 {margin-bottom: 1em;} + +/* Images */ +.fig_center {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + +.fig_left {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + +.fig_right {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} +.fig_caption {font-size: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 1em;} + +.references {margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em; text-align: justify;} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.trans_notes {background-color: #e6e6fa; color: black; padding:1.5em; + margin-bottom:5em;} + +.fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + +sub {font-size: .6em; position: relative; top: 0.2em; right: 0.3em;} +sup {font-size: .6em; position: relative; top: 0.2em; left: 0.3em;} + + hr.pg { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Evolution of Photography , by John Werge</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Evolution of Photography </p> +<p> With a Chronological Record of Discoveries, Inventions, etc., Contributions to Photographic Literature, and Personal Reminescences Extending over Forty Years</p> +<p>Author: John Werge</p> +<p>Release Date: February 13, 2012 [eBook #38866]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVOLUTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY ***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by<br /> + Albert László, Tom Cosmas, P. G. Máté,<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by<br /> + Internet Archive<br /> + (<a href="http://www.archive.org">http://www.archive.org</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/evolutionofphoto00werguoft"> + http://www.archive.org/details/evolutionofphoto00werguoft</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="fig_center" style="width: 242px;"> +<a name="cover" id="cover"></a> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="242" height="403" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + +<hr class="full" /> +<div class="center fig_caption mrt4"> +<a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a>FIRST PERIOD. +<hr class="r10" /> +<span class="smaller">PAPER, ASPHALTUM, &c.</span></div> + +<table summary="First Period Images"> +<tr> + <td><img src="images/001_1.png" width="242" height="308" alt="" title="" /></td> + <td><img src="images/001_2.png" width="260" height="330" alt="" title="" /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center smaller">THOMAS WEDGWOOD.<br /> + <i>From a Plaster Cast.</i> + </td> + <td class="center smaller">JOSEPH NICÉPHORE NIÉPCE.<br /> + <i>From a Painting by L. Berger.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center" colspan="2"><img src="images/001_3.png" width="266" height="337" alt="" title="" /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" class="center smaller">Rev. J. B. READE.<br /> + <i>From a Photograph<br /> + by Maull & Fox.</i> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><img src="images/001_4.png" width="270" height="338" alt="" title="" /></td> + <td><img src="images/001_5.png" width="276" height="340" alt="" title="" /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center smaller">HENRY FOX TALBOT.<br /> + <i>From a Calotype.</i></td> + <td class="center smaller">SIR JOHN HERSCHEL.<br /> + <i>From a Daguerreotype.</i><br /></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p> +<div class="center"> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h1>THE EVOLUTION<br /> +OF<br /> +PHOTOGRAPHY.</h1> + +<div class="center smaller">WITH A</div> +<h2>CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD</h2> +<div class="center smaller">OF</div> +<h2>DISCOVERIES, INVENTIONS, ETC.,</h2> +<h2>CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHOTOGRAPHIC LITERATURE,</h2> +<div class="center smaller">AND</div> +<h2>PERSONAL REMINISCENCES EXTENDING OVER FORTY YEARS.</h2> +<br /> + +<div class="center smaller">BY</div> + +<h2>JOHN WERGE.</h2> +<br /> + +<hr class="r20" /> +ILLUSTRATED.<br /> +<hr class="r20" /> +<br /> + +LONDON:<br /> +PIPER & CARTER, 5, FURNIVAL STREET, HOLBORN, E.C.;<br /> +AND<br /> +JOHN WERGE, 11A, BERNERS STREET, OXFORD STREET, W.<br /> +<br /> +<hr style="width: 10%;" /> +<br /> +1890.<br /> +<br /> +[<span class="smcap">All Rights Reserved.</span>]<br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> + +<h3 class="mrt4 smcap">Printed by Piper & Carter, 5, Furnival Street, Holborn, London, E.C.</h3> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + +<div class="fig_center" style="width: 64px; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/bar2.png" width="64" height="14" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p>No previous history of photography, that I am aware of, has ever assumed +the form of a reminiscence, nor have I met with a photographic work, of +any description, that is so strictly built upon a chronological +foundation as the one now placed in the hands of the reader. I therefore +think, and trust, that it will prove to be an acceptable and readable +addition to photographic literature.</p> + +<p>It was never intended that this volume should be a text-book, so I have +not entered into elaborate descriptions of the manipulations of this or +that process, but have endeavoured to make it a comprehensive and +agreeable summary of all that has been done in the past, and yet convey +a perfect knowledge of all the processes as they have appeared and +effected radical changes in the practice of photography.</p> + +<p>The chronological record of discoveries, inventions, appliances, and +publications connected with the art will, it is hoped, be received and +considered as a useful and interesting table of reference; while the +reminiscences, extending over forty years of unbroken contact with every +phase of photography, and some of its pioneers, will form a vital link +between the long past and immediate present, which may awaken pleasing +recollections in some, and give encouragement to others to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span> +enter the field of experiment, and endeavour to continue the +work of evolution.</p> + +<p>At page 10 it is stated, on the authority of the late Robert Hunt, that +some of Niépce’s early pictures may be seen at the British Museum. That +was so, but unfortunately it is not so now. On making application, very +recently, to examine these pictures, I ascertained that they were never +placed in the care of the curator of the British Museum, but were the +private property of the late Dr. Robert Brown, who left them to his +colleague, John Joseph Bennett, and that at the latter’s death they +passed into the possession of his widow. I wrote to the lady making +enquiries about them, but have not been able to trace them further; +there are, however, two very interesting examples of Niépce’s +heliographs, and one photo-etched plate and print, lent by Mr. H. P. +Robinson, on view at South Kensington, in the Western Gallery of the +Science Collection.</p> + +<p>For the portrait of Thomas Wedgwood, I am indebted to Mr. Godfrey +Wedgwood; for that of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, to the Mayor of +Chalons-sur-Saône; for the Rev. J. B. Reade’s, to Mr. Fox; for Sir John +Herschel’s, to Mr. H. H. Cameron; for John Frederick Goddard’s, to Dr. +Jabez Hogg; and for Frederick Scott Archer’s, to Mr. Alfred Cade; and to +all those gentlemen I tender my most grateful acknowledgments. Also to +the Autotype Company, for their care and attention in carrying out my +wishes in the reproduction of all the illustrations by their beautiful +Collotype Process.</p> + +<p class="tdr">JOHN WERGE.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 3em;"><i>London, June, 1890.</i></p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/bar2.png" width="64" height="14" alt="" /></div> + +<table width="80%" summary="Toc"> +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center" colspan="2" style="padding-top:2.5em;">FIRST PERIOD.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#FIRST_PERIOD">The Dark Ages</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center" colspan="2" style="padding-top:2.5em;">SECOND PERIOD.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#SECOND_PERIOD">Publicity and Progress</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center" colspan="2" style="padding-top:2.5em;">THIRD PERIOD.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#THIRD_PERIOD">Collodion Triumphant</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center" colspan="2" style="padding-top:2.5em;">FOURTH PERIOD.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#FOURTH_PERIOD">Gelatine Successful</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center" colspan="2" style="padding-top:2.5em;">CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHRONOLOGICAL_RECORD">Inventions, Discoveries, etc.</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" style="padding:2.5em"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CONTRIBUTIONS_TO_PHOTOGRAPHIC_LITERATURE">CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHOTOGRAPHIC LITERATURE.</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a> +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> + +<p class="fig_center" style="width: 64px; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/bar2.png" width="64" height="14" alt="" /> +</p> + + +<table width="80%" summary="LoI"> +<tr> + <td align="center"><a href="#Frontispiece">Frontispiece</a></td> + <td>Portrait of Thomas Wedgwood.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="center">„</td> + <td class="smcap">Portrait of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="center">„</td> + <td class="smcap">Portrait of Rev. J. B. Reade.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="center">„</td> + <td class="smcap">Portrait of Henry Fox Talbot.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="center">„</td> + <td class="smcap">Portrait of Sir John Herschel.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="center"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> + <td class="smcap">Portrait of L. J. M. Daguerre.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="center"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> + <td class="smcap">Portrait of John Frederick Goddard.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="center"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> + <td class="smcap">Copy of Instantaneous Daguerreotype.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="center"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> + <td class="smcap">Portrait of Frederick Scott Archer.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="center"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> + <td class="smcap">Hever Castle, Kent.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="center"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td> + <td class="smcap">Portrait of Dr. R. L. Maddox.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="center"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td> + <td class="smcap">Portrait of Richard Kennett.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr class="full" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2> + +<div class="fig_center" style="width: 64px;"> +<img src="images/bar2.png" width="64" height="14" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p class="p0"> +Archer, Frederick Scott, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>-<a href="#Page_69">69</a><br /> +Argentic Gelatino-Bromide Paper, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +Abney’s Translation of Pizzighelli and Hubl’s Booklet, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +A String of Old Beads, <a href="#Page_309">309</a><br /> +<br /> +Bacon, Roger, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br /> +Bennett, Charles, <a href="#Page_102">102</a><br /> +Boston, <a href="#Page_51">51</a><br /> +Bromine Accelerator, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +Bingham, Robert J., <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br /> +Burgess, J., <a href="#Page_93">93</a><br /> +<br /> +Cabinet Portraits, <a href="#Page_84">84</a><br /> +Camera-Obscura, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br /> +Chronological Record, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_139">139</a><br /> +Convention of 1889, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /> +Claudet, A. F. J., <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Chlorine Accelerator, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +Collodion Process (Archer’s), <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br /> +Collodio-Chloride Printing Process, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br /> +<br /> +Davy, Sir H., <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br /> +Daguerre, L. J. M., <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br /> +Daguerreotype Process, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br /> +—— Apparatus Imported, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +Diaphanotypes, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br /> +Dolland, J., <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br /> +Donkin, W. F., <a href="#Page_120">120</a><br /> +Draper, Dr., <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +Dublin Exhibition, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>-<a href="#Page_226">226</a><br /> +<br /> +Eburneum Process, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br /> +Elliott & Fry, <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +Eosine, &c., <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +Errors in Pictorial Backgrounds, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +First Photographic Portrait, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +Fizeau, M., <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +Flash-light Pictures, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br /> +<br /> +Gelatino-Bromide Experiments, <a href="#Page_91">91</a><br /> +Globe Lens, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br /> +Goddard, John Frederick, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br /> +<br /> +Harrison, W. H., <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br /> +Heliographic Process, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /> +Heliochromy, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +Herschel, Dr., <a href="#Page_6">6</a><br /> +Herschel, Sir John, <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br /> +Hillotypes, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br /> +Hughes, Jabez, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a><br /> +Hunt, Robert, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +International Exhibitions, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br /> +<br /> +Johnson, J. R., <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +<br /> +Kennett, R., <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +<br /> +Lambert, Leon, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /> +Laroche, Sylvester, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +Lea, Carey, <a href="#Page_101">101</a><br /> +“Lux Graphicus” on the Wing, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>-<a href="#Page_299">299</a><br /> +Lights and Lighting, <a href="#Page_311">311</a><br /> +<br /> +Maddox, Dr. R. L., <a href="#Page_91">91</a><br /> +Magic Photographs, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br /> +Mawson, John, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +Mayall, J. E., <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> +Macbeth, Norman, <a href="#Page_120">120</a><br /> +Montreal, <a href="#Page_51">51</a><br /> +Morgan and Kidd, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span><br /> +Newton, Sir Isaac, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br /> +New York, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br /> +Niagara, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +Niépce, J. Nicéphore, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> +Niépce de St. Victor, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +Niagara, Pictures of, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>-<a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /> +Notes on Pictures in National Gallery, <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +<br /> +Orthochromatic Plates, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br /> +<br /> +Panoramic Lens and Camera, <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +Pistolgraph, <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +Pensions to Daguerre and Niépce, <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> +Philadelphia, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> +Ponton, Mungo, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br /> +Poitevin, M., <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br /> +Porta, Baptista G., <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br /> +Potash Bichromate, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> +Pouncy Process, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br /> +Pictures of the St. Lawrence, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>-<a href="#Page_169">169</a><br /> +Pinhole Camera, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +Pizzighelli’s Platinum Printing, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br /> +Pictures of the Potomac, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>-<a href="#Page_196">196</a><br /> +Photography in the North, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-<a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +Perspective, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>-<a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +Photography and the Immured Pompeiians, <a href="#Page_303">303</a><br /> +<br /> +Rambles among Studios, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_204">204</a><br /> +Reade, Rev. J. B., <a href="#Page_15">15</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br /> +Rejlander, O. G., <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /> +Ritter, John Wm., <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br /> +Rumford, Count, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br /> +Russell, Col., <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +Sable Island, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br /> +Salomon, Adam, <a href="#Page_84">84</a><br /> +Sawyer, J. R., <a href="#Page_121">121</a><br /> +Scheele, C. W., <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br /> +Senebier, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br /> +Simpson, George Wharton, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br /> +Soda Sulphite, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +Swan’s Carbon Process, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br /> +Stannotype, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +Sutton, Thomas, <a href="#Page_100">100</a><br /> +Spencer, J. A., <a href="#Page_102">102</a><br /> +Stereoscopic Pictures, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br /> +Sharpness and Softness <i>v.</i> Hardness, <a href="#Page_249">249</a><br /> +Simple Mode of Intensifying Negatives, <a href="#Page_307">307</a><br /> +<br /> +Talbot, Henry Fox, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a><br /> +Talbot versus Laroche, <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> +Taylor, Professor Alfred Swaine, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +The Hudson River, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-<a href="#Page_183">183</a><br /> +The Society’s Exhibition, <a href="#Page_260">260</a><br /> +The Use of Clouds in Landscapes, <a href="#Page_265">265</a><br /> +—— as Backgrounds in Portraiture, <a href="#Page_269">269</a><br /> +<br /> +Union of the North and South London Societies, <a href="#Page_253">253</a><br /> +<br /> +Vogel, Dr. H. W., <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +<br /> +Washington, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> +Wedgwood Controversy, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br /> +Wedgwood, Thomas, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br /> +Whipple Gallery, <a href="#Page_52">52</a><br /> +Wolcott Reflecting Camera, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +Wollaston’s Diaphragmatic Shutter, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br /> +Wollaston, Dr., <a href="#Page_6">6</a><br /> +Woodbury Process, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br /> +Wothlytype Printing Process, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br /> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h2> + +<div class="fig_center" style="width: 84px;"> +<img src="images/bar.png" width="84" height="11" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Photography</span>, though young in years, is sufficiently aged to be in danger +of having much of its early history, its infantile gambols, and vigorous +growth, obscured or lost sight of in the glitter and reflection of the +brilliant success which surrounds its maturity. Scarcely has the period +of an average life passed away since the labours of the successful +experimentalists began; yet, how few of the present generation of +workers can lay their fingers on the dates of the birth, christening, +and phases of the delightful vocation they pursue. Many know little or +nothing of the long and weary travail the minds of the discoverers +suffered before their ingenuity gave birth to the beautiful art-science +by which they live. What form the infant art assumed in the earlier +stages of its life; or when, where, and how, it passed from one phase to +another until it arrived at its present state of mature and profitable +perfection. Born with the art, as I may say, and having graduated in it, +I could, if I felt so disposed, give an interesting, if not amusing, +description of its rise and progress, and the many difficulties and +disappointments that some of the early practitioners experienced at a +time when photographic A B C’s were not printed; its “principles and +practice” anything but familiarly explained; and when the “dark room” +was as dark as the grave, and as poisonous as a charnel-house, and only +occasionally illumined by the glare of a “bull’s-eye.” But it is not my +intention to enter the domain of romance, and give highly coloured or +extravagant accounts of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +the growth of so beautiful and fascinating an +art-science. Photography is sufficiently facetious in itself, and too +versatile in its powers of delineation of scenes and character, to +require any verbose effort of mine to make it attractive. A record of +bare facts is all I aim at. Whatever is doubtful I shall leave to the +imagination of the reader, or the invention of the romance writer. To +arrange in chronological order the various discoveries, inventions, and +improvements that have made photography what it is; to do honour to +those who have toiled and given, or sold, the fruits of their labour for +the advancement of the art; to set at rest, as far as dates can succeed +in doing so, any questionable point or order of precedence of merit in +invention, application, or modification of a process, and to enable the +photographic student to make himself acquainted with the epochs of the +art, is the extent of my ambition in compiling these records.</p> + +<p>With the hope of rendering this work readily referable and most +comprehensive, I shall divide it into four periods. The first will deal +broadly and briefly with such facts as can be ascertained that in any +way bear on the accidental discovery, early researches, and ultimate +success of the pioneers of photography.</p> + +<p>The second will embrace a fuller description of their successes and +results. The third will be devoted to a consideration of patents and +impediments; and the fourth to the rise and development of photographic +literature and art. A strict chronological arrangement of each period +will be maintained, and it is hoped that the advantages to be derived +from travelling some of the same ground over again in the various +divisions of the subject will fully compensate the reader, and be +accepted as sufficient excuse for any unavoidable repetition that may +appear in the work. With these few remarks I shall at once enter upon +the task of placing before the reader in chronological order the origin, +rise, progress, and development of the science and art of photography.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="FIRST_PERIOD" id="FIRST_PERIOD"></a>FIRST PERIOD.</h2> + +<h3>THE DARK AGES.</h3> + +<div class="fig_center" style="width: 84px;"> +<img src="images/bar.png" width="84" height="11" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">More</span> than three hundred years have elapsed since the influence and +actinism of light on chloride of silver was observed by the alchemists +of the sixteenth century. This discovery was unquestionably the first +thing that suggested to the minds of succeeding chemists and men of +science the possibility of obtaining pictures of solid bodies on a plane +surface previously coated with a silver salt by means of the sun’s rays; +but the alchemists were too much absorbed in their vain endeavours to +convert the base metals into royal ones to seize the hint, and they lost +the opportunity of turning the silver compounds with which they were +acquainted into the mine of wealth it eventually became in the +nineteenth century. Curiously enough, a mechanical invention of the same +period was afterwards employed, with a very trifling modification, for +the production of the earliest sun-pictures. This was the camera-obscura +invented by Roger Bacon in 1297, and improved by a physician in Padua, +Giovanni Baptista Porta, about 1500, and afterwards remodelled by Sir +Isaac Newton.</p> + +<p>Two more centuries passed away before another step was taken towards the +revelation of the marvellous fact that Nature possessed within herself +the power to delineate her own beauties, and, as has recently been +proved, that the sun could +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +depict his own terrible majesty with a +rapidity and fidelity the hand of man could never attain. The second +step towards this grand achievement of science was the construction of +the double achromatic combination of lenses by J. Dolland. With single +combinations of lenses, such pictures as we see of ourselves to-day, and +such portraits of the sun as the astronomers obtained during the late +total eclipse, could never have been produced. J. Dolland, the eminent +optician, was born in London 1706, and died 1762; and had he not made +that important improvement in the construction of lenses, the eminent +photographic opticians of the present day might have lived and died +unknown to wealth and fame.</p> + +<p>The observations of the celebrated Swedish chemist, Scheele, formed the +next interesting link between the simple and general blackening of a +lump of chloride of silver, and the gradations of blackening which +ultimately produced the photographic picture on a piece of paper +possessing a prepared surface of nitrate of silver and chloride of +sodium in combination. Scheele discovered in 1777 that the blackening of +the silver compound was due to the reducing power of light, and that the +black deposit was <i>reduced silver</i>; and it is precisely the same effect +of the action of light upon chloride of silver passing through the +various densities of the negative that produces the beautiful +photographic prints with which we are all familiar at the present time. +Scheele was also the first to discover and make known the fact that +chloride of silver was blackened or reduced to various depths by the +varying action of the prismatic colours. He fixed a glass prism in a +window, allowed the refracted sunbeams to fall on a piece of paper +strewn with <i>luna cornua</i>—fused chloride of silver—and saw that the +violet ray was more active than any of the other colours. Anyone, with a +piece of sensitised paper and a prism, or piece of a broken lustre, can +repeat and see for themselves Scheele’s interesting discovery; and +anyone that can draw a head or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +a flower may catch a sunbeam in a small +magnifying glass, and make a drawing on sensitised paper with a pencil, +as long as the sun is distant from the earth. It is the old story of +Columbus and the egg—easy to do when you are shown or told how.</p> + +<p>Charles William Scheele was born at Stralsund, Sweden, December 19th, +1742, and died at Koeping, on lake Moeler, May 21st, 1786. He was the +real father of photography, for he produced the first photographic +picture on record without camera and without lens, with the same +chemical compound and the same beautiful and wonderful combination of +natural colours which we now employ. Little did he dream what was to +follow. But photography, like everything else in this world, is a +process of evolution.</p> + +<p>Senebier followed up Scheele’s experiments with the solar spectrum, and +ascertained that chloride of silver was darkened by the violet ray in +fifteen minutes, while the red rays were sluggish, and required twenty +minutes to produce the same result.</p> + +<p>John Wm. Ritter, born at Samitz, in Silesia, corroborated the +experiments of Scheele, and discovered that chloride of silver was +blackened beyond the spectrum on the violet side. He died in 1810; but +he had observed what is now called the fluorescent rays of the +spectrum—invisible rays which unquestionably exert themselves in the +interests and practice of photography.</p> + +<p>Many other experiments were made by other chemists and philosophers on +the influence of light on various substances, but none of them had any +direct bearing on the subject under consideration until Count Rumford, +in 1798, communicated to the Royal Society his experiments with chloride +of gold. Count Rumford wetted a piece of taffeta ribbon with a solution +of chloride of gold, held it horizontally over the clear flame of a wax +candle, and saw that the heat decomposed the gold solution, and stained +the ribbon a beautiful purple. Though +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +no revived gold was visible, the +ribbon appeared to be coated with a rich purple enamel, which showed a +metallic lustre of great brilliancy when viewed in the sunlight; but its +photographic value lay in the circumstance of the hint it afterwards +afforded M. Fizeau in applying a solution of chloride of gold, and, by +means of heat, depositing a fine film of metallic gold on the surface of +the Daguerreotype image, thereby increasing the brilliancy and +permanency of that form of photographic picture. A modification of M. +Fizeau’s chloride of gold “fixing process” is still used to tone, and +imparts a rich purple colour to photographic prints on plain and +albumenized papers.</p> + +<p>In 1800, Dr. Herschel’s “Memoirs on the Heating Power of the Solar +Spectrum” were published, and out of his observations on the various +effects of differently coloured darkening glasses arose the idea that +the chemical properties of the prismatic colours, and coloured glass, +might be as different as those which related to heat and light. His +suspicions were ultimately verified, and hence the use of yellow or ruby +glass in the windows of the “dark room,” as either of those coloured +glasses admit the luminous ray and restrain the violet or active +photographic ray, and allow all the operations that would otherwise have +to be performed in the dark, to be seen and done in comfort, and without +injury to the sensitive film.</p> + +<p>The researches of Dr. Wollaston, in 1802, had very little reference to +photography beyond his examination of the chemical action of the rays of +the spectrum, and his observation that the yellow stain of gum guaiacum +was converted to a green colour in the violet rays, and that the red +rays rapidly destroyed the green tint the violet rays had generated.</p> + +<p>1802 is, however, a memorable year in the dark ages of photography, and +the disappointment of those enthusiastic and indefatigable pursuers of +the sunbeam must have been grievous indeed, when, after years of labour, +they found the means of catching shadows as they fell, and discovered +that they could not keep them.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +Thomas Wedgwood, son of the celebrated potter, was not only the first +that obtained photographic impressions of objects, but the first to make +the attempt to obtain sun-pictures in the true sense of the word. +Scheele had obtained the first photographic picture of the solar +spectrum, but it was by accident, and while pursuing other chemical +experiments; whereas Wedgwood went to work avowedly to make the sunbeam +his slave, to enlist the sun into the service of art, and to compel the +sun to illustrate art, and to depict nature more faithfully than art had +ever imitated anything illumined by the sun before. How far he succeeded +everyone should know, and no student of photography should ever tire of +reading the first published account of his fascinating pastime or +delightful vocation, if it were but to remind him of the treasures that +surround him, and the value of hyposulphite of soda. What would Thomas +Wedgwood not have given for a handful of that now common commodity? +There is a mournfulness in the sentence relative to the evanescence of +those sun-pictures in the Memoir by Wedgwood and Davy that is peculiarly +impressive and desponding contrasted with our present notions of +instability. We know that sun-pictures will, at the least, last for +years, while they knew that at the most they would endure but for a few +hours. The following extracts from the Memoir published in June, 1802, +will, it is hoped, be found sufficiently interesting and in place here +to justify their insertion.</p> + +<p>“White paper, or white leather moistened with solution of nitrate of +silver, undergoes no change when kept in a dark place, but on being +exposed to the daylight it speedily changes colour, and after passing +through different shades of grey and brown becomes at length nearly +black.... In the direct beams of the sun, two or three minutes are +sufficient to produce the full effect, in the shade several hours are +required, and light transmitted through different coloured glasses acts +upon it with different degrees of intensity. Thus it is found +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +that red rays, or the common sunbeams passed through red glass, have +very little action upon it; yellow and green are more efficacious, but +blue and violet light produce the most decided and powerful effects.... +When the shadow of any figure is thrown upon the prepared surface, the +part concealed by it remains white, and the other parts speedily become +dark. For copying paintings on glass, the solution should be applied on +leather, and in this case it is more readily acted on than when paper is +used. After the colour has been once fixed on the leather or paper, it +cannot be removed by the application of water, or water and soap, and it +is in a high degree permanent. The copy of a painting or the profile, +immediately after being taken, must be kept in an obscure place; it may +indeed be examined in the shade, but in this case the exposure should be +only for a few minutes; by the light of candles or lamps as commonly +employed it is not sensibly affected.</p> + +<p>“No attempts that have been made to prevent the uncoloured parts of the +copy or profile from being acted upon by the light have as yet been +successful. They have been covered by a thin coating of fine varnish, +but this has not destroyed their susceptibility of becoming coloured, +and even after repeated washings, sufficient of the active part of the +saline matter will adhere to the white parts of leather or paper to +cause them to become dark when exposed to the rays of the sun....</p> + +<p>“The images formed by means of a camera-obscura have been found to be too +faint to produce, in any moderate time, an effect upon the nitrate of +silver. To copy these images was the first object of Mr. Wedgwood, in +his researches on the subject, and for this purpose he first used the +nitrate of silver, which was mentioned to him by a friend, as a +substance very sensible to the influence of light; but all his numerous +experiments as to their primary end proved unsuccessful.”</p> + +<p>From the foregoing extracts from the first lecture on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> photography that +ever was delivered or published, it will be seen that those two eminent +philosophers and experimentalists +despaired of obtaining pictures in the camera-obscura, and of rendering +the pictures obtained by superposition, or cast shadows, in any degree +permanent, and that they were utterly ignorant and destitute of any +fixing agents. No wonder, then, that all further attempts to pursue +these experiments should, for a time, be abandoned in England. Although +Thomas Wedgwood’s discoveries were not published until 1802, he obtained +his first results in 1791, and does not appear to have made any +appreciable advance during the remainder of his life. He was born in +1771, and died in 1805. Sir Humphry Davy was born at Penzance 1778, +and died at Geneva in 1828, so that neither of them lived to see the +realization of their hopes.</p> + +<p>From the time that Wedgwood and Davy relinquished their investigation, +the subject appears to have lain dormant until 1814, when Joseph +Nicéphore Niépce, of Chalons-sur-Saône, commenced a series of experiments +with various resins, with the object of securing or retaining in a +permanent state the pictures produced in the camera-obscura, and in +1824, L. J. M. Daguerre turned his attention to the same subject. These +two investigators appear to have carried on their experiments in +different ways, and in total ignorance of the existence and pursuits of +the other, until the year 1826, when they accidentally became acquainted +with each other and the nature of their investigations. Their +introduction and reciprocal admiration did not, however, induce them to +exchange their ideas, or reveal the extent of their success in the +researches on which they were occupied, and which both were pursuing so +secretly and guardedly. They each preserved a marked reticence on the +subject for a considerable time, and it was not until a deed of +partnership was executed between them that they confided their hopes and +fears, their failures with this substance, and their prospects of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +success with that; and even after the execution of the deed of +partnership they seem to have jealously withheld as much of their +knowledge as they decently could under the circumstances.</p> + +<p>Towards the close of 1827 M. Niépce visited England, and we receive the +first intimation of his success in the production of light-drawn +pictures from a note addressed to Mr. Bauer, of Kew. It is rather +curious and flattering to find that the earliest intimation of the +Frenchman’s success is given in England. The note which M. Niépce wrote +to Mr. Bauer is in French, but the following is a translation of the +interesting announcement:—“Kew, 19th November, 1827. Sir,—When I left +France to reside here, I was engaged in researches on the way to retain +the image of objects by the action of light. I have obtained some +results which make me eager to proceed.... Nicéphore Niépce.” This is +the first recorded announcement of his partial success.</p> + +<p>In the following December he communicated with the Royal Society of +London, and showed several pictures on metal plates. Most of these +pictures were specimens of his successful experiments with various +resins, and the subjects were rendered visible to the extent which the +light had assisted in hardening portions of the resin-covered plates. +Some were etchings, and had been subjected to the action of acid after +the design had been impressed by the action of light. Several of these +specimens, I believe, are still extant, and may be seen on application +to the proper official at the British Museum. M. Niépce named these +results of his researches Heliography, and Mr. Robert Hunt gives their +number, and a description of each subject, in his work entitled, +“Researches on Light.” M. Niépce met with some disappointment in England +on account of the Royal Society refusing to receive his communication as +a secret, and he returned to France rather hurriedly. In a letter dated +“Chalons-sur-Saône, 1st March, 1828,” he says, “We arrived here 26th +February”; and, in a letter written by Daguerre, February 3rd, 1828, we +find that savant consoling his brother experimentalist for his lack of +encouragement in England.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +In December, 1829, the two French investigators joined issue by +executing a deed of co-partnery, in which they agreed to prosecute their +researches in future in mutual confidence and for their joint advantage; +but their interchange of thought and experience does not appear to have +been of much value or advantage to the other; for an examination of the +correspondence between MM. Niépce and Daguerre tends to show that the +one somewhat annoyed the other by sticking to his resins, and the other +one by recommending the use of iodine. M. Niépce somewhat ungraciously +expresses regret at having wasted so much time in experimenting with +iodine at M. Daguerre’s suggestion, but ultimate results fully justified +Daguerre’s recommendation, and proved that he was then on the right +track, while M. Niépce’s experiments with resins, asphaltum, and other +substances terminated in nothing but tedious manipulations, lengthy +exposures, and unsatisfactory results. To M. Niépce, most +unquestionably, is due the honour of having produced the first permanent +sun-pictures, for we have seen that those obtained by Wedgwood and Davy +were as fleeting as a shadow, while those exhibited by M. Niépce in 1827 +are still in their original condition, and, imperfect as they are, they +are likely to retain their permanency for ever. Their fault lay in +neither possessing beauty nor commercial applicability.</p> + +<p>As M. Niépce died at Chalons-sur-Saône in 1833, and does not appear to +have improved his process much, if any, after entering into partnership +with M. Daguerre, and as I may not have occasion to allude to him or his +researches again, I think this will be the most fitting place to give a +brief description of his process, and his share in the labours of +bringing up the wonderful baby of science, afterwards named Photography, +to a safe and ineffaceable period of its existence.</p> + +<p>The Heliographic process of M. Niépce consists of a solution of +asphaltum, bitumen of Judea, being spread on metal or glass plates, +submitted to the action of light either by superposition +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +or in the +camera, and the unaffected parts dissolved away afterwards by means of a +suitable solvent. But, in case any student of photography should like to +produce one of the first form of permanent sun-pictures, I shall give +here the details of M. Niépce’s own <i>modus operandi</i> for preparing the +solution of bitumen and coating the plate:—</p> + +<p>“I about half fill a wine-glass with this pulverised bitumen; I pour +upon it, drop by drop, the essential oil of lavender until the bitumen +is completely saturated. I afterwards add as much more of the essential +oil as causes the whole to stand about three lines above the mixture, +which is then covered and submitted to a gentle heat until the essential +oil is fully impregnated with the colouring matter of the bitumen. If +this varnish is not of the required consistency, it is to be allowed to +evaporate slowly, without heat, in a shallow dish, care being taken to +protect it from moisture, by which it is injured and at last decomposed. +In winter, or in rainy weather, the precaution is doubly necessary. A +tablet of plated silver, or well cleaned and warm glass, is to be highly +polished, on which a thin coating of the varnish is to be applied cold, +with a light roll of very soft skin; this will impart to it a fine +vermilion colour, and cover it with a very thin and equal coating. The +plate is then placed upon heated iron, which is wrapped round with +several folds of paper, from which, by this method, all moisture had +been previously expelled. When the varnish has ceased to simmer, the +plate is withdrawn from the heat, and left to cool and dry in a gentle +temperature, and protected from a damp atmosphere. In this part of the +operation a light disc of metal, with a handle in the centre, should be +held before the mouth, in order to condense the moisture of the breath.”</p> + +<p>In the foregoing description it will be observed how much importance M. +Niépce attached to the necessity of protecting the solution and prepared +plate from moisture, and that no precautions are given concerning the +effect of white light. It +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +must be remembered, however, that the +material employed was very insensitive, requiring many hours of exposure +either in the camera or under a print or drawing placed in contact with +the prepared surface, and consequently such precaution might not have +been deemed necessary. Probably M. Niépce worked in a subdued light, but +there can be no doubt about the necessity of conducting both the +foregoing operations in yellow light. Had M. Niépce performed his +operations in a non-actinic light, the plates would certainly have been +more sensitive, and the unacted-on parts would have been more soluble; +thus rendering both the time of exposure and development more rapid.</p> + +<p>After the plate was prepared and dried, it was exposed in the camera, or +by superposition, under a print, or other suitable subject, that would +lie flat. For the latter, an exposure of two or three hours in bright +sunshine was necessary, and the former required six or eight hours in a +strong light. Even those prolonged exposures did not produce a visible +image, and the resultant picture was not revealed to view until after a +tedious process of dissolving, for it could scarcely be called +development. M. Niépce himself says, “The next operation then is to +disengage the <i>shrouded</i> imagery, and this is accomplished by a +solvent.” The solvent consisted of one measure of the essential oil of +lavender and ten of oil of white petroleum or benzole. On removing the +tablet from the camera or other object, it was plunged into a bath of +the above solvent, and left there until the parts not hardened by light +were dissolved. When the picture was fully revealed, it was placed at an +angle to drain, and finished by washing it in water.</p> + +<p>Except for the purpose of after-etching, M. Niépce’s process was of +little commercial value then, but it has since been of some service in +the practice of photo-lithography. That, I think, is the fullest extent +of the commercial or artistic advantages derived from the utmost success +of M. Niépce’s discoveries; but what he considered his failures, the +fact that he employed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +copper plates coated with silver for his +heliographic tablets, and endeavoured to darken the clean or clear parts +of the silvered plates with the fumes of iodine for the sake of contrast +only, may be safely accepted as the foundation of Daguerre’s ultimate +success in discovering the extremely beautiful and workable process +known as the Daguerreotype.</p> + +<p>M. Niépce appears to have done very little more towards perfecting the +heliographic process after joining Daguerre; but the latter effected +some improvements, and substituted for the bitumen of Judea the residuum +obtained by evaporating the essential oil of lavender, without, however, +attaining any important advance in that direction. After the death of M. +Nicéphore Niépce, a new agreement was entered into by his son, M. +Isidore Niépce, and M. Daguerre, and we must leave those two +experimentalists pursuing their discoveries in France while we return to +England to pick up the chronological links that unite the history of +this wonderful discovery with the time that it was abandoned by Wedgwood +and Davy, and the period of its startling and brilliant realization.</p> + +<p>In 1834, Mr. Henry Fox Talbot, of Lacock Abbey, Wilts, “began to put in +practice,” as he informs us in his memoir read before the Royal Society, +a method which <i>he</i> “had <i>devised</i> some time previously, for employing +to purposes of utility the very curious property which has been long +known to chemists to be possessed by the nitrate of silver—namely, to +discolouration when exposed to the violet rays of light.” The statement +just quoted places us at once on the debateable ground of our subject, +and compels us to pause and consider to what extent photography is +indebted to Mr. Talbot for its further development at this period and +five years subsequently. In the first place, it is not to be supposed +for a moment that a man of Mr. Talbot’s position and education could +possibly be ignorant of what had been done by Mr. Thomas Wedgwood and +Sir Humphry Davy. Their experiments were published in the Journal of +the Royal +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +Institution of Great Britain in June, 1802, and Mr. Talbot or +some of his friends could not have failed to have seen or heard of those +published details; and, in the second place, a comparison between the +last records of Wedgwood and Davy’s experiments, and the first published +details of Mr. Talbot’s process, shows not only that the two processes +are identically the same, but that Mr. Talbot published his process +before he had made a single step in advance of Wedgwood and Davy’s +discoveries; and that his fixing solution was not a fixer at all, but +simply a retardant that delayed the gradual disappearance of the picture +only a short time longer. Mr. Talbot has generally been credited with +the honour of producing the first permanent sun-pictures on paper; but +there are grave reasons for doubting the justice of that honour being +entirely, if at all, due to him, and the following facts and extracts +will probably tend to set that question at rest, and transfer the laurel +to another brow.</p> + +<p>To the late Rev. J. B. Reade is incontestably due the honour of having +first applied tannin as an accelerator, and hyposulphite of soda as a +fixing agent, to the production and retention of light-produced +pictures; and having first obtained an ineffaceable photograph upon +paper. Mr. Talbot’s gallate of silver process was not patented or +published till 1841; whereas the Rev. J. B. Reade produced paper +negatives by means of gallic acid and nitrate of silver in 1837. It will +be remembered that Mr. Wedgwood had discovered and stated that the +chloride of silver was more sensitive when applied to white leather, and +Mr. Reade, by inductive reasoning, came to the conclusion that tanned +paper and silver would be more sensitive to light than ordinary paper +coated with nitrate of silver could possibly be. As the reverend +philosopher’s ideas on that subject are probably the first that ever +impregnated the mind of man, and as his experiments and observations are +the very earliest in the pursuit of a gallic acid accelerator and +developer, I will give them in his own words.—“No one can dispute my claim to be the first to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +suggest the use of gallic acid as a sensitiser +for prepared paper, and hyposulphite of soda as a fixer. These are the +keystones of the arch at which Davy and Young had laboured—or, as I may +say in the language of another science, we may vary the tones as we +please, but here is the fundamental base. My use of gallate of silver +was the result of an inference from Wedgwood’s experiments with leather, +‘which is more readily acted upon than paper’ (<i>Journal of the Royal +Institution</i>, vol. i., p. 171). Mrs. Reade was so good as to give me a +pair of light-coloured leather gloves, that I might repeat Wedgwood’s +experiment, and, as my friend Mr. Ackerman reminds me, her little +objection to let me have a second pair led me to say, ‘Then I will tan +paper.’ Accordingly I used an infusion of galls in the first instance in +the early part of the year 1837, when I was engaged in taking +photographs of microscopic objects. By a new arrangement of lenses in +the solar microscope, I produced a convergence of the rays of light, +while the rays of heat, owing to their different refractions, were +parallel or divergent. This fortunate dispersion of the calorific rays +enabled me to use objects mounted in balsam, as well as cemented +achromatic object glasses; and, indeed, such was the coolness of the +illumination, that even <i>infusoria</i> in single drops of water were +perfectly happy and playful (<i>vide</i> abstracts of the ‘Philosophical +Transactions,’ December 22nd, 1836). The continued expense of an +artist—though, at first, I employed my friend, Lens Aldons—to copy the +pictures on the screen was out of the question. I therefore fell back, +but without any sanguine expectations as to the result, upon the +photographic process adopted by Wedgwood, with which I happened to be +well acquainted. It was a <i>weary while</i>, however, before any +satisfactory impression was made, either on chloride or nitrate paper. I +succeeded better with the leather; but my fortunate inability to +replenish the little stock of this latter article induced me to apply +the tannin solution to paper, and thus I was at once +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +placed, by a very +decided step, in advance of earlier experimenters, and I had the +pleasure of succeeding where Talbot acknowledges that he failed.</p> + +<p>“Naturally enough, the solution which I used at first was too strong, +but, if you have ever been in what I may call <i>the agony of a find</i>, you +can conceive my sensations on witnessing the unwilling paper become in a +few seconds almost as black as my hat. There was just a passing glimpse +of outline, ‘and in a moment all was dark.’ It was evident, however, +that I was in possession of all, and more than all, I wanted, and that +the dilution of so powerful an accelerator would probably give +successful results. The large amount of dilution greatly surprised me; +and, indeed, before I obtained a satisfactory picture, the quantity of +gallic acid in the infusion must have been quite homœopathic; but +this is in exact accordance with modern practice and known laws. In +reference to this point, Sir John Herschel, writing from Slough, in +April, 1840, says to Mr. Redman, then of Peckham (where I had resided), +‘I am surprised at the weak solution employed, and how, with such, you +have been able to get a depth of shadow sufficient for so very sharp a +re-transfer is to me marvellous.’ I may speak of Mr. Redmond as a +photographic pupil of mine, and at my request, he communicated the +process to Sir John, which, ‘on account of the extreme clearness and +sharpness of the results,’ to use Sir John’s words, much interested him.</p> + +<p>“Dr. Diamond also, whose labours are universally appreciated, first saw +my early attempts at Peckham in 1837, and heard of my use of gallate of +silver, and was thus led to adopt what Admiral Smyth then called ‘a +quick mode of taking bad pictures’; but, as I told the Admiral in reply, +he was born a <i>baby</i>. Whether our philosophical baby is ‘out of its +teens’ may be a question; at all events, it is a very fine child, and +handles the pencil of nature with consummate skill.</p> + +<p>“But of all the persons who heard of my new accelerator, it is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +most +important to state that my old and valued friend, the late Andrew Ross, +told Mr. Talbot how first of all, by means of the solar microscope, I +threw the image of the object on prepared paper, and then, while the +paper was yet wet, washed it over with the infusion of galls, when a +sufficiently dense negative was quickly obtained. In the celebrated +trial, “Talbot <i>versus</i> Laroche,” Mr. Talbot, in his cross-examination, +and in an almost breathless court, acknowledged that he had received +this information from Ross, and from that moment it became the +unavoidable impression that he was scarcely justified in taking out a +patent for applying my accelerator to any known photogenic paper.</p> + +<p>“The three known papers were those impregnated with the nitrate, +chloride, and the iodide of silver—the two former used by Wedgwood and +Young, and the latter by Davy. It is true that Talbot says of the iodide +of silver that it is quite insensitive to light, and so it is as he +makes it; but when he reduces it to the condition described by +Davy—viz., affected by the presence of a little free nitrate of +silver—then he must acknowledge, with Davy, that ‘it is far more +sensitive to the action of light than either the nitrate or the muriate, +and is evidently a distinct compound.’ In this state, also, the infusion +of galls or gallic acid is, as we all know, most decided and +instantaneous, and so I found it to be in my early experiments. Of +course I tried the effects of my accelerator on many salts of silver, +but especially upon the iodide, in consequence of my knowledge of Davy’s +papers on iodine in the ‘Philosophical Transactions.’ These I had +previously studied, in conjunction with my chemical friend, Mr. Hodgson, +then of Apothecaries’ Hall. I did not, however, use iodised paper, which +is well described by Talbot in the <i>Philosophical Magazine</i> for March, +1838, as a <i>substitute</i> for other sensitive papers, but only as one +among many experiments alluded to in my letter to Mr. Brayley.</p> + +<p>“My pictures were exhibited at the Royal Society, and also at Lord +Northampton’s, at his lordship’s request, in April, 1839, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +when Mr. +Talbot also exhibited his. In my letter to Mr. Brayley, I did not +describe iodised pictures, and, therefore, it was held that exhibition +in the absence of description left the process legally unknown. Mr. +Talbot consequently felt justified in taking out a patent for uniting my +<i>known </i>accelerator with Davy’s <i>known</i> sensitive silver compound, +adopting my method (already communicated to him) with reference to +Wedgwood’s papers, and adding specific improvements in manipulation. +Whatever varied opinion may consequently be formed as to the defence of +the patent in court, there can be but one as to the skill of the +patentee.</p> + +<p>“It is obvious that, in the process so conducted by me with the solar +microscope, I was virtually <i>within</i> my camera, standing between the +object and the prepared paper. Hence the exciting and developing +processes were conducted under <i>one operation</i> (subsequently patented by +Talbot), and the fact of a latent image being brought out was not forced +upon my attention. I did, however, perceive this phenomenon upon one +occasion, after I had been suddenly called away, when taking an +impression of the <i>Trientalis Europæa</i>—and surprised enough I was, and +stood in astonishment to look at it. But with all this, I was only, as +the judge said, “<i>very hot</i>.” I did not realize the <i>master fact</i> that +the latent image which had been developed was the basis of photographic +manipulation. The merit of this discovery is Talbot’s, and his only, and +I honour him greatly for his skill and earlier discernment. I was, +indeed, myself fully aware that the image darkened under the influence +of my sensitiser, while I placed my hand before the lens of the +instrument to stop out the light; and my solar mezzotint, as I then +termed it, was, in fact, brought out and perfected under my own eye by +the agency of gallic acid in the infusion, rather than by the influence +of direct solar action. But the notion of developing a latent image in +these microscopic photographs never crossed my mind, even after I had +witnessed such development +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +in the <i>Trientalis Europæa</i>. My original +notion was that the infusion of galls, added to the wet chloride or +nitrate paper while the picture was thrown upon it, produced only a new +and highly sensitive compound; whereas, by its peculiar and continuous +action after the first impact of light on the now sensitive paper, I was +also, as Talbot has shown, employing its property of development as well +as excitement. My ignorance of its properties was no bar to its action. +However, I threw the <i>ball</i>, and Talbot caught it, and no man can be +more willing than myself to acknowledge our obligations to this +distinguished photographer. He compelled the world to listen to him, and +he had something worth hearing to communicate; and it is a sufficient +return to me that he publicly acknowledged his obligation to me, with +reference to what Sir David Brewster calls ‘an essential part of his +patent’ (<i>vide North British Review</i>, No. 14 article—‘Photography’).</p> + +<p>“Talbot did not patent my valuable fixer. Here I had the advantage of +having published my use of hyposulphite of soda, which Mr. Hodgson made +for me in 1837, when London did not contain an ounce of it for sale. The +early operators had no fixer; that was <i>their fix</i>; and, so far as any +record exists, they got no further in this direction than ‘imagining +some experiments on the subject!’ I tried ammonia, but it acted too +energetically on the picture itself to be available for the purpose. It +led me, however, to the ammonia nitrate process of printing positives, a +description of which process (though patented by Talbot in 1843) I sent +to a photographic brother in 1839, and a quotation from my letter of +that date has already appeared in one of my communications to <i>Notes and +Queries</i>. On examining Brande’s Chemistry, under the hope of still +finding the desired solvent which should have a greater affinity for the +simple silver compound on the uncoloured part of the picture than for +the portion blackened by light, I happened to see it stated, on Sir John +Herschel’s authority, that hyposulphite +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +of soda dissolves chloride of +silver. I need not now say that I used this fixer with success. The +world, however, would not have been long without it, for, when Sir John +himself became a photographer in the following year, he first of all +used hyposulphite of ammonia, and then permanently fell back upon the +properties of his other compound. Two of my solar microscope negatives, +taken in 1837, and exhibited with several others by Mr. Brayley in 1839 +as illustrations of my letter and of his lecture at the London +Institution, are now in the possession of the London Photographic +Society. They are, no doubt, the earliest examples of the agency of two +chemical compounds which will be co-existent with photography itself, +viz., gallate of silver and hyposulphite of soda, and my use of them, as +above described, will sanction my claim to be the first to take paper +pictures rapidly, and to fix them permanently.</p> + +<p>“Such is a short account of my contribution to this interesting branch +of science, and, in the pleasure of the discovery, I have a sufficient +reward.”</p> + +<p>These lengthy extracts from the Rev. Mr. Reade’s published letter render +further comment all but superfluous, but I cannot resist taking +advantage of the opportunity here afforded of pointing out to all lovers +of photography and natural justice that the progress of the discovery +has advanced to a far greater extent by Mr. Reade’s reasoning and +experiments than it was by Mr. Talbot’s ingenuity. The latter, as Mr. +Reade observes, only “caught the ball” and threw it into the Patent +Office, with some improvements in the manipulations. Mr. Reade +generously ascribes all honour and glory to Mr. Talbot for his +shrewdness in seizing what he had overlooked, viz., the development of +the latent image; but there is a quiet current of rebuke running all +through Mr. Reade’s letter about the justice of patenting a known +sensitiser and a known accelerator, which he alone had combined and +applied to the successful production of a negative on paper. Mr. +Talbot’s patent process was nothing more, yet he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +endeavoured to secure +a monopoly of what was in substance the discovery and invention of +another. Mr. Talbot was either very precipitate, or ill-advised, to rush +to the Patent Office with his modification, and even at this distant +date it is much to be regretted that he did so, for his rash act has, +unhappily for photography, proved a pernicious precedent. Mr. Reade gave +his discoveries to the world freely, and the “pleasure of the discovery” +was “a sufficient reward.” All honour to such discoverers. They, and +they only, are the true lovers of science and art, who take up the torch +where another laid it down, or lost it, and carry it forward another +stage towards perfection, without sullying its brightness or dimming the +flame with sordid motives.</p> + +<p>The Rev. J. B. Reade lived to see the process <i>he</i> discovered and +watched over in its embryo state, developed with wondrous rapidity into +one of the most extensively applied arts of this marvellous age, and +died, regretted and esteemed by all who knew him, December 12th, 1870. +Photographers, your occupations are his monument, but let his name be a +tablet on your hearts, and his unselfishness your emulation!</p> + +<p>The year 1838 gave birth to another photographic discovery, little +thought of and of small promise at the time, but out of which have +flowed all the various modifications of solar and mechanical carbon +printing. This was the discovery of Mr. Mungo Ponton, who first observed +and announced the effects of the sun’s rays upon bichromate of potash. +But that gentleman was unwise in his generation, and did not patent his +discovery, so a whole host of patent locusts fell upon the field of +research in after years, and quickly seized the manna he had left, to +spread on their own bread. Mr. Mungo Ponton spread a solution of +bichromate of potash upon paper, submitted it under a suitable object to +the sun’s rays, and told all the world, without charge, that the light +hardened the bichromate to the extent of its action, and that the +unacted-upon portions could be dissolved away, leaving the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +object +<i>white</i> upon a yellow or orange ground. Other experimenters played +variations on Mr. Ponton’s bichromate scale, and amongst the performers +were M. E. Becquerel, of France, and our own distinguished countryman, +Mr. Robert Hunt.</p> + +<p>During the years that elapsed between the death of M. Niépce and the +period to which I have brought these records, little was heard or known +of the researches of M. Daguerre, but he was not idle, nor had he +abandoned his iodine ideas. He steadily pursued his subject, and worked +with a continuity that gained him the unenviable reputation of a +lunatic. His persistency created doubts of his sanity, but he toiled on +<i>solus</i>, confident that he was not in pursuit of an impossibility, and +sanguine of success. That success came, hastened by lucky chance, and +early in January, 1839, M. Daguerre announced the interesting and +important fact that the problem was solved. Pictures in the +camera-obscura could be, not only seen, but caught and retained. M. +Daguerre had laboured, sought, and found, and the bare announcement of +his wonderful discovery electrified the world of science.</p> + +<p>The electric telegraph could not then flash the fascinating intelligence +from Paris to London, but the news travelled fast, nevertheless, and the +unexpected report of M. Daguerre’s triumph hurried Mr. Talbot forward +with a similar statement of success. Mr. Talbot declared his triumph on +the 31st of January, 1839, and published in the following month the +details of a process which was little, if any, in advance of that +already known.</p> + +<p>Daguerre delayed the publication of his process until a pension of six +thousand francs per annum had been secured to himself, and four thousand +francs per annum to M. Isidore Niépce for life, with a reversion of +one-half to their widows. In the midst of political and social struggles +France was proud of the glory of such a marvellous discovery, and +liberally rewarded her fortunate sons of science with honourable +distinction and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +substantial emolument. She was proud and generous to a +chivalrous extent, for she pensioned her sons that she might have the +“glory of endowing the world of science and of art with one of the most +surprising discoveries” that had been made on her soil; and, because she +considered that “the invention did not admit of being secured by +patent;” but avarice and cupidity frustrated her noble and generous +intentions in this country, and England alone was harassed with +injunctions and prosecutions, while all the rest of the world +participated in the pleasure and profits of the noble gift of France.</p> + +<p>In July, 1839, M. Daguerre divulged his secret at the request and +expense of the French Government, and the process which bore his name +was found to be totally different, both in manipulation and effect, from +any sun-pictures that had been obtained in England. The Daguerreotype +was a latent image produced by light on an iodised silver plate, and +developed, or made visible, by the fumes of mercury; but the resultant +picture was one of the most shimmering and vapoury imaginable, wanting +in solidity, colour, and firmness. In fact, photography as introduced by +M. Daguerre was in every sense a wonderfully shadowy and all but +invisible thing, and not many removes from the dark ages of its +creation. The process was extremely delicate and difficult, slow and +tedious to manipulate, and too insensitive to be applied to portraiture +with any prospect of success, from fifteen to twenty minutes’ exposure +in bright sunshine being necessary to obtain a picture. The mode of +proceeding was as follows:—A copper plate with a coating of silver was +carefully cleaned and polished on the silvered side, that was placed, +silver side downwards, over a vessel containing iodine in crystals, +until the silvered surface assumed a golden-yellow colour. The plate was +then transferred to the camera-obscura, and submitted to the action of +light. After the plate had received the requisite amount of exposure, it +was placed over a box containing mercury, the fumes of which, on the +application +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +of a gentle heat, developed the latent image. The picture +was then washed in salt and water, or a solution of hyposulphite of +soda, to remove the iodide of silver, washed in clean water afterwards, +and dried, and the Daguerreotype was finished according to Daguerre’s +first published process.</p> + +<p>The development of the latent image by mercury subliming was the most +marvellous and unlooked-for part of the process, and it was for that +all-important thing that Daguerre was entirely indebted to chance. +Having put one of his apparently useless iodized and exposed silver +plates into a cupboard containing a pot of mercury, Daguerre was greatly +surprised, on visiting the cupboard some time afterwards, to find the +blank looking plate converted into a visible picture. Other plates were +iodized and exposed and placed in the cupboard, and the same mysterious +process of development was repeated, and it was not until this thing and +the other thing had been removed and replaced over and over again, that +Daguerre became aware that quicksilver, an article that had been used +for making mirrors and reflecting images for years, was the developer of +the invisible image. It was indeed a most marvellous and unexpected +result. Daguerre had devoted years of labour and made numberless +experiments to obtain a transcript of nature drawn by her own hand, but +all his studied efforts and weary hours of labour had only resulted in +repeated failures and disappointments, and it appeared that Nature +herself had grown weary of his bungling, and resolved to show him the +way.</p> + +<p>The realization of his hopes was more accidental than inferential. The +compounds with which he worked, neither produced a visible nor a latent +image capable of being developed with any of the chemicals with which he +was experimenting. At last accident rendered him more service than +reasoning, and occult properties produced the effect his mental and +inductive faculties failed to accomplish; and here we observe the great +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +difference between the two successful discoverers, Reade and Daguerre. +At this stage of the discovery I ignore Talbot’s claim in <i>toto</i>. Reade +arrived at his results by reasoning, experiment, observation, and +judiciously weakening and controlling the re-agent he commenced his +researches with. He had the infinite pleasure and disappointment of +seeing his first picture flash into existence, and disappear +again almost instantly, but in that instant he saw the cause of his success +and failure, and his inductive reasoning reduced his failure to success; +whereas Daguerre <i>found</i> his result, was puzzled, and utterly at a loss +to account for it, and it was only by a process of blind-man’s bluff +in his chemical cupboard that he laid his hands on the precious pot of +mercury that produced the visible image.</p> + +<p>That was a discovery, it is true; but a bungling one, at best. Daguerre +only worked intelligently with one-half of the elements of success; the +other was thrust in his way, and the most essential part of his +achievement was a triumphant accident. Daguerre did half the work—or, +rather, one-third—light did the second part, and chance performed the +rest, so that Daguerre’s share of the honour was only one-third. Reade +did two-thirds of the process, the first and third, intelligently; +therefore to him alone is due the honour of discovering practical +photography. His was a successful application of known properties, equal +to an invention; Daguerre’s was an accidental result arising from +unknown causes and effects, and consequently a discovery of the lowest +order. To England, then, and not to France, is the world indebted for +the discovery of photography, and in the order of its earliest, +greatest, and most successful discoverers and advancers, I place the +Rev. J. B. Reade first and highest.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<div class="center fig_caption mrt4">SECOND PERIOD. +<hr class="r10" /> +<span class="smaller">DAGUERREOTYPE.</span></div> + +<table summary="Second Period Images"> +<tr> + <td><img src="images/037_1.png" width="264" height="309" alt="" title="" /></td> + <td><img src="images/037_2.png" width="259" height="297" alt="" title="" /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center smaller"> + L. J. M. DAGUERRE.<br /> + <i>Used Iodine, 1839.</i> + </td> + <td class="center smaller"> + JOHN FREDERICK GODDARD.<br /> + <i>Applied Bromine, 1840.</i> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center" colspan="2"><img src="images/037_3.png" width="360" height="308" alt="" title="" /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center smaller" colspan="2"> + NEW YORK.<br /> + <i>Copy of Instantaneous Daguerreotype, 1854.</i> + </td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="mrt4"><a name="SECOND_PERIOD" id="SECOND_PERIOD"></a> +SECOND PERIOD.</h2> + +<h3>PUBLICITY AND PROGRESS.</h3> + +<div class="fig_center" style="width: 84px;"> +<img src="images/bar.png" width="84" height="11" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p>1839 has generally been accepted as the year of the birth of Practical +Photography, but that may now be considered an error. It was, however, +the Year of Publicity, and the progress that followed with such +marvellous rapidity may be freely received as an adversely eloquent +comment on the principles of secrecy and restriction, in any art or +science, like photography, which requires the varied suggestions of +numerous minds and many years of experiment in different directions +before it can be brought to a state of workable certainty and artistic +and commercial applicability. Had Reade concealed his success and the +nature of his accelerator, Talbot might have been bungling on with +modifications of the experiments of Wedgwood and Davy to this day; and +had Daguerre not sold the secret of his iodine vapour as a sensitiser, +and his accidentally discovered property of mercury as a developer, he +might never have got beyond the vapoury images he produced. As it was, +Daguerre did little or nothing to improve his process and make it yield +the extremely vigorous and beautiful results it did in after years. As +in Mr. Reade’s case with the Calotype process, Daguerre threw the ball +and others caught it. Daguerre’s advertised improvements of his process +were lamentable failures and roundabout ways to obtain sensitive +amalgams—exceedingly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +ingenious, but excessively bungling and +impractical. To make the plates more sensitive to light, and, as +Daguerre said, obtain pictures of objects in motion and animated scenes, +he suggested that the silver plate should first be cleaned and polished +in the usual way, then to deposit successively layers of mercury, and +gold, and platinum. But the process was so tedious, unworkable, and +unsatisfactory, no one ever attempted to employ it either commercially +or scientifically. In publishing his first process, with its working +details, Daguerre appears to have surrendered all that he knew, and to +have been incapable of carrying his discovery to a higher degree of +advancement. Without Mr. Goddard’s bromine accelerator and M. Fizeau’s +chloride of gold fixer and invigorator, the Daguerreotype would never +have been either a commercial success or a permanent production.</p> + +<p>1840 was almost as important a period in the annals of photography as +the year of its enunciation, and to the two valuable improvements and +one interesting importation, the Daguerreotype process was indebted for +its success all over the world; and photography, even as it is practised +now, is probably indebted for its present state of advancement to Mr. +John Frederick Goddard, who applied bromine, as an accelerator, to the +Daguerreotype process this year. In the early part of the Daguerreotype +period it was so insensitive there was very little prospect of being +able to take portraits with it through a lens. To meet this difficulty +Mr. Wolcott, an American optician, constructed a reflecting camera and +brought it to London. It was an ingenious contrivance, but did not fully +answer the expectations of the inventor. It certainly did not require +such a long exposure with this camera as when the rays from the image or +sitter passed through a lens; but, as the sensitised plate was placed +<i>between</i> the sitter and the reflector, the picture was necessarily +small, and neither very sharp nor satisfactory. This was a mechanical +contrivance to shorten the time of exposure, which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +partially succeeded, +but it was chemistry, and not mechanics, that effected the desirable +result. Both Mr. Goddard and M. Antoine F. J. Claudet, of London, +employed chlorine as a means of increasing the sensitiveness of the +iodised silver plate, but it was not sufficiently accelerative to meet +the requirements of the Daguerreotype process. Subsequently Mr. Goddard +discovered that the vapour of bromine, added to that of iodine, imparted +an extraordinary degree of sensitiveness to the prepared plate, and +reduced the time of sitting from minutes to seconds. The addition of the +fumes of bromine to those of iodine formed a compound of bromo-iodide of +silver on the surface of the Daguerreotype plate, and not only increased +the sensitiveness, but added to the strength and beauty of the resulting +picture, and M. Fizeau’s method of precipitating a film of gold over the +whole surface of the plate still further increased the brilliancy of the +picture and ensured its permanency. I have many Daguerreotypes in my +possession now that were made over forty years ago, and they are as +brilliant and perfect as they were on the day they were taken. I fear no +one can say the same for any of Fox Talbot’s early prints, or even more +recent examples of silver printing.</p> + +<p>Another important event of this year was the importation of the first +photographic lens, camera, &c., into England. These articles were +brought from Paris by Sir Hussey Vivian, present M.P. for Glamorganshire +(1889). It was the first lot of such articles that the Custom House +officers had seen, and they were at a loss to know how to classify it. +Finally they passed it under the general head of Optical Instruments. +Sir Hussey told me this, himself, several years before he was made a +baronet. What changes fifty years have wrought even in the duties of +Custom House officers, for the imports and exports of photographic +apparatus and materials must now amount to many thousands per annum!</p> + +<p>Having described the conditions and state of progress photography +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +had attained at the time of my first contact with it, I think I may now +enter into greater details, and relate my own personal experiences from +this period right up to the end of its jubilee celebration.</p> + +<p>I was just fourteen years old when photography was made practicable by +the publication of the two processes, one by Daguerre, and the other by +Fox Talbot, and when I heard or read of the wonderful discovery I was +fired with a desire to obtain a sight of these “sun-pictures,” but the +fire was kept smouldering for some time before my desire was gratified. +Nothing travelled very fast in those days. Railroads had not long been +started, and were not very extensively developed. Telegraphy, by +electricity, was almost unknown, and I was a fixture, having just been +apprenticed to an engraving firm hundreds of miles from London. But at +last I caught sight of one of those marvellous drawings made by the sun +in the window of the Post Office of my native town. It was a small +Daguerreotype which had been sent there along with a notice that a +licence to practise the “art” could be obtained of the patentee. I +forget now what amount the patentee demanded for a licence, but I know +that at the time referred to it was so far beyond my means and hopes +that I never entertained the idea of becoming a licencee. I believe some +one in the neighbourhood bought a licence, but either could not or did +not make use of it commercially.</p> + +<p>Some time after that, a Miss Wigley, from London, came to the town to +practise Daguerreotyping, but she did not remain long, and could not, I +think, have made a profitable visit. If so, it could scarcely be +wondered at, for the sun-pictures of that period were such thin, +shimmering reflections, and distortions of the human face divine, that +very few people were impressed either by the process or the newest +wonder of the world. At that early period of photography, the plates +were so insensitive, the sittings so long, and the conditions so +terrible, it was not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +easy to induce anyone either to undergo the ordeal +of sitting, or to pay the sum of twenty-one shillings for a very small +and unsatisfactory portrait. In the infancy of the Daguerreotype +process, the sitters were all placed out-of-doors, in direct sunshine, +which naturally made them screw up or shut their eyes, and every feature +glistened, and was painfully revealed. Many amusing stories have been +told about the trials, mishaps, and disappointments attending those long +and painful sittings, but the best that ever came to my knowledge was +the following. In the earliest of the forties, a young lady went a +considerable distance, in Yorkshire, to sit to an itinerant +Daguerreotypist for her portrait, and, being limited for time, could +only give one sitting. She was placed before the camera, the slide +drawn, lens uncapped, and requested to sit there until the +Daguerreotypist returned. He went away, probably to put his “mercury +box” in order, or to have a smoke, for it was irksome—both to sitter +and operator—to sit or stand doing nothing during those necessarily +long exposures. When the operator returned, after an absence of fifteen +or twenty minutes, the lady was sitting where he left her, and appeared +glad to be relieved from her constrained position. She departed, and he +proceeded with the development of the picture. The plate was examined +from time to time, in the usual way, but there was no appearance of the +lady. The ground, the wall, and the chair whereon she sat, were all +visible, but the image of the lady was not; and the operator was +completely puzzled, if not alarmed. He left the lady sitting, and found +her sitting when he returned, so he was quite unable to account for her +mysterious non-appearance in the picture. The mystery was, however, +explained in a few days, when the lady called for her portrait, for she +admitted that she got up and walked about as soon as he left her, and +only sat down again when she heard him returning. The necessity of +remaining before the camera was not recognised by that sitter. I +afterwards reversed that result myself by focussing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +the chair, drawing +the slide, uncapping the lens, sitting down, and rising leisurely to cap +the lens again, and obtained a good portrait without showing a ghost of +the chair or anything else. The foregoing is evidence of the +insensitiveness of the plates at that early period of the practice of +photography; but that state of inertion did not continue long, for as +soon as the accelerating properties of bromine became generally known, +the time of sitting was greatly reduced, and good Daguerreotype views +were obtained by simply uncapping the lens as quickly as possible. I +have taken excellent views in that manner myself in England, and, when +in America, I obtained instantaneous views of Niagara Falls and other +places quite as rapidly and as perfect as any instantaneous views made +on gelatine dry plates, one of which I have copied and enlarged to 12 by +10 inches, and may possibly reproduce the small copy in these pages.</p> + +<p>In 1845 I came into direct contact with photography for the first time. +It was in that year that an Irishman named McGhee came into the +neighbourhood to practise the Daguerreotype process. He was not a +licencee, but no one appeared to interfere with him, nor serve him with +an injunction, for he carried on his little portrait business for a +considerable time without molestation. The patentee was either very +indifferent to his vested interests, or did not consider these intruders +worth going to law with, for there were many raids across the borders by +camera men in those early days. Several circumstances combined to +facilitate the inroads of Scotch operators into the northern counties of +England. Firstly, the patent laws of England did not extend to Scotland +at that time, so there was a far greater number of Daguerreotypists in +Edinburgh and other Scotch towns in the early days of photography than +in any part of England, and many of them made frequent incursions into +the forbidden land without troubling themselves about obtaining a +licence, but somehow they never remained long at a time; they were +either afraid of consequences, or did not meet +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +with patronage +sufficient to induce them to continue their sojourns beyond a few of the +summer weeks. For many years most of the early Daguerreotypists were +birds of passage, frequently on the wing. Among the earliest settlers in +London, were Mr. Beard (patentee), Mr. Claudet, and Mr. J. E. +Mayall—the latter is still alive, 1889—and in Edinburgh, Messrs. Ross +and Thompson, Mr. Howie, Mr. Poppawitz, and Mr. Tunny—the latter was a +Calotypist—with most of whom it was my good fortune to become +personally acquainted in after years.</p> + +<p>Secondly, a great deal of ill-feeling and annoyance were caused by the +incomprehensible and somewhat underhanded way in which the English +patent was obtained, and these feelings induced many to poach on +photographic preserves, and even to defy injunctions; and, while +lawsuits were pending, it was not uncommon for non-licencees to practise +the new art with the impunity and feelings common to smugglers. Mr. +Beard, the English patentee, brought many actions at law against +infringers of his patent rights, the most memorable of which was that +where Mr. Egerton, 1, Temple Street, Whitefriars, the first dealer in +photographic materials, and agent for Voightlander’s lenses in London, +was the defendant. During that trial it came out in evidence that the +patentee had earned as much as forty thousand pounds in one year by +taking portraits and fees from licencees. Though the judgment of the +Court was adverse to Mr. Egerton, it did not improve the patentee’s +moral right to his claim, for the trial only made it all the more public +that the French Government had allowed M. Daguerre six thousand francs +(£240), and M. Isidore Niépce four thousand francs (£160) per annum, on +condition that their discoveries should be published, and <i>made free to +all the world</i>. This trial did not in any way improve Mr. Beard’s +financial position, for eventually he became a bankrupt, and his +establishments in King William Street, London Bridge, and the +Polytechnic Institute, in Regent Street, were extinguished. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +Mr. Beard, +who was the first to practise Daguerreotyping commercially in this +country, was originally a coal merchant. I think Mr. Claudet practised +the process in London without becoming a licencee, either through +previous knowledge, or some private arrangement made with Daguerre +before the patent was granted to Mr. Beard. It was while photography was +clouded with this atmosphere of dissatisfaction and litigation, that I +made my first practical acquaintance with it in the following manner:—</p> + +<p>Being anxious to obtain possession of one of those marvellous +sun-pictures, and hoping to get an idea of the manner in which they were +produced, I paid a visit, one sunny morning, to Mr. McGhee, the +Daguerreotypist, dressed in my best, with clean shirt, and stiff +stand-up collar, as worn in those days. I was a very young man then, and +rather particular about the set of my shirt collar, so you may readily +judge of my horror when, after making the financial arrangements to the +satisfaction of Mr. McGhee, he requested me to put on a blue cotton +<i>quasi</i> clean “dickey,” with a limp collar, that had evidently done +similar duty many times before. You may be sure I protested, and +inquired the reason why I should cover up my white shirt front with such +an objectionable article. I was told if I did not put it on my shirt +front would be <i>solarized</i>, and come out <i>blue</i> or dirty, whereas if I +put on the blue “dickey” my shirt front would appear white and clean. +What “solarized” meant, I did not know, nor was it further explained, +but, as I very naturally wished to appear with a clean shirt front, I +submitted to the indignity, and put on the limp and questionably clean +“dickey.” While the Daguerreotypist was engaged with some mysterious +manipulations in a cupboard or closet, I brushed my hair, and +contemplated my singular appearance in the mirror somewhat ruefully. O, +ye sitters and operators of to-day! congratulate yourselves on the +changes and advantages that have been wrought in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +practice of photography since then. When Mr. McGhee appeared again with +something like two wooden books in his hand, he requested me to follow +him into the garden; which was only a back yard. At the foot of the +garden, and against a brick wall with a piece of grey cloth nailed over +it, I was requested to sit down on an old chair; then he placed before +me an instrument which looked like a very ugly theodolite on a tripod +stand—that was my first sight of a camera—and, after putting +his head under a black cloth, told me to look at a mark on the other +side of the garden, without winking or moving till he said “done.” How +long I sat I don’t know, but it seemed an awfully long time, and I have +no doubt it was, for I know that I used to ask people to sit five and +ten minutes, afterwards. The sittings over, I was requested to re-enter +the house, and then I thought I would see something of the process; but +no. Again Mr. McGhee went into the mysterious chamber, and shut the door +quickly. In a little time he returned and told me that the sittings were +satisfactory—he had taken two—and that he would finish and +deliver them next day. Then I left without obtaining the ghost of an +idea of the <i>modus operandi</i> of producing portraits by the sun, beyond +the fact that a camera had been placed before me. Next day the portraits +were delivered according to promise, but I confess I was somewhat +disappointed at getting so little for my money. It was a very small +picture that could not be seen in every light, and not particularly like +myself, but a scowling-looking individual, with a limp collar, and +rather dirty-looking face. Whatever would <i>mashers</i> have said or done, +if they had gone to be photographed in those days of photographic +darkness? I was, however, somewhat consoled by the thought that I, at +last, possessed one of those wonderful sun-pictures, though I was +ignorant of the means of production.</p> + +<p>Soon after having my portrait taken, Mr. McGhee disappeared, and there +was no one left in the neighbourhood who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +knew anything of the +mysterious manipulations of Daguerreotyping. I had, nevertheless, +resolved to possess an apparatus and obtain the necessary information, +but there was no one to tell me what to buy, where to buy it, nor what +to do with it. At last an old friend of mine who had been on a visit to +Edinburgh, had purchased an apparatus and some materials with the view +of taking Daguerreotypes himself, but finding that he could not, was +willing to sell it to me, though he could not tell me how to use it, +beyond showing me an image of the house opposite upon the ground glass +of the camera. I believe my friend let me have the apparatus for what it +cost him, which was about £15, and it consisted of a quarter-plate +portrait lens by Slater, mahogany camera, tripod stand, buff sticks, +coating and mercury boxes of the roughest description, a few chemicals +and silvered plates, and a rather singular but portable dark room. Of +the uses of the chemicals I knew very little, and of their nature +nothing which led to very serious consequences, which I shall relate in +the proper place. Having obtained possession of this marvellous +apparatus, my next ardent aspiration was to make a successful use of it. +I distinctly remember, even at this distant date, with what nervous +curiosity I examined all the articles when I unpacked them in my +father’s house, and with what wonder, not unmixed with apprehension, my +father looked upon that display of unknown, and to him apparently +nameless and useless toys. “More like a lot of conjuror’s traps than +anything else,” he exclaimed, after I had set them all out. And a few +days after he told one of my young friends that he thought I had gone +out of my mind to take up with that “Daggertype” business; the name +itself was a stumbling block in those days, for people called the +process “dagtype, docktype, and daggertype” more frequently than by its +proper name, Daguerreotype. What a contrast now-a-days, when almost +every father is an amateur photographer, and encourages both his sons +and daughters to become the same. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +My father was a very good parent, in +his way, and encouraged me, to the fullest extent of his means, in the +study of music and painting, and even sent me to the Government School +of Design, where I studied drawing under W. B. Scott; but the +new-fangled method of taking portraits did not harmonise with his +conservative and practical notions. One cause of his disapprobation and +dissatisfaction was, doubtless, my many failures; in fact, I may say, +inability to show him any result. I had acquired an apparatus of the +roughest and most primitive construction, but no knowledge of its use or +the behaviour of the chemicals employed, beyond the bare numerical order +in which they were to be used, and there was no one within a hundred +miles of where I lived, that I knew of, who could give me lessons or the +slightest hint respecting the process. I had worn out the patience of +all my relations and friends in fruitless sittings. I had set fire to my +singular dark room, and nearly set fire to the house, by attempting to +refill the spirit lamp while alight, and I was ill and suffering from +salivation through inhaling the fumes of mercury in my blind, anxious, +and enthusiastic endeavours to obtain a sun-picture. It is not long +since an eminent photographer told me that I was an enthusiast, but if +he had seen me in those days he would, in all probability, have told me +that I was mad. Though ill, I was not mad; I was only determined not to +be beaten. I was resolved to keep pegging away until I obtained a +satisfactory result. My friends laughed at me when I asked them to sit +for a trial, and they either refused, or sat with a very bad grace, as +if it really were a trial to them; but fancy, fair and kindly readers, +what it must have been to me! Finding that my living models fought shy +of me and my trials, I then thought of getting a lay figure, and +borrowed a large doll—quite as big as a baby—of one of my lady +friends. I stuck it up in a garden and pegged away at it for nearly six +months. At the end of that time I was able to produce a portrait of the +doll with tolerable certainty and success. Then I ventured to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +ask my +friends to sit again, but my process was too slow for life studies, and +my live sitters generally moved so much, their portraits were not +recognisable. There were no head-rests in those days, at least I did not +possess one, or it might have been pleasanter for my sitters and easier +for myself. What surprised me very much—and I thought it a singular +thing at the time—was my success in copying an engraving of Thorburn’s +Miniature of the Queen. I made several good and beautiful copies of that +engraving, and sent one to an artist-friend, then in Devonshire, who +wrote to say that it was beautiful, and that if he could get a +Daguerreotype portrait with the eyes as clear as that, he would sit at +once; but all the “Dagtypes” he had hitherto seen had only black holes +where the eyes should be. Unfortunately, that was my own experience. I +could copy from the flat well enough, but when I went to the round I +went wrong. Ultimately I discovered the cause of all that, and found a +remedy, but oh! the weary labour and mental worry I underwent before I +mastered the difficulties of the most troublesome and uncertain, yet +most beautiful and permanent of all the photographic processes that ever +was discovered or invented; and now it is a lost art. No one practises +it, and I don’t think that there are half-a-dozen men living—myself +included—that could at this day go through all the manipulations +necessary to produce a good Daguerreotype portrait or picture; yet, when +the process was at the height of its popularity, a great number of +people pursued it as a profession in all parts of the civilized world, +and in the United States of America alone it was estimated in 1854 that +there were not less than thirty thousand people making their living as +Daguerreans. Few, if any, of the photographers of to-day—whether +amateur or professional—know anything +of the forms or uses of plates, buffs, lathes, sensitising or developing +boxes, gilding stands, or other Daguerreotype appliances; and I am quite +certain that there is not a dealer in all England that can furnish at +this date a complete set of Daguerreotype apparatus.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +It was in 1849 that I gilded my first picture—a portrait of one of my +friends playing a guitar. I possess that picture now, and, after a lapse +of forty years, it is as good and bright as it was on the day that it +was taken. It was not a first-class production, but I hoped to do better +soon, and on the strength of that hope determined to commence business +as a professional Daguerreotypist. While I was considering whether I +should pitch my tent permanently in my native town, or take to a nomadic +kind of life, similar to what other Daguerreotypists were pursuing, I +was helped to a decision by the sudden appearance of a respectable and +experienced Daguerreotypist who came and built a “glass house”—the +first of its kind—in my native town. This somewhat disarranged my +plans, but on the whole it was rather opportune and advantageous than +otherwise, for it afforded me an unexpected opportunity of gaining a +great deal of practical experience on easy terms. The new comer was Mr. +George Brown, who had been an “operator” for Mr. Beard, in London, and +as he exhibited much finer specimens of the Daguerreotype process than +any I had hitherto seen, I engaged myself to assist him for six months +at a small salary. I showed him what I had done, and he showed and told +me all that he knew in connection with photography, and thus commenced a +business relation that ripened into a friendship that endured as long as +he lived.</p> + +<p>At the end of the six months’ engagement I left Mr. Brown, to commence +business on my own account, but as neither of us considered that there +was room for two Daguerreotypists in a town with a population of <i>one +hundred and twenty thousand</i>, I was driven to adopt the nomadic mode of +life peculiar to the itinerant photographer of the period. That was in +1850. Up to that time I had done nothing in Calotype work. Mr. Brown was +strictly a Daguerreotypist, but Mr. Parry, at that time a glass dealer +and amateur photographer, was working at the Calotype process, but not +very successfully, for nearly all his efforts +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +were spoiled by +decomposition, which he could not then account for or overcome, but he +eventually became one of the best Calotypists in the neighbourhood, and +I became the possessor of some of the finest Calotype negatives he ever +produced, many of which are still in my possession. Mr. Parry +relinquished his glass business, and became a professional photographer +soon after the introduction of the collodion process. Another amateur +photographer that I met in those early days was a flute player in the +orchestra of the theatre. He produced very good Calotype negatives with +a single lens, and was very enthusiastic, but extremely reticent on all +photographic matters. About this period I made the acquaintance of Mr. +J. W. Swan: I had known him for some time previously when he was +apprentice and assistant to Mr. Mawson, chemist, in Mosley Street, +Newcastle-on-Tyne. Neither Mr. Mawson nor Mr. Swan were known to the +photographic world at that time. Mr. Mawson was most popular as a dealer +in German yeast, and I think it was not until after Archer published his +process that they began to make collodion and deal in photographic +materials—at any rate, I did not buy any photographic goods of them +until 1852, when I first began to use Mawson’s collodion. In October, +1850, I went to Hexham, about twenty miles west of Newcastle-on-Tyne, to +make my first appearance as a professional Daguerreotypist. I rented a +sitting-room with a good window and clear view, so as to take “parlour +portraits.” I could only take small pictures—two and a half by two +inches—for which I charged half a guinea, and was favoured with a few +sittings; but it was a slow place, and I left it in a few weeks.</p> + +<p>The next move I made was to Seaham Harbour, and there I did a little +better business, but the place was too small and the people too poor for +me to continue long. Half guineas were not plentiful, even among the +tradespeople, and there were very few gentlefolk in the neighbourhood. +Some of the townspeople were very kind to me, and invited me to their +homes, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +although my sojourn was not very profitable, it was very +pleasant. I had many pleasant rambles on the sands, and often looked at +Seaham Hall and thought of Byron and his matrimonial disappointment in +his marriage with Miss Milbank.</p> + +<p>From Seaham Harbour I went to Middlesborough, hoping to do more business +among a larger population, but it appeared as if I were only going from +bad to worse. At that date the population was about thirty thousand, but +chiefly people of the working classes, employed at Balchow and Vaughn’s +and kindred works. I made portraits of some of the members of Mr. +Balchow’s family, Mr. Geordison, and some of the resident Quakers, but +altogether I did not do much more than pay expenses. I managed, however, +to stay there till the year 1851, when I caught the World’s Fair fever, +so I packed up my apparatus and other things I did not require +immediately, and sent them to my father’s house, and with a few changes +in my carpet-bag, and a little money in my pocket, I started off to see +the Great Exhibition in London. I went by way of York and Hull, with the +two-fold object of seeing some friends in both places, and to prospect +on the business chances they might afford. At York I found Mr. Pumphrey +was located, but as he did not appear to be fully occupied with +sitters—for I found him trying to take a couple of boys fighting in a +back yard—I thought there was not room for another Daguerreotypist in +York. In a few days I went to Hull, but even there the ground was +preoccupied, so I took the first steamer for London. We sailed on a +Saturday night, and after a pleasant voyage arrived at the wharf below +London Bridge early on Sunday evening. I put up at the “Yorkshire Grey,” +in Thames Street, where I met several people from the North, also on a +visit to London to see the Great Exhibition. This being my first visit +to London, I was anxious to get a sight of the streets and crowds +therein, so, after obtaining some refreshment, I strolled out with one +of my fellow passengers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +to receive my first impressions of the great +metropolis. The evening was fine, and, being nearly the longest day, +there was light enough to enable me to see the God-forsaken appearance +of Thames Street, the dismal aspect of Fish Street Hill, and the gloomy +column called “The Monument” that stands there to remind citizens and +strangers of the Great Fire of 1666; but I was both amazed and amused +with the life and bustle I saw on London Bridge and other places in the +immediate neighbourhood, but my eyes and ears soon became fatigued with +the sights and sounds of the lively and noisy thoroughfares. After a +night’s rest, which was frequently broken by cries of “Stop thief!” and +the screams of women, I arose and made an early start for the Great +Exhibition of 1851. Of all the wonderful things in that most wonderful +exhibition, I was most interested in the photographic exhibits and the +beautiful specimens of American Daguerreotypes, both portraits and +landscapes, especially the views of Niagara Falls, which made me +determine to visit America as soon as ever I could make the necessary +arrangements.</p> + +<p>While examining and admiring those very beautiful Daguerreotypes, I +little thought that I was standing, as it were, between the birth of one +process and the death of another; but so it was, for the newly-born +collodion process very soon annihilated the Daguerreotype, although the +latter process had just reached the zenith of its beauty. In the March +number of the <i>Chemist</i>, Archer’s Collodion Process was published, and +that was like the announcement of the birth of an infant Hercules, that +was destined to slay a beautiful youth whose charms had only arrived at +maturity. But there was really a singular and melancholy coincidence in +the birth of the Collodion Process and the early death of the +Daguerreotype, for Daguerre himself died on July 10th, 1851, so that +both Daguerre and his process appeared to receive their death blows in +the same year. I don’t +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +suppose that Daguerre died from a shock to his +system, caused by the publication of a rival process, for it is not +likely that he knew anything about the invention of a process that was +destined, in a very few years, to abolish his own—living as he was in +the retirement of his native village, and enjoying his well-earned +pension.</p> + +<p>As Daguerre was the first of the successful discoverers of photography +to be summoned by death, I will here give a brief sketch of his life and +pursuits prior to his association with Nicéphore Niépce and photography. +Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre was born at Cormeilles, near Paris, in +1787, of poor and somewhat careless parents, who appear to have bestowed +upon him more names than attention. Though they did not endow him with a +good education, they had the good sense to observe the bent of his mind +and apprentice him to a theatrical scene painter. In that situation he +soon made his mark, and his artistic and mechanical abilities, combined +with industry, painstaking, and boldness of conception, soon raised him +to the front rank of his profession, in which he gained both honour and +profit. Like all true artists, he was fond of sketching from nature; +and, to save time and secure true proportion, he employed such optical +appliances as were then at his command. Some of his biographers say that +he, like Fox Talbot, employed the camera lucida; others the camera-obscura; +as there is a considerable difference between the two it would +be interesting to know which it really was. At any rate it was one of +these instruments which gave him the notion and created the desire to +secure the views as they were presented by the lens or reflector. Much +of his time was devoted to the painting and construction of a diorama +which was first exhibited in 1822, and created quite a sensation in +Paris. As early as 1824 he commenced his photographic experiments, with +very little knowledge on the subject; but with the hope and +determination of succeeding, by some means or other, in securing the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +pictures as Nature painted them on the screen or receiver. Doubtless he +was sanguine enough then to hope to be able to obtain colours as well as +drawings, but he died without seeing that accomplished, and so will many +others. What he did succeed in accomplishing was marvellous, and quite +entitled him to all the honour and emolument he received, but he only +lived about twelve years after his discovery. He was, however, saved the +mortification of seeing his beautiful discovery discarded and cast away +in the hey-day of its beauty and perfection.</p> + +<p>After a few weeks sojourn in London, seeing all the sights and +revisiting all the Daguerreotype studios, I turned my back on the great +city and my footsteps homewards again. As soon as I reached home I +unpacked my apparatus and made arrangements for another campaign with +the camera at some of the sea-side resorts, with the hope of making up +for lost time and money through visiting London.</p> + +<p>I had looked at Scarborough and found the Brothers Holroyd located +there; at Whitby, Mr. Stonehouse; and I did not like the appearance of +Redcar, so I settled upon Tynemouth, and did fairly well for a short +season. About the end of October I went on to Carlisle, but a Scotchman +had already preceded me there, and I thought one Daguerreotypist was +quite enough for so small a place, and pushed on to Penrith, where I +settled for the winter and gradually worked up a little connection, and +formed some life-long friendships. I was the first Daguerreotypist who +had visited the town of Penrith, and while there I made Daguerreotypes +of Sir George and Lady Musgrave and family, and some members of the +Lonsdale family. It was through the kindness of Miss Lowther that I was +induced to go to Whitehaven, but I did not do much business there, so, +after a bad winter, I resolved to go to America in the spring, and made +arrangements for the voyage immediately. Thinking that I would find +better apparatus and appliances in America, I disposed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +of my “Tent and +Kit,” closed up my affairs, bid adieu to my relatives and friends, and +departed.</p> + +<p>To obtain the benefit and experience of a long sea voyage, I secured a +cabin passage in a sailing ship named the <i>Amazon</i>, and sailed from +Shields towards the end of April, 1853. We crossed the Tyne bar late in +the evening with a fair wind, and sailed away for the Pentland Frith so +as to gain the Atlantic by sailing all round the North of Scotland. I +was rather upset the first night, but recovered my appetite next +morning. We entered the Pentland Frith on the Saturday afternoon, and +were running through the Channel splendidly, when the carpenter came to +report water in the well—I forget how many feet—but he thought it +would not be safe to attempt crossing the Atlantic. I was a little +alarmed at this, but the captain took it very coolly, and ordered the +ship to be pumped every watch. Being the only passenger, I became a kind +of chum and companion to the captain, and as we sat over our grog that +night in the cabin our conversation naturally turned upon the condition +of the ship, when he remarked that he was disappointed, and that he +“expected he had got a sound ship under his feet this time.” These words +did not make much impression upon me then, but I had reason to +comprehend their meaning afterwards. I was awoke early on the Sunday +morning by the noise caused by the working of the pumps, and on going on +deck found that we were becalmed, lying off the coast of Caithnesshire, +and the water pouring out of the pump-hole in a continuous stream. After +breakfast, and while sitting on the taffrail of the quarterdeck along +with the captain, waiting for a breeze, I asked him if he intended to +cross the Atlantic in such a leaky vessel. He answered “Yes, and the men +are all willing.” So I thought if these men were not afraid of the ship +foundering, I need not be; but I had reasons afterwards for coming to an +opposite conclusion.</p> + +<p>Towards evening the breeze sprang up briskly, and away we +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +went, the +ship heading W.N.W., as the captain said he wanted to make the northern +passage. Next morning we were in a rather rough sea, and a gale of wind +blowing. One of the yards was broken with the force of the wind, and the +sail and broken yard dangled about the rigging for a considerable time +before the sail could be hauled in and the wreckage cleared up. We had +several days of bad weather, and one morning when I got up I found the +ship heading East. I naturally concluded that we were returning, but the +captain said that he had only turned the ship about to enable the men to +stop a leak in her bows. The carpenter afterwards told me that the water +came in there like a river during the night. Thus we went on through +variable weather until at last we sighted two huge icebergs, and then +Newfoundland, when the captain informed me that he intended now to coast +up to New York. We got out of sight of land occasionally, and one day, +after the captain had taken his observations and worked out the ship’s +position, he called my attention to the chart, and observed that he +intended to sail between an island and the mainland, but as the Channel +was subject to strong and variable currents, it was a rather dangerous +experiment. Being in such a leaky ship, I thought he wanted to hug the +land as much as possible, which I considered a very wise and safe +proceeding; but he had ulterior objects in view, which the sequel will +reveal.</p> + +<p>On the night of the 31st of May, after a long yarn from the captain +about how he was once wrecked on an iceberg, I turned in with a feeling +of perfect safety, for the sea was calm, the night clear, and the wind +fair and free; but about daylight next morning I was awoke with a shock, +a sudden tramping on deck, and the mate shouting down the companion +stairs, “Captain, the ship’s ashore.” Both the captain and I rushed on +deck just as we jumped out of our berths, but we could not see anything +of the land or shore, for we were enveloped in a thick fog. We heard the +breakers and felt the thud of the waves as they broke +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +upon the ship, +but whether we had struck on a rock or grounded on a sandy beach we +could not then ascertain. The captain ordered the sails to be “slewed +back” and a hawser to be thrown astern, but all efforts to get the ship +off were in vain, for with every wave the ship forged more and more on +to the shore.</p> + +<p>As the morning advanced, the fog cleared away a little, which enabled us +to see dimly through the mist the top of a bank of yellow sand. This +sight settled the doubt as to our whereabouts, and the captain +immediately gave the order “Prepare to abandon the ship.” The long boat +was at once got ready, and lowered with considerable difficulty, for the +ship was then more among the breakers. After a good deal of delay and +danger, we all succeeded in leaving the ship and clearing the breakers. +We were exposed in the open boats all that day and night, and about ten +o’clock next morning we effected a landing on the lee side of the +island, which we ascertained to be Sable Island, a bald crown of one of +the banks of Newfoundland. Here we received help, shelter, and +provisions, all provided by the Home and Colonial Governments, for the +relief of shipwrecked people, for this island was one of the places +where ships were both accidentally and wilfully wrecked. We were obliged +to stay there sixteen days before we could get a vessel to take us to +Halifax, Nova Scotia, the nearest port, and would possibly have had to +remain on the island much longer, but for a mutiny among the crew. I +could describe some strange and startling incidents in connection with +the wreck and mutiny, but I will not allow myself to be tempted further +into the vale of divergence, as the chief object I have in view is my +reminiscence of photography.</p> + +<p>On leaving Sable Island I was taken to Halifax, where I waited the +arrival of the Cunard steamer <i>Niagara</i>, to take me on to Boston; thence +I proceeded by rail and steamer to New York, where I arrived about the +end of June, 1853.</p><p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<p>On landing in New York I only knew one individual, and not knowing how +far I should have to go to find him I put up at an hotel on Broadway, +but soon found that too expensive for my means, and went to a private +boarding house as soon as I could.</p> + +<p>Visiting all the leading Daguerreotypists on Broadway, I was somewhat +astonished at their splendid reception rooms, and the vast number of +large and excellent specimens exhibited. Their plain Daguerreotypes were +all of fine quality, and free from the “buff lines” so noticeable in +English work at that period; but all their attempts at colouring were +miserable failures, and when I showed one of my coloured specimens to +Mr. Gurney, he said, “Well, if you can colour one of my pictures like +that I’ll believe you;” which I soon did, and very much to his +astonishment. In those days I prepared my own colours, and Mr. Gurney +bought a box immediately. The principal Daguerreotypists in New York at +that time were Messrs. Brady, Gurney, Kent, Lawrence, Mead Brothers, and +Samuel Root, and I called upon them all before I entered into any +business arrangements, finally engaging myself to Messrs. Mead Brothers +as a colourist and teacher of colouring for six months, and while +fulfilling that engagement I gave lessons to several “Daguerreans,” and +made the acquaintance of men from all parts of the Union, for I soon +obtained some notoriety throughout the States in consequence of a man +named Humphrey attacking me and my colouring process in a photographic +journal which bore his name, as well as in the <i>New York Tribune</i>. I +replied to his attack in the columns of the <i>Tribune</i>, but I saw that he +had a friend on the staff, and I did not feel inclined to continue the +controversy. Mr. Humphrey knew nothing about my process, but began and +continued the discussion on his knowledge of what was known as the +“Isinglass Process,” which was not mine. After completing my engagements +with Messrs. Mead Brothers, I made arrangements +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +to supply the stock +dealers with my prepared colours, and travel the States myself to +introduce them to all the Daguerreans residing in the towns and cities I +should visit.</p> + +<p>In the principal cities I found all the Daguerreans quite equal to the +best in New York, and all doing good business, and I gave lessons in +colouring to most of them. In Newark I met Messrs. Benjamin and Polson; +in Philadelphia, Marcus Root and Dr. Bushnell. I encountered a great many +<i>doctors</i> and <i>professors</i> in the business in America. In Baltimore, +Maryland—then a slave State—many of the Daguerreans owned slaves. In +Washington D.C., I renewed my acquaintance with Mr. George Adams, one of +the best Daguerreans in the City; and while visiting him a very curious +thing occurred. One of the representatives of the South came in to have +his portrait taken, and the first thing he did was to lay a revolver and +a bowie knife on the table beside him. He had just come from the House +of Representatives. His excuse for such a proceeding was that he had +bought some slaves at the market at Alexandria, and was going to take +them home that night. He was a very tall man, and when he stood up +against the background his head was above it. As he wanted to be taken +standing, this put Mr. Adams into a dilemma, and he asked what he should +do. I thought the only thing that could be done was to move the +background up and down during exposure, which we did, and so obviated +the appearance of a line crossing the head.</p> + +<p>While staying in Washington I attended one of the levées at the White +House, and was introduced to President Pearce. There was no fuss or +difficulty in gaining admission. I had only to present my card at the +door, and the City Marshall at once led me into the room where the +President, surrounded by some of his Cabinet, was waiting to receive, +and I was introduced. After a cordial shake of his hand, I passed on to +another saloon where there was music and promenading in mixed costumes, +for most of the men were dressed as they liked, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +and some of the ladies +wore bonnets. It was the weekly <i>sans cérémonie</i> reception. Finding many +of the people of Washington very agreeable and hospitable, I stayed +there a considerable time. When I started on the southern journey I did +intend to go on to New Orleans, but I stayed so long in Philadelphia and +Washington the summer was too far advanced, and as a rather severe +outbreak of yellow fever had occurred, I returned to New York and took a +journey northward, visiting Niagara Falls, and going on to Canada. I +sailed up the Hudson River, stopping at Albany and Troy. At the latter +place I met an Englishman, named Irvine, a Daguerrean who treated me +hospitably, and for whom I coloured several Daguerreotypes. He wanted me +to stay with him, but that I declined. Thence I proceeded to Rochester, +and there found that one of my New York pupils had been before me, +representing himself as Werge the colourist, for when I introduced +myself to the principal Daguerrean he told me that Werge—a very +different man—had been there two or three weeks ago. I discovered who +the fellow was, and that he had practised a piece of Yankee smartness +for which I had no redress. From Rochester I proceeded to Buffalo, where +I met with another instance of Yankee smartness of a different kind. I +had sold some colours to a man there who paid me in dollar bills, the +usual currency of the country, but when I tendered one of these bills +for payment at the hotel, it was refused. I next offered it on board a +steamboat, but there it was also declined. When I had an opportunity I +returned it to the man who gave it to me, and requested him to send me a +good one instead. He was honest enough to do that, and impudent enough +to tell me that he knew it was bad when he gave it to me, but as I was a +stranger he thought I might pass it off easily.</p> + +<p>I next went to Niagara Falls, where it was my good fortune to encounter +two very different specimens of American character in the persons of Mr. +Easterly and Mr. Babbitt, the former a visitor and the latter a resident +Daguerrean, who held a monopoly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +from General Porter to Daguerreotype +the Falls and visitors. He had a pavilion on the American side of the +Falls, under which his camera was in position all day long, and when a +group of visitors stood on the shore to survey the Falls from that +point, he took the group—without their knowledge—and showed it to the +visitors before they left. In almost every instance he sold the picture +at a good price; the people were generally delighted to be taken at the +Falls. I need hardly say that they were all taken instantaneously, and +embraced a good general view, including the American Fall, Goat Island, +the Horse Shoe Fall, and the Canadian shore. Many of these views I +coloured for Mr. Babbitt, but there was always a beautiful green colour +on the brink of the Horse Shoe Fall which I never could match. For many +years I possessed one of Mr. Babbitt’s Daguerreotype views, as well as +others taken by Mr. Easterly and myself, but I had the misfortune +to be deprived of them all by fire. Some years after I lent them to an +exhibition in Glasgow, which was burnt down, and all the exhibits +destroyed. After a delightful sojourn of three weeks at Niagara Falls, I +took steamer on the lower Niagara River, sailed down to Lake Ontario, +and down the River St. Lawrence, shooting the Lachine Rapids, and on to +Montreal.</p> + +<p>In the Canadian City I did not find business very lively, so after +viewing the fine Cathedral of Notre Dame, the mountain, and other +places, I left Montreal and proceeded by rail to Boston. The difference +between the two cities was immense. Montreal was dull and sleepy, Boston +was all bustle and life, and the people were as unlike as the cities. On +my arrival in Boston, I put up at the Quincy Adams Hotel, and spent the +first few days in looking about the somewhat quaint and interesting old +city, hunting up Franklin Associations, and revolutionary landmarks, +Bunker Hill, and other places of interest. Having satisfied my appetite +for these things, I began to look about me with an eye to business, and +called upon the chief Daguerreans +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +and photographers in Boston. Messrs. +Southworth and Hawes possessed the largest Daguerreotype establishment, +and did an excellent business. In their “Saloon” I saw the largest and +finest revolving stereoscope that was ever exhibited. The pictures were +all whole-plate Daguerreotypes, and set vertically on the perpendicular +drum on which they revolved. The drum was turned by a handle attached to +cog wheels, so that a person sitting before it could see the +stereoscopic pictures with the utmost ease. It was an expensive +instrument, but it was a splendid advertisement, for it drew crowds to +their saloon to see it and to sit, and their enterprise met with its +reward.</p> + +<p>At Mr. Whipple’s gallery, in Washington Street, a dual photography was +carried on, for he made both Daguerreotypes and what he called +“crystallotypes,” which were simply plain silver prints obtained from +collodion negatives. Mr. Whipple was the first American photographer who +saw the great commercial advantages of the collodion process over the +Daguerreotype, and he grafted it on the elder branch of photography +almost as soon as it was introduced. Indeed, Mr. Whipple’s establishment +may be considered the very cradle of American photography as far as +collodion negatives and silver prints are concerned, for he was the very +first to take hold of it with spirit, and as early as 1853 he was doing +a large business in photographs, and teaching the art to others. +Although I had taken collodion negatives in England with Mawson’s +collodion in 1852, I paid Mr. Whipple fifty dollars to be shown how he +made his collodion, silver bath, developer, printing, &c., &c., for +which purpose he handed me over to his active and intelligent assistant +and newly-made partner, Mr. Black. This gave me the run of the +establishment, and I was somewhat surprised to find how vast and varied +were his mechanical appliances for reducing labour and expediting work. +The successful practice of the Daguerreotype art greatly depended on the +cleanness and highly polished surface of the silvered plates, and to +secure these necessary conditions, Mr. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +Whipple had, with characteristic +and Yankee-like ingenuity, obtained the assistance of a steam engine +which not only “drove” all the circular cleaning and buffing wheels, but +an immense circular fan which kept the studio and sitters delightfully +cool. Machinery and ingenuity did a great many things in Mr. Whipple’s +establishment in the early days of photography. Long before the +Ambrotype days, pictures were taken on glass and thrown upon canvas by +means of the oxyhydrogen light for the use of artists. At that early +period of the history of photography, Messrs. Whipple and Black did an +immense “printing and publishing” trade, and their facilities were +“something considerable.” Their toning, fixing, and washing baths were +almost worthy the name of vats.</p> + +<p>Messrs. Masury and Silsby were also early producers of photographs in +Boston, and in 1854 employed a very clever operator, Mr. Turner, who +obtained beautiful and brilliant negatives by iron development. On the +whole, I think Boston was ahead of New York for enterprise and the use +of mechanical appliances in connection with photography. I sold my +colours to most of the Daguerreotypists, and entered into business +relations with two of the dealers, Messrs. French and Cramer, to stock +them, and then started for New York to make arrangements for my return +to England.</p> + +<p>When I returned to New York the season was over, and everyone was +supposed to be away at Saratoga Springs, Niagara Falls, Rockaway, and +other fashionable resorts; but I found the Daguerreotype galleries all +open and doing a considerable stroke of business among the cotton +planters and slave holders, who had left the sultry south for the cooler +atmosphere of the more northern States. The Daguerreotype process was +then in the zenith of its perfection and popularity, and largely +patronised by gentlemen from the south, especially for large or double +whole-plates, about 16 by 12 inches, for which they paid fifty dollars +each. It was only the best houses that made a feature +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +of these large pictures, for it was not many of the Daguerreans +that possessed a “mammoth tube and box”—<i>i.e.</i>, lens and +camera—or the necessary machinery to “get up” such large surfaces, +but all employed the best mechanical means for cleaning and polishing +their plates, and it was this that enabled the Americans to produce more +brilliant pictures than we did. Many people used to say it was the +climate, but it was nothing of the kind. The superiority of the American +Daguerreotype was entirely due to mechanical appliances. Having +completed my business arrangements and left my colours on sale with the +principal stock dealers, including the Scovill Manufacturing Company, +Messrs. Anthony, and Levi Chapman.</p> + +<p>I sailed from New York in October 1854, and arrived in England in due +time without any mishap, and visiting London again as soon as I could, I +called at Mr. Mayall’s gallery in Regent Street to see Dr. Bushnell, +whom I knew in Philadelphia, and who was then operating for Mr. Mayall. +While there Mr. Mayall came in from the Guildhall, and announced the +result of the famous trial, “Talbot <i>versus</i> Laroche,” a verbatim report +of which is given in the Journal of the Photographic Society for +December 21st, 1854. Mr. Mayall was quite jubilant, and well he might +be, for the verdict for the defendant removed the trammels which Mr. Fox +Talbot attempted to impose upon the practice of the collodion process, +which was Frederick Scott Archer’s gift to photographers. That was the +first time that I had met Mr. Mayall, though I had heard of him and +followed him both at Philadelphia and New York, and even at Niagara +Falls. At that time Mr. Mayall was relinquishing the Daguerreotype +process, though one of the earliest practitioners, for he was in +business as a Daguerreotypist in Philadelphia from 1842 to 1846, and I +know that he made a Daguerreotype portrait of James Anderson, the +tragedian, in Philadelphia, on Sunday, May 18th, 1845. During part of +the time that he was in Philadelphia he was in partnership with Marcus +Root, and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +name of the firm was “Highschool and Root,” and about the +end of 1846 Mr. Mayall opened a Daguerreotype studio in the Adelaide +Gallery, King William Street, Strand, London, under the name of +Professor Highschool, and soon after that he opened a Daguerreotype +gallery in his own name in the Strand, which establishment he sold to +Mr. Jabez Hughes in 1855. The best Daguerreotypists in London in 1854 +were Mr. Beard, King William Street, London Bridge; Messrs. Kilburn, T. +R. Williams and Claudet, in Regent Street; and W. H. Kent, in Oxford +Street. The latter had just returned from America, and brought all the +latest improvements with him. Messrs. Henneman and Malone were in Regent +Street doing calotype portraits. Henneman had been a servant to Fox +Talbot, and worked his process under favourable conditions. Mr. Lock was +also in Regent Street, doing coloured photographs. He offered me a +situation at once, if I could colour photographs as well as I could +colour Daguerreotypes, but I could not, for the processes were totally +different. M. Manson, an old Frenchman, was the chief Daguerreotype +colourist in London, and worked for all the principal Daguerreotypists. +I met the old gentleman first in 1851, and knew him for many years +afterwards. He also made colours for sale. Not meeting with anything to +suit me in London, I returned to the North, calling at Birmingham on my +way, where I met Mr. Whitlock, the chief Daguerreotypist there, and a +Mr. Monson, who professed to make Daguerreotypes and all other types. +Paying a visit to Mr. Elisha Mander, the well-known photographic case +maker, I learnt that Mr. Jabez Hughes, then in business in Glasgow, was +in want of an assistant, a colourist especially. Having met Mr. Hughes +in Glasgow in 1852, and knowing what kind of man he was, I wrote to him, +and was engaged in a few days. I went to Glasgow in January, 1855, and +then commenced business relations and friendship with Mr. Hughes that +lasted unbroken until his death in 1884. My chief occupation was to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +colour the Daguerreotypes taken by Mr. Hughes, and occasionally take +sitters, when Mr. Hughes was busy, in another studio. I had not, +however, been long in Glasgow, when Mr. Hughes determined to return to +London. At first he wished me to accompany him, but it was ultimately +arranged that I should purchase the business, and remain in Glasgow, +which I did, and took possession in June, Mr. Hughes going to Mr. +Mayall’s old place in the Strand, London. Mr. Hughes had been in Glasgow +for nearly seven years, and had done a very good business, going first +as operator to Mr. Bernard, and succeeding to the business just as I was +doing. While Mr. Hughes was in Glasgow he was very popular, not only as a +Daguerreotypist, but as a lecturer. He delivered a lecture on +photography at the Literary and Philosophical Society, became an active +member of the Glasgow Photographic Society, and an enthusiastic member +of the St. Mark’s Lodge of Freemasons. Only a day or two before he left +Glasgow, he occupied the chair at a meeting of photographers, comprising +Daguerreotypists and collodion workers, to consider what means could be +adopted to check the downward tendency of prices even in those early +days. I was present, and remember seeing a lady Daguerreotypist among +the company, and she expressed her opinion quite decidedly. Efforts were +made to enter into a compact to maintain good prices, but nothing came +of it. Like all such bandings together, the band was quickly and easily +broken.</p> + +<p>I had the good fortune to retain the best of Mr. Hughes’s customers, and +make new ones of my own, as well as many staunch and valuable friends, +both among what I may term laymen and brother Masons, while I resided in +Glasgow. Most of my sitters were of the professional classes, and the +<i>elite</i> of the city, among whom were Sir Archibald Alison, the +historian, Col. (now General) Sir Archibald Alison, Dr. Arnott, +Professor Ramsey, and many of the princely merchants +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +and manufacturers. +Some of my other patrons—for I did all kinds of photographic work—were +the late Norman Macbeth, Daniel McNee (afterwards Sir Daniel), and +President of the Scottish Academy of Art, and also Her Majesty the +Queen, for she bought two of my photographs of Glasgow Cathedral, and a +copy of my illustration of Hood’s “Song of the Shirt,” copies of which I +possess now, and doubtless so does Her Majesty. One of the most +interesting portraits I remember taking while I was in Glasgow was that +of John Robertson, who constructed the first marine steam engine. He was +associated with Henry Bell, and fitted the “Comet” with her engine. Mr. +Napier senr., the celebrated engineer on the Clyde, brought Robertson to +sit to me, and ordered a great many copies. I also took a portrait of +Harry Clasper, of rowing and boat-building notoriety, which was engraved +and published in the <i>Illustrated London News</i>. Several of my portraits +were engraved both on wood and steel, and published. At the photographic +exhibition in connection with the meeting of the British Association +held in Glasgow, in 1855, I saw the largest collodion positive on glass +that ever was made to my knowledge. The picture was thirty-six inches +long, a view of Gourock, or some such place down the Clyde, taken by Mr. +Kibble. The glass was British plate, and cost about £1. I thought it a +great evidence of British pluck to attempt such a size. When I saw Mr. +Kibble I told him so, and expressed an opinion that I thought it a waste +of time, labour, and money not to have made a negative when he was at +such work. He took the hint, and at the next photographic exhibition he +showed a silver print the same size. Mr. Kibble was an undoubted +enthusiast, and kept a donkey to drag his huge camera from place to +place. My pictures frequently appeared at the Glasgow exhibition, but at +one, which was burnt down, I lost all my Daguerreotype views of Niagara +Falls, Whipple’s views of the moon, and many other valuable pictures, +portraits, and views, which could never be replaced.</p> + +<hr class="chap" style="margin-top:2em" /> + +<div class="center fig_caption mrt4">THIRD PERIOD. +<hr class="r10" /> +<span class="smaller">COLLODION.</span></div> + +<div class="center smaller"> +<img src="images/070_1.png" width="273" height="331" alt="" title="" /><br /> +FREDERICK SCOTT ARCHER.<br /> +<i>From Glass Positive by R. Cade, Ipswich. 1855.</i><br /> +<br /> +<img src="images/070_2.png" width="407" height="311" alt="" title="" /><br /> +HEVER CASTLE, KENT.<br /> +<i>Copy of Glass Positive taken by F. Scott Archer in 1849.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p class="mrt4"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THIRD_PERIOD" id="THIRD_PERIOD"></a>THIRD PERIOD.</h2> +<h3>COLLODION TRIUMPHANT.</h3> + +<div class="fig_center" style="width: 84px;"> +<img src="images/bar.png" width="84" height="11" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> 1857 I abandoned the Daguerreotype +process entirely, and took to +collodion solely; and, strangely enough, that was the year that +Frederick Scott Archer, the inventor, died. Like Daguerre, he did not +long survive the publication and popularity of his invention, nor did he +live long enough to see his process superseded by another. In years, +honours, and emoluments, he fell far short of Daguerre, but his process +had a much longer existence, was of far more commercial value, +benefitting private individuals and public bodies, and creating an +industry that expanded rapidly, and gave employment to thousands all +over the world; yet he profited little by his invention, and when he +died, a widow and three children were left destitute. Fortunately a few +influential friends bestirred themselves in their interest, and when the +appeal was made to photographers and the public to the Archer +Testimonial, the following is what appeared in the pages of <i>Punch</i>, +June 13th, 1857:—</p> + +<div class="center smcap">“To the Sons of the Sun.</div> + +<p>“The inventor of collodion has died, leaving his invention unpatented, +to enrich thousands, and his family unportioned to the battle of life. +Now, one expects a photographer to be almost as sensitive as the +collodion to which Mr. Scott Archer helped him. A deposit of silver is +wanted (gold will do), and certain faces, now in the dark chamber, will +light up wonderfully, with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +an effect never before equalled by +photography. A respectable ancient writes that the statue of Fortitude +was the only one admitted to the Temple of the Sun. Instead whereof, do +you, photographers, set up Gratitude in your little glass temples of the +sun, and sacrifice, according to your means, in memory of the benefactor +who gave you the deity for a household god. Now, answers must not be +negatives.”</p> + +<p>The result of that appeal, and the labours of the gentlemen who so +generously interested themselves on behalf of the widow and orphans, was +highly creditable to photographers, the Photographic Society, Her +Majesty’s Ministers, and Her Majesty the Queen. What those labours were, +few now can have any conception; but I think the very best way to convey +an idea of those labours and their successful results will be to reprint +a copy of the final report of the committee.</p> + + +<div class="center smcap">The Report of the Committee of the Archer Testimonial.</div> + +<p>“The Committee of the Archer Testimonial, considering it necessary to +furnish a statement of the course pursued towards the attainment of +their object, desire to lay before the subscribers and the public +generally a full report of their proceedings.</p> + +<p>“Shortly after the death of Mr. F. Scott Archer, a preliminary meeting +of a few friends was held, and it was determined that a printed address +should be issued to the photographic world.</p> + +<p>“Sir William Newton, cordially co-operating in the movement, at once +made application to Her Most Gracious Majesty. The Queen, with her usual +promptitude and kindness of heart, forwarded a donation of £20 towards +the Testimonial. The Photographic Society of London, at the same time, +proposed a grant of £50, and this liberality on the part of the Society +was followed by an announcement of a list of donations from individual +members, which induced your Committee to believe that if an appeal were +made to the public, and those practising the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +photographic art, a sum +might be raised sufficiently large, not only to relieve the immediate +wants of the widow and children, but to purchase a small annuity, and +thus in a slight degree compensate for the heavy loss they had sustained +by the premature death of one to whom the photographic art had already +become deeply indebted.</p> + +<p>“To aid in the accomplishment of this design, Mr. Mayall placed the use +of his rooms at the service of a committee then about to be formed. Sir +William Newton and Mr. Roger Fenton consented to act as treasurers to +the fund, and the Union, and London and Westminster Banks kindly +undertook to receive subscriptions.</p> + +<p>“Your Committee first met on the 8th day of June, 1857, Mr. Digby Wyatt +being called to the chair, when it was resolved to ask the consent of +Professors Delamotte and Goodeve to become joint secretaries. These +duties were willingly accepted, and subscription lists opened in various +localities in furtherance of the Testimonial.</p> + +<p>“Your Committee met on the 8th day of July, and again on the 4th day of +September, when, on each occasion, receipts were announced and paid into +the bankers.</p> + +<p>“The Society of Arts having kindly offered, through their Secretary, the +use of apartments in the house of the Society for any further meetings, +your Committee deemed it expedient to accept the same, and passed a vote +of thanks to Mr. Mayall for the accommodation previously afforded by +that gentleman.</p> + +<p>“Your Committee, believing that the interests of the fund would be +better served by a short delay in their proceedings, resolved on +deferring their next meeting until the month of November, or until the +Photographic Society should resume its meetings, when a full attendance +of members might be anticipated; it being apparent that individually and +collectively persons in the provinces had withheld their subscriptions +until the grant of the Photographic Society of London had been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +formally +sanctioned at a special meeting convened for the purpose, and that their +object—the purchase of an annuity for Mrs. Archer and her +children—could only be effected by the most active co-operation among +all classes.</p> + +<p>“Your Committee again met on the 26th of November, when it was resolved +to report progress to the general body of subscribers, and that a public +meeting be called for the purpose, at which the Lord Chief Baron Pollock +should be requested to preside. To this request the Lord Chief Baron +most kindly and promptly acceded; and your Committee determined to seek +the co-operation of their photographic friends and the public to enable +them to carry out in its fullest integrity the immediate object of +securing some small acknowledgment for the eminent services rendered to +photography by the late Mr. Archer.</p> + +<p>“At this meeting it was stated that an impression existed, which to some +extent still exists, that Mr. Archer was not the originator of the +Collodion Process; your Committee, therefore, think it their duty to +state emphatically that they are fully satisfied of the great importance +of the services rendered by him, as an original inventor, to the art of +photography.</p> + +<p>“Professor Hunt, having studied during twenty years the beautiful art of +photography in all its details, submitted to the Committee the following +explanation of Mr. Archer’s just right:—</p> + +<p>“‘As there appears to be some misconception of the real claim of Mr. +Archer to be considered as a <i>discoverer</i>, it is thought desirable to +state briefly and distinctly what we owe to him. There can be no doubt +that much of the uncertainty which has been thought by some persons to +surround the introduction of collodion, has arisen from the unobtrusive +character of Mr. Archer himself, who deferred for a considerable period +<i>the publication of the process of which he was the discoverer</i>.</p> + +<p>“‘When Professor Schönbein, of Basle, introduced gun-cotton at the +meeting of the British Association at Southampton +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +in 1846, the +solubility of this curious substance in ether was alluded to. Within a +short time collodion was employed in our hospitals for the purposes of +covering with a film impervious to air abraded surfaces on the body; its +peculiar electrical condition was also known and exhibited by Mr. Hall, +of Dartford, and others.</p> + +<p>“‘The beautiful character of the collodion film speedily led to the idea +of using it as a medium for receiving photographic agents, and +experiments were made by spreading the collodion on paper and on glass, +to form with it sensitive tablets. These experiments were all failures, +owing to the circumstance that the collodion was regarded merely as a +sheet upon which the photographic materials were to be spread; the dry +collodion film being in all cases employed.</p> + +<p>“‘To Mr. Archer, who spent freely both time and money in experimental +research, it first occurred to dissolve in the collodion itself the +iodide of potassium. By this means he removed every difficulty, and +became the inventor of the collodion process. The pictures thus obtained +were exhibited, and some of the details of the process communicated by +Mr. Scott Archer in confidence to friends before he published his +process. This led, very unfortunately, to experiments by others in the +same direction, and hence there have arisen claims in opposition to +those of this lamented photographer. Everyone, however, acquainted with +the early history of the collodion process freely admits that Mr. Archer +was the <i>sole inventor of iodized collodion</i>, and of those manipulatory +details which still, with very slight modifications, constitute the +collodion process, and he was the first person who published any account +of the application of this remarkable accelerating agent, by which the +most important movement has been given to the art of photography.’</p> + +<p>“Your committee, in May last, heard with deep regret of the sudden death +of the widow, Mrs. Archer, which melancholy event caused a postponement +of the general meeting resolved +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +upon in November last. Sir Wm. Newton +thereupon resolved to make another effort to obtain a pension for the +three orphan children, now more destitute than ever, and so earnestly +did he urge their claim upon the Minister, Lord Derby, that a reply came +the same day from his lordship’s private secretary, saying, ‘The Queen +has been pleased to approve of a pension of fifty pounds per annum being +paid from the Civil List to the children of the late Mr. Frederick Scott +Archer, in consideration of the scientific discoveries of their father,’ +his lordship adding his regrets ‘that the means at his disposal have not +enabled him to do more in this case.’ Your committee, to mark their +sense of the value of the services rendered to the cause by Sir William +Newton, thereupon passed a vote of thanks to him. In conclusion, your +committee have to state that a trust deed has been prepared, free of +charge, by Henry White, Esq., of 7, Southampton Street, which conveys +the fund collected to trustees, to be by them invested in the public +securities for the sole benefit of the orphan children. The sum in the +Union Bank now amounts to £549 11s. 4d., exclusive of interest, and the +various sums—in all about £68—paid over to Mrs. Archer last year. Thus +far, the result is a subject for congratulation to the subscribers and +your committee, whose labours have hitherto not been in vain. Your +committee are, nevertheless, of opinion that an appeal to Parliament +might be productive of a larger recognition of the claim of these orphan +children—a claim not undeserving the recognition of the Legislature, +when the inestimable boon bestowed upon the country is duly considered. +Since March 1851, when Mr. Archer described his process in the pages of +the <i>Chemist</i>, how many thousands must in some way or other have been +made acquainted with the immense advantages it offers over all other +processes in the arts, and how many instances could be adduced in +testimony of its usefulness? For instance, its value to the Government +during the last war, in the engineering department, the construction +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +of +field works, and in recording observations of historical and scientific +interest. Your committee noticed that an attractive feature of the +Photographic Society’s last exhibition was a series of drawings and +plans, executed by the Royal Engineers, in reduction of various ordnance +maps, at a saving estimated at £30,000 to the country. The +non-commissioned officers of this corps are now trained in this art, and +sent to different foreign stations, so that in a few years there will be +a network of photographic stations spread over the world, and having +their results recorded in the War Department, and, in a short time, all +the world will be brought under the subjugation of art.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Warren De la Rue exhibited to the Astronomical Society, November, +1857, photographs of the moon and Jupiter, taken by the collodion +process in five seconds, of which the Astronomer-Royal said, ‘that a +step of very great importance had been made, and that, either as regards +the self-delineation of clusters of stars, nebulæ, and planets, or the +self-registration of observations, it is impossible at present to +estimate the value.’ When admiring the magnificent photographic prints +which are now to be seen in almost every part of the civilized world, an +involuntary sense of gratitude towards the discoverer of the collodion +process must be experienced, and it cannot but be felt how much the +world is indebted to Mr. Archer for having placed at its command the +means by which such beautiful objects are presented. How many thousands +amongst those who owe their means of subsistence to this process must +have experienced such a feeling of gratitude? It is upon such +considerations that the public have been, and still are, invited to +assist in securing for the orphan children of the late Mr. Archer some +fitting appreciation of the service which he rendered to science, art, +his country—nay, to the whole world.</p> + +<p class="tdr">“<span class="smcap">M. Digby Wyatt</span>, <i>Chairman</i>,<br /> +“<span class="smcap">Jabez Hogg</span>, <i>Secretary to Committee</i>.</p> + +<p>“<i>Society of Arts, July, 1858.</i>”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> +<p>After reading that report, and especially Mr. Hunt’s remarks, it will +appear evident to all that even that act of charity, gratitude, and +justice could not be carried through without someone raising objections +and questioning the claims of Frederick Scott Archer as the original +inventor of the Collodion process. Nearly all the biographers and +historians of photography have coupled other names with Archer’s, either +as assistants or co-inventors, but I have evidence in my possession that +will prove that neither Fry nor Diamond afforded Archer any assistance +whatever, and that Archer preceded all the other claimants in his +application of collodion. In support of the first part of this +statement, I shall give extracts from Mrs. Archer’s letter, now in my +possession, which, I think, will set that matter at rest for ever. Mrs. +Archer, writing from Bishop Stortford on December 7th, 1857, says, “When +Mr. A. prepared pupils for India he always taught the paper process as +well as the Collodion, for fear the chemicals should cause +disappointment in a hot climate, as I believe that the negative paper he +prepared differed from that in general use. I enclosed a specimen made +in our glass house.</p> + +<p>“In Mr. Hunt’s book, as well as Mr. Horne’s, Mr. Fry’s name is joined +with Mr. Archer’s as the originators of the Collodion process.</p> + +<p>“Should Mr. Hunt seem to require any corroboration of what I have stated +respecting Mr. Fry, I can send you many of Mr. Fry’s notes of +invitation, when Mr. A. merely gave him lessons in the application of +collodion, and Mr. Brown gave me the correspondence which passed between +him and Mr. Fry on the subject at the time Mr. Home’s book was +published. I did not send up those papers, for, unless required, it is +useless to dwell on old grievances, but I should like such a man as Mr. +Hunt to understand <i>how</i> the association of the two names originated.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +As to priority of application, the following letter ought to settle that +point:—</p> + +<p class="tdr">“<i>Alma Cottage, Bishop Stortford.</i><br /> +“<i>9th December, 1857.</i></p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—My hunting has at length +proved successful. In the enclosed book +you will find notes respecting the paper pulp, albumen, tanno-gelatine, +and collodion. You will therein see Mr. Archer’s notes of iod-collodion +in 1849. You may wonder that I could not find this note-book before, but +the numbers of papers that there are, and the extreme disorder, defy +description. My head was in such a deplorable state before I left that I +could arrange nothing. Those around me were most anxious to destroy <i>all +the papers</i>, and I had great trouble to keep all with Mr. Archer’s +handwriting upon them, however dirty and rubbishing they might appear, +so they were huddled together, a complete chaos. I look back with the +greatest thankfulness that my brain did not completely lose its balance, +for I had not a single relative who entered into Mr. Archer’s pursuits, +so that they could not possibly assist me.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Archer being of so reserved a character, I had to <i>find out</i> where +everything was, and my search has been amongst different things. I need +not tell you that I hope this dirty enclosure will be taken care of.</p> + +<p>“The paper pulp occupied much time; in fact, notes were only made of +articles which had been much tried, which might probably be brought into +use.—I am, sir, yours faithfully,</p> + +<p class="tdl">“<i>J. Hogg, Esq.</i></p> +<p class="tdr smcap" style="margin-top: -1.5em;">F. G. Archer.”</p> + +<p>If the foregoing is not evidence sufficient, I have by me a very good +<i>glass positive</i> of Hever Castle, Kent, which was taken in the spring of +1849, and two collodion negatives made by Mr. Archer in the autumn of +1848; and these dates are all vouched for by Mr. Jabez Hogg, who was Mr. +Archer’s medical attendant and friend, and knew him long before he began +his experiments with collodion—whereas I cannot find a trace even of +the <i>suggestion</i> of the application of collodion in the practice +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +of photography either by Gustave Le Gray or J. R. Bingham prior to 1849; +while Mr. Archer’s note-book proves that he was not only iodizing +collodion at that date, but making experiments with paper pulp and +<i>gelatine</i>; so that Mr. Archer was not only the inventor of the +collodion process, but was on the track of its destroyer even at that +early date. He also published his method of bleaching positives and +intensifying negatives with bichloride of mercury.</p> + +<p>Frederick Scott Archer was born at Bishop Stortford in 1813, but there +is little known of his early life, and what little there is I will allow +Mrs. Archer to tell in her own way.</p> + +<p>“Dear Sir,—I do not know whether the enclosed is what you require; if +not, be kind enough to let me know, and I must try to supply you with +something better. I thought you merely required particulars relating to +photography. Otherwise Mr. Archer’s career was a singular one: Losing +his parents in childhood, he lived in a world of his own; I think you +know he was apprenticed to a bullion dealer in the city, where the most +beautiful antique gems and coins of all nations being constantly before +him, gave him the desire to model the figures, and led him to the study +of numismatics. He worked so hard at nights at these pursuits that his +master gave up the last two years of his time to save his life. He only +requested him to be on the premises, on account of his extreme +confidence in him.</p> + +<p>“Many other peculiarities I could mention, but I dare say you know them +already.</p> + +<p>“I will send a small case to you, containing some early specimens and +gutta-percha negatives, with a copy of Mr. A.’s portrait, which I found +on leaving Great Russell Street, and have had several printed from it. +It is not a good photograph, but I think you will consider it a +likeness. I am, yours faithfully,</p> + +<p class="tdl">“<i>J. Hogg, Esq.</i></p> +<p class="tdr smcap" style="margin-top: -1.5em;">F. G. Archer.”</p> + +<p>Frederick Scott Archer pursued the double occupation of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +sculptor and +photographer at 105, Great Russell Street. It was there he so +persistently persevered in his photographic experiments, and there he +died in May, 1857, and was interred in Kensal Green Cemetery. A +reference to the report of the Committee will show what was done for his +bereaved family—a widow and three children. Mrs. Archer followed her +husband in March, 1858, and two of the children died early; but one, +Alice (unmarried), is still alive and in receipt of the Crown pension of +fifty pounds per annum.</p> + +<p>While the collodion episode in the history of photography is before my +readers, and especially as the process is rapidly becoming extinct, I +think this will be a suitable place to insert Archer’s instructions for +making a <i>soluble</i> gun-cotton, iodizing collodion, developing, and +fixing the photographic image.</p> + +<table summary="ingredients"> +<tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="3"><i>Gun-Cotton</i> (<i>or Pyroxaline, as it was afterwards named</i>).</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl" style="padding-left: 1.5em;">Take of dry nitre in powder</td><td class="tdr">40</td><td class="center">parts</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl" style="padding-left: 1.5em;">Sulphuric acid</td><td class="tdr">60</td><td class="center">„</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl" style="padding-left: 1.5em;">Cotton</td><td class="tdr">2</td><td class="center">„</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>The sulphuric acid and the nitre were mixed together, and immediately +the latter was all dissolved, the gun-cotton was added and well stirred +with a glass rod for about two minutes; then the cotton was plunged into +a large bowl of water and well washed with repeated changes of water +until the acid and nitre were washed away. The cotton was then pressed +and dried, and converted into collodion by dissolving 30 grains of +gun-cotton in 18 fluid ounces of ether and 2 ounces of alcohol—putting +the cotton into the ether first, and then adding the alcohol; the +collodion allowed to settle and decanted prior to iodizing. The latter +operation was performed by adding a sufficient quantity of iodide of +silver to each ounce of the plain collodion. Mr. Archer tells how to +make the iodide of silver, but the quantity is regulated by the quantity +of alcohol in the collodion. When the iodized collodion was ready for +use, a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +glass plate was cleaned and coated with it, and then sensitised +by immersion in a bath of nitrate of silver solution—30 grains of +nitrate of silver to each ounce of distilled water. From three to five +minutes’ immersion in the silver bath was generally sufficient to +sensitise the plate. This, of course, had to be done in what is commonly +called a <i>dark room</i>. After exposure in the camera, the picture was +developed by pouring over the surface of the plate a solution of +pyrogallic acid of the following proportions:—</p> + +<table summary="ingredients"> +<tr> + <td>Pyrogallic acid</td> + <td class="tdr" style="padding-left:1em;">5</td> + <td class="tdl" style="padding-left:1em;">grains</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Distilled water</td> + <td class="tdr" style="padding-left:1em;">10</td> + <td class="tdl" style="padding-left:1em;">ounces</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Glacial acetic acid</td> + <td class="tdr" style="padding-left:1em;">40</td> + <td class="tdl" style="padding-left:1em;">minims</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>After the development of the picture it was washed and fixed in a +solution of hyposulphite of soda, 4 ounces to 1 pint of water. The plate +was then washed and dried. This is an epitome of the whole of Archer’s +process for making either negatives or positives on glass, the +difference being effected by varying the time of exposure and +development. Of course the process was somewhat modified and simplified +by experience and commercial enterprise. Later on bromides were added to +the collodion, an iron developer employed, and cyanide of potassium as a +fixing agent; but the principle remained the same from first to last.</p> + +<p>When pyrogallic acid was first employed in photography, it was quoted at +21s. per oz., and, if I remember rightly, I paid 3s. for the first +<i>drachm</i> that I purchased. On referring to an old price list I find +Daguerreotype plates, 2<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> by 2 inches, quoted at 12s. per dozen; nitrate +of silver, 5s. 6d. per oz.; chloride of gold, 5s. 6d. for 15 grains; +hyposulphite of soda at 5s. per lb.; and a half-plate rapid portrait +lens by Voightlander, of Vienna, at £60. Those were the days when +photography might well be considered expensive, and none but the wealthy +could indulge in its pleasures and fascinations.</p> + +<p>While I lived in Glasgow, competition was tolerably keen, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +even then, and amongst the best “glass positive men” were Messrs. Bibo, +Bowman, J. Urie, and Young and Sun, as the latter styled himself; and in +photographic portraiture, plain and coloured, by the collodion process, +were Messrs. Macnab and J. Stuart. From the time that I relinquished the +Daguerreotype process, in 1857, I devoted my attention to the production +of high-class collodion negatives. I never took kindly to <i>glass +positives</i>, though I had done some as early as 1852. They were never +equal in beauty and delicacy to a good Daguerreotype, and their low tone +was to me very objectionable. I considered the Ferrotype the best form +of collodion positive, and did several of them, but my chief work was +plain and coloured prints from collodion negatives, also small portraits +on visiting cards.</p> + +<p>Early in January, 1860, my home and business were destroyed by fire, and +I lost all my old and new specimens of Daguerreotypes and photographs, +all my Daguerreotype and other apparatus, and nearly everything I +possessed. As I was only partially insured, I suffered considerable +loss. After settling my affairs I decided on going to America again and +trying my luck in New York. Family ties influenced this decision +considerably, or I should not have left Glasgow, where I was both +prosperous and respected. To obtain an idea of the latest and best +aspects of photography, I visited London and Paris.</p> + +<p>The carte-de-visite form of photography had not exhibited much vitality +at that period in London, but in Paris it was beginning to be popular. +While in London I accompanied Mr. Jabez Hughes to the meeting of the +Photographic Society, Feb. 7th, 1860, the Right Honorable the Lord Chief +Baron Pollock in the chair, when the report of the Collodion Committee +was delivered. The committee, consisting of F. Bedford, P. Delamotte, +Dr. Diamond, Roger Fenton, Jabez Hughes, T. A. Malone, J. H. Morgan, H. +P. Robinson, Alfred Rosling, W. Russell Sedgefield, J. Spencer, and T. +R. Williams, strongly recommended Mr. Hardwich’s formula. That was my +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +first visit to the Society, and I certainly did not think then that I +should ever see it again, or become and be a member for twenty-two +years.</p> + +<p>I sailed from Liverpool in the ss. <i>City of Baltimore</i> in March, and +reached New York safely in April, 1860. I took time to look about me, +and visited all the “galleries” on Broadway, and other places, before +deciding where I should locate myself. Many changes had taken place +during the six years I had been absent. Nearly all the old +Daguerreotypists were still in existence, but all of them, with the +exception of Mr. Brady, had abandoned the Daguerreotype process, and Mr. +Brady only retained it for small work. Most of the chief galleries had +been moved higher up Broadway, and a mania of magnificence had taken +possession of most of the photographers. Mr. Anson was the first to make +a move in that direction by opening a “superb gallery” on the ground +floor in Broadway right opposite the Metropolitan Hotel, filling his +windows with life-sized photographs coloured in oil at the back, which +he called Diaphanotypes. He did a large business in that class of work, +especially among visitors from the Southern States; but that was soon to +end, for already there were rumours of war, but few then gave it any +serious consideration.</p> + +<p>Messrs. Gurney and Sons’ gallery was also a very fine one, but not on +the ground floor. Their “saloon” was upstairs, This house was one of the +oldest in New York in connection with photography. In the very early +days, Mr. Gurney, senr., was one of the most eminent “professors” of the +Daguerreotype process, and was one of the committee appointed to wait +upon the Rev. Wm. Hill, a preacher in the Catskills, to negotiate with +the reverend gentlemen (?) for his vaunted secret of photography in +natural colours. As the art progressed, or the necessity for change +arose, Mr. Gurney was ready to introduce every novelty, and, in later +years, in conjunction with Mr. Fredericks, then in partnership with Mr. +Gurney, he introduced +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +the “Hallotype,” not Hillotype, and the +“Ivorytype.” Both these processes had their day. The former was +photography spoiled by the application of Canada balsam and very little +art; the latter was the application of a great deal of art to spoil a +photograph. The largest of all the large galleries on Broadway was that +of Messrs. Fredericks and Co. The whole of the ground and first floor +were thrown into one “crystal front,” and made a very attractive +appearance. The windows were filled with life-sized portraits painted in +oil, crayons, and other styles, and the walls of the interior were +covered with life-sized portraits of eminent men and beautiful women. +The floor was richly carpeted, and the furnishing superb. A gallery ran +round the walls to enable the visitors to view the upper pictures, and +obtain a general view of the “saloon,” the <i>tout ensemble</i> of which was +magnificent. From the ground floor an elegant staircase led to the +galleries, toilet and waiting rooms, and thence to the operating rooms +or studios. Some of the Parisian galleries were fine, but nothing to be +compared with Fredericks’, and the finest establishment in London did +not bear the slightest comparison.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brady was another of the early workers of the Daguerreotype process, +and probably the last of his <i>confrères</i> to abandon it. He commenced +business in the early forties in Fulton Street, a long way down +Broadway, but as the sea of commerce pressed on and rolled over the +strand of fashion, he was obliged to move higher and higher up Broadway, +until he reached the corner of Tenth Street, nearly opposite Grace +Church. Mr. Brady appeared to set the Franklin maxim, “Three removes as +bad as a fire,” at defiance, for he had made three or four moves to my +knowledge—each one higher and higher to more elegant and expensive +premises, each remove entailing the cost of more and more expensive +furnishing, until his latest effort in upholstery culminated in a superb +suite of black walnut and green silk velvet; in short, Longfellow’s +“Excelsior” appeared to be the motto of Mr. Brady.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +Messrs. Mead Brothers, Samuel Root, James Cady, and George Adams ought +to receive “honourable mention” in connection with the art in New York, +for they were excellent operators in the Daguerreotype days, and all +were equally good manipulators of the collodion process and silver +printing.</p> + +<p>After casting and sounding about, like a mariner seeking a haven on a +strange coast, I finally decided on buying a half interest in the +gallery of Mead Brothers, 805, Broadway; Harry Mead retaining his, or +his wife’s share of the business, but leaving me to manage the “uptown” +branch. This turned out to be an unfortunate speculation, which involved +me in a lawsuit with one of Mead’s creditors, and compelled me to get +rid of a very unsatisfactory partner in the best way and at any cost +that I could. Mead’s creditor, by some process of law that I could never +understand, stripped the gallery of all that belonged to my partner, and +even put in a claim for half of the fixtures. Over this I lost my +temper, and had to pay, not the piper, but the lawyer. I also found that +Mrs. Henry Mead had a bill of sale on her husband’s interest in the +business, which I ended by buying her out. Husband and wife are very +seldom one in America. Soon after getting the gallery into my own hands, +refurnishing and rearranging, the Prince of Wales’s visit to New York +was arranged, and as the windows of my gallery commanded a good view of +Broadway, I let most of them very advantageously, retaining the use of +one only for myself and family. There were so many delays, however, at +the City Hall and other places on the day of the procession, that it was +almost dark when the Prince reached 805, Broadway, and all my guests +were both weary of waiting so long, and disappointed at seeing so little +of England’s future King.</p> + +<p>When I recommenced business on Broadway on my own account there was only +one firm taking cartes-de-visite, and I introduced that form of portrait +to my customers, but they did not take very kindly to it, though a house +not far from me was doing a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +very good business in that style at three +dollars a dozen, and Messrs. Rockwood and Co. appeared to be +monopolising all the carte-de-visite business that was being done in New +York; but eventually I got in the thin edge of the wedge by exhibiting +<i>four</i> for one dollar. This ruse brought in sitters, and I began to do +very well until Abraham Lincoln issued his proclamation calling for one +hundred thousand men to stamp out the Southern rebellion. I remember +that morning most distinctly. It was a miserably wet morning in April, +1861, and all kinds of business received a shock. People looked +bewildered, and thought of nothing but saving their money and reducing +their expenses. It had a blighting effect on my business, and I, not +knowing, like others, where it might land me, determined to get rid of +my responsibilities at any cost, so I sold my business for a great deal +less than it was worth, and at a very serious loss. The outbreak of that +gigantic civil war and a severe family bereavement combined, induced me +to return to England as soon as possible. Before leaving America, in all +probability for ever, I went to Washington to bid some friends farewell, +and while there I went into Virginia with a friend on Sunday morning, +July 21st, and in the afternoon saw the smoke and heard the cannonading +of the first battle of Bull Run, and witnessed, next morning, the rout +and rush into Washington of the demoralised fragments of the Federal +army. I wrote and sent a description of the stampede to a friend in +Glasgow, which he handed over to the <i>Glasgow Herald</i> for publication, +and I have reason to believe that my description of that memorable rout +was the first that was published in Great Britain.</p> + +<p>As soon as I could settle my affairs I left New York with my family, and +arrived in London on the 15th of September, 1861. It was a beautiful +sunny day when I landed, and, after all the trouble and excitement I had +so recently seen and experienced, London, despite its business and +bustle, appeared like a heaven of peace.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +Mr. Jabez Hughes was about the last to wish me “God speed” when I left +England, so he was the first I went to see when I returned. I found, to +my disappointment, that he was in Paris, but Mrs. Hughes gave me a +hearty welcome. After a few days’ sojourn in London I went to Glasgow +with the view of recommencing in that city, where I had many friends; +but while there, and on the very day that I was about to sign for the +lease of a house, Mr. Hughes wrote to offer me the management of his +business in Oxford Street. It did not take me long to decide, and by +return post that same night I wrote accepting the offer. I concluded all +other arrangements as quickly as possible, returned to London, and +entered upon my managerial duties on the 1st November, 1861. I had long +wished and looked out for an opportunity to settle in London and enlarge +my circle of photographic acquaintance and experience, so I put on my +new harness with alacrity and pleasure.</p> + +<p>Among the earliest of my new acquaintances was George Wharton Simpson, +Editor of the Photographic News. He called at Oxford Street one evening +while I was the guest of Mr. Hughes, by whom we were introduced, and we +spent a long, chatty, and pleasant evening together, talking over my +American experience and matters photographic; but, to my surprise, much +of our conversation appeared in the next issue of his journal (<i>vide</i> +Photographic News, October 11th, 1861, pp. 480-1). But that was a power, +I afterwards ascertained, which he possessed to an eminent degree, and +which he utilized most successfully at his “Wednesday evenings at home,” +when he entertained his photographic friends at Canonbury Road, N. Very +delightful and enjoyable those evenings were, and he never failed to +cull paragraphs for the Photographic News from the busy brains of his +numerous visitors. He was a genial host, and his wife was a charming +hostess; and his daughter Eva, now the wife of William Black the +novelist, often increased the charm of those evenings by the exhibition +of her musical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +abilities. It is often a wonder to me that other editors +of photographic journals don’t pursue a similar plan, for those social +re-unions were not only pleasant, but profitable to old friend Simpson. +Through Mr. Simpson’s “at homes,” and my connection with Mr. Hughes, I +made the acquaintance of nearly all the eminent photographers of the +time, amongst whom may be mentioned W. G. Lacy, of Ryde, I.W. The latter +was a very sad and brief acquaintanceship, for he died in Mr. Hughes’s +sitting-room on the 21st November, 1861, in the presence of G. Wharton +Simpson, Jabez Hughes, and myself, and, strangely enough, it was +entirely through this death that Mr. Hughes went to Ryde, and became +photographer to the Queen. Mr. Lacy made his will in Mr. Hughes’s +sitting-room, and Mr. Simpson sole executor, who sold Mr. Lacy’s +business in the Arcade, Ryde, I.W., to Mr. Hughes, and in the March +following he took possession, leaving me solely in charge of his +business in Oxford Street, London.</p> + +<p>About this time Mr. Skaife introduced his ingenious pistolgraph, but it +was rather in advance of the times, for the dry plates then in the +market were not quite quick enough for “snap shots,” though I have seen +some fairly good pictures taken with the apparatus.</p> + +<p>At this period a fierce controversy was raging about lunar photography, +but it was all unnecessary, as the moon had photographed herself under +the guidance of Mr. Whipple, of Boston, U.S., as early as 1853, and all +that was required to obtain a lunar picture was sufficient exposure.</p> + +<p>On December 3rd, 1861, Thomas Ross read a paper and exhibited a +panoramic lens and camera at a meeting of the Photographic Society, and +on the 15th October, 1889, I saw the same apparatus, in perfect +condition, exhibited as a curiosity at the Photographic Society’s +Exhibition. No wonder the apparatus was in such good condition, for I +should think it had never been used but once. The plates were 10 inches long, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +and curved like the crescent of a new moon. Cleaning board, dark +slide, and printing-frame, were all curved. Fancy the expense and +trouble attending the use of such an apparatus; I should think it had +few buyers. Certainly I never sold one, and I never met with any person +who had bought one.</p> + +<p>Amateurs have ever been the most restless and discontented disciples of +the “Fathers of Photography,” always craving for something new, and +seeking to lessen their labours and increase their facilities, and to +these causes we are chiefly indebted for the marvellous development and +radical changes of photography. No sooner was the Daguerreotype process +perfected than it was superseded by <i>wet</i> collodion, and that was barely +a workable process when it became the anxiety of every amateur to have a +<i>dry</i> collodion process, and multitudes of men were at work endeavouring +to make, modify, or invent a means that would enable them to use the +camera as a sort of sketch-book, and make their finished picture at home +at their leisure. Hence the number of Dry Plate processes published +about this period, and the controversies carried on by the many +enthusiastic champions of the various methods. Beer was pitted against +tea and coffee, honey against albumen, gin against gum, but none of them +were equal to wet collodion.</p> + +<p>The International Exhibition of 1862 did little or nothing in the +interests of photography. It is true there was a scattered and skied +exhibition at the top of a high tower, but as there was no “lift,” I +suspect very few people went to see the exhibits. I certainly was not +there more than once myself. Among the exhibitors of apparatus were the +names of Messrs. McLean, Melhuish and Co., Murray and Heath, P. Meagher, +T. Ottewill and Co., but there was nothing very remarkable among their +exhibits. There was some very good workmanship, but the articles +exhibited were not beyond the quality of the every-day manufacture of +the best camera and apparatus makers.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +The chief contributors to the exhibition of photographs were Messrs. +Mayall, T. R. Williams, and Herbert Watkins in portraiture; and in +landscapes, &c., Messrs. Francis Bedford, Rejlander, Rouch, Stephen +Thompson, James Mudd, William Mayland, H. P. Robinson, and Breeze. By +some carelessness or stupidity on the part of the attendants or +constructors of the Exhibition, nearly all Mr. Breeze’s beautiful +exhibits—stereoscopes and stereoscopic transparencies—were destroyed +by the fall of a skylight. Perhaps the best thing that the International +Exhibition did for photography was the issue of the Jurors’ Report, as +it was prefaced with a brief History of Photography up to date, not +perfectly correct regarding the Rev. J. B. Reade’s labours, but +otherwise good, the authorship of which I attribute to the late Dr. +Diamond; but the awards—ah! well, awards never were quite satisfactory. +Commendees thought they should have been medalists, and the latter +thought something else. Thomas Ross, J. H. Dallmeyer, and Negretti and +Zambra were the English recipients of medals, and Voightlander and Son +and C. Dietzler received medals for their lenses.</p> + +<p>Early in 1862 the Harrison Globe Lens was attracting attention, and, as +much was claimed for it both in width of angle and rapidity, I imported +from New York a 5 by 4 and a whole-plate as samples. The 5 by 4 was an +excellent lens, and embraced a much wider angle than any other lens +known, and Mr. Hughes employed it to photograph the bridal bed and suite +of apartments of the Prince and Princess of Wales at Osborne, Isle of +Wight, and I feel certain that no other lens would have done the work so +well. I have copies of the photograph by me now. They are circular +pictures of five inches in diameter, and every article and decoration +visible in the chambers are as sharp and crisp as possible. I showed the +lens to Mr. Dallmeyer, and he thought he could make a better one; his +Wide-Angle Rectilinear was the result.</p> + +<p>Mr. John Pouncy, of Dorchester, introduced his “patent +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +process for +permanent printing” this year, but it never made much headway. It was an +oleagenous process, mixed with bichromate of potash, or bitumen of +Judea, and always smelt of bad fat. I possessed examples at the time, +but took no care of them, and no one else did in all probability; but it +appeared to me to be the best means of transferring photographic +impressions to wood blocks for the engraver’s purpose. Thomas Sutton, +B.A., published a book on Pouncy’s process and carbon printing, but the +process had inherent defects which were not overcome, so nothing could +make it a success. Sutton’s “History of Carbon Printing” was +sufficiently interesting to attract both readers and buyers at the time.</p> + +<p>I have previously stated that Daguerre introduced and left his process +in an imperfect and uncommercial condition, and that it was John +Frederick Goddard, then lecturer at the Adelaide Gallery, London, and +inventor of the polariscope, who discovered the accelerating properties +of bromine, and by which, with iodine, he obtained a bromo-iodide of +silver on the surface of the silvered plate employed in the +Daguerreotype process, thereby reducing the time of exposure from twenty +minutes to twenty seconds, and making the process available for +portraiture with an ordinary double combination lens. Somehow or other, +this worthy gentleman had fallen into adverse circumstances, and was +obliged to eat the bread of charity in his old age. The facts of this +sad case coming to the knowledge of Mr. Hughes and others, an appeal, +written by Mr. Hughes, was published in the Photographic News, December +11th, 1863. As Mr. Hughes and myself had benefitted by Mr. Goddard’s +improvement in the practice of the Daguerreotype, we took an active +interest in the matter, and, by canvassing friends and customers, +succeeded in obtaining a considerable proportion of the sum total +subscribed for the relief of Mr. Goddard. Enough was obtained to make +him independent and comfortable for the remainder of his life. Mr. T. R. +Williams was appointed almoner by the committee, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +but his office was not for long, as Mr. Goddard died Dec. 28th, 1866.</p> + +<p>On the 5th of April, 1864, I attended a meeting of the Photographic +Society at King’s College, and heard Mr. J. W. Swan read a paper on his +new patent carbon process. It was a crowded meeting, and an intense +interest pervaded the minds of both members and visitors. The examples +exhibited were very beautiful, but at that early stage they began to +show a weakness, which clung to the collodion support as long as it was +employed. Some of the specimens which I obtained at the time left the +mounting boards, and the films were torn asunder by opposing forces, and +the pictures completely destroyed. I have one in my possession now in +that unsatisfactory condition. Mr. Swan’s process was undoubtedly an +advance in the right direction, but it was still imperfect, and required +further improvement. Many of the members failed to see where the patent +rights came in, and Mr. Swan himself appeared to have qualms of +conscience on the subject, for he rather apologetically announced in his +paper, that he had obtained a patent, though his first intention was to +allow it to be practised without any restriction. I think myself it +would have been wiser to have adhered to his original intention; +however, it was left to others to do more to advance the carbon process +than he did.</p> + +<p>During this year (1865) an effort was made to establish a claim of +priority in favour of Thomas Wedgwood for the honour of having made +photographs on silver plates, and negatives on paper, and examples of +such alleged early works were submitted to the inspection of members of +the Photographic Society, but it was most satisfactorily determined that +the photographs on the silver plates were weak Daguerreotypes of a +posterior date, and that the photographic prints, on paper, of a +breakfast table were from a calotype negative taken by Fox Talbot. +Messrs. Henneman and Dr. Diamond proved this most conclusively. Other +prints then exhibited, and alleged to be photographs, were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +nothing but +prints from metal plates, produced by some process of engraving, +probably Aquatint. I saw some of the examples at the time, and, as +recently as Nov. 1st, 1889, I have seen some of them again, and I think +the “Breakfast Table” and a view of “Wedgwood’s Pottery” are silver +prints, though very much faded, from calotype negatives. The other +prints, such as the “Piper” and “A Vase,” are from engraved plates. No +one can desire to lessen Thomas Wedgwood’s claims to pre-eminence among +the early experimentalists with chloride of silver, but there cannot now +be any denial to the claims of the Rev. J. B. Reade in 1837, and Fox +Talbot in 1840, of being the earliest producers of photographic +negatives on paper, from which numerous prints could be obtained.</p> + +<p>The Wothlytype printing process was introduced to the notice of +photographers and the public this year: first, by a blatant article in +the <i>Times</i>, which was both inaccurate and misleading, for it stated +that both nitrate of silver and hyposulphite of soda were dispensed within +the process; secondly, by the issue of advertisements and +prospectuses for the formation of a Limited Liability Company. I went to +the Patent Office and examined the specification, and found that both +nitrate of silver and hyposulphite of soda were essential to the +practice of the process, and that there was no greater guarantee of +permanency in the use of the Wothlytype than in ordinary silver +printing.</p> + +<p>On March 14th, 1865, George Wharton Simpson, editor and proprietor of +the <i>Photographic News</i>, read a paper at a meeting of the Photographic +Society on a new printing process with collodio-chloride of silver on +paper. Many beautiful examples were exhibited, but the method never +became popular, chiefly on account of the troubles of toning with +sulpho-cyanide of ammonium. The same or a similar process, substituting +gelatine for collodion, is known and practised now under the name of +Aristotype, but not very extensively, because of the same +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +defects and difficulties attending the Simpsontype. Another new method +of positive printing was introduced this year by Mr. John M. Burgess, of +Norwich, which he called “Eburneum.” It was not in reality a new mode of +printing, but an ingenious application of the collodion transfer, or +stripping process. The back of the collodion positive print was coated +with a mixture of gelatine and oxide of zinc, +and when dry stripped from the glass. The finished picture resembled a +print on very fine ivory, and possessed both delicate half-tones and +brilliant shadows. I possess some of them now, and they are as beautiful +as they were at first, after a lapse of nearly quarter of a century. It +was a very troublesome and tedious process, and I don’t think many +people practised it. Certainly I don’t know any one that does so at the +present time.</p> + +<p>This was the year of the Dublin International Exhibition. I went to see +it and report thereon, and my opinions and criticisms of the +photographic and other departments will be found and may be perused in +“Contributions to Photographic Literature.” On the whole, it was a very +excellent exhibition, and I thoroughly enjoyed the trip.</p> + +<p>A new carbon process by M. Carey Lea was published this year. The +ingredients were similar to those employed by Swan and others, but +differently handled. No pigment was mixed with the gelatine before +exposure, but it was rubbed on after exposure and washing, and with care +any colour or number of colours might be applied, and so produce a +polychromatic picture, but I don’t know any one that ever did so. I +think it could easily be applied to making photographic transfers to +blocks for the use of wood engravers.</p> + +<p>December 5th, 1865, Mr. Walter Woodbury demonstrated and exhibited +examples of the beautiful mechanical process that bears his name to the +members of the Photographic Society. The process was not entirely +photographic. The province of photography ceased on the production of +the gelatine relief. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +All that followed was strictly mechanical. It is +somewhat singular that a majority of the inventions and modifications of +processes that were introduced this year related to carbon and +permanency.</p> + +<p>Thursday, January 11th, 1866, I read, at the South London Photographic +Society, a paper on “Errors in Pictorial Backgrounds.” As the paper, as +well as the discussion thereon, is published <i>in extenso</i> in the +journals of the period, it is not necessary for me to repeat it here, +but I may as well state briefly my reasons for reading the paper. At +that time pictorial backgrounds and crowded accessories were greatly in +use, and it was seldom, if ever, that the horizontal line of the painted +background, and the horizontal line indicated by the position of the +camera, coincided. Consequently the photographic pictures obtained under +such conditions invariably exhibited this incongruity, and it was with +the hope of removing these defects, or violations of art rules and +optical laws, that I ventured to call attention to the subject and +suggest a remedy. A little later, I wrote an article, “Notes on Pictures +in the National Gallery,” which was published in the <i>Photographic News</i> +of March 29th, in support of the arguments already adduced in my paper +on “Errors in Pictorial Backgrounds,” and I recommend every portrait +photographer to study those pictures.</p> + +<p>February 13th I was elected a member of the Photographic Society of +London.</p> + +<p>Quite a sensation was created in the Spring of this year by the +introduction of what were termed “Magic Photographs.” Some one was +impudent enough to patent the process, although it was nothing but a +resurrection of what was published in 1840 by Sir John Herschel, which +consisted of bleaching an ordinary silver print to invisibility +with bichloride of mercury, and restoring it by an application of +hyposulphite of soda. I introduced another form of magic photograph, in +various monochromatic colours, similar to Sir John Herschel’s cyanotype, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +and I have several of these pictures in my possession now, +both blue, purple, and red, dated 1866, as bright and beautiful as they +were the day they were made. But the demand for these magic photographs +was suddenly stopped by someone introducing indecent pictures. In all +probability these objectionable pictures came from abroad, and the most +scrupulous of the home producers suffered in consequence, as none of the +purchasers could possibly know what would appear when the developer or +redeveloper was applied.</p> + +<p>On June 14th Mr. F. W. Hart read a paper, and demonstrated before the +South London Photographic Society, on his method of rendering silver +prints permanent. “A consummation devoutly to be wished,” but +unfortunately some prints in my possession that were treated to a bath +of his eliminator show unmistakable signs of fading. In my opinion, +there is nothing so efficacious as warm water washing, and some prints +that I toned, fixed, and washed myself over thirty years ago, are +perfect.</p> + +<p>The “cabinet” form of portrait was introduced this year by Mr. F. R. +Window, and it eventually became the fashionable size, and almost wiped +out the carte-de-visite. The latter, however, had held its position for +about nine years, and the time for change had arrived. Beyond the +introduction of the cabinet portrait, nothing very novel or ingenious +had been introduced, but a very good review of photography up to date +appeared in the October issue of the <i>British Quarterly Review</i>. This +was a very ably written article from the pen of my old friend, Mr. +George Wharton Simpson.</p> + +<p>No radical improvement or advance in photography was made in 1867, but +M. Adam-Salomon created a little sensation by exhibiting some very fine +samples of his work in the Paris Exhibition. They were remarkable +chiefly for their pose, lighting, retouching, and tone. A few of them +were afterwards seen in London, and that of Dr. Diamond was probably the +most satisfactory. M. Salomon was a sculptor in Paris, and his art +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +training and feeling in that branch of the Fine Arts naturally assisted +him in photography.</p> + +<p>The Duc de Luynes’s prize of 8,000 francs for the best mechanical +printing process was this year awarded to M. Poitevin. In making the +award, the Commission gave a very excellent résumé of all that had +previously been done in that direction, and endeavoured to show why they +thought M. Poitevin entitled to the prize; but for all that I think it +will be difficult to prove that any of M. Poitevin’s mechanical +processes ever came into use.</p> + +<p>On June 13th, in the absence of Mr. Jabez Hughes, I read his paper, +“About Leptographic Printing,” before the South London Photographic +Society. This Leptographic paper was claimed to be the invention of two +photographers in Madrid, but it was evidently only a modification of Mr. +Simpson’s collodio-chloride of silver process.</p> + +<p>About this period I got into a controversy—on very different subjects, +it is true—but it made me determine to abandon for the future the +practice of writing critical notices under the cover of a <i>nom de +plume</i>. I had, under the <i>nom de plume</i> of “Union Jack,” written in +favour of a union of <i>all</i> the photographic societies then in London. +This brought Mr. A. H. Wall down on me, but that did not affect me very +much, nor was I personally distressed about the other, but I thought it +best to abandon a dangerous practice. Under the <i>nom de plume</i> of “Lux +Graphicus” I had contributed a great many articles to the <i>Photographic +News</i>, and, in a review of the Society’s exhibition, published Nov. +22nd, 1867, I expressed an honest opinion on Mr. Robinson’s picture +entitled “Sleep.” It was not so favourable and flattering, perhaps, as +he would have liked, but it was an honest criticism, and written without +any intention of giving pain or offence.</p> + +<p>The close of this year was marked by a very sad catastrophe intimately +associated with photography, by the death of Mr. Mawson at +Newcastle-on-Tyne; he was killed by an explosion +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +of nitro-glycerine. +Mr. Mawson, in conjunction with Mr. J. W. Swan, was one of the earliest +and most successful manufacturers of collodion, and, as early as 1852, I +made negatives with that medium, though I did not employ collodion +solely until 1857, when I abandoned for ever the beautiful and +fascinating Daguerreotype.</p> + +<p>On Friday, December 27th, Antoine Jean François Claudet, F.R.S., &c., +&c., died suddenly in the 71st year of his age. He was one of the +earliest workers and improvers of the Daguerreotype process in this +country, and one of the last to relinquish its practice in London. Mr. +Claudet bought a share of the English patent of Mr. Berry, the agent, +while he was a partner in the firm of Claudet and Houghton in 1840, and +commenced business as a professional Daguerreotypist soon afterwards. +Before the introduction of bromine as an accelerator by Mr. Goddard, Mr. +Claudet had discovered that chloride of iodine increased the +sensitiveness of the Daguerreotype plate, and he read a paper on that +subject before the Royal Society in 1841. He was a member of the council +of the Photographic Society for many years, and a copious contributor to +its proceedings, as well as to photographic literature. In his +intercourse with his <i>confrères</i> he was always courteous, and when I +called upon him in 1851 he received me most kindly, I met him again in +Glasgow, and many times in London, and always considered him the best +specimen of a Frenchman I had ever met. Towards his clients he was firm, +respectful, and sometimes generous, as the following characteristic +anecdote will show. He had taken a portrait of a child, which, for some +reason or other, was not liked, and demurred at. He said, “Ah! well, the +matter is easily settled. I‘ll keep the picture, and return your money”; +and so he thought the case was ended; but by-and-by the picture was +asked for, and he refused to give it up. Proceedings were taken to +compel him to surrender it, which he defended. In stating the case, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +counsel remarked that the child was dead. Mr. Claudet immediately +stopped the counsel and the case by exclaiming, “Ah! they did not tell +me that before. Now, I make the parents a present of the portrait.” I am +happy to say that I possess a good portrait of Mr. Claudet, taken in +November, 1867, with his <i>Topaz lens</i>, <sup>5</sup>⁄<sub>8</sub>-inch aperture. Strangely +enough, Mr. Claudet’s studio in Regent Street was seriously damaged by +fire within a month of his death, and all his valuable Daguerreotypes, +negatives, pictures, and papers destroyed.</p> + +<p>On April 9th, 1868, I exhibited, at the South London Photographic +Society, examples of nearly all the types of photography then known, +amongst them a Daguerreotype by Daguerre, many of which are now in the +Science Department of the South Kensington Museum, and were presented by +me to form the nucleus of a national exhibition of the rise and progress +of photography, for which I received the “thanks of the Lords of the +Council on Education,” dated April 22nd, 1886.</p> + +<p>There was nothing very remarkable done in 1868 to forward the interests +or development of photography, yet that year narrowly escaped being made +memorable, for Mr. W. H. Harrison, now editor of the <i>Photographic +News</i>, actually prepared, exposed, and developed a gelatino-bromide dry +plate, but did not pursue the matter further. 1869 also passed without +adding much to the advancement of photography, and I fear the same may +be said of 1870, with the exception of the publication, by Thos. Sutton, +of Gaudin’s gelatino-iodide process.</p> + +<p>On February 21st, 1870, Robert J. Bingham died in Brussels. When the +Daguerreotype process was first introduced to this country, Mr. Bingham +was chemical assistant to Prof. Faraday at the Royal Institution. He +took an immediate interest in the wonderful discovery, and made an +improvement in the application of bromine vapour, which entitled him to +the gratitude of all Daguerreotypists. When Mr. Goddard applied bromine +to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +process, he employed “bromine water,” but, in very hot weather, +the aqueous vapour condensed upon the surface of the plate, and +interrupted the sensitising process. Mr. Bingham obviated this evil by +charging hydrate of lime with bromine vapour, which not only removed the +trouble of condensation, but increased the sensitiveness of the prepared +plate. This was a great boon to all Daguerreotypists, and many a time I +thanked him mentally long before I had the pleasure of meeting him in +London. Mr. Bingham also wrote a valuable manual on the Daguerreotype +and other photographic processes, which was published by Geo. Knight and +Sons, Foster Lane, Cheapside. Some years before his death, Mr. Bingham +settled in Paris, and became a professional photographer, but chiefly as +a publisher of photographic copies of paintings and drawings.</p> + +<p>Abel Niépce de St. Victor, best known without the Abel, died suddenly on +April 6th, 1870. Born at St. Cyr, July 26th, 1805. After passing through +his studies at the Military School of Saumur, he became an officer in a +cavalry regiment. Being studious and fond of chemistry, he was fortunate +enough to effect some saving to the Government in the dyeing of fabrics +employed in making certain military uniforms, for which he received +compensation and promotion. His photographic fame rests upon two +achievements: firstly, his application of iodized albumen to glass for +negative purposes in 1848, a process considerably in advance of Talbot’s +paper negatives, but it was quickly superseded by collodion; secondly, +his researches on “heliochromy,” or photography in natural colours. +Niépce de St. Victor, like others before and since, was only partially +successful in obtaining some colour reproductions, but totally +unsuccessful in rendering those colours permanent. In proof of both +these statements I will quote from the Juror’s Report, on the subject, +of the International Exhibition, 1862:—“The obtaining of fixed natural +colours by means of photography still remains, as was before remarked, +to be accomplished; but the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +jurors have pleasure in recording that some +very striking results of experiments in this direction were forwarded +for their inspection by a veteran in photographic research and +discovery, M. Niépce de St. Victor. These, about a dozen in number, 3<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> +by 2<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> inches, consisted of reproductions of prints of figures with +parti-coloured draperies. Each tint in the pictures exhibited, they were +assured, was a faithful reproduction of the original. Amongst the +colours were blues, yellows, reds, greens, &c., all very vivid. Some of +the tints gradually faded and disappeared in the light whilst under +examination, and a few remained permanent for some hours. The +possibility of producing natural colour thus established is a fact most +interesting and important, and too much praise cannot be awarded to the +skilful research which has been to this extent crowned with success. The +jury record their obligations to their chairman, Baron Gross, at whose +personal solicitation they were enabled to obtain a sight of these +remarkable pictures.” Such was the condition of photography in natural +colours towards the close of 1862, and so it is now after a lapse of +twenty-eight years. In 1870 several examples of Niépce de St. Victor’s +heliochromy were sent to the Photographic Society of London, and I had +them in my hands and examined them carefully in gas-light; they could +not be looked at in daylight at all. I certainly saw <i>faint</i> traces of +colour, but whether I saw them in their original vigour, or after they +had faded, I cannot say. All I can say is that the tints were very +feeble, and that they had not been obtained <i>through the lens</i>. They +were, at their best, only contact impressions of coloured prints +obtained after many hours of exposure. The examples had been sent to the +Photographic Society with the hope of selling them for the benefit of +the widow, but the Society was too wise to invest in such evanescent +property. However, a subscription was raised both in England and France +for the benefit of the widow and orphans of Niépce de St. Victor.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +December, 1870, was marked by the death of one of the eminent pioneers +of photography. On the 12th, the Rev. J. B. Reade passed away at +Bishopsbourne Rectory, Canterbury, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. I +have already, I think, established Mr. Reade’s claim to the honour of +being the first to produce a photographic +negative on paper developed with gallic acid, and I regret that I am +unable to trace the existence of those two negatives alluded to in Mr. +Reade’s published letter. Mr. Reade told me himself that he gave those +two historic negatives to Dr. Diamond, when Secretary to the +Photographic Society, to be lodged with that body for safety, proof, and +reference; but they are not now in the possession of the Photographic +Society, and what became of them no one knows. Several years ago I +caused enquiries to be made, and Dr. Diamond was written to by Mr. H. +Baden Pritchard, then Secretary, but Dr. Diamond’s reply was to the +effect that he had no recollection of them, and that Mr. Reade was given +to hallucinations. Considering the positions that Mr. Reade held, both +in the world and various learned and scientific societies, I don’t think +that he could ever have been afflicted with such a mental weakness. He +was a clergyman in the Church of England, an amateur astronomer and +microscopist, one of the fathers of photography, and a member of Council +of the Photographic Society, and President of the Microscopical Society +at the time of his death. I had many a conversation with him years ago, +and I never detected either weakness or wandering in his mind; therefore +I could not doubt the truth of his statement relative to the +custodianship of the first paper negative that was taken through the +lens of a solar microscope. Mr. Reade was a kind and affable man; and, +though a great sufferer on his last bed of sickness, he wrote loving, +grateful, and Christian like letters to many of his friends, some of +which I have seen, and I have photographed his signature to one of them +to attach to his portrait, which I happily possess.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +In 1871 the coming revolution in photography was faintly heralded by Dr. +R. L. Maddox, publishing in the <i>British Journal of Photography</i>, “An +Experiment with Gelatino-Bromide.” Successful as the experiment was it +did not lead to any extensive adoption of the process at the time, but +it did most unquestionably exhibit the capabilities of gelatino-bromide.</p> + +<p>As that communication to the <i>British Journal of Photography</i> contained +and first made public the working details of a process that was destined +to supersede collodion, I will here insert a copy of Dr. Maddox’s letter +<i>in extenso</i>.</p> + + +<div class="center smcap">“An Experiment with Gelatino-Bromide.</div> + +<p>“The collodio-bromide processes have for some time held a considerable +place in the pages of the <i>British Journal of Photography</i>, and obtained +such a prominent chance of being eventually the process of the day in +the dry way, that a few remarks upon the application of another medium +may perhaps not be uninteresting to the readers of the journal, though +little more can be stated than the result of somewhat careless +experiments tried at first on an exceedingly dull afternoon. It is not +for a moment supposed to be new, for the chances of novelty in +photography are small, seeing the legion of ardent workers, and the +ground already trodden by its devotees, so that for outsiders little +remains except to take the result of labours so industriously and +largely circulated through these pages, and be thankful.</p> + +<p>“Gelatine, which forms the medium of so many printing processes, and +which doubtless is yet to form the base of many more, was tried in the +place of collodion in this manner:—Thirty grains of Nelson’s gelatine +were washed in cold water, then left to swell for several hours, when +all the water was poured off, and the gelatine set in a wide-mouthed +bottle, with the addition of four drachms of pure water, and two small +drops of <i>aqua regia</i>, and then placed in a basin of hot water +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +for +solution. Eight grains of bromide of cadmium dissolved in half a drachm +of pure water were now added, and the solution stirred gently. Fifteen +grains of nitrate of silver were next dissolved in half a drachm of +water in a test tube, and the whole taken into the dark room, when the +latter was added to the former slowly, stirring the mixture the whole +time. This gave a fine milky emulsion, and was left for a little while +to settle. A few plates of glass well cleaned were next levelled on a +metal plate put over a small lamp; they were, when fully warmed, coated +by the emulsion spread to the edges by a glass rod, then returned to +their places, and left to dry. When dry, the plates had a thin +opalescent appearance, and the deposit of bromide seemed to be very +evenly spread in the substance of the substratum.</p> + +<p>“These plates were printed from, in succession, from different +negatives, one of which had been taken years since on albumen with +oxgall and diluted phosphoric acid, sensitised in an acid nitrate, and +developed with pyrogallic acid, furnishing a beautiful warm brown tint.</p> + +<p>“The exposure varied from the first plate thirty seconds to a minute and +a half, as the light was very poor. No vestige of an outline appeared on +removal from the printing-frame. The plates were dipped in water to the +surface, and over them was poured a plain solution of pyrogallic acid, +four grains to the ounce of water. Soon a faint but clean image was +seen, which gradually intensified up to a certain point, then browned +all over; hence, the development in the others was stopped at an early +stage, the plate washed, and the development continued with fresh pyro, +with one drop of a ten-grain solution of nitrate of silver, then +re-washed and cleared by a solution of hyposulphite of soda.</p> + +<p>“The resulting tints were very delicate in detail, of a colour varying +between a bistre and olive tint, and after washing dried with a +brilliant surface. The colour of the print varied greatly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +according to +the exposure. From the colour and delicacy it struck me that with care +to strain the gelatine, or use only the clearest portion, such a process +might be utilised for transparencies for the lantern, and the sensitive +plates be readily prepared.</p> + +<p>“Some plates were fumed with ammonia; these fogged under the pyro +solution. The proportions set down were only taken at random, and are +certainly not as sensitive as might be procured under trials. The +remaining emulsion was left shut up in a box in the dark room, and tried +on the third day after preparation; but the sensibility had, it seems, +greatly diminished, though the emulsion, when rendered fluid by gently +warming, appeared creamy, and the bromide thoroughly suspended. Some of +this was now applied to some pieces of paper by means of a glass rod, +and hung up to surface dry, then dried fully on the warmed level plate, +and treated as sensitised paper.</p> + +<p>“One kind of paper, that evidently was largely adulterated by some earthy +base, dried without any brilliancy, but gave, under exposure of a +negative for thirty seconds, very nicely toned prints when developed +with a weak solution of pyro. Some old albumenized paper of Marion’s was +tried, the emulsion being poured both on the albumen side, and, in other +pieces, on the plain side; but the salting evidently greatly interfered, +the resulting prints being dirty-looking and greyed all over.</p> + +<p>“These papers, fumed with ammonia, turned grey under development. They +printed very slowly, even in strong sunlight, and were none of them left +long enough to develop into a full print. After washing they were +cleared by weak hypo solution. It is very possible the iron developer +may be employed for the glass prints, provided the acidification does +not render the gelatine soft under a development.</p> + +<p>“The slowness may depend in part on the proportions of bromide and +nitrate not being correctly balanced, especially as the ordinary, not +the anhydrous, bromide was used, and on the quantities being too small +for the proportion of gelatine. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +Whether the plates would be more +sensitive if used when only surface dry is a question of experiment; +also, whether other bromides than the one tried may not prove more +advantageous in the presence of the neutral salt resulting from the +decomposition, or the omission or decrease of the quantity of <i>aqua +regia</i>. Very probably also the development by gallic acid and acetate of +lead developer may furnish better results than the plain pyro.</p> + +<p>“As there will be no chance of my being able to continue these +experiments, they are placed in their crude state before the readers of +the Journal, and may eventually receive correction and improvement under +abler hands. So far as can be judged, the process seems quite worth more +carefully conducted experiments, and, if found advantageous, adds +another handle to the photographer’s wheel.</p> + +<div class="tdr smcap">R. L. Maddox, M.D.”</div> + +<p>After perusing the above, it will be evident to any one that Dr. Maddox +very nearly arrived at perfection in his early experiments. The slowness +that he complains of was caused entirely by not washing the emulsion to +discharge the excess of bromide, and the want of density was due to the +absence of a restrainer and ammonia in the developer. He only made +positive prints from negatives; but the same emulsion, had it been +washed, would have made negatives in the camera in much less time. Thus, +it will be seen, that Dr. Maddox, like the Rev. J. B. Reade, threw the +ball, and others caught it; for the gelatine process, as given by Dr. +Maddox, is only modified, not altered, by the numerous dry plate and +gelatino-bromide paper manufacturers of to-day.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile collodion held the field, and many practical men thought it +would never be superseded.</p> + +<p>In this year Sir John Herschel died at a ripe old age, seventy-nine. +Photographers should revere his memory, for it was he who made +photography practical by publishing his observation that hyposulphite of +soda possessed the power of dissolving chloride and other salts of +silver.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<div class="center fig_caption mrt4">FOURTH PERIOD. +<hr class="r10" /> +<span class="smaller">GELATINE.</span></div> + +<div class="center smaller"> +<img src="images/109_1.png" width="255" height="339" alt="" title="" /><br /> +Dr. R. L. MADDOX.<br /> +<i>From Photograph by J. Thomson.</i><br /> +GELATINO-BROMIDE EMULSION 1871.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<img src="images/109_2.png" width="247" height="326" alt="" title="" /><br /> +R. KENNETT.<br /> +<i>From Photograph by J. Werge, 1887.</i><br /> +GELATINO-BROMIDE PELLICLE 1873<br /> +DRY PLATES 1874<br /> +</div> + +<p class="mrt4"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="FOURTH_PERIOD" id="FOURTH_PERIOD"></a>FOURTH PERIOD.</h2> + +<h3>GELATINE SUCCESSFUL.</h3> + +<div class="fig_center" style="width: 84px;"> +<img src="images/bar.png" width="84" height="11" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> 1873, Mr. J. Burgess, of Peckham, London, advertised his +gelatino-bromide emulsion, but as it would not keep in consequence of +decomposition setting in speedily, it was not commercial, and therefore +unsuccessful. It evidently required the addition of some preservative, +or antiseptic, to keep it in a workable condition, and Mr. J. Traill +Taylor, editor of the <i>British Journal of Photography</i>, made some +experiments in that direction by adding various essential oils; but Mr. +Gray—afterwards the well-known dry plate maker—was most successful in +preserving the gelatine emulsion from decomposition by the addition of a +little oil of peppermint, but it was not the emulsion form of +gelatino-bromide of silver that was destined to secure its universal +adoption and success.</p> + +<p>At a meeting of the South London Photographic Society, held in the large +room of the Society of Arts, John Street, Adelphi, Mr. Burgess +endeavoured to account for his emulsion decomposing, but he did not +suggest a remedy, so the process ceased to attract further attention. +Mr. Kennett was present, and it was probably Mr. Burgess’s failure with +emulsion that induced him to make his experiments with a sensitive +pellicle. Be that as it may, Mr. Kennett did succeed in making a +workable gelatino-bromide +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +pellicle, and obtained a patent for it on the +20th of November, 1873. I procured some, and tried it at once. It gave +excellent results, but preparing the plates was a messy and sticky +operation, which I feared would be prejudicial to its usefulness and +success. This I reported to Mr. Kennett immediately, and found that his +own experience corroborated mine, for he had already received numerous +complaints of this objection, while others failed through +misapprehension of his instruction; and very comical were some of these +misinterpretations. One attempted to coat the plates with the <i>end</i> of +the stirring-rod, while another set them to drain in a rack, and those +that did succeed in coating the plates properly, invariably spoiled them +by over-exposure or in development. He was overwhelmed with +correspondence and visitors, and to lessen his troubles I strongly +advised him to prepare the plates himself, and sell them in that form +ready for use. He took my advice, and in March, 1874, issued his first +batch of gelatino-bromide dry plates; but even that did not remove his +vexation of spirit, nor lessen his troublesome correspondence. Most of +his clients were sceptical, and exposed the plates too long, or worked +under wet-plate conditions in their dark rooms, and fog and failure were +the natural consequences. Most, if not all, of his clients at that time +were amateurs, and it was not until years after, that professional +photographers adopted the dry and abandoned the wet process. In fact, it +is doubtful if the profession ever tried Mr. Kennett’s dry plates at +all, for it was not until J. W. Swan and Wratten and Wainwright issued +their dry plates, that I could induce any professional photographer to +give these new plates a trial, and I have a very vivid recollection of +the scepticism and conservatism exhibited by the most eminent +photographers on the first introduction of gelatino-bromide dry plates.</p> + +<p>For example, when I called upon Messrs. Elliott and Fry to introduce to +their notice these rapid plates, I saw Mr. Fry, and told him how rapid +they were. He was incredulous, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +smilingly informed me that I was an +enthusiast. It was a dull November morning, 1878, and I challenged him, +not to fight, but to give me an opportunity of producing as good a +picture in quarter the time they were giving in the studio, no matter +what that time was. This rather astonished him, and he invited me up to +the studio to prove my statement. I ascertained that they were giving +<i>ninety</i> seconds—a minute and a half!—on a wet collodion plate, 10 by +8. I knew their size, and had it with me, as well as the developer. Mr. +Fry stood and told the operator, Mr. Benares, to take the time from me. +Looking at the quality of the light, I gave <i>twenty</i> seconds, but Mr. +Benares was disposed to be incredulous also, and, after counting twenty, +went on with “one for the plate, and one more for Mr. Werge,” but I told +him to stop, or I would have nothing more to do with the business. The +plate had twenty-two or three seconds’ exposure, and when I developed in +their dark room, it was just those two or three seconds over-exposed. +Nevertheless, Mr. Fry brought me a print from that negative in a few +days, and acknowledged that it was one of the finest negatives he had +ever seen. They were convinced, and adopted the new dry plates +immediately. But it was not so with all, for many of the most prominent +photographers would not at first have anything to do with gelatine +plates, and remained quite satisfied with collodion; but the time came +when they were glad to change their opinion, and give up the wet for the +dry plates; but it was a long time, for Mr. Kennett introduced his dry +plates in 1874, and it was not until 1879 and 1880 that professional +photographers had adopted and taken kindly to gelatine plates generally.</p> + +<p>With amateurs it was very different, and many of their exhibits in the +various exhibitions were from gelatine negatives obtained upon plates +prepared by themselves, or commercial makers. In the London Photographic +Society’s exhibition of 1874, and following, several prints from +gelatine negatives were exhibited, and in 1879 they were pretty general. +Among the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +many exhibited that year was Mr. Gale’s swallow-picture, +which created at the time a great deal of interest and controversy, and +Mr. Gale was invited over and over again to acknowledge whether the +appearance of the bird was the result of skill, accident, or “trickery;” +but I don’t think that he ever gratified anyone’s curiosity on the +subject. I can, however, state very confidently that he was innocent of +any “trickery” in introducing the bird by double printing, for the late +Mr. Dudley Radcliffe told me at the time that he (Mr. Radcliffe) not +only prepared the plate, but developed the negative, and was surprised +to see the bird there. This may have been the reason why Mr. Gale was so +reticent on the subject; but I am anticipating, and must go back to +preserve my plan of chronological progression.</p> + +<p>In 1875 a considerable impetus was given to carbon printing, both for +small work and enlarging by the introduction of the Lambertype process. +Similar work had been done before, but, as Mr. Leon Lambert used to say, +he made it “facile”; and he certainly did so, and induced many +photographers to adopt his beautiful, but troublesome, chromotype +process. There were two Lamberts in the tent—one a very clever +manipulator, the other a clever advertiser—and between the two they +managed to sell a great many licences, and carry away a considerable sum +of money. I was intimate with them both while they remained in England, +and they were both pleasant and honourable men.</p> + +<p>On January 18th, 1875, O. G. Rejlander died, much to the regret of all +who took an interest in the art phase of photography. Rejlander has +himself told us how, when, and where he first fell in love with +photography. In 1851 he was not impressed with the Daguerreotypes at the +great exhibition, nor with “reddish landscape photographs” that he saw +in Regent Street; but when in Rome, in 1852, he was struck with the +beauty of some photographs of statuary, which he bought +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +and studied, +and made up his mind to study photography as soon as he returned to +England. How he did that will be best told by himself:—“In 1853, having +inquired in London for the best teacher, I was directed to Henneman. We +agreed for so much for three or five lessons; but, as I was in a hurry +to get back to the country, I took all the lessons in one afternoon! +Three hours in the calotype and waxed-paper process, and half-an-hour +sufficed for the collodion process!! He spoke, I wrote; but I was too +clever. It would have saved me a year or more of trouble and expense had +I attended carefully to the rudiments of the art for a month.” His first +attempt at “double printing” was exhibited in London in 1855, and was +named in the catalogue, <i>group printed from three negatives</i>. Again, I +must allow Mr. Rejlander to describe his reasons for persevering in the +art of “double printing”:—“I had taken a group of two. They were +expressive and composed well. The light was good, and the chemistry of +it successful. A very good artist was staying in the neighbourhood, +engaged on some commission. He called; saw the picture; was very much +delighted with it, and so was I. Before he left my house he looked at +the picture again, and said it was ‘marvellous,’ but added, ‘Now, if I +had drawn that, I should have introduced another figure between them, or +some light object, to keep them together. You see, there is where you +photographers are at fault. Good morning!’ I snapped my fingers after he +left—but not at him—and exclaimed aloud, ‘I can do it!’ Two days +afterwards I called at my artist-friend’s hotel as proud as—anybody. He +looked at my picture and at me, and took snuff twice. He said, ‘This is +another picture.’ ‘No,’ said I, ‘it is the same, except with the +addition you suggested.’ ‘Never,’ he exclaimed; ‘and how is it possible? +You should patent that!’” Rejlander was too much of an artist to take +anything to the Patent Office.</p> + +<p>When I first saw his celebrated composition picture, “The Two Ways of +Life,” in the Art Treasures Exhibition at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +Manchester in 1857, I +wondered how he could have got so many men and women to become models, +and be able to sit or stand in such varied and strained positions for +the length of time then required by the wet collodion process; but my +wonder ceased when I became acquainted with him in after years, and +ascertained that he had the command of a celebrated troupe, who gave +<i>tableaux vivants</i> representations of statues and groups from paintings +under the direction and name of “Madame Wharton’s <i>pose plastique</i> +troupe.” What became of the original “Two Ways of Life” I do not know, +but the late Henry Greenwood possessed it at the time of Rejlander’s +death, for I remember endeavouring to induce Mr. Greenwood to allow it +to be offered as a bait to the highest contributor to the Rejlander +fund; but Mr. Greenwood’s characteristic reply was, “Take my purse, but +leave me my ‘Two Ways of Life.’” Mr. Rejlander kindly gave me a reduced +copy of his “Two Ways of Life,” and many other examples of his works, +both in the nude and semi-nude. Fortunately Rejlander did not confine +himself to such productions, but made hundreds of draped studies, both +comic and serious, such as “Ginx’s Baby,” “Did She?,” “Beyond the Bible,” +and “Homeless.” Where are they all now? I fear most of them have faded +away, for Rejlander was a somewhat careless operator, and he died before +the more permanent process of platinum printing was introduced. When +Rejlander died, his widow tried to make a living by printing from his +negatives, but I fear they soon got scattered. Rejlander was a genial +soul and a pleasant companion, and he had many kind friends among +members of the Solar Club, as well as other clubs with which he was +associated.</p> + +<p>There is one more death in this year to be recorded, that of Thomas +Sutton, B.A., the founder and for many years editor of <i>Photographic +Notes</i>, and the inventor of a panoramic camera of a very clumsy +character that bore his name, and that was all. Mr. Sutton was a very +clever man with rather warped notions, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +and in the management of his +<i>Photographic Notes</i> he descended to the undignified position of a +caricaturist, and published illustrations of an uncomplimentary +description, some of which were offensive in the extreme, and created a +great deal of irritation in some minds at the time.</p> + +<p>In 1877 Carey Lea gave his ferrous-oxalate developer to the world, but +it was not welcomed by many English photographers for negative +development, though it possessed many advantages over alkaline pyro. It +was, however, generally employed by foreign photographers, and is now +largely in use by English photographers, especially for the development +of bromide paper, either for contact printing or enlargements. In the +early part of this year, Messrs. Wratten and Wainwright commenced to +make gelatino-bromide dry plates, and during the hot summer months Mr. +Wratten found it necessary to precipitate the gelatine emulsion with +alcohol. This removed the necessity of dialysing, and helped to lessen +the evils of decomposition and “frilling.”</p> + +<p>The most noticeable death in the photographic world of this year was +that of Henry Fox Talbot. He was born on February the 11th, 1800, and +died September 17th, 1877, thus attaining a ripe old age. I am not +disposed to deny his claims to the honour of doing a great deal to +forward the advancement of photography, but what strikes me very much is +the mercenary spirit in which he did it, especially when I consider the +position he occupied, and the pecuniary means at his command. In the +first place, he rushed to the Patent Office with his gallo-nitrate +developer, and then every little improvement or modification that he +afterwards made was carefully protected by patent rights. With a +churlishness of spirit and narrow-mindedness it is almost impossible to +conceive or forgive, he tried his utmost to stop the formation of the +London Photographic Society, and it was only after pressing +solicitations from Sir Charles Eastlake, President of the Royal Academy, +and first President +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +of the London Photographic Society, that he +withdrew his objections. The late Peter le Neve Foster, Secretary of the +Society of Arts, told me this years after, and when it was proposed to +make Fox Talbot an honorary member of the Photographic Society, Mr. +Foster was opposed to the proposition. Then the action that he brought +against Sylvester Laroche was unjustifiable, for there really was no +resemblance between the collodion and calotype means of making a +negative, except in the common use of the camera, and the means of +making prints was the same as that employed by Thomas Wedgwood, while +the fixing process with hyposulphite of soda was first resorted to by +the Rev. J. B. Reade, on the published information of Sir John Herschel.</p> + +<p>On March 29th, 1878, Mr. Charles Bennett published his method of +increasing the sensitiveness of gelatino-bromide plates. It may be +briefly described as a prolonged cooking of the gelatine emulsion at a +temperature of 90°, and, according to Mr. Bennett’s experience, the +longer it was cooked the more sensitive it became, with a corresponding +reduction of density when the prepared plates were exposed and +developed.</p> + +<p>April 20th of this year Mr. J. A. Spencer died, after a lingering +illness, of cancer in the throat. Mr. Spencer was, at one period in the +history of photography, the largest manufacturer of albumenized paper in +this country, and carried on his business at Shepherd’s Bush. In 1866 he +told me that he broke about 2,000 eggs daily, merely to obtain the +whites or albumen. The yolks being of no use to him, he sold them, when +he could, to glove makers, leather dressers, and confectioners, but they +could not consume all he offered for sale, and he buried the rest in his +garden until his neighbours complained of the nuisance, so that it +became ultimately a very difficult thing for him to dispose of his waste +yolks in any manner. After the introduction of Swan’s improved carbon +process, he turned his attention to the manufacture of carbon tissue, +and in a short time he became one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +of the partners in the Autotype +Company, and the name of the firm at that period was Spencer, Sawyer, +and Bird; but he ceased to be a partner some time before his death.</p> + +<p>At the South London Technical Meeting, held in the great hall of the +Society of Arts, I exhibited my non-actinic developing tray, and +developed a gelatine dry plate in the full blaze of gas-light. A short +extract from a leader in the <i>Photographic News</i> of November 14th, 1879, +will be sufficient to satisfy all who are interested in the matter. +“Amongst the many ingenious appliances exhibited at the recent South +London meeting, none excited greater interest than the developing tray +of Mr. Werge, in which he developed in the full gas-light of the room a +gelatine plate which had been exposed in the morning, and exhibited to +the meeting the result in a clean transparency, without fog, or any +trace of the abnormal action of light.... We can here simply record the +fact, interesting to many, that the demonstration before the South +London meeting was a perfect success.”</p> + +<p>1880 had a rather melancholy beginning, for on January the 15th, Mr. +George Wharton Simpson died suddenly, which was a great shock to everyone +that knew him. I had seen him only a few days before in his usual +good health, and he looked far more like outliving me than I him; +besides, he was a year my junior. The extract above quoted was the last +time he honoured me by mentioning my name in his writings, though he had +done so many times before, both pleasantly and in defending me against +some ill-natured and unwarrantable attacks in the journal which he so +ably conducted for twenty years.</p> + +<p>Mungo Ponton died August 3rd, 1880. Though his discovery did little or +nothing towards the development of photography proper, it is impossible +to allow him to pass out of this world without honourable mention, for +his discovery led to the creation and development of numerous and +important photo-mechanical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +industries, which give employment to numbers +of men and women. When Mungo Ponton announced his discovery in the +<i>Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal</i> in 1839, he probably never dreamt +that it would be of any commercial value, or he might have secured +rights and royalties on all the patent processes that grew out of it; +for Poitevin’s patent, 1855, Beauregard’s, 1857, Pouncy’s, 1858 and +1863, J. W. Swan’s, 1864, Woodbury’s, 1866, all the Autotype and +Lambertype and kindred patents, as well as all the forms of Collotype +printing, are based on Ponton’s discovery. But so it is: the originator +of anything seldom seeks any advantage beyond the honour attached to the +making of a great invention or discovery. It is generally the petty +improvers that rush to the Patent Office to secure rights and +emoluments, regardless of the claims of the founders of their patented +processes.</p> + +<p>On March 2nd, 1880, I delivered a lecture on “The Origin, Progress, and +Practice of Photography” before the Lewisham and Blackheath Scientific +Association, in which I reviewed the development of photography from its +earliest inception up to date, exhibited examples, and gave +demonstrations before a very attentive and apparently gratified +audience.</p> + +<p>On the 27th May, 1880, Professor Alfred Swaine Taylor died at his +residence, 15, St. James’s Terrace, Regent’s Park, in his seventy-fourth +year. He was born on the 11th December, 1806, at Northfleet in Kent, and +in 1823 he entered as a student the united hospitals of Guy’s and St. +Thomas’s, and became the pupil of Sir Astley Cooper and Mr. Joseph Henry +Green. His success as a student and eminence as a professor, lecturer, +and author are too well known to require any comment from me on those +subjects, but it is not so generally known how much photography was +indebted to him at the earliest period of its birth. In 1838 Dr. Taylor +published his celebrated work, “The Elements of Medical Jurisprudence,” +and in 1840 he published a pamphlet “On the Art of Photogenic Drawing,” +in which he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +advocated the superiority of ammonia nitrate of silver over +chloride of silver as a sensitiser, and hyposulphite of lime over +hyposulphite of soda as a fixer, and the latter he advocated up to the +year of his death, as the following letter will show:—</p> + +<p class="tdr">“<i>St. James’s Terrace, February 10th, 1880.</i></p> +<p class="p0">“<span class="smcap">Mr. Werge.</span></p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,—I have great pleasure +in sending you for the purpose of your +lecture some of my now ancient photographs. They show the early +struggles which we had to make. The mounted drawings were all made with +the <i>ammonia nitrate</i> of silver; I send samples of the paper used. In +general the paper selected contained chloride enough to form ammonia +chloride. I send samples of unused paper, procured in 1839—some salted +afterwards.</p> + +<p>“All these drawings (which are dated) have been preserved by the +hyposulphite of <i>lime</i> (not soda). The hypo of lime does not form a +definite compound with silver, like soda; hence it is easily washed +away, and this is why the drawings are tolerably preserved after forty +years. All are on plain paper. Ammonia nitrate does not answer well on +albumenized paper. The art of toning by gold was not known in those +ancient days, but the faded drawings on <i>plain paper</i>, as you will see, +admit of restoration, in dark purple, by placing them in a very dilute +solution of chloride of gold, and putting them in the dark for +twenty-four hours. The gold replaces the reduced silver and sulphide of +silver. I send you the only copy I have of my photogenic drawing. Five +hundred were printed, and all were sold or given away. Please take care +of it. The loose photographs in red tape are scenes in Egypt and Greece, +taken about 1850 from wax-paper negatives (camera views) made by Mr. D. +Colnaghi, now English Consul at Florence. If you can call here I shall +be glad to say more to you on the matter.—Yours truly,</p> + +<div class="tdr smcap">“Alfred S. Taylor.”</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> +<p>The above was the last of many letters on photographic matters that I +had received from Dr. Taylor, and the last time I had the pleasure of +seeing him was when I returned the photographs and pamphlet alluded to +therein, only a short time before his death. Dr. Taylor never lost his +interest in photography, and was always both willing and pleased to +enter into conversation on the subject. He had worked at photography +through all its changes, despite his many professional engagements, from +its dawn in 1839, right up to the introduction of gelatino-bromide dry +plates, and in 1879 he came and sat to me for his portrait on one of +what he called “these wonderful dry plates,” and watched the process of +development with as much interest as any enthusiastic tyro would have +done, and I am proud to say that I had the pleasure of taking the +portrait and exhibiting the process of development of the latest aspect +of photography to one of its most enthusiastic and talented pioneers.</p> + +<p>Dr. Taylor was a man of remarkable energy and versatility. He was a +prolific writer and an admirable artist. On his walls were numerous +beautiful drawings, and his windows were filled with charmingly illusive +transparencies, all the work of his own hands; and once, when expressing +my wonder that he could find time to do so many things, he remarked that +“a man could always find time to do anything he wished if his heart was +with his work.” Doubtless it is so, and his life and what he did in it +were proofs of the truth and wisdom of his observation.</p> + +<p>Hydroquinone as a developer was introduced this year by Eder and Toth, +but it did not make much progress at first. It is more in use now, but I +do not consider it equal to oxalate of iron.</p> + +<p>A considerable fillip was, this year, given to printing on +gelatino-bromide paper by the issue of “The Argentic Gelatino-Bromide +Worker’s Guide,” published by W. T. Morgan and Co. The work was written +by John Burgess, who made and sold a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +bromide emulsion some years +before, and it contained some excellent working instructions. In the +book is a modification and simplification of J. M. Burgess’s Eburneum +Process, though that process was the invention of Mr. J. Burgess, of +Norwich; but a recent application of the gelatino-bromide emulsion to +celluloid slabs by Mr. Fitch has made the Ivorytype process as simple +and certain as the exposure and development of gelatino-bromide paper.</p> + +<p>On January 30th, 1881, died Mr. J. R. Johnson, of pantascopic celebrity. +Mr. Johnson was the inventor of many useful things, both photographic +and otherwise. He was the chief promoter of the Autotype Company, in +which the late Mr. Winsor was so deeply interested; and his double +transfer process, published in 1869, contributed greatly to the +successful development and practice of the Carbon process. The invention +of the Pantascopic Camera, and what he did to forward the formation of +the Autotype Company and simplify carbon printing, may be considered the +sum total of his claim to photographic recognition.</p> + +<p>The chief photographic novelty of 1881 was Mr. Woodbury’s Stannotype +process, a modification and simplification of what is best known as the +Woodburytype. Instead of forcing the gelatine relief into a block of +type-metal by immense pressure to make the matrix, he “faced” a reversed +relief with tin-foil, thus obtaining a printing matrix in less time and +at less expense. I have seen some very beautiful examples of this +process, but somehow or other it is not much employed.</p> + +<p>The man who unquestionably made the first photographic portrait died on +the 4th of January, 1882, and I think it is impossible for me to notice +that event without giving a brief description of the circumstance, even +though I incur the risk of telling to some of my readers a tale twice +told. When Daguerre’s success was first announced in the Academy of +Science in 1839, M. Arago stated that Daguerre had not yet succeeded in +taking +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +portraits, but that he hoped to do so soon. The details of the +process were not published until July, and in the autumn of that year +Dr. Draper succeeded in obtaining a portrait of his assistant, and that +was the first likeness of a human being ever known to have been secured +by photography. It would be interesting to know if that Daguerreotype is +in existence now. Dr. Draper was Professor of Chemistry in the +University of New York, and as soon as the news of the discovery reached +New York he fitted an ordinary spectacle lens into a cigar case, and +commenced his experiments first by taking views out of a window, and +afterwards by taking portraits. To shorten the time of exposure for the +latter, he whitened the faces of his sitters. In April, 1840, Dr. Draper +and Professor Morse opened a portrait gallery on the top of the +University Buildings, New York, and did a splendid business among the +very best people of the City at the minimum price of five dollars a +portrait, and they would be very small even at that price.</p> + +<p>One more of the early workers in photography died this year on the 4th +of March. Louis Alphonse Poitevin was not a father of photography in a +creative sense, but, like Walter Woodbury, an appropriater of +photography in furthering the development of photo-mechanical printing. +His first effort in that direction was to obtain copper plates, or +moulds, from Daguerreotype pictures by the aid of electrical deposits, +and he discovered a method of photo-chemical engraving, for which he was +awarded a silver medal by the Société d‘Encouragement des Arts, but the +process was of no practical value. His chief and most valuable +experiments were with gelatine and bichromates, and his labours in that +direction were rewarded by the receipt of a considerable portion of the +Duc de Luynes’s prize for permanent photographic printing processes, +which consisted of photo-lithography and Collotype printing. Born in +1819, he was sixty-three years old when he died.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +A useful addition to the pyrogallic acid developer was this year given +by Mr. Herbert B. Berkeley. Hitherto, nearly all pyro-developed gelatine +plates were stained a deep yellow colour by the action of ammonia, but +the use of sulphite of soda, as suggested by Mr. Berkeley, considerably +lessened this evil.</p> + +<p>In 1883, Captain Abney rendered a signal service to the members of the +Photographic Society, and photographers in general, by publishing in the +Journal of the Society a translation of Captain Pizzighelli and Baron A. +Hubl’s booklet on platinotype. After giving a <i>résumé</i> of the early +experiments with platinum by Herschel, Hunt, and others, the theory and +practice of platinotype printing are clearly explained, and it was +undoubtedly due to the publication of this translation that platinotype +printing was very much popularised. In proof of the accuracy of this +opinion, every following photographic exhibition showed an increasing +number of exhibits in platinotype.</p> + +<p>No great novelty was brought into the world of photography in 1884, but +there were signs of a steady advance, and an increasing number of +workers with dry plates. I should not, however, neglect allusion to the +publication of Dr. H. W. Vogel’s experiments with eosine, cyanocine, and +other kindred bodies by which he increased the sensitiveness of both wet +collodion and gelatine plates to the action of the yellow rays +considerably (<i>vide</i> Journal of Society, May 30th). The Berlin Society +for the Advancement of Photography acquired and published these +experiments for the general good, and yet Tailfer and Clayton obtained +patent right monopolies for making eosine gelatine plates in France, +Austria, and England. This proceeding seems very much akin to the sharp +practice displayed by Mr. Beard in securing a patent right monopoly in +the Daguerreotype process which was <i>given to the world</i> by the French +Government in 1839. Germany very properly refused to grant a patent +under these circumstances.</p> + +<p>On April 14th, 1885, Mr. Walter Bird read a paper at the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +meeting of the +Photographic Society of Great Britain, “On the Photographic +Reproductions of Pictures in the National Gallery,” by A. Braun et Cie. +I was present, and it appeared to me that the “effects” in some of the +pictures exhibited were not produced by any chemical mode of translation +of colour, but by some method of after-treatment of the negative which +was more likely to be by skilled labour than by any chemical process. +This belief induced me to read a paper at the next meeting—May +12th—“On the After-Treatment of Negatives,” in which I showed what +could be done both by chemical means and art-labour to assist +photography in translating the monographic effects of colour more in +accordance with the scale of luminosity adopted and adhered to by the +most eminent engravers both in line and mezzotint.</p> + +<p>At the next meeting—June 9th—Mr. J. R. Sawyer reopened the discussion +on the above subject by reading a paper and exhibiting examples of his +own experiments, and Mr. Sawyer admitted that he was “bound to confess +that while every effort should be made to discover chemical combinations +which will give the utmost value that can be practicably obtained in the +reproduction (?) of colours, yet that, in all probability, art—and art +not inferior to that of a competent engraver—will be necessary to +assist photography in rendering the very subtle combinations of colour +that present themselves in a fine painting;” and Colonel H. Stuart +Wortley proved that the copy of Turner’s “Old Téméraire” was not only +“retouched,” but wrongly translated, as the various shades of yellow in +the original picture were represented in the copy as if they had been +all of the same tint. Mr. Sawyer made use of the phrase “reproduction of +colours,” but that was an error. He should have said—and undoubtedly +meant—translation of colours, for photography is, unfortunately, +incapable of reproducing colours. Among Mr. Sawyer’s examples was a +curious and contradictory evidence that isochromatic plates translated +yellow tints better than ordinary +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +bromide plates, yet wrongly, for +three different shades of yellow were translated as if they had been all +one tint. I had noticed this myself when copying paintings and coloured +prints, but in photographing the natural colours of fruits and flowers +the result was different, and I attributed the mal-translation of +pigment yellows to the amount of white with which they had been mixed by +the painter. Be that as it may, I always obtained the best translation +from natural colours, and a group of flowers which contained a beautiful +sulphur coloured dahlia illustrates and confirms this statement in a +most remarkable and satisfactory manner. It is, therefore, the more to +be regretted that there is any restriction placed upon the individual +experiment and development of this interesting aspect of photography.</p> + +<p>This was the year of The International Inventions Exhibition, and the +photographic feature of which was the historical collection exhibited by +some of the members of the Photographic Society of Great Britain, and I +think that collection was sufficiently interesting to justify my giving, +in these pages, the entire list as published in the <i>Photographic +Journal</i>:—</p> + +<p>“We subjoin a full and complete statement of the whole of the exhibits, +with the names of the contributors:—</p> + +<p>“Capt. Abney, R.E., F.R.S.—Papyrotype process, executed at the School +of Military Engineering, Chatham.</p> + +<p>“W. Andrews—Wet collodion negatives, intensified by the Schlippes salt +method.</p> + +<p>“T. and R. Annan—Calotype process (negative and print), taken by D. O. +Hill.</p> + +<p>“F. Beasley, jun.—Collodio-albumen negatives.</p> + +<p>“W. Bedford—One of Archer’s first cameras for collodion process, +stereoscopic arrangement by Archer to fit a larger camera.</p> + +<p>“Valentine Blanchard—Instantaneous views, wet collodion, 1856-65. +Illustrations of a method of enlargement, as proposed by V. Blanchard, +1873. Modification of the Brewster stereoscope by Oliver Wendell +Holmes.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Bullock (Bros.)—Photo-lithography, 1866 (Bullock’s patent).</p> + +<p>“T. Bolas, F.C.S.—Detective camera, 1876. Negative photograph on +bitumen, made insoluble by the action of light. Carbon negatives +stripped by Wenderoth’s process.</p> + +<p>“E. Clifton—Portrait of Daguerre. Crystallotype by J. R. Whipple, 1854. +Specimens from “Pretsch” photo-galvano-graphic plates, 1856.</p> + +<p>“T. S. Davis, F.C.S.—A combined preparation and wash bottle for +gelatine emulsion. Adjustable gauge for cutting photographic glasses.</p> + +<p>“De la Rue and Co.—Surface printing from blocks executed by Paul +Pretsch, 1860.</p> + +<p>“W. England—Old Daguerreotype developing box. Old ditto sensitising +box. Old camera, 1860, with rapid inside shutter. Instantaneous views in +Paris, wet collodion, 1856-65.</p> + +<p>“Edinburgh Photographic Society—Archer’s water lens.</p> + +<p>“James Glaisher, F.R.S.—Nature printing, taken over thirty years ago.</p> + +<p>“G. Fowler Jones—Prints from negatives by Le Gray’s ceroline process.</p> + +<p>“R. Kennett—Skaife’s pistolgraph. Globe lens.</p> + +<p>“Dr. Maddox—Some of the earliest gelatino-bromide negatives, by the +originator of the process, 1871.</p> + +<p>“Mudd and Son—Collodio-albumen negatives.</p> + +<p>“R. C. Murray—Early Talbotype photographs, 1844-45.</p> + +<p>“H. Neville—Camera with Sutton’s patent panoramic lens.</p> + +<p>“Mrs. H. Baden Pritchard—Impressions from pewter plates of heliographic +drawing, by Nicéphore Niépce, 1827. Original letter, by Nicéphore +Niépce, sent to the Royal Society, 1827. View of Kew, taken by Nicéphore +Niépce, 1827.</p> + +<p>“H. P. Robinson—Heliographic picture, by Nicéphore Niépce, 1826. +Photo-etched plate (from a print), by Niépce in 1827. Heliograph (from a +print), by Niépce, 1827. One of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +earliest printing-frames, made for +Fox Talbot’s photogenic drawing, 1839. The first nitrate of silver bath +used by Scott Archer in his discovery of the collodion process, 1850.</p> + +<p>“Ross and Co.—One of Archer’s earliest fluid lenses. The first +photographic compound portrait lens, made by Andrew Ross, 1841. +Photographic camera, believed to be the first made in England.</p> + +<p>“Sands and Hunter—Old lens, with adjustable diaphragm, by Archer, 1851. +Old stereoscopic camera, with mechanical arrangement for transferring +plates to and from the dark slide.</p> + +<p>“T. L. Scowen—Parallel bar stereoscopic camera. Latimer Clarke.</p> + +<p>“John Spiller, F.C.S., F.I.C.—The first preserved plates (three to +twenty-one days), 1854. Illustrations of the French Pigeon Post.</p> + +<p>“J. W. Swan, F.C.S.—Electro intaglios from carbon reliefs +(Thorwalsden’s “Night and Morning”). Photo-mezzotints were taken from +these in gelatinous inks, 1860, by J. W. Swan, by the process now known +as Woodburytype. Plaster cast from a carbon print of Kenilworth, showing +the relief, taken in 1864, by J. W. Swan. Carbon prints twenty years old +(photographed and printed in various colours by J. W. Swan). Old print +(in red) by T. and R. Annan, by Swan’s process. Carbon print, twenty +years old (printed in 1864) by double transfer.</p> + +<p>“B. B. Turner—Talbotype. Negatives and prints from same. Single lens +made by Andrew Ross, 1851.</p> + +<p>“J. Werge—Examples of printing with various metals on plain paper, +1839-42. The Fathers of Photography. Examples and dates of the +introduction of early photographs. Daguerreotype, 1839. Collodion +positive, 1851. Ambrotype, 1853. Ferrotype, 1855.</p> + +<p>“W. Willis, Jun.—Specimen of aniline process. Historical illustrations +of the development of the platinotype process.</p> + +<p>“W. B. Woodbury—Photo-relief printing process. Woodbury +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +mould and +Woodburytype print from same, 1866. Stannotype printing-press, with +mould. Machine for measuring reliefs. Woodbury lantern slides. Early +Daguerreotype on copper. Positive photograph on glass. Woodbury balloon +camera. Microscopical objects in plaster from gelatine reliefs. Woodbury +collographic process. Woodbury photo-chromograph system, coloured from +the back, 1869. Woodbury actinometer. Despatch-box camera. Watermark or +photo-filigrain process. Transparency on gelatine. The first specimen of +Woodbury printing exhibited, including the first mould printed from, and +also proofs backed with luminous paint.</p> + +<p>“Colonel H. Stuart Wortley—Early photo-zincographs, 1861-2. +Experimental prints with uranium collodion, 1867 (modification of +Wothly’s process). Set of apparatus complete for making gelatine +emulsion, and preparing gelatine plates, 1877-8. No. 1. Apparatus for +cutting gelatine plates either by hand-turning or treadle. No. 2. Stove +for keeping emulsion warm for any time at a fixed temperature in pure +air, and for the final drying of the plates. No. 3. Apparatus for +squeezing emulsion out into water. No. 4. Apparatus for mixing emulsion. +Instantaneous shutter, with horizontal motion by finger or pneumatic +tube; adjustable wings for cutting off sky, and varying length of +exposure.”</p> + +<p>It is a very remarkable circumstance that none of the contributors to +that historical collection could include among their interesting +exhibits portraits of either Nicéphore Niépce or Frederick Scott Archer. +Among my “Fathers of Photography” were portraits of Daguerre, Rev. J. B. +Reade, Fox Talbot, Dr. Alfred Swaine Taylor, and Sir John Herschel. It +was suggested that those historical exhibits should be left at the close +of the exhibition to form a nucleus to a permanent photographic +exhibition in Kensington Museum. I readily contributed my exhibits +towards such a laudable object. They were accepted, and these exhibits +may be seen at any time in the West +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +Gallery of the Science Department +of the South Kensington Museum.</p> + +<p>At the exhibition of the Photographic Society of Great Britain this +year, I exhibited “Wollaston’s Diaphragmatic Shutter,” in my opinion the +best snap shutter that ever was invented, but it had two very serious +drawbacks, for it was both <i>heavy</i> and <i>expensive</i>.</p> + +<p>In 1886 more than usual interest was exhibited by photographers in what +was misnamed as the isochromatic, or orthochromatic process, and this +interest was probably created by the papers read and discussions that +followed at the meetings of the Photographic Society in the previous +year. Messrs. Dixon and Gray—the latter a young man in the employ of +Messrs. Dixon and Son—commenced a series of experiments with certain +dyes with the hope of obtaining a truer translation of colour when +copying oil paintings or water-colour drawings, a class of work in which +they were largely interested, and had obtained a considerable reputation +for such reproductions as photography was then capable of rendering, and +one of the results of these experiments was exhibited, and obtained a +medal, at the exhibition of the Photographic Society in October. Messrs. +Dixon and Sons’ exhibit was a very surprising one, and created quite a +sensation, as nothing equal to it had ever been shown before. The +subject was a drawing of a yellow flower and green leaves against a blue +ground—the yellow the most luminous, the green next, and the blue the +darkest. In ordinary wet or dry plate photography these effects would +have been reversed, but by Dixon and Gray’s process the relative +luminosities of these three colours were almost perfectly translated. +Messrs. Dixon and Gray did not publish their process, but prepared +existing gelatine dry plates by their method, and sold them at an +enhanced price. They were not, however, permitted to supply anyone long, +for B. J. Edwards, who had obtained a monopoly of Tailfer and Clayton’s +patent rights in England, served them with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +an injunction, or threatened +them with legal proceedings, so they discontinued preparing their +orthochromatic plates for sale. By some special arrangement they were +allowed to prepare plates for their own use, provided they used Edwards’ +XL dry plates.</p> + +<p>It so happened, however, that this proviso was not a hardship, for Mr. +Dixon told me himself that he had found Edwards’ plates the most +suitable for their process. The hardship lay in not being able to apply +their own discovery or preparation to any dry plates for sale for the +public use and benefit. This prohibition was the more to be regretted +because no other commercial isochromatic or orthochromatic plates had or +have appeared to possess the same qualities of translation. The +suppression of the Dixon and Gray preparation of plates is the more +surprising when I find eosine is mentioned in the Clayton and Tailfer +claim, whereas Mr. Dixon assured me that eosine was not employed by +them. Mr. Edwards only acquired his monopoly and right to interfere with +the commercial application of an independent discovery on Nov. 18th, +1886, and there is little to be gained in England by the publication of +the experiments of such men as Vogel, Eder, Ives, and Abney, if one man +can prevent all others making use of them.</p> + +<p>This year death removed from our midst one, and perhaps the greatest, of +the martyrs of photography—Sylvester Laroche. This was the man that +fought the battle for freedom from the shackles of monopoly. He won the +fight, but lost his money, and the photographers of the day failed to +make him a suitable recompense. There was one honourable exception, and +Mr. Sylvester told me himself that Mr. J. E. Mayall gave him £100 +towards his legal expenses. Laroche’s surname was Sylvester, but as +there was a whole family of that name photographers, he added Laroche to +distinguish himself from his brothers. Sylvester Laroche was an artist, +and worked very cleverly in pastel, but somehow or other he never +appeared to prosper.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +Nothing particular marked the photographic record of 1887, but death was +busy in removing men who had made their mark both in the early and later +days of photography. First, on March 19th, Robert Hunt, the most copious +writer on photography in its earlier period. As early as 1844 he +published the first edition of his “Researches on Light,” in which he +was considerably assisted by Sir John Herschel, and it is astonishing to +find what a mine of photographic information that early work contains.</p> + +<p>The next was Colonel Russell, better known, photographically, as Major +Russell. He was born in 1820, and died on May 16th, 1887. He was best +known for his tannin process and alkaline developer, with a bromide +solution as a restrainer. For a long time his tannin process was very +popular among collodion dry plate workers, and very beautiful pictures +were taken on Russell’s Tannin Plates, but it is many years since they +were ruthlessly brushed aside, like all other collodion dry plates, by +the now universally employed gelatino-bromide plates or films.</p> + +<p>A revival of interest in pinhole photography was awakened this year, and +several modes of constructing a pinhole camera were published; but I +remember seeing a wonderful picture by a <i>keyhole</i> camera long before I +became a photographer. I had called to see an old lady who lived +opposite a mill and farm. It was a bright, sunny afternoon, and, when I +was leaving, I was astonished to see a beautiful picture of the mill and +farm on the wall of the hall. “Ah!” said the old lady; “that’s my +camera-obscura. When the sun shines on the mill at this time of day, I +am sure to have a picture of the mill brought through the keyhole.” It +was something like this that suggested the camera-obscura to Roger Bacon +and Baptista Porta. So it is not necessary to have such a small hole to +obtain a picture, but it is necessary to have the smallest hole possible +to obtain the <i>sharpest</i> picture.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> + +<p>Pizzighelli’s visible platinotype printing paper was introduced this +year, and I welcomed it as a boon, for the double reasons of its +simplicity and permanency. I had been longing for years for such a +process, for I, like Roger Fenton, had come to the conclusion that there +was no future for photography, in consequence of the instability of +silver prints. They would be much more durable than they are if they +were only washed in several changes of warm water, but few people will +be at the trouble to do that, some because they don’t know the efficacy +of warm water, and others because it lowers the tone. An eminent +photographer once asked me how to render silver prints permanent; but +when I told him there was nothing equal to warm water washing, he +exclaimed, “Oh! but that spoils the tone.” When a photographer +sacrifices durability to tone, he is scarcely acting honestly towards +his customers. Admitted that there is nothing so beautiful in +photography as a good silver print when it has its first bloom on it, +neither is there anything so grievously disappointing as a silver print +in its last stage of decay. It is quite time that the <i>durability</i> of a +photograph should be the first consideration of every photographer, as +well as the amateur. Years ago I proposed and published a plan of +raising a fund to induce chemists and scientists to consider the +subject, but not a single photographer responded by subscribing his +guinea.</p> + +<p>A very simple and interesting means of making photographs at night was +introduced this year by Dr. Piffard, an amateur photographer of New +York, and the extreme simplicity and efficacy of his method was +surprising. For good portraiture it is not equal to the electric light, +but for family groups, at home occupations or amusements, it is +superior, and I have taken such groups with Piffard’s magnesium +flash-light, which no other means of lighting would have enabled me to +produce. I have taken groups of people playing at cards, billiards, and +other games in their own homes with the simplest of apparatus, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +the ordinary lens and camera, plus an old tea tray—but to obtain the +best results, the quickest lens and the quickest dry plates should be +employed, and I have always found the best position for the light to be +on the top of the camera.</p> + +<p>1888 is chiefly remarkable for the attempted revival of the stereoscope, +and Mr. W. F. Donkin read an interesting and instructive paper on the +subject, in which he endeavoured to account for its disappearance, +explain its principles, and give an historical account of its early +construction, and modern or subsequent improvements. As to its immense +popularity thirty to thirty-five years ago, that was due to its novelty, +and the marvellous effect of solidity the pictures assumed when viewed +in the stereoscope; but it soon ceased to be popular when the views +became stale, and people grew tired of looking at them; to keep up the +interest they had to be continually buying fresh ones, and of this they +soon got tired also; and when hosts saw that their guests were bored +with sights so often seen, they put them out of sight altogether, and I +fear that nothing will, for the same reasons, bring about a revival of +the revolving or any other form of stereoscopes, for views. It is +becoming much the same now with lantern slides—possessors and their +friends grow weary of the subjects seen so frequently, and hiring +instead of buying slides is becoming the practice of those who own an +optical lantern.</p> + +<p>With stereoscopic portraits it was not so, for there was always a +personal and family interest attached to them, and I made a great many +stereoscopic portraits by the Daguerreotype process; but even they were +somewhat ruthlessly and precipitately displaced when the carte-de-visite +mania took possession of the public mind. However, I see no reason why +stereoscopic portraiture should not be revived if good pictures were +produced on ivoryine, and it appears to me that substance is most +suitable for the purpose, as the pictures can be examined either by +reflected or transmitted light. Everyone +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +interested in stereoscopic +photography should “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest,” the late +Mr. Donkin’s able and instructive paper on “Stereoscopes and Binocular +Vision,” published in the journal of the Photographic Society, January +27th, 1888. This was unhappily the last paper that Mr. Donkin read at +the Photographic Society, for he was unfortunately lost in the Caucasus +the following autumn. W. F. Donkin, M.A., F.C.S., F.I.C., was for +several years Honorary Secretary of the Photographic Society and of the +Alpine Club, and, at the November meeting of the Photographic Society, +the President, James Glaisher, F.R.S., made the following remarks on the +melancholy event:—“There is, I am sure, but one feeling in regard to +the fact that the gentleman who usually sits on my right is not here +to-night. Our Secretary, W. F. Donkin, is, I fear, irretrievably lost in +the Caucasus. The feeling of every member of this Society is one of +respect and esteem towards him. During the time he held the post of +Secretary, his uniform courtesy won him the respect of all. I fear we +shall see him no more.” This fear was afterwards confirmed by the search +party, which was headed by Mr. C. T. Dent, President of the Alpine Club. +The late Mr. Donkin was both an expert Alpine climber and photographer, +and many of his photographs of Alpine scenery have been published and +admired.</p> + +<p>Every year compels me to record the death of some old and experienced +photographer, or some artist associated with photography from its +earliest introduction. Among the latter was Norman Macbeth, R.S.A., an +eminent portrait painter, who was quick to see and ready to avail +himself of the invaluable services of a new art, or means of improving +art, both in drawing and detail, and make the newly-discovered power a +help in his own labours, and an economiser of the time of his sitters. +The first time I had the pleasure of meeting him was in Glasgow in 1855, +when he brought one of his sitters to me to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +be Daguerreotyped, and he +preferred a Daguerreotype as long as he could get one, on account of its +extreme delicacy and details in the shadows; but he could not obtain any +more Daguerreotypes after 1857, for at that time I abandoned the +Daguerreotype for ever, and was the last to practise the process in +Glasgow, and probably throughout Great Britain.</p> + +<p>From the time that Mr. Macbeth commenced taking photographs himself, he +took a keen interest in photography to the last, and only about a month +before he died, he read an able, instructive, and interesting paper on +the “Construction and Requirements of Portrait Art” before the members +of the London and Provincial Photographic Association; and that paper +should be in the possession, and frequent perusal, of every student of +photographic portraiture. Although an artist in feeling and by +profession, Mr. Macbeth was no niggard in his praises of artistic +photography, and I have frequently heard him expatiate lovingly on the +artistic productions of Rejlander, Robinson, and Hubbard; but, like all +artists, he abominated retouching, and denounced it in the strongest +terms, and regretted its prevalence and practice as destructive of +truth, and “truth in photography,” he used to say, “was its greatest +recommendation.”</p> + +<p>The annals of 1889—the jubilee year of published and commercial +photography—commence with the record of death. On the 21st of January, +Mr. John Robert Sawyer died at Naples in the 61st year of his age. Mr. +Sawyer had been for many years a member of the Autotype Company, and his +foresight and indefatigability were largely instrumental in making that +Company a commercial success. It was anything but a success from the +time that it was commenced by the late Mr. Winsor and Mr. J. R. Johnson, +but from the moment that Mr. J. R. Sawyer became “director of works,” +the company rapidly became a flourishing concern, and possesses now a +world-wide reputation. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +Mr. Sawyer was one of the early workers in +photography, and for several years conducted a photographic business in +the city of Norwich. It was there that circumstances induced him to give +his attention to some form of permanent photography with the view of +employing it to illustrate a work on the carving and sculpture in +Norwich Cathedral, particularly the fine work in the roof of the nave. +Mr. Sawyer naturally turned his attention, in the first place, to the +autotype process, but it was then in its infancy, and the price +prohibitory. The collotype process then became his hope and refuge, but +that also was in its infancy, and not practised in England. Mr. Sawyer +therefore started for Berlin early in 1869, and there met a certain Herr +Ghémoser, a clever expert in the collotype process, from whom he +obtained valuable information and working instructions. On his return +home, Mr. Sawyer laboured at the collotype process until he overcame +most of its difficulties, and on January 1st, 1871, he entered into +partnership with Mr. Walter Bird, and removed to London with the +intention of making the collotype process a feature in the business. +Messrs. Sawyer and Bird commenced their London experiences in Regent +Street, but on January 1st, 1872, they entered into an agreement with +the Autotype Fine Art Company to work the collotype process as a branch +of their business. Meanwhile, another partner, Mr. John Spencer, had +joined the firm, and at the end of that year Messrs. Spencer, Sawyer, +Bird and Co. purchased the Autotype patents, plant, and stock at Ealing +Dene, and all its interest in the wholesale trade; and, in 1874, they +bought up the whole of the Fine Art business, including the stock in +Rathbone Place, and became the Autotype Company.</p> + +<p>The great photographic feature of this year was the Convention held on +August 19th in St. James’s Hall, Regent Street, London, in celebration +of the jubilee of practical photography, which was inaugurated by the +delivery of an address by the president, Mr. Andrew Pringle. The address +was a fairly good résumé of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +all that had been done for the advancement +of photography during the past fifty years.</p> + +<p>The exhibition of photographs was somewhat of a failure; little was +shown that possessed any historical interest, and that little was +contributed by myself. There was a considerable display of apparatus of +almost every description, but there was nothing that had not been seen, +or could have been seen, in the shops of the exhibitors.</p> + +<p>The papers that were read were of considerable interest, and imparted no +small amount of information, especially Mr. Thos. R. Dallmeyer’s on +“False Rendering of Photographic Images by the Misapplication of +Lenses”; Mr. C. H. Bothamley’s on “Orthochromatic Photography with +Gelatine Plates”; Mr. Thomas Bolas’s on “The Photo-mechanical Printing +Methods as employed in the Jubilee Year of Photography”; but by far the +most popular, wonderful, and instructive, was Professor E. Muybridge’s +lecture, with illustrations, on “The Movements of Animals.” The sight of +the formidable batteries of lenses was startling enough, but when the +actions of the horse, and other animals, were shown in the +“Zoopraxiscope,” the effect on the sense of sight was both astounding +and convincing, and I began to marvel how artists could have lived and +laboured in the wrong direction for so many years, especially when the +lecturer showed that a prehistoric artist had scratched on a bone a rude +but truthful representation of an animal in motion. Both the sight and +intelligence of that prehistoric artist must have been keener than the +senses of animal painters of the nineteenth century.</p> + +<p>Taking it all in all, the Jubilee Convention was an immense success, and +brought photographers and amateurs to London from the most distant parts +of the country. Looking round the Hall on the opening night, and +scanning the features of those present, I was coming to the conclusion +that I was the oldest photographer present, when I espied Mr. Baynham +Jones, a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +man of eighty-three winters, and certainly the oldest amateur +photographer living; so I willingly ceded the honour of seniority to +him, and as soon as he espied me he clambered over the rails to come and +sit at my side and talk over the past, and quite unknown to many +present, aspects and difficulties of photography. Mr. Baynham Jones was +an enthusiastic photographer from the very first, for in 1839, as soon +as Daguerre’s process was published, he made himself a camera out of a +cigar-box and the lens of his opera-glass, and, being unable to obtain a +Daguerreotype plate in the country, he cut up a silver salver and worked +away on a solid silver plate until he succeeded in making a +Daguerreotype picture. Mr. Baynham Jones was not the first photographer +in this country, for the Rev. J. B. Reade preceded him by about two +years; but I have not the slightest doubt of his being the first +<i>Daguerreotypist</i> in England, and in that jubilee year of 1889 he was +working with gelatine plates and films, and enthusiastic enough to come +all the way from Cheltenham to London to attend the meetings of the +Jubilee Convention of Photography.</p> + +<p>With this brief allusion to the doings and attractions of the Jubilee +Convention, I fear I must bring my reminiscences of photography to a +close; but before doing so I feel it incumbent on me to call attention +to the fact that <i>two years</i> after celebrating the jubilee of +photography we should, paradoxical as it may appear, celebrate its +centenary, for in 1791 the first photographic <i>picture</i> that ever was +made, seen, or heard tell of, was produced by Thomas Wedgwood, and +though he was unable to fix it and enable us to look upon <i>that</i> wonder +<i>to-day</i>, the honour of being the first photographer, in its truest +sense, is unquestionably due to an Englishman. Thomas Wedgwood made +photographic pictures on paper, and there they remained until light or +time obliterated them; whereas J. H. Schulze, a German physician, only +obtained impressions of letters on a semi-liquid chloride of silver in a +bottle, and at every shake of the hand +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +the meagre impression was +instantly destroyed. If we consider such men as Niépce, Reade, Daguerre, +and Fox Talbot the fathers of photography, we cannot but look upon +Thomas Wedgwood as the Grand Father, and the centenary of his first +achievement should be celebrated with becoming honour as the English +centenary of photography.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" style="padding-top:2em"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHRONOLOGICAL_RECORD" id="CHRONOLOGICAL_RECORD"></a> +CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD</h2> + +<p class="center smaller">OF</p> + +<h3>INVENTIONS, DISCOVERIES, PUBLICATIONS, AND APPLIANCES, FORMING +FACTORS IN THE INCEPTION, DISCOVERY, AND DEVELOPMENT OF PHOTOGRAPHY.</h3> + +<div class="fig_center" style="width: 84px;"> +<img src="images/bar.png" width="84" height="11" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p>1432 <span class="smaller">B.C.</span> Iron said to have been first discovered.</p> + +<p>424 <span class="smaller">B.C.</span> Lenses made and used by the Greeks. And a lens has been found +in the ruins of Nineveh.</p> + +<p>79 <span class="smaller">A.D.</span> Glass known and used by the Romans.</p> + +<p>697. Glass brought to England.</p> + +<p>1100. Alcohol first obtained by the alchemist, Abucasis.</p> + +<p>1287. Nitric acid first obtained by Raymond Lully. Present properties +made known by Dr. Priestley, 1785.</p> + +<p>1297. Camera-obscura constructed by Roger Bacon.</p> + +<p>1400. Chloride of gold solution known to Basil Valentine.</p> + +<p>1500. Camera-obscura improved by Baptista Porta.</p> + +<p>1555. Chloride of silver blackening by the action of light. Doubtless it +was the knowledge of this that induced Thomas Wedgwood and Sir Humphry +Davy to make their experiments.</p> + +<p>1590. Paper first made in England, at Dartford, Kent, by Sir John +Speilman. It is said that the Chinese made paper 170 years <span class="smaller">B.C.</span></p> + +<p>1646. Magic lantern invented by Athanasius Kircher.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +1666. Sir Isaac Newton divided a sunbeam into its seven component parts, +and re-constructed the camera-obscura.</p> + +<p>1670. Salt mines of Staffordshire discovered.</p> + +<p>1727. J. H. Schulze, a German physician, observed that light blackened +chalk impregnated with nitrate of silver solution and gold chloride.</p> + +<p>1737. Solution of nitrate of silver applied to paper, by Hellot.</p> + +<p>1739. Chloride of mercury made by K. Neumann.</p> + +<p>1741. Platinum first known in Europe: M. H. St. Claire Deville’s new +method of obtaining it from the ore, 1859.</p> + +<p>1750. J. Dolland, London, first made double achromatic compound lenses.</p> + +<p>1757. Chloride of silver made by J. B. Beccarius.</p> + +<p>1774. Dr. Priestly discovered ammonia to be composed of nitrogen and +hydrogen; but ammonia is as old as the first decomposition of organic +matter.</p> + +<p>1777. Charles William Scheele observed that the violet end of the +spectrum blackened chloride of silver more rapidly than the red end. +Chlorine discovered.</p> + +<p>1779. Oxalate of silver made by Bergmann.</p> + +<p>1789. Uranium obtained from pitch-blende by Klaproth.</p> + +<p>1791. Thomas Wedgwood commenced experiments with a solution of nitrate +of silver spread upon paper and white leather, and obtained impressions +of semi-transparent objects and cast shadows. Sir Humphry Davy joined +him later.</p> + +<p>1797. Nitrate of silver on silk by Fulhame.</p> + +<p>1799. Hyposulphite of soda discovered by M. Chaussier.</p> + +<p>1800. John William Ritter, of Samitz, in Silesia, observed that chloride +of silver blackened beyond the violet end of the spectrum, thus +discovering the action of the ultra violet ray.</p> + +<p>1801. Potassium discovered by Sir Humphry Davy.</p> + +<p>1802. Examples of Heliotypes, by Wedgwood and Davy, exhibited at the +Royal Institution, and process published.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +1803. Palladium discovered in platinum by Dr. Wollaston.</p> + +<p>1808. Strontium obtained from carbonate of strontia by Sir Humphry Davy.</p> + +<p>1812. Iodine discovered by M. D. Curtois, of Paris.</p> + +<p>— Nitrate of silver and albumen employed by D. Fischer.</p> + +<p>1813. Ditto investigated by M. Clement.</p> + +<p>1814. Joseph Nicéphore de Niépce commenced experiments with the hope of +securing the pictures as seen in the camera-obscura.</p> + +<p>— Iodide of silver made by Sir H. Davy.</p> + +<p>1819. Sir John Herschel published the fact that hyposulphite of soda +dissolved chloride and other salts of silver.</p> + +<p>1824. Niépce obtained pictures in the camera-obscura upon metal plates +coated with asphaltum, or bitumen of Judea.</p> + +<p>— L. G. M. Daguerre commenced his researches.</p> + +<p>— Permanganate of potash. Fromenkerz.</p> + +<p>1826. Bromine discovered in sea-water by M. Balard.</p> + +<p>— Bromine of silver made.</p> + +<p>1827. Niépce exhibited his pictures in England, and left one or more, +now in the British Museum.</p> + +<p>1829. Niépce and Daguerre entered into an alliance to pursue their +researches mutually.</p> + +<p>1832. Evidence of Daguerre employing iodine.</p> + +<p>1837. Rev. J. B. Reade, of Clapham, London, obtained a photograph in the +solar microscope, and employed tannin as an accelerator and hyposulphite +of soda as a fixer for the first time in photography.</p> + +<p>1838. Reflecting stereoscope exhibited by Charles Wheatstone.</p> + +<p>— Mungo Ponton observed that light altered and hardened bichromate of +potash, and produced yellow photographs with that material. This +discovery led to the invention of the Autotype, Woodburytype, Collotype, +and other methods of photo-mechanical printing.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +1839. Daguerre’s success communicated to the Academy of Science, Paris, +by M. Arago, January 7th.</p> + +<p>— Electrotype process announced.</p> + +<p>— Professor Faraday described Fox Talbot’s new method of photogenic +drawing to the members of the Royal Institution, January 25th.</p> + +<p>— Fox Talbot read a paper, giving a full description of his process, +before the Royal Society, January 31st.</p> + +<p>— Sir John Herschel introduced hyposulphite of soda as a fixing agent, +February 14th.</p> + +<p>— Dr. Alfred Swaine Taylor employed ammonia nitrate of silver in +preference to chloride of silver for making photogenic drawings, and +employed hyposulphite of lime in preference to hyposulphite of soda for +fixing.</p> + +<p>— Daguerre’s process published in August, and patent, for England, +granted to Mr. Beard, London, August 14th.</p> + +<p>— “History and Practice of Photogenic Drawing”; L. S. M. Daguerre. +Published September.</p> + +<p>— First photographic portrait taken on a Daguerreotype plate by +Professor. J. W. Draper, New York, U. S., in the autumn of this year.</p> + +<p>1840. “On the Art of Photogenic Drawing,” by Alfred S. Taylor, lecturer +on chemistry, &c., at Guy’s Hospital. Published by Jeffrey, George Yard, +Lombard Street, London.</p> + +<p>— “The Handbook of Heliography, or the Art of Writing or Drawing by the +Effect of Sunlight, with the Art of Dioramic Painting, as practised by +M. Daguerre.” Anon.</p> + +<p>— Wolcott’s reflecting camera brought from America to England and +secured by Mr. Beard, patentee of the Daguerreotype process.</p> + +<p>— The moon photographed for the first time by Dr. J. W. Draper, of New +York, on a Daguerreotype plate.</p> + +<p>— John Frederick Goddard, of London, inventor of the polariscope and +lecturer on chemistry, employed chlorine added to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +iodine, and +afterwards bromine, as accelerators in the Daguerreotype process.</p> + +<p>1840. Antoine F. J. Claudet, F.R.S., of London, employed chlorine for +the same purpose.</p> + +<p>— M. Fizeau, of Paris, deposited a film of gold over the Daguerreotype +picture after the removal of the iodine, which imparted increased +brilliancy and permanency.</p> + +<p>— Chloride of platinum employed by Herschel.</p> + +<p>— Fox Talbot’s developer published September 20th.</p> + +<p>1841. Calotype process patented by Fox Talbot, September 20th.</p> + +<p>— First photographic compound portrait lens made by Andrew Ross, +London.</p> + +<p>— Towson, of Liverpool, noted that chemical and visual foci did not +coincide. Defect corrected by J. Petzval, of Vienna, for Voightlander.</p> + +<p>— “A Popular Treatise on the Art of Photography, including +Daguerreotype and all the New Methods of Producing Pictures by the +Chemical Agency of Light,” by Robert Hunt, published by R. Griffin, +Glasgow.</p> + +<p>— Daguerre announced an instantaneous process, but it was not +successful.</p> + +<p>1842. Sir John Herschel exhibited blue, red, and purple photographs at +the Royal Institution.</p> + +<p>— “Photography Familiarly Explained,” by W. R. Baxter, London.</p> + +<p>1843. “Photogenic Manipulation,” by G. T. Fisher Knight, Foster Lane.</p> + +<p>— Treatise on Photography by N. P. Lerebours, translated by J. Egerton.</p> + +<p>1844. Fox Talbot issued “The Pencil of Nature,” a book of silver prints +from calotype negatives.</p> + +<p>— C. Cundell, of London, employed and published the use of bromide of +potassium in the calotype process.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +1844. “Researches on Light and its Chemical Relations,” by Robert Hunt. +First edition; second ditto, 1854.</p> + +<p>— Robert Hunt recommended proto-sulphate of iron as a developer for +Talbot’s calotype negatives; also oxalate of iron and acetate of lead +for other purposes.</p> + +<p>— A. F. J. Claudet patented a red light for “dark room,” but at that +date a red light was not necessary, so the old photographers continued +the use of yellow lights.</p> + +<p>1845. “Photogenic Manipulations:” Part 1, Calotype, &c.; Part 2, +Daguerreotype. By George Thomas Fisher, jun. Published by George Knight +and Sons, London.</p> + +<p>— “Manual of Photography,” including Daguerreotype, Calotype, &c., by +Jabez Hogg. First edition. Second ditto, including Archer’s collodion +process, bichloride of mercury bleaching and intensifying, and +gutta-percha transfer process, 1856.</p> + +<p>1845. “Practical Hints on the Daguerreotype; Willats’s +Scientific Manuals.”</p> + +<p>— “Plain Directions for Obtaining Photographic Pictures by the Calotype +and other processes, on paper; Willats’s +Scientific Manuals.” Published by Willats, 98, Cheapside; and Sherwood, +Gilbert, and Piper, Paternoster Row.</p> + +<p>1846. Gun-cotton made known by Professor Schönbein, of Basel.</p> + +<p>1847. Collodion made by dissolving gun-cotton in ether and alcohol, by +Mr. Maynard, of Boston, U.S.</p> + +<p>1848. “Photogenic Manipulation:” Part II., Daguerreotype, by Robert +Bingham. Published by George Knight and Sons, London.</p> + +<p>— Albumen on glass plates first employed for making negatives by M. +Niépce de Saint Victor. Process published June 13th.</p> + +<p>— Frederick Scott Archer experimented with paper pulp, tanno-gelatine, +and iodised collodion, and made collodion negatives in the autumn.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +1849. Collodion <i>positive</i> of Hever Castle, Kent, made by Frederick +Scott Archer <i>early</i> in the year.</p> + +<p>— M. Gustave Le Gray <i>suggested</i> the application of collodion to +photography.</p> + +<p>1850. “A Practical Treatise on Photography upon Paper and Glass,” by +Gustave Le Gray. Translated from the French by Thomas Cousins, and +published by T. and R. Willats. This book is said to contain the first +printed notice of collodion being used in photography.</p> + +<p>— R. J. Bingham, London, suggested the use of collodion and gelatine in +photography.</p> + +<p>— M. Poitevin’s gelatine process, published January 25th.</p> + +<p>1851. Frederick Scott Archer published his collodion process in the +March number of <i>The Chemist</i>, and introduced pyrogallic acid as a +developer December 20th.</p> + +<p>— Fox Talbot announced his instantaneous process, and obtained, at the +Royal Institution, a copy of the <i>Times</i> newspaper, while revolving +rapidly, by the light of an electric spark.</p> + +<p>— Niépce de St. Victor’s heliochromic process, published June 22nd. +Examples sent to the judges of the International Exhibition of 1862. See +Jurors’ Report thereon, pp. 88-9.</p> + +<p>— Sir David Brewster’s improved stereoscope applied to photography.</p> + +<p>1851. “Photography, a Treatise on the Chemical Changes produced by Solar +Radiation, and the Production of Pictures from Nature, by the +Daguerreotype, Calotype, and other Photographic Processes,” by Robert +Hunt. Published by J. J. Griffin and Co., London and Glasgow.</p> + +<p>1852. “Archer’s Hand-Book of Collodion Process.” Published May 14th. +Second edition, enlarged; published 1854.</p> + +<p>— “Archer’s Collodion <i>Positive</i> Process.” Published July 20th.</p> + +<p>— Fox Talbot’s photo-engraving on steel process; patented October 29th.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +1853. A Manual of Photography, by Robert Hunt, published.</p> + +<p>— Photographic Society of London founded. Sir Charles Eastlake, P.R.A., +President; Roger Fenton, Esq., Secretary. First number of the Society’s +Journal published March 3rd.</p> + +<p>— Cutting’s American patent for use of bromides in collodion obtained +June 11th, and his Ambrotype process introduced in America.</p> + +<p>— “The Waxed-Paper Process,” by Gustave Le Gray. Translated from the +French with a supplement, by James How. Published by G. Knight and Co., +Foster Lane, Cheapside.</p> + +<p>— Frederick Scott Archer introduced a triple lens to shorten the focus +of a double combination lens.</p> + +<p>1854. E. R., of Tavistock, published directions for the use of isinglass +as a substitute for collodion.</p> + +<p>— First series of photographic views of Kenilworth Castle, &c., from +collodion negatives, published by Frederick Scott Archer.</p> + +<p>— Liverpool Photographic Journal, first published by Henry Greenwood, +bi-monthly.</p> + +<p>— First roller-slide patented by Messrs. Spencer and Melhuish, May +22nd.</p> + +<p>— Fox Talbot first applied albumen to paper to obtain a finer surface +for photographic printing.</p> + +<p>— Photo-Enamel process; first patent December 13th.</p> + +<p>— Dry collodion plates first introduced.</p> + +<p>1855. M. Poitevin’s helioplastic process patented February 20th.</p> + +<p>— Dr. J. M. Taupenot’s dry plate process introduced.</p> + +<p>— Photo-galvanic process patented June 5th.</p> + +<p>— “Hardwich’s Photographic Chemistry.” First edition, published March +12th.</p> + +<p>— Ferrotype process introduced in America by Mr. J. W. Griswold.</p> + +<p>1856. “Photographic Notes.” Edited by Thomas Sutton. Commenced January +1st; bi-monthly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +1856. Sutton’s Calotype process, published March.</p> + +<p>1856. Dr. Hill Norris’s dry plate process. Patented September 1st.</p> + +<p>1856. Caranza published method of toning silver prints with chloride of +platinum.</p> + +<p>1857. Moule’s photogene, artificial light for portraiture. Patented +February 18th.</p> + +<p>— Carte-de-visite portraits introduced by M. Ferrier, of Nice.</p> + +<p>— Kinnear Camera introduced. Made by Bell, Edinburgh.</p> + +<p>1858. Pouncy’s Carbon process patented April 10th.</p> + +<p>— Skaife’s Pistolgraph camera introduced.</p> + +<p>1858. J. C. Burnett exposed the back of the carbon paper and obtained +half-tones.</p> + +<p>— Fox Talbot’s photo-etching process, patented April 20th.</p> + +<p>— Paul Pretsch’s photo-engraving process introduced.</p> + +<p>— “Sutton’s Dictionary of Photography,” published August 17th.</p> + +<p>— <i>The Photographic News</i>, founded, weekly. First number published +September 10th, by Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, London.</p> + +<p>— “Fothergill Dry Process,” by Alfred Keene, published August.</p> + +<p>1859. Sutton’s panoramic camera patented, September 28th.</p> + +<p>— Photo-lithographic Transfer process patented by Osborne, in +Melbourne, Australia.</p> + +<p>— Wm. Blair, of Perth, secured half-tone in carbon printing by allowing +the light to pass through the back of the paper on which the pigment was +spread.</p> + +<p>— Asser, of Amsterdam, also invented a photo-lithographic transfer +process about this time.</p> + +<p>1860. “Principles and Practice of Photography,” by Jabez Hughes. First +edition published; fourteenth edition, 1887.</p> + +<p>— Fargier coated carbon surface with collodion, exposed, and +transferred to glass to develop.</p> + +<p>— Spectroscope invented by Kertchoff and Bunsen.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +1860. “Year-Book of Photography,” edited by G. Wharton Simpson, first +published.</p> + +<p>— Improved Kinnear camera with swing front and back by Meagher.</p> + +<p>1861. Captain Dixon’s iodide emulsion process patented, April 29th.</p> + +<p>— M. Gaudin, of Paris, employed gelatine in his photogene, and +published in <i>La Lumière</i> his collodio-iodide and collodio-chloride +processes.</p> + +<p>— H. Anthony, New York, discovered that Tannin dry plates could be +developed by moisture and ammonia vapour.</p> + +<p>1862. “Alkaline Development,” published by Major Russell.</p> + +<p>— Meagher’s square bellows camera, with folding bottom board, exhibited +at the International Exhibition. Noticed in Jurors’ Report.</p> + +<p>— Parkesine, the forerunner of celluloid films, invented by Alexander +Parkes, of Birmingham.</p> + +<p>1863. Pouncy’s fatty ink process; patented January 29th.</p> + +<p>— Toovey’s photo-lithographic process; patented June 29th.</p> + +<p>— “Tannin Process,” published by Major Russell.</p> + +<p>— “Popular Treatise on Photography,” by D. Van Monckhoven. Translated +from the French by W. H. Thornthwaite, London.</p> + +<p>1864. Swan’s improved carbon process; patented August 27th.</p> + +<p>— “Collodio-Bromide Emulsion,” by Messrs. B. J. Sayce and W. B. Bolton; +published September 9th.</p> + +<p>— “Collodio-Chloride Emulsion,” by George Wharton Simpson; published in +<i>The Photographic News</i>, October 28th.</p> + +<p>— Willis’s aniline process; patented November 11th.</p> + +<p>— Obernetter’s chromo-photo process; published.</p> + +<p>— Instantaneous dry collodion processes by Thomas Sutton, B.A. Sampson, +Low, Son, and Marston, London.</p> + +<p>1865. Paper read on “Collodio-Chloride Emulsion,” by George Wharton +Simpson, at the Photographic Society, March 14th.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +1865. Photography, a lecture, by the Hon. J. W. Strutt, now Lord +Rayleigh, delivered April 18th; and afterwards published.</p> + +<p>— Eburneum process; published by J. Burgess, Norwich, in <i>The +Photographic News</i>, May 5th.</p> + +<p>— Bromide as a restrainer in the developer; published by Major Russell.</p> + +<p>1865. Interior of Pyramids of Egypt, photographed by Professor Piazzi +Smyth with the magnesium light.</p> + +<p>— W. H. Smith patented a gelatino-bromide or gelatino-chloride of +silver process for wood blocks, &c.</p> + +<p>1866. Magic photographs revived and popularised.</p> + +<p>— Woodburytype process patented by Walter Bentley Woodbury, of +Manchester, July 24th.</p> + +<p>— Photography reviewed, in <i>British Quarterly Review</i>, by George +Wharton Simpson, October 1st.</p> + +<p>1867. M. Poitevin obtained the balance of the Duc de Luynes’s prize for +permanent printing.</p> + +<p>— Cabinet portraits introduced by F. R. Window, photographer, Baker +Street, London.</p> + +<p>1868. W. H. Harrison experimented with gelatino-bromide of silver and +obtained results, though somewhat rough and unsatisfactory.</p> + +<p>1869. John Robert Johnson’s carbon process double transfer patented.</p> + +<p>— “Pictorial Effect in Photography,” by H. P. Robinson, first edition. +London: Piper and Carter.</p> + +<p>1870. Thomas Sutton described Gaudin’s gelatino-iodide process.</p> + +<p>— Jabez Hughes toned collodion transfers with chloride of palladium.</p> + +<p>— John Robert Johnson’s single transfer process for carbon printing +patented.</p> + +<p>1871. Dr. R. L. Maddox, of Southampton, published his experiments with +gelatino-bromide of silver in the <i>British Journal of Photography</i>, +September 8th.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +1872. “Emaux Photographiques” (photographic enamels), second edition, by +Geymet and Alker, Paris.</p> + +<p>1873. J. Burgess, of Peckham, advertised his gelatino-bromide of silver +emulsion, but it would not keep, so had to be withdrawn.</p> + +<p>— Ostendo non Ostento published a gelatino-bromide of silver formula +with alcohol.</p> + +<p>— Platinotype process patented by W. Willis, junior, June 1st.</p> + +<p>1873. R. Kennett’s gelatino-bromide of silver pellicle patented November +20th.</p> + +<p>— “The Ferrotypers’ Guide” published by Scovill Manufacturing Company, +New York.</p> + +<p>1874. R. Kennett issued his gelatino-bromide of silver dry plates in +March.</p> + +<p>— Gelatino-bromide of silver paper first announced by Peter Mawdsley, +of Liverpool Dry Plate Company.</p> + +<p>— “Backgrounds by Powder Process” published by J. Werge, London.</p> + +<p>— Flexible supports in carbon printing patented by John Robert Sawyer, +of the Autotype Company.</p> + +<p>— Leon Lambert’s carbon printing process patented.</p> + +<p>1875. Demonstrations in carbon printing by L. Lambert given in London +and elsewhere.</p> + +<p>— Eder and Toth intensified collodion negatives and toned lantern +slides with chloride of platinum.</p> + +<p>1876. “Practical Treatise on Enamelling and Retouching,” by P. Piquepé, +Piper and Carter, London.</p> + +<p>1877. Ferrous oxalate developer published June 29th.</p> + +<p>— Wratten precipitated the gelatine emulsion with alcohol, and so +avoided the necessity of dialysing.</p> + +<p>1878. Improvement in platinotype patented by W. Willis, junior, July.</p> + +<p>— Abney’s “Treatise on Photography” published.</p> + +<p>— Abney’s “Emulsion Process” published.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +1879. J. Werge’s non-actinic developing tray introduced at the South +London Photographic Society.</p> + +<p>1880. “Principles and Practice of Photography,” by Jabez Hughes, +comprising instructions to make and manipulate gelatino dry plates, by +J. Werge. London: Simpkin and Marshall, and J. Werge.</p> + +<p>— Gelatino-bromide of silver paper introduced by Messrs. Morgan and +Kidd.</p> + +<p>— Platinotype improvement patent granted.</p> + +<p>— Iodides added to gelatino-bromide of silver emulsions by Captain W. +de W. Abney.</p> + +<p>1880. Warnerke’s sensitometer introduced.</p> + +<p>— “The Argentic Gelatino-Bromide Workers’ Guide,” by John Burgess. W. +T. Morgan and Co., Greenwich.</p> + +<p>— “Photography; its Origin, Progress, and Practice,” by J. Werge. +London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.</p> + +<p>— Hydroquinone developer introduced by Dr. Eder and Captain Toth.</p> + +<p>1881. Stannotype process introduced by Walter Woodbury.</p> + +<p>— Photographers in Great Britain and Ireland 7,614 as per census +returns.</p> + +<p>— “Modern Dry Plates; or Emulsion Photography,” by Dr. J. M. Eder, +translated from the German by H. Wilmer, edited by H. B. Pritchard. +London: Piper and Carter.</p> + +<p>— “Pictorial Effect in Photography,” by H. P. Robinson (cheap edition). +Piper and Carter.</p> + +<p>— “The Art and Practice of Silver Printing,” by H. P. Robinson and +Captain Abney. Piper and Carter.</p> + +<p>1882. Herbert B. Berkeley recommended the use of sulphite of soda with +pyrogallic acid to prevent discolouration of film.</p> + +<p>— “Recent Advances in Photography” (Cantor Lectures, Society of Arts), +Captain Abney. London: Piper and Carter.</p> + +<p>1882. “The A B C of Modern Photography,” comprising practical +instructions for working gelatine dry plates, by W. K. Burton. London: +Piper and Carter.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +1882. “Elementary Treatise on Photographic Chemistry,” by A. Spiller. +London: Piper and Carter.</p> + +<p>1883. Translation of Captain Pizzighelli and Baron A. Hubl’s booklet on +“Platinotype;” published in <i>The Photographic Journal</i>.</p> + +<p>— Orthochromatic dry plates; English patent granted to Tailfer and +Clayton, January 8th.</p> + +<p>— “The Chemical Effect of the Spectrum,” by Dr. J. M. Eder. (Translated +from the German by Captain Abney). London: Harrison and Sons.</p> + +<p>1883. “The Chemistry of Light and Photography,” by Dr. H. Vogel. London: +Kegan Paul.</p> + +<p>1884. “Recent Improvements in Photo-Mechanical Printing Methods,” by +Thomas Bolas, Society of Arts, London.</p> + +<p>— “Picture-Making by Photography,” by H. P. Robinson. London: Piper and +Carter.</p> + +<p>1885. “Photography and the Spectroscope,” by Capt. Abney, Society of +Arts.</p> + +<p>— “The Spectroscope and its Relation to Photography,” by C. Ray Woods. +London: Piper and Carter.</p> + +<p>— “Photo-Micrography,” by A. C. Malley; second edition. London: H. K. +Lewis.</p> + +<p>1886. Orthochromatic results exhibited by Dixon and Sons at the +photographic exhibition in October.</p> + +<p>— English patent rights of Tailfer and Clayton’s orthochromatic process +secured by B. J. Edwards and Co., Nov. 18th.</p> + +<p>1887. Platinotype improvements; two patents.</p> + +<p>1888. Pizzighelli’s visible platinotype printing paper put on the market +in June.</p> + +<p>1889. Eikonogen developer patented by Dr. Andresen, of Berlin, Germany, +March 26th.</p> + +<p>— Wire frames and supports in camera extensions patented by Thomas +Rudolph Dallmeyer and Francis Beauchamp, November 6th.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> + + +<h2><a name="CONTRIBUTIONS_TO_PHOTOGRAPHIC_LITERATURE" id="CONTRIBUTIONS_TO_PHOTOGRAPHIC_LITERATURE"></a> +CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHOTOGRAPHIC LITERATURE.</h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>JOHN WERGE.</h2> + +<div class="center"><i>Originally published in the “Photographic News,” “British Journal +of Photography,” Photographic Year-Book, and Photographic Almanac.</i><br /> +<br /> +<img src="images/bar.png" width="84" height="11" alt="" /> +</div> + +<h3 style="padding-top:2em">PICTURES OF NIAGARA.</h3> + +<div class="center smcap">Taken with Camera, Pen, and Pencil.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Many</span> very beautiful and interesting photographic views of Niagara Falls, +and other places of romantic and marvellous interest, have been taken +and exhibited to the world. Indeed, they are to be seen now in almost +every print-seller’s window; and in the albums, stereoscopes, or folios +of almost every private collector. But I question very much if it ever +occurred to the mind of anyone, while looking at those pictures, what an +amount of labour, expense, and danger had to be endured and encountered +to obtain them—“the many hairbreadth ’scapes by flood and field,” of a +very “positive” character, which had to be risked before some of the +“negatives” could be “boxed.” Doubtless Mr. England, Mr. Stephen +Thompson, and Mr. Wilson have many very vivid recollections of the +critical situations they have been in while photographing the +picturesque scenery of the Alpine passes of Switzerland, and the +Highlands and glens of Scotland.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stephen Thompson has narrated to me one or two of his “narrow +escapes” while photographing his “Swiss scenes,” and I am sure Mr. +England did not procure his many and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +beautiful “points of view” of +Niagara Falls without exposing himself to considerable risk.</p> + +<p>I had the good fortune to be one of the earlier pioneers, in company +with a Yankee friend, Mr. Easterly, in taking photographs of the Falls; +and my recollections of the manner in which we “went about,” poised +ourselves and cameras on “points of rock” and “ledges of bluffs,” and +felled trees, and lopped off branches overhanging precipices, to “gain a +point,” even at the distant date are somewhat thrilling. To take a +photograph of what is called “Visitors’ View” is safe and easy enough. +You might plant a dozen cameras on the open space at the brink of the +“American Fall,” and photograph the scene, visitors and all, as they +stand, “fixed” with wonder, gazing at the Falls, American, Centre, and +Horseshoe, Goat Island, and the shores of Canada included, for this +point embraces in one view all those subjects. But to get at the +out-of-the-way places, to take the Falls in detail, and obtain some of +the grandest views of them, is a very different matter.</p> + +<p>I remember, when we started, taking a hatchet with us, like +backwoodsmen, to take a view of Prospect Tower, on the American side of +the great Horseshoe Fall, how we had to hew down the trees that +obstructed the light; how we actually hung over the precipice, holding +on to each other’s hands, to lop off a branch still in sight where it +was not wanted. The manner in which we accomplished this was what some +bystanders pronounced “awful.” I hugged a sapling of a silver birch, +growing on the brink of the precipice, with my left arm, while friend +Easterly, holding my right hand with one of the Masonic grips—I won’t +say which—<i>hung over</i> the precipice, and stretching out as far as he +could reach, lopped off the offending branch. Yet in this perilous +position my lively companion must crack his joke by punning upon my +name, and a Cockney weakness at the same time, for he “guessed he was +below the <i>w</i>erge of the precipice.” The branch down, and we had resumed +our perpendicular +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +positions, he simply remarked, if that was not +holding on to a man’s hand in <i>friendship</i>, he did not know what was.</p> + +<p>But the <i>work</i> was not done yet; to get the view of the Tower we wanted, +we had to make a temporary platform over the precipice. This we managed +by laying a piece of “lumber” across a fallen tree, and, unshipping the +camera, shoved it along the plank until it was in position, balancing +the shore end of the plank with heavy stones. When all was ready for +exposure, I went round and stood on the point of a jutting rock to give +some idea of the great depth of the Fall, but I very nearly discovered, +and just escaped being myself the plummet. In the excitement of the +moment, and not thinking that the rock would be slimy and slippery with +the everlasting spray, I went too rapidly forward, and the rock having a +slight decline, I slipped, but was fortunately brought up by a juniper +bush growing within a foot of the edge. For a second or two I lay on my +back wondering if I could slide out of my difficulty as easily as I had +slidden into it. In a moment I determined to go backwards on my back, +hands, and feet, until I laid hold of another bush, and could safely +assume a perpendicular position. After giving the signal that “all was +right,” the plate was exposed, and I <i>cautiously</i> left a spot I have no +desire to revisit. But it is astonishing how the majesty and grandeur of +the scene divest the mind of all sense of fear, and to this feeling, to +a great extent, is attributed the many accidents and terrible deaths +that have befallen numerous visitors to the Falls.</p> + +<p>The Indians, the tribe of the Iroquois, who were the aboriginal +inhabitants of that part of the country, had a tradition that the “Great +Spirit” of the “Mighty Waters” required the sacrifice of two human lives +every year. To give rise to such a tradition, doubtless, many a red man, +in his skiff, had gone over the Falls, centuries before they were +discovered by the Jesuit missionary, Father Hennepin, in 1678; and, even +in these days of Christian civilization, and all but total extirpation +of the aboriginals, the “Great Spirit” does not appear to be any less +exacting. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +Nearly every year one or more persons are swept over those +awful cataracts, making an average of at least one per annum. Many +visitors and local residents have lost their lives under the most +painful and afflicting circumstances, the most remarkable of which +occurred just before my visit. One morning, at daylight, a man was +discovered in the middle of the rapids, a little way above the brink of +the American Fall. He was perched upon a log which was jammed between +two rocks. One end of the log was out of the water, and the poor fellow +was comparatively dry, but with very little hope of being rescued from +his dreadful situation. No one could possibly reach him in a boat. The +foaming and leaping waters were rushing past him at the rate of eighteen +or twenty miles an hour, and he knew as well as anyone that to attempt a +rescue in a boat or skiff would be certain destruction, yet every effort +was made to save him. Rafts were made and let down, but they were either +submerged, or the ropes got fast in the rocks. The life-boat was brought +from Buffalo, Lake Erie, and that was let down to him by ropes from the +bridge, but they could not manage the boat in that rush of waters, and +gave it up in despair. One of the thousands of agonized spectators, a +Southern planter, offered a thousand dollars reward to anyone that would +save the “man on the log.” Another raft was let down to him, and this +time was successfully guided to the spot. He got on it, but being weak +from exposure and want, he was unable to make himself fast or retain his +hold, and the doomed man was swept off the raft and over the Falls +almost instantly, before the eyes of thousands, who wished, but were +powerless and unable, to rescue him from his frightful death. His name +was Avery. He and another man were taking a pleasure sail on the Upper +Niagara river, their boat got into the current, was sucked into the +rapids, and smashed against the log or the rock. The other man went over +the Falls at the time of the accident; but Avery clung to the log, where +he remained for about eighteen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +hours in such a state of mind as no one +could possibly imagine. None could cheer him with a word of hope, for +the roar of the rapids and thunder of the cataracts rendered all other +sounds inaudible. Mr. Babbitt, a resident photographer, took several +Daguerreotypes of the “man on the log,” one of which he kindly presented +to me. Few of the bodies are ever recovered. One or two that went over +the Great Horse Shoe Fall were found, their bodies in a state of +complete nudity. The weight or force of the water strips them of every +particle of clothing; but that is not to be wondered at, considering the +immense weight of water that rolls over every second, the distance it +has to fall, and the depth of the foaming cauldron below. The fall of +the Horse Shoe to the surface of the lower river is 158 feet, and the +depth of the cauldron into which the Upper Niagara leaps about 300 feet, +making a total of 458 feet from the upper to the lower bed of the +Niagara River at the Great Horse Shoe Fall. It has been computed that +one hundred million, two hundred thousand tons of water pass over the +Falls every hour. The depth of the American Fall is 164 feet; but that +falls on to a mass of broken rocks a few feet above the level of the +lower river.</p> + +<p>Our next effort was to get a view of the Centre Fall, or “Cave of the +Winds,” from the south, looking at the Centre and American Falls, down +the river as far as the Suspension Bridge, about two miles below, and +the Lower or Long Rapids, for there are rapids both above and below the +Falls. In this we succeeded tolerably well, and without any difficulty. +Then, descending the “Biddle Stairs” to the foot of the two American +cataracts, we tried the “Cave of the Winds” itself; but, our process not +being a “wet” one, had no sympathy with the blinding and drenching spray +about us. However, I secured a pencil sketch of the scene we could not +photograph, and afterwards took one of the most novel and fearful +shower-baths to be had in the world. Dressed—or, rather, +undressed—for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +the purpose, and accompanied by a guide, I passed down +by the foot of the precipice, under the Centre Fall, and along a wet and +slippery pole laid across a chasm, straddling it by a process I cannot +describe—for I was deaf with the roar and blind with the spray—we +reached in safety a flat rock on the other side, and then stood erect +between the two sheets of falling water. To say that I saw anything +while there would be a mistake; but I know and felt by some +demonstrations, other than ocular, that I was indulging in a bath of the +wildest and grandest description. Recrossing the chasm by the pole, we +now entered the “Cave of the Winds,” which is immediately under the +Centre Fall. The height and width of the cave is one hundred feet, and +the depth sixty feet. It takes its name from the great rush of wind into +the cave, caused by the fall of the waters from above. Standing in the +cave, which is almost dry, you can view the white waters, like +avalanches of snow, tumbling over and over in rapid succession. The +force of the current of the rapids above shoots the water at least +twenty feet from the rock, describing, as it were, the segment of a +circle. By this circumstance only are you able to pass under the Centre +Fall, and a portion of the Horse Shoe Fall on the Canadian side. To +return, we ascended the “Biddle Stairs,” a spiral staircase of 115 +steps, on the west side of Goat Island, crossed the latter, and by a +small bridge passed to Bath Island, which we left by the grand bridge +which crosses the rapids about 250 yards above the American Fall. +Reaching the American shore again in safety, after a hard day’s work, we +availed ourselves of Mr. Babbitt’s kindness and hospitality to develop +our plates in his dark room, and afterwards developed ourselves, +sociably and agreeably, refreshing the inner man, and narrating our +day’s adventures.</p> + +<p>I shall now endeavour to describe our next trip, which was to the +Canadian side—how we got there, what we did, and what were the +impressions produced while contemplating those +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +wonderful works of +nature. In the first place, to describe how we descended to the “ferry” +and crossed the river. On the north side of the American Fall a railway +has been constructed by an enterprising American, where the “cars” are +let down a steep decline by means of water-power, the proprietor of the +railway having utilized the very smallest amount of the immense force so +near at hand. Placing our “traps” in the car, and seating ourselves +therein, the lever was moved by the “operator,” and away we went down +the decline as if we were going plump into the river below; but at the +proper time the water was turned off, and we were brought to a +standstill close by the boat waiting to ferry us across. Shifting our +traps and selves into the boat and sitting down, the ferryman bent to +the oars and off we dashed into the dancing and foaming waters, keeping +her head well to the stream, and drawing slowly up until we came right +abreast of the American Fall; then letting her drop gently down the +stream, still keeping her head to the current, we gained the Canadian +shore; our course on the river describing the figure of a cone, the apex +towards the “Horse Shoe.” Ascending the banks by a rather uphill road, +we reached the Clifton Hotel, where we took some refreshments, and then +commenced our labours of photographing the Grand Rapids and the Falls, +from Table Rock, or what remained of it. On arriving at the spot, we set +down our traps and looked about bewildered for the best point. To +attempt to describe the scene now before us would be next to folly, nor +could the camera, from the limited angle of our lens, possibly convey an +adequate idea of the grandeur and terrific beauty of the Grand Rapids, +as you see them rushing and foaming, white with rage, for about two and +a half miles before they make their final plunge over the precipice. +Many years ago an Indian was seen standing up in his canoe in the midst +of these fearful rapids. Nearing the brink of the terrible Fall, and +looking about him, he saw that all hope was lost, for he had passed +Gull +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +Island, his only chance of respite; waving his hand, he was seen +to lie down in the bottom of his canoe, which shot like an arrow into +the wild waters below, and he was lost for ever. Neither he nor his +canoe was ever seen again. In 1829 the ship <i>Detroit</i>, loaded with a +live buffalo, bear, deer, fox, &c., was sent over the Falls. She was +almost dashed to pieces in the rapids, but many persons saw the remains +of the ship rolled over into the abyss of waters. No one knew what +became of the animals on board. And in 1839, during the Canadian +Rebellion, the steamer <i>Caroline</i> was set fire to in the night and cast +adrift. She was drawn into the rapids, but struck on Gull Island, and +was much shattered by the collision. The bulk of the burning mass was +swept over the Falls, but few witnessed the sight. Doubtless no fire on +board a ship was ever extinguished so suddenly. The view from Table Rock +is too extensive to be rendered on one plate by an ordinary camera; but +the pantascopic camera would give the very best views that could +possibly be obtained.</p> + +<p>Taking Table Rock as the centre, the entire sweep of the Fall is about +180 degrees, and stretching from point to point for nearly +three-quarters of a mile—from the north side of the American Fall to +the termination of the Horse Shoe Fall on the west side. The American +and Centre Falls present a nearly straight line running almost due north +and south, while the Great Horse Shoe Fall presents a line or figure +resembling a sickle laid down with the left hand, the convex part of the +bow lying direct south, the handle lying due east and west, with the +point or termination to the west; the waters of the two American Falls +rushing from east to west, and the waters of the Canadian Fall bounding +towards the north. By this description it will be seen that but for the +intervention of Goat and Luna Islands the three sheets of water would +embrace each other like mighty giants locked in a death struggle, before +they fell into the lower river. The whole aspect of the Falls +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +from +Table Rock is panoramic. Turning to the left, you see the American +rapids rushing down furiously under the bridge, between Bath Island and +the American shore, with a force and velocity apparently great enough to +sweep away the bridge and four small islands lying a little above the +brink, and pitch them all down on to the rocks below. Turning slowly to +the right, you see the Centre Fall leaping madly down between Luna and +Goat Islands, covering the Cave of the Winds from view. A little more to +the right, the rocky and precipitous face of Goat or Iris Island, with +the “Biddle Stairs” like a perpendicular line running down the +precipice; and to the extreme right the immense sweeps of the Great +Horse Shoe.</p> + +<p>Doubtless this fall took its name from its former resemblance to the +shape of a horse shoe. It is, however, nothing like that now, but is +exactly the figure of a sickle, as previously described. Looking far up +the river you observe the waters becoming broken and white, and so they +continue to foam and rush and leap with increasing impetuosity, rushing +madly past the “Three Sisters”—three islands on the left—and “Gull +Island” in the middle of the rapids, on which it is supposed no man has +ever trodden, until, with a roar of everlasting thunder, which shakes +the earth, they fall headlong into the vortex beneath. At the foot of +this Fall, and for a considerable distance beyond, the river is as white +as the eternal snows, and as troubled as an angry sea. Indeed, I never +but once saw the Atlantic in such a state, and that was in a storm in +which we had to “lay to” for four days in the Gulf Stream.</p> + +<p>The colours and beauty of Niagara in sunlight are indescribable. You may +convey <i>some</i> idea of its form, power, and majesty, by describing lines +and giving figures of quantity and proportion, but to give the faintest +impression of its beauty and colours is almost hopeless. The rich, +lovely green on the very brink of the Horse Shoe Fall is beyond +conception. All the emeralds in the world, clustered together and bathed +in sunlight, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +would fall far short of the beauty and brilliancy of that +pure and dazzling colour. It can only be compared to an immense, unknown +brilliant of the emerald hue, in a stupendous setting of the purest +frosted, yet sparkling silver. Here, too, is to be seen the marvellous +beauty of the prismatic colours almost daily. Here you might think the +“Covenant” had been made, and set up to shine for ever and ever at the +Throne of the Most Mighty, and here only can be seen the complete +<i>circle</i> of the colours of the rainbow. I saw this but once, when on +board the <i>Maid of the Mist</i>, and almost within the great vortex at the +foot of the Falls. A brilliant sun shining through the spray all round, +placed us in a moment as it were in the very centre of that beautiful +circle of colour, which, with the thunder of the cataract, and the +sublimity of the scene, made the soul feel as if it were in the presence +of the “Great Spirit,” and this the sign and seal of an eternal compact. +Here, also, is to be seen the softer, but not the less beautiful Lunar +Rainbow. Whenever the moon is high enough in the heavens, the lunar bow +can be seen, not fitful as elsewhere, but constant and beautiful as long +as the moon is shedding her soft light upon the spray. On one occasion I +saw two lunar bows at once, one on the spray from the American Fall, and +the other on the spray of the great Horse Shoe Fall. This I believe is +not usual, but an eddy of the wind brought the two clouds of spray under +the moon’s rays. Yet these are not all the “beauties of the mist.” One +morning at sunrise I saw one of the most beautiful forms the spray could +possibly assume. The night had been unusually calm, the morning was as +still as it could be, and the mist from the Horse Shoe had risen in a +straight column to a height of at least 300 feet, and then spread out +into a mass of huge rolling clouds, immediately above the cataracts. The +rising sun shed a red lustre on the under edges of the cloud, which was +truly wonderful. It more resembled one huge, solitary column supporting +a canopy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +of silvery grey cloud, the edges of which were like burnished +copper, and highly suggestive of the Temple of the Most High, where man +must bow down and worship the great Creator of all these wondrous works. +It is not in a passing glance at Niagara that all its marvellous +beauties can be seen. You must stay there long enough to see it in all +its aspects—in sunshine and in moonlight, in daylight and in darkness, +in storm and in calm. No picture of language can possibly convey a just +conception of the grandeur and vastness of these mighty cataracts. No +poem has ever suggested a shadow of their majesty and sublimity. No +painting has ever excited in the mind, of one that has not seen those +marvellous works of God, the faintest idea of their dazzling beauties. +Descriptive writers, both in prose and verse, have failed to depict the +glories of this “Sovereign of the World of Floods.” Painters have +essayed with their most gorgeous colours, but have fallen far short of +the intense beauty, transparency, and purity of the water, and the +wonderful radiance and brilliancy of the “Rainbow in the Mist.” And I +fear the beauties of Niagara in natural colours can never be obtained in +the camera; but what a glorious triumph for photography if they were. +Mr. Church’s picture, painted a few years ago, is the most faithful +exponent of nature’s gorgeous colouring of Niagara that has yet been +produced. Indeed, the brilliant and harmonious colouring of this grand +picture can scarcely be surpassed by the hand and skill of man.</p> + +<p>After obtaining our views of the Grand Rapids and the Falls from Table +Rock, we put up our traps, and leaving them in charge of the courteous +proprietor of the Museum, we prepared to go <i>under</i> the great Horse Shoe +Fall. Clothing ourselves in india-rubber suits, furnished by our guide, +we descended the stairs near Table Rock, eighty-seven steps, and, led by +a negro, we went under the great sheet of water as far as we could go to +Termination Rock, and standing there for a while in that vast cave of +watery darkness, holding on to the negro’s hand, we felt +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +lost in wonder +and amazement, but not fear. How long we might have remained in that +bewildering situation it would be impossible to say, but being gently +drawn back by our sable conductor, we returned to the light and +consciousness of our position. The volume of water being much greater +here than at the Cave of the Winds, and the spray being all around, we +could not see anything but darkness visible below, and an immense moving +mass before, which we knew by feeling to be water. There is some +fascination about the place, for after coming out into the daylight I +went back again alone, but the guide, hurrying after me, brought me +back, and held my hand until we reached the stairs to return to the +Museum. On our way back our guide told us that more than “twice-told +tale” of Niagara and Vesuvius. If I may be pardoned for mixing up the +ridiculous with the sublime, I may as well repeat the story, for having +just come from under the Falls we were prepared to believe the truth of +it, if the geographical difficulty could have been overcome. An Italian +visiting the Falls and going under the Horse Shoe, was asked, on coming +out, what he thought of the sight. The Italian replied it was very grand +and wonderful, but <i>nothing</i> to the sight of Mount Vesuvius in a grand +eruption. The guide’s retort was, “I guess if you bring <i>your</i> Vesuvius +here, <i>our</i> Niagara will soon put his fires out.” I do not vouch for the +truth of the story, but give it as nearly as possible as I was told. +Returning to the Museum and making ourselves “as we were,” and +comforting ourselves with something inside after the wetting we had got +out, we took up our traps, and wending our way back to the ferry, +recrossed the river in much the same manner that we crossed over in the +morning; and sending our “baggage” up in the cars we thought we would +walk up the “long stairs,” 290 steps, by the side of the railway. On +nearing the top, we felt as if we must “cave in,” but having trodden so +far the back of a “lion,” we determined to see the end of his tail, and +pushing on to the top, we had the satisfaction of having +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +accomplished +the task we had set ourselves. Perhaps before abandoning the Canadian +side of Niagara, I should have said something about Table Rock, which, +as I have said, is on the Canadian side, and very near to the Horse Shoe +Fall. It took its name from the table-like form it originally presented. +It was formerly much larger than it is now, but has, from time to time, +fallen away. At one time it was very extensive and projected over the +precipice fifty or sixty feet, and was about 240 feet long and 100 feet +thick. On the 26th of June, 1850, this tremendous mass of rock, nearly +half an acre, fell into the river with a crash and a noise like the +sound of an earthquake. The whole of that immense mass of rock was +buried in the depths of the river, and completely hidden from sight. No +one was killed, which was a miracle, for several persons had been +standing on the rock just a few minutes before it fell. The vicinity is +still called Table Rock, though the projecting part that gave rise to +the name is gone. It is, nevertheless, the best point on the Canada side +for obtaining a grand and comprehensive view of Niagara Falls.</p> + +<p>The next scenes of our photographic labours were Suspension Bridge, the +Long Rapids, The Whirlpool, and Devil’s Hole. These subjects, though not +so grand as Niagara, are still interestingly and closely associated with +the topographical history and legendary interest of the Falls. And we +thought a few “impressions” of the scenes, and a visit to the various +places, would amply repay us for the amount of fatigue we should have to +undergo on such a trip under the scorching sun of <i>August in America</i>. +Descending to the shore, and stepping on board the steamer <i>Maid of the +Mist</i>, which plies up and down the river for about two miles, on the +tranquil water between the Falls and the Lower Rapids, we were “cast +off,” and in a little time reached the landing stage, a short distance +above the Long Rapids. Landing on the American side, we ascended the +steep road, which has been cut out of the precipice, and arriving at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +Suspension Bridge, proceeded to examine that wonderful specimen of +engineering skill. It was not then finished, but the lower level was +complete, and foot passengers and carriages could go along. They were +busy making the railway “track” overhead, so that, when finished (which +it is now), it would be a bridge of two stories—the lower one for +passengers on foot and carriages, the upper one for the “cars.” I did +not see a “snorting monster” going along that spider’s-web-like +structure, but can very well imagine what must be the sensations of +“railway passengers” as they pass along the giddy height. The span of +the bridge, from bank to bank, is 800 feet, and it is 230 feet from the +river to the lower or carriage road. The estimated cost was two hundred +thousand dollars, about £40,000. A boy’s toy carried the first wire +across the river. When the wind was blowing straight across, a wire was +attached to a kite, and thus the connecting thread between the two sides +was secured, and afterwards by means of a running wheel, or traveller, +wire after wire was sent across until each strand was made thick enough +to carry the whole weight of the bridge, railway trains, and other +traffic which now pass along. We went on to the bridge, and looked down +on the rapids below, for the bridge spans the river at the narrowest +point, and right over the commencement of the Lower Rapids. It was more +of a test to my nerves to stand at the edge of the bridge and look down +on those fearful rapids than it was to go under the Falls. To us, it +seemed a miracle of ingenuity and skill how, from so frail a connection, +a mere wire, so stupendous a structure could have been formed; and yet, +viewing it from below, or at a distance, it looked like a bridge of +threads. During its erection several accidents occurred. On one +occasion, when the workmen were just venturing on to the cables to lay +the flooring, and before a plank was made fast, one of those sudden +storms, so peculiar to America, came up and carried away all the +flooring into the Rapids. Four of the men were left hanging to the +wires, which were swaying +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +backwards and forwards in the hurricane in +the most frightful manner. Their cries for help could scarcely be heard, +from the noise of the Rapids and the howling of the wind, but the +workmen on shore, seeing the perilous condition of their comrades, sent +a basket, with a man in it, down the wire to rescue them from death. +Thus, one by one, they were saved. Leaving the Bridge, and proceeding to +the vicinity of the Whirlpool, still keeping the American side of the +river, we pitched the camera, not <i>over</i> the precipice, as I heard of +one brother photographer doing, but on it, and took a view of the Bridge +and the Rapids looking up towards the Falls, but a bend in the river +prevented them being seen from this point. Not very far above the angry +flood we saw the <i>Maid of the Mist</i> lying quietly at her moorings.</p> + +<p>We next turned our attention to the great Whirlpool, which is about a +mile below Suspension Bridge. Photographically considered, this is not +nearly of so much interest as the Falls; but it is highly interesting, +nevertheless, as a connecting link between their present and past +history. It is supposed that ages ago—probably before the word went +forth, “Let there <i>be</i> light, and there <i>was</i> light”—the Falls were as +low down as the Whirlpool, a distance of over three miles below where +they now are, or even lower down the river still. Geological observation +almost proves this; and, that the present Whirlpool was once the great +basin into which the Falls tumbled. In fact, that this was, in former +ages, what the vortex at the foot of the Great Horse Shoe Fall is now. +There seems to be no doubt whatever that the Falls are gradually though +slowly receding, and they were just as likely to have been at the foot +of the Long Rapids before the deluge, as not; especially when it is +considered that the general aspect of the Falls has changed +considerably, by gradual undermining of the soft shale and frequent +falling and settling of the harder rocks during the last fifty years. +Looking at the high and precipitous boundaries of the Long Rapids, it is +difficult to come to any other conclusion +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +than that, ages before the +red man ever saw the Falls of Niagara, they rolled over a precipice +between these rocky barriers in a more compact, but not less majestic +body. The same vast quantity of water had to force its way through this +narrower outlet, and it doubtless had a much greater distance to fall, +for the precipices on each side of the river at this point are nearly +250 feet high, and the width of the gorge for a mile above and below the +Whirlpool is not more than 700 feet. Considering that the Falls are now +spread over an area of nearly three-quarters of a mile, and that this is +the only outlet for all the superfluous waters of the great inland seas +of Canada and America—Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie—and +the hundreds of tributaries thereto, it may easily be conceived how +great the rush of waters through so narrow a defile must necessarily be; +their turbulence and impatience rather aptly reminding you of a spoilt +child—not in size or form, but in behaviour. They have so long had +their own way, and done as they liked on the upper river and at the +Falls, they seem as if they could not brook the restraint put upon them +now by the giant rocks and lofty precipices that stand erect, on either +side, hurling them back defiantly in tumultuous waves, seething, and +hissing, and roaring in anger, lashing themselves into foam, and +swelling with rage, higher in the middle, as if they sought an +unpolluted way to the lake below, where they might calm their angry and +resentful passions, and lay their chafed heads on the soft and gently +heaving bosom of their lovely sister Ontario. It is a remarkable +circumstance that the waters of the Rapids, both above and below the +Whirlpool, in this defile are actually higher in the middle, by eight or +nine feet, than at the sides, as if the space afforded them by their +stern sentinels on each side were not enough to allow them to pass +through in order and on a level. They seem to come down the upper part +of the gorge like a surging and panic-stricken multitude, until they are +stopped for a time by the gigantic precipice forming the lower +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +boundary +of the Whirlpool, which throws them back, and there they remain whirling +and whirling about until they get away by an under current from the +vortex; and, rising again in the lower part of the gorge, which runs off +at right angles to the upper, they again show their angry heads, and +rush madly and tumultuously away towards Lake Ontario. The bed of these +rapids must be fearfully rugged, or the surface of the waters could not +possibly be in such a broken state, for the water is at least 100 feet +deep, by measurement made above and below the Rapids. But nobody has +ventured to “heave the lead” either in the Rapids themselves or in the +Whirlpool, the depth of which is not known. There is not much +picturesque beauty at this point. Indeed, the Whirlpool itself is rather +of a fearful and horrible character, with little to see but the mad +torrent struggling and writhing in the most furious manner, to force its +way down between its rocky boundaries. I saw logs of wood and other +“wreck,” probably portions of canal boats that had come down the river +and been swept over the Falls, whirling around but not coming to the +centre. When they are seen to get to the vortex they are tipped up +almost perpendicularly and then vanish from sight, at last released from +their continually diminishing and circular imprisonment. It has +sometimes happened that the dead bodies of people drowned in the upper +part of the river have been seen whirling about in this frightful pool +for many days. In 1841, three soldiers, deserters from the British army, +attempting to swim across the river above these rapids, were drowned. +Their bodies were carried down to the Whirlpool, where they were seen +whirling about for nearly a fortnight. Leaving <i>this</i> gloomy and +soul-depressing locality we proceeded for about half a mile further down +the river, and visited that frightful chasm called Devil’s Hole, or +Bloody Run. The former name it takes from a horrible deed of fiendish +and savage ferocity that was committed there by the Indians, and the +latter name from the circumstance of that deed causing a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +stream of +human blood to run through the ravine and mingle with the fierce water +of the Rapids. Exactly one hundred years ago, during the French and +Canadian wars, a party of 250 officers, men, women, and children, were +retreating from Fort Schlosser, on the Upper Niagara River, and, being +decoyed into an ambush, were driven over into this dreadful chasm, and +fell to the bottom, a distance of nearly 200 feet. Only two escaped. A +drummer was caught by one of the trees growing on the side of the +precipice, and the other, a soldier named Steadman, escaped during the +conflict, at the commencement of the treacherous onslaught. He was +mounted, and the Indians surrounding him, seized the bridle, and were +attempting to drag him off his horse; but, cutting the reins, and giving +his charger the “rowels deep,” the animal dashed forward, and carried +him back in safety to Fort Schlosser. The Indians afterwards gave him +all the land he encircled in his flight, and he took up his abode among +them. In after years he put the goats on Goat Island—hence its name—by +dropping carefully down the middle of the upper stream in a boat. After +landing the goats he returned to the mainland, pushing his boat up the +stream where the Rapids divide, until he reached safe water. The events +of the foregoing episode occurred in 1765, and it is to be hoped that +the Indians were the chief instigators and perpetrators of the massacre +of Bloody Run.</p> + +<p>While we were looking about the chasm to see if there were any fossil +remains in the place, an unlooked-for incident occurred. I saw two men +coming up from the bottom of the ravine carrying <i>fish</i>—and the oddest +fish and the whitest fish I ever saw. The idea of anyone fishing in +those headlong rapids had never occurred to us; but probably these men +knew some <i>fissures</i> in the rocks where the waters were quiet, and where +the fish put into as a place of refuge from the stormy waters into which +they had been drawn. No wonder the poor finny creatures were white, for +I should think they had been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +frightened almost out of their lives +before they were seized by their captors. I don’t think I should have +liked to have partaken of the meal they furnished, for they were very +“shy-an’-hide” looking fishes. But soon we were obliged to give up both +our geological studies and piscatorial speculations, for black clouds +were gathering overhead, shutting off the light, and making the dark +ravine too gloomy to induce us to prolong our stay in that fearful +chasm, with its melancholy associations of dark deeds of bloodshed and +wholesale murder. Before we gained the road the rain came down, the +lightning flashed, and the thunder clapped, reverberating sharp and loud +from the rocks above, and we hurried away from the dismal place. On +reaching the landing stage, we took refuge from the storm and rain by +again going on board the <i>Maid of the Mist</i>. She soon started on her +last trip for the day, and we reached our hotel, glad to get out of a +“positive bath,” and indulge in a “toning mixture” of alcohol, sugar, +and <i>warm</i> water. We had no “<i>gold</i>” but our “paper” being <i>good</i>, we +did not require any.</p> + +<p>After a delightful sojourn of three weeks at the Falls, and visiting +many other places of minor interest in their neighbourhood, I bade adieu +to the kind friends I had made and met, with many pleasant recollections +of their kindness, and a never-to-be-forgotten remembrance of the charms +and beauties, mysteries and majesty, power and grandeur, and terror and +sublimity of Niagara.—<i>Photographic News</i>, 1865.</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>PICTURES OF THE ST. LAWRENCE.</h3> + +<div class="center smcap">Taken in Autumn.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Photographs</span> of the River St. Lawrence conveying an adequate idea of its +extent and varied aspects, could not be taken in a week, a month, or a +year. It is only possible in this sketch to call attention to the most +novel and striking features of this great and interesting river, passing +them hurriedly, as I did, in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +the “express boat,” by which I sailed from +the Niagara River to Montreal. Lake Ontario being the great head waters +of the St. Lawrence, and the natural connection between that river and +Niagara, I shall endeavour to illustrate, with pen and pencil, my sail +down the Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence. Stepping on +board the steamer lying at Lewiston, seven miles below Niagara, and +bound for Montreal, I went to the “clerk’s office,” paid seven and a +half dollars—about thirty shillings sterling—and secured my bed, +board, and passage for the trip, the above small sum being all that is +charged for a first-class passage on board those magnificent steamers. I +don’t remember the name of “our boat,” but that is of very little +consequence, though I dare say it was the <i>Fulton</i>, that being in +steamboat nomenclature what “Washington” is to men, cities, and towns, +and even territory, in America. But she was a splendid vessel, +nevertheless, with a handsome dining saloon, a fine upper saloon running +the whole length of the upper deck, about two hundred feet, an elegant +“ladies’ saloon,” a stateroom cabin as well, and a powerful “walking +engine.” “All aboard,” and “let go;” splash went the paddle-wheels, and +we moved off majestically, going slowly down the river until we passed +Fort Niagara on the American side, and Fort George on the British, at +the foot of the river, and near the entrance to the Lake. On Fort +Niagara the “Star Spangled Banner” was floating, its bright blue field +blending with the clear blue sky of an autumn afternoon, its starry +representatives of each State shining like stars in the deep blue vault +of heaven, its red and white bars, thirteen in number, as pure in colour +as the white clouds and crimson streaks of the west. The mingled crosses +of St. Andrew and St. George were waving proudly over the fort opposite. +Brave old flag, long may you wave! These forts played their respective +parts amidst the din of battle during the wars of 1812 and 1813; but +with these we have neither time nor inclination to deal; we, like the +waters of the Niagara, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +are in a hurry to reach the bosom of Lake +Ontario. Passing the forts, we were soon on the expanse of waters, and +being fairly “at sea,” we began to settle ourselves and “take stock,” as +it were, of our fellow travellers. It is useless to describe the aspect +of the Lake; I might as well describe the German Ocean, for I could not +see much difference between that and Lake Ontario, except that I could +not sniff the iodine from the weeds drying in the sun while we “hugged +the shore,” or taste salt air after we were out in mid ocean—“the land +is no longer in view.”</p> + +<p>To be at sea is to be at sea, no matter whether it is on a fresh water +ocean or a salt one. The sights, the sensations, and consequences are +much the same. There, a ship or two in full sail; here, a passenger or +two, of both sexes, with the “wind taken out of their sails.” The “old +salts” or “old freshes” behave themselves much as usual, and so do the +“green” ones of both atmospheres—the latter by preparing for a “bath” +of perspiration and throwing everything down the “sink,” or into the +sea; and the former by picking out companions for the voyage. Being +myself an “old salt,” and tumbling in with one or two of a “fellow +feeling wondrous kind,” we were soon on as good terms as if we had known +each other for years. After “supper,” a sumptuous repast at 6 p.m., we +went on to the “hurricane deck” to enjoy the calm and pleasant evening +outside. There was a “gentle swell” on the Lake—not much, but enough to +upset a few. After dark, we went into the “ladies’ cabin”—an elegant +saloon, beautifully furnished, and not without a grand piano, where the +“old freshes” of the softer sex—young and pretty ones too—were amusing +themselves with playing and singing. An impromptu concert was soon +formed, and a few very good pieces of music well played and sung. All +went off very well while nothing but English, or, I should more properly +say, American and Canadian, were sung, but one young lady, +unfortunately, essayed one of the sweetest +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +and most plaintive of Scotch +songs—“Annie Laurie.” Now fancy the love-sick “callant” for the sake of +Annie Laurie lying down to <i>die</i>; just fancy Annie Laurie without the +Scotch; only fancy Annie Laurie in a sort of mixture of Canadianisms and +Americanisms; fancy “toddy” without the whisky, and you have some idea +of “Annie Laurie” as sung on board the <i>Fulton</i> while splashing away on +Lake Ontario, somewhere between America and Canada. There being little +more to induce us to remain there, and by the ship’s regulations it was +getting near the time for “all lights out” in the cabins, we took an +early “turn in,” with the view of making an early “turn-out,” so as to +be alive and about when we should enter the St. Lawrence, which we did +at 6 o‘clock a.m., on a fine bright morning, the sun just rising to +light up and “heighten” all the glorious tints of the trees on the +Thousand and One Islands, among which we were now sailing.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to form a correct idea of the width of the St. Lawrence +at the head of the river. The islands are so large and numerous, it is +difficult to come to a conclusion whether you are on a river or on a +lake. Many of these islands are thickly wooded, so that they look more +like the mainland on each side of you as the steamer glides down “mid +channel” between them. The various and brilliant tints of the foliage of +the trees of America in autumn are gorgeous, such as never can be seen +in this country; and their “chromotones” present an insurmountable +difficulty to a photographer with his double achromatic lens and camera. +Imagine our oaks clothed with leaves possessing all the varieties of red +tints, from brilliant carmine down to burnt sienna—the brightest copper +bays that grow in England are cool in tone compared with them; fancy our +beeches, birches, and ashes thick with leaves of a bright yellow colour, +from gamboge down to yellow ochre; our pines, firs, larches, and +spruces, carrying all the varieties of green, from emerald down to terra +verte; in fact, all the tints that are, can be seen on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +trees when +they are going into “the sere and yellow leaf” of autumn, excepting +<i>blue</i>, and even that is supplied by the bluebirds (Sialia wilsonii) +flitting about among the leaves, and in the deep cool tint of the sky, +repeated and blended with the reflection of the many-coloured trees in +the calm, still water of the river. Some of the trees—the maples, for +instance—exhibit in themselves, most vividly, the brightest shades of +red, green, and yellow; but when the wind blows these resplendent +colours about, the atmosphere is like a mammoth kaleidoscope that is +never allowed to rest long enough to present to the eye a symmetrical +figure or pattern, a perfect chaos of the most vivid and brilliant +colours too gorgeous to depict. Long before this we had got clear of the +islands at the foot of the lake and head of the river, and were steaming +swiftly down the broad St. Lawrence. It is difficult to say how broad, +but it varied from three to five or six miles in width; indeed, the +river very much resembles the Balloch End, which is the broadest of +Lochlomond; and some of the passages between the islands are very +similar to the straits between the “Pass of Balmaha” and the island of +Inchcailliach. The river is not hemmed in with such mountains as Ben +Lomond and Ben Dhu, but, in many respects, the St. Lawrence very much +resembles parts of our widest lakes, Lochlomond and Windermere. Having +enjoyed the sight of the bright, beautiful scenery and the fresh morning +air for a couple of hours, we were summoned to breakfast by the sound of +the steward’s “Big Ben.” Descending to the lower cabin, we seated +ourselves at the breakfast table, and partook of a most hearty meal. All +the meals on board these steamers are served in the most sumptuous +style. During the repast some talked politics, some dollars and cents, +others were speculating on how we should get down the Rapids, and when +we should make them. Among the latter was myself, for I had seen rapids +which I had not the slightest desire to be in or on; and, what sort of +rapids we were coming to was of some importance to all who had not been +on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +them. But everybody seemed anxious to be “on deck,” and again “look +out” for the quickening of the stream, or when the first “white +lippers,” should give indication of their whereabouts. My fellow +passengers were from all parts of the Union; the Yankee “guessed,” the +Southerner “reckoned,” and the Western man “calculated” we should soon +be among the “jumpers.” Each one every now and then strained his eyes +“ahead,” down stream, to see if he could descry “broken water.” At last +an old river-man sung out, “There they are.” There are the Longue Sault +Rapids, the first we reach. Having plenty of “daylight,” we did not feel +much anxiety as we neared them, which we quickly did, for “the stream +runs fast.” We were soon among the jumping waters, and it is somewhat +difficult to describe the sensation, somewhat difficult to find a +comparison of a suitable character. It is not like being at sea in a +ship in a “dead calm.” The vessel does not “roll” with such solemn +dignity, nor does she “pitch” and rise again so buoyantly as an Atlantic +steamer (strange enough, I once crossed the Atlantic in the steamship +<i>Niagara</i>), as she ploughs her way westward or eastward in a “head +wind,” and through a head sea. She rather kicks and jerks, and is let +“down a peg” or two, with a shake and a fling. Did you ever ride a +spavined horse down a hill? If so, you can form some idea of the manner +in which we were let down the Longue Sault and Cedar Rapids and the St. +Louis Cascades. One of our fellow passengers—a Scotchman—told that +somewhat <i>apropos</i> and humorous story of the “Hielandman’s” first trip +across the Firth of Forth in a “nasty sea.” Feeling a little uneasy +about the stomach, and his bile being rather disturbed, the prostrate +mountaineer cried out to the man at the “tiller” to “stop tickling the +beast’s tail—what was he making the animal kick that way for?” And so, +telling our stories, and cracking our jokes, we spent the time until our +swift vessel brought us to a landing, where we leave her and go on board +a smaller boat, one more suitable for the descent of the more dangerous +rapids, which we have yet to come to.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +“All aboard,” and away we go again as fast as steam and a strong current +can take us, passing an island here and there, a town or a village half +French and English, with a sprinkling of the Indian tribes, on the banks +of the river now and then. But by this time it is necessary to go below +again and dine. Bed, board, and travelling, are all included in the +fare, so everyone goes to dinner. There is, however, so much to see +during this delightful trip, that nobody likes to be below any longer +than can be avoided. Immediately after dinner most are on deck again, +anxious to see all that is to be seen on this magnificent river. The +sights are various and highly interesting to the mind or “objectives” of +either artist or photographer. Perhaps one of the most novel subjects +for the camera and a day’s photographing would be “Life on a Raft,” as +you see them drifting down the St. Lawrence. There is an immense raft—a +long, low, flat, floating island, studded with twenty or thirty sails, +and half a dozen huts, peopled with men, women, and children, the little +ones playing about as if they were on a “plank road,” or in a garden. It +is “washing day,” and the clean clothes are drying in the sun and +breeze—indicative of the strictest domestic economy, and scrupulous +cleanliness of those little huts, the many-coloured garments giving the +raft quite a gay appearance, as if it were decked with the “flags of all +nations.” But what a life of tedious monotony it must be, drifting down +the river in this way for hundreds of miles, from the upper part of Lake +Ontario to Montreal or Quebec. How they get down the rapids of the St. +Lawrence I do not know, but I should think they run considerable risk of +being washed off; the raft seems too low in the water, and if not +extremely well fastened, might part and be broken up. We passed two or +three of these rafts, one a very large one, made up of thousands of +timbers laid across and across like warp and weft; yet the people seemed +happy enough on these “timber islands;” we passed them near enough to +see their faces and hear their voices, and I regretted I could +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +not “catch their shadows,” or stop and have an hour +or two’s work among them +with the camera or the pencil; but we passed them by as if they were a +fixture in the river, and they gave us a shout of “God speed,” as if +they did not envy our better pace in the least.</p> + +<p>There is abundance of work for the camera at all times of the year on +the St. Lawrence; I have seen it in summer and autumn, and have +attempted to describe some of its attractions. And I was told that when +the river—not the rapids—is ice-bound, the banks covered with snow, +and the trees clad in icicles, they present a beautiful scene in the +sunshine. And in the spring, when the ice is breaking up, and the floes +piling high on one another, it is a splendid sight to see them coming +down, hurled about and smashed in the rapids, showing that the water in +its liquid state is by far the most powerful. But now we are coming to +the most exciting part of our voyage. The steam is shut off, the engine +motionless, the paddle-wheels are still, and we are gliding swiftly and +noiselessly down with the current. Yonder speck on the waters is the +Indian coming in his canoe to pilot us down the dangerous rapids. We +near each other, and he can now be seen paddling swiftly, and his canoe +shoots like an arrow towards us. Now he is alongside, he leaps lightly +on board, his canoe is drawn up after him, and he takes command of the +“boat.” Everybody on board knows the critical moment is approaching. The +passengers gather “forward,” the ladies cling to the arms of their +natural protectors, conversation is stopped, the countenances of +everyone exhibit intense excitement and anxiety, and every eye is “fixed +ahead,” or oscillating between the pilot and the rushing waters which +can now be seen from the prow of the vessel. The Indian and three other +men are at the wheel in the “pilot house,” holding the helm “steady,” +and we are rushing down the stream unaided by any other propelling power +than the force of the current, at a rate of twenty miles an hour. Now we +hear the rushing and plunging +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +sound of the waters, and in a moment the +keen eye of the Indian catches sight of the land mark, which is the +signal for putting the helm “hard a port;” the wheel flies round like +lightning, and we are instantly dropped down a perpendicular fall of ten +or twelve feet, the vessel careening almost on her “beam ends,” in the +midst of these wild, white waters, an immense rock or rocky island right +ahead. But that is safely “rounded,” and we are again in comparatively +quiet water. The steam is turned into the cylinders, and we go on our +course in a sober, sensible, and steamboat-like fashion. When we were +safely past the rapids and round the rock, a gentleman remarked to me +that “once in a lifetime was enough of that.” It was interesting to +watch the countenances of the passengers, and mark the difference of +expression before and after the passage of the rapids. Before, it was +all excitement and anxiety, mingled with a wish-it-was-over sort of +look; and all were silent. After, everybody laughed and talked, and +seemed delighted at having passed the <i>Lachine</i> Rapids in safety; yet +most people are anxious to undergo the excitement and incur the risk and +danger of the passage. You can, if you like, leave the boat above +Lachine and proceed to Montreal by the cars, but I don’t think any of +our numerous passengers ever thought of doing such a thing. As long as +ever this magnificent water way is free from ice, and the passage can be +made, it is done. I don’t know that more than one accident has ever +occurred, but the risk seems considerable. There is a very great strain +on the tiller ropes, and if one of them were to “give out” at the +critical time, nothing could save the vessel from being dashed to pieces +against the “rock ahead,” and scarcely a life could be saved. No one can +approach the spot except from above, and then there is no stopping to +help others; you must go with the waters, rushing madly down over and +among the rocks. The Indians often took these rapids, in their canoes, +to descend to the lower part of the St. Lawrence; and one of them +undertook to pilot +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +the first steamer down in safety. His effort was +successful, and he secured for his tribe (the Iroquois) a charter +endowing them with the privileges and emoluments in perpetuity. I wish I +could have obtained photographic impressions of these scenes and groups, +but the only lens I could draw a “focus” with was the eye, and the only +“plate” I had ready for use was the <i>retina</i>. However, the impressions +obtained on that were so “vigorous and well defined,” I can at any +moment call them up, like “spirits from the vasty deep,” and reproduce +them in my mental camera.</p> + +<p>The remaining nine miles of the voyage were soon accomplished. Passing +the first abutment of the Victoria Bridge, which now crosses the St. +Lawrence, at this point two miles wide, we quickly reached the fine quay +and canal locks at Montreal, where we landed just as it was growing +dark, after a delightful and exciting voyage of about thirty hours’ +duration, and a distance of more than four hundred miles. Quick work; +but it must be borne in mind how much our speed was accelerated by the +velocity of the current, and that the return trip by the canal, past the +rapids, cannot be performed in anything like the time.</p> + +<p>On reaching the quay I parted with my agreeable fellow travellers, and +sought an hotel, where once more, after a long interval, I slept under a +roof over which floated the flag which every Englishman is proud of—the +Union Jack.</p> + +<p>Next morning I rose early, and, with a photographic eye, scanned the +city of Montreal. The streets are narrow, but clean, and well built of +stone. Most of the suburban streets and villa residences are “frame +buildings,” but there are many handsome villas of stone about the base +of the “mountain.” I visited the principal buildings and the Cathedral +of Notre Dame, ascended to the top of the Bell Tower, looked down upon +the city, and had a fine view of its splendid quays and magnificent +river frontage, and across the country southwards +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +for a great distance, +as far as the Adirondack Mountains, where the Hudson River bubbles into +existence at Hendrick Spring, whence it creeps and gathers strength as +it glides and falls and rushes alternately until it enters the Atlantic +below New York, over three hundred miles south of its source. But the +mountain at the back of Montreal prevented my seeing anything beyond the +city in that direction. I afterwards ascended the mountain, from the +summit of which I could see an immense distance up the river, far beyond +Lachine, and across the St. Lawrence, and southwards into the “States.” +Being homeward bound, and having no desire at that time to prolong my +stay in the western hemisphere, I did not wait to obtain any photographs +of Montreal or the neighbourhood; but, taking ship for old England, I +leave the lower St. Lawrence and its beauties; Quebec, with its glorious +associations of Wolfe and the plains of Abraham, its fortifications, +which are now being so fully described and discussed in the House of +Commons, and the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, where vessels have sometimes +to be navigated from the “masthead,” in consequence of the low-lying sea +fog which frequently prevails there. A man is sent up “aloft” where he +can see over the fog, which lies like a stratum of white cloud on the +gulf, and pilot the ship safely through the fleet of merchantmen which +are constantly sailing up and down while the river is open. The fog may +not be much above the “maintop,” but is so dense it is impossible to see +beyond the end of the “bowsprit” from the deck of the ship you are +aboard; but from the “masthead” the “look-out” can see the highland and +the masts and sails of the other ships, and avoid the danger of going +“ashore” or coming into collision by crying out to the man at the wheel +such sea phrases as “Port,” “Starboard,” “Steady,” &c.; and when +“tacking” up or down the gulf, such as “luff,” “higher,” “let her off.” +Indeed, the whole trip of the St. Lawrence—from Lake Ontario to the +Atlantic—is intensely exciting. While off the coast of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +Newfoundland, I +witnessed one of those beautiful sights of nature in her sternest mood, +which I think has yet to be rendered in the camera—icebergs in the +sunlight. A great deal has been said about their beauty and colour, but +nothing too much. Anyone who saw Church’s picture of “The Icebergs,” +exhibited in London last year, may accept that as a faithful reflection +of all their beautiful colours and dreadful desolation. All sailors like +to give them as wide a “berth” as possible, and never admire their +beauty, but shun them for their treachery. Sometimes their base extends +far beyond their perpendicular lines, and many a good ship has struck on +the shoal of ice under water, when the Captain thought he was far enough +away from it. The largest one I saw was above a hundred feet above the +water-line, and as they never exhibit more than one-third of their +ponderous mass of frozen particles, there would be over two hundred feet +of it below water, probably shoaling far out in all directions. We had a +quick run across the Atlantic, and I landed in Liverpool, in the month +of November, amid fog, and smoke, and gloom. What a contrast in the +light! Here it was all fog and darkness, and photography impossible. +There—on the other side of the waters—the light is always abundant +both in winter and summer; and it is only during a snow or rain storm +that our transatlantic brother photographers are brought to a +standstill.—<i>Photographic News</i>, 1865.</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>PHOTOGRAPHIC IMPRESSIONS.</h3> + +<div class="center smcap">The Hudson, Developed on the Voyage.</div> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">We‘ll</span> have a trip up the Hudson,” said a friend of mine, one of the +best operators in New York; “we‘ll have a trip up the Hudson, and go and +spend a few days with the ‘old folk’ in Vermont, and then you will see +us ‘Yankees’—our homes and hospitalities—in a somewhat different light +from what you see them in this Gotham.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +So it was arranged, and on the day appointed we walked down Broadway, +turned down Courtland Street to the North River, and went on board the +splendid river steamer <i>Isaac Newton</i>, named, in graceful compliment, +after one of England’s celebrities. Two dollars (eight and fourpence) +each secured us a first-class passage in one of those floating palaces, +for a trip of 144 miles up one of the most picturesque rivers in +America.</p> + +<p>Wishing for a thorough change of scene and occupation, and being tired +of “posing and arranging lights” and “drawing a focus” on the faces of +men, women, and children in a stifling and pent-up city, we left the +camera with its “racks and pinions” behind, determined to revel in the +beautiful and lovely only of nature, and breathe the fresh and +exhilarating air as we steamed up the river, seated at the prow, and +fanned by the breeze freshened by the speed of our swift-sailing boat.</p> + +<p>Leaving New York, with its hundred piers jutting out into the broad +stream, and its thousand masts and church spires on the one side, and +Jersey City on the other, we are soon abreast of Hoboken and the +“Elysian Fields,” where the Germans assemble to drink “lager beer” and +spend their Sundays and holidays. On the right or east side of the river +is Spuyten Duyvil Creek, which forms a junction with the waters of the +Sound or East River, and separates the tongue of land on which New York +stands from the main, making the island of Manhattan. This island is a +little over thirteen miles long and two and a half miles wide. The Dutch +bought the whole of it for £4 16s., and that contemptible sum was not +paid to the poor, ignorant, and confiding Indians in hard cash, but in +toys and trumpery articles not worth half the money. Truly it may be +said that the “Empire City” of the United States did not cost a cent. an +acre not more than two hundred and fifty years ago, and now some parts +of it are worth a dollar a square foot. At Spuyten Duyvil Creek Henry +Hudson had a skirmish with the Indians, while his ship, the <i>Half Moon</i>, +was lying at anchor.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +Now we come to the picturesque and the beautiful, subjects fit for the +camera of the photographer, the pencil of the artist, and the pen of the +historian. On the western side of the Hudson, above Hoboken, we catch +the first glimpse of that singular and picturesque natural river wall +called the “Palisades,” a series of bold and lofty escarpments, +extending for about thirty-five miles up the river, and varying in an +almost perpendicular height from four to over six hundred feet, portions +of them presenting a very similar appearance to Honister Craig, facing +the Vale of Buttermere and Salisbury Craigs, near Edinburgh.</p> + +<p>About two and a half miles above Manhattan Island, on the east bank of +the Hudson, I noticed a castellated building of considerable +pretensions, but somewhat resembling one of those stage scenes of +Dunsinane in <i>Macbeth</i>, or the Castle of Ravenswood in the <i>Bride of +Lammermoor</i>. On enquiring to whom this fortified-looking residence +belonged, I was told it was Fort Hill, the retreat of Edwin Forest, the +celebrated American tragedian. It is built of blue granite, and must +have been a costly fancy.</p> + +<p>Now we come to the pretty village of Yonkers, where there are plenty of +subjects for the camera, on Sawmill River, and the hills behind the +village. Here, off Yonkers, in 1609, Henry Hudson came to the premature +conclusion, from the strong tidal current, that he had discovered the +north-west passage, which was the primary object of his voyage, and +which led to the discovery of the river which now bears his name.</p> + +<p>At Dobb’s Ferry there is not much to our liking; but passing that, and +before reaching Tarrytown, we are within the charming atmosphere of +Sunnyside, where Washington Irving lived and wrote many of his +delightful works. Tarrytown is the next place we make, and here, during +the war for independence, the enthusiastic but unfortunate soldier, +Major André, was captured; and at Tappan, nearly opposite, he was hung +as a spy on the 2nd of October, 1780.</p> + +<p>All the world knows the unfortunate connection between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +Benedict Arnold, +the American traitor, and Major André, the frank, gallant, and +enterprising British officer; so I shall leave those subjects to the +students of history, and pass on as fast as our boat will carry us to +the next place of note on the east bank of the river, Sing Sing, which +is the New York State prison, where the refractory and not over honest +members of State society are sent to be “operated” upon by the salutary +treatment of confinement and employment. Some of them are “doing time” +in <i>dark rooms</i>, which are very unsuitable for photographic operations, +and where <i>a little more light</i>, no matter how yellow or non-actinic, +would be gladly received. The “silent cell” system is not practised so +much in this State as in some of the others; but the authorities do +their best to <i>improve the negative</i> or refractory character of the +<i>subjects</i> placed under their care. It is, however, very questionable +whether their efforts are not entirely <i>negatived</i>, and the bad +character of the subject more <i>fully developed</i> and <i>intensified</i> by +contact with the more powerful <i>reducing agents</i> by which they are +surrounded. Their prison is, however, very pleasantly situated on the +banks of the Hudson, about thirty-three miles above New York City.</p> + +<p>Opposite Sing Sing is Rockland Lake, one hundred and fifty feet above +the river, at the back of the Palisades. This lake is celebrated for +three things—leeches and water lilies in summer, and ice in winter. +Rockland Lake ice is prized by the thirsty denizens of New York City in +the sultry summer months, and even in this country it is becoming known +as a cooler and “refresher.”</p> + +<p>Nearly opposite Sing Sing is the boldest and highest buttress of the +Palisades; it is called “Vexatious Point,” and stands six hundred and +sixty feet above the water.</p> + +<p>About eleven miles above Sing Sing we come to Peekskill, which is at the +foot of the Peekskill Mountains. Backed up by those picturesque hills it +has a pretty appearance from the river. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +This was also a very important +place during the wars. At this point the Americans set fire to a small +fleet rather than let it fall into the hands of the British.</p> + +<p>A little higher up on the west side is the important military station of +West Point. This place, as well as being most charmingly situated, is +also famous as the great military training school of the United States. +Probably you have noticed, in reading the accounts of the war now raging +between North and South, that this or that general or officer was a +“West Point man.” General George M‘Clellan received his military +education at West Point; but, whatever military knowledge he gained at +this college, strengthened by experience and observation at the Crimea, +he was not allowed to make much use of while he held command of the army +of the Potomac. His great opponent, General Lee, was also a “West Point +man,” and it does not require much consideration to determine which of +the “Pointsmen” was the smarter. Washington has also made West Point +famous in the time of the war for independence. Benedict Arnold held +command of this point and other places in the neighbourhood, when he +made overtures to Sir Henry Clinton to hand over to the British, for a +pecuniary consideration of £10,000, West Point and all its outposts.</p> + +<p>A little higher up is Cold Spring, on the east side of the Hudson; but +we will pass that by, and now we are off Newburg on the west bank. This +is a large and flourishing town also at the foot of high hills—indeed, +we are now in the highlands of the Hudson, and it would be difficult to +find a town or a village that is not <i>backed up</i> by hills. At the time I +first visited these scenes there was a large photographic apparatus +manufactory at Newburg, where they made “coating boxes,” “buff wheels,” +“Pecks blocks,” &c., on a very extensive scale, for the benefit of +themselves and all who were interested in the “cleaning,” “buffing,” and +“coating” of Daguerreotype plates.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +Opposite Newburg is Fishkill; but we shall pass rapidly up past +Poughkeepsie on the right, and other places right and left, until we +come to Hudson, on the east side of the river. Opposite Hudson are the +Catskill Mountains, and here the river is hemmed in by mountains on all +sides, resembling the head of Ullswater lake, or the head of Loch Lomond +or Loch Katrine; and here we have a photographic curiosity to descant +upon.</p> + +<p>Down through the gorges of these mountains came a blast like the sound +from a brazen trumpet, which electrified the photographers of the day. +Among these hills resided the Rev. Levi Hill, who lately died in New +York, the so-called inventor or discoverer of the Hillotype, or +Daguerreotypes in natural colours. So much were the “Daguerreans” of New +York startled by the announcement of this wonderful discovery, that they +formed themselves into a sort of company to buy up the <i>highly coloured</i> +invention. A deputation of some of the most respectable and influential +Daguerreotypists of New York was appointed to wait upon the reverend +discoverer, and offer him I don’t remember how many thousand dollars for +his discovery as it stood; and it is said that he showed them specimens +of “coloured Daguerreotypes,”—but refused to sell or impart to them the +secret until he had completed his discovery, and made it perfect by +working out the mode of producing the only lacking colour, chrome +yellow. But in that he never succeeded, and so this wonderful discovery +was neither given nor sold to the world. Many believed the truth of the +man’s statements—whether he believed it himself or not, God only knows. +One skilful Daguerreotypist, in the State of New York, assured me he had +seen the specimens, and had seen the rev. gentleman at work in his +laboratory labouring and “buffing” away at a mass of something like a +piece of lava, until by dint of hard rubbing and scrubbing the colours +were said to “appear like spirits,” one by one, until all but the +stubborn chrome yellow showed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +themselves on the surface. I could not +help laughing at my friend’s statement and evident credulity, but after +seeing “jumping Quakers,” disciples of Joe Smith, and believers in the +doctrine of Johanna Southcote, I could not be much surprised at any +creed either in art or religion, or that men should fall into error in +the Hillotype faith as easily as into errors of ethics or morality. I +was assured by my friend (not my travelling companion) that they were +beautiful specimens of colouring. Granted; but that did not prove that +they were not done by hand. Indeed, a suspicion got abroad that the +specimens shown by Mr. Hill were <i>hand-coloured</i> pictures brought from +Europe. And from all that I could learn they were more like the +beautifully coloured Daguerreotypes of M. Mansion, who was then +colourist to Mr. Beard, than anything else I could see or hear of. Being +no mean hand myself at colouring a Daguerreotype in those days, I was +most anxious to see one of those wonderful specimens of “photography in +natural colours,” but I never could; and the inventor lived in such an +out-of-the way place, among the Catskills, that I had no opportunity of +paying him a visit. I have every reason to believe that the +hand-coloured pictures by M. Mansion and myself were the only Hillotypes +that were ever exhibited in America. Many of my coloured Daguerreotypes +were exhibited at the State Fair in Castle Garden, and at the Great +Exhibition at New York in 1853. But perhaps the late Rev. Levi Hill was +desirous of securing a posthumous fame, and may have left something +behind him after all; for surely, no man in his senses would have made +such a noise about Daguerreotypes in “natural colours” as he did if he +had not some reason for doing so. If so, and if he has left anything +behind him that will lead us into nature’s hidden mine of natural +colours, now is the time for the “heirs and administrators” of the +deceased gentlemen to secure for their deceased relative a fame as +enduring as the Catskill Mountains themselves.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +The Katzbergs, as the Dutch called the Catskill Mountains, on account of +the number of wild cats they found among them, have more than a +photographic interest. The late Washington Irving has imparted to them +an attraction of a romantic character almost as bewitching as that +conferred upon the mountains in the vicinity of Loch Lomond and Loch +Katrine by Sir Walter Scott. It is true that the delicate fancy of +Irving has not peopled the Katzbergs with such “warriors true” as stood</p> + +<p class="center smaller">“Along Benledi’s living side;”</p> + +<p class="p0">nor has he “sped the fiery cross” over “dale, glen, and valley;” neither +has he tracked</p> + +<p class="center smaller">“The antler‘d monarch of the waste”</p> + +<p class="p0 justify">from hill to hill; but the war-whoop of the Mohegans has startled the +wild beasts from their lair, and the tawny hunters of the tribe have +followed up the trail of the panther until with bow and arrow swift they +have slain him in his mountain hiding place. And Irving’s quaint fancy +has re-peopled the mountains again with the phantom figures of Hendrick +Hudson and his crew, and put Rip van Winkle to sleep, like a big baby, +in one of nature’s huge cradles, where he slept for <i>twenty years</i>, and +slept away the reign of good King George III. over the colonies, and +awoke to find himself a bewildered citizen of the United States of +America. And the place where he slept, and the place where he saw the +solemn, silent crew of the “Half Moon” playing at ninepins, will be +sought for and pointed out in all time coming. And why should these +scenes of natural beauty and charming romance not be photographed on the +spot? It has not been done to my knowledge, yet they are well worthy the +attention of photographers, either amateur or professional. We leave the +Catskill Mountains with some regret, because of the disappointment of +their not yielding us the promised triumph of chemistry, “photography in +natural colours,” and because of their beauty and varying effects of +<i>chiaroscuro</i> not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +having been sufficiently rendered in the monochromes +we have so long had an opportunity of obtaining in the camera.</p> + +<p>Passing Coxsackie, on the west bank of the Hudson, and many pleasant +residences and places on each side of the river, we are soon at Albany, +the capital of the State of New York, and the termination of our voyage +on board the <i>Isaac Newton</i>. And well had our splendid steamer performed +her part of the contract. Here we were, in ten hours, at Albany, 144 +miles from New York City. What a contrast, in the rate of speed, between +the <i>Isaac Newton</i> and the first boat that steamed up the Hudson! The +<i>Claremont</i> took over thirty-six hours, wind and weather permitting, to +perform the voyage between New York and Albany; and we had done it in +ten. What a contrast, too, in the size, style, and deportment of the two +boats! The <i>Claremont</i> was a little, panting, puffing, half-clad, +always-out-of-breath sort of thing, that splashed and struggled and +groaned through the water, and threw its naked and diminutive paddle-wheels +in and out of the river—like a man that can neither swim +nor is willing to be drowned, throwing his arms in and out of the +water in agony—and only reached her destination after a number of +stoppings-to-breathe and spasmodic start-agains. The <i>Isaac Newton</i> +had glided swiftly and smoothly through the waters of the Hudson, her +gigantic paddle-wheels performing as many revolutions in a minute as +the other’s did in twenty.</p> + +<p>But these were the advanced strides and improvements brought about by +the workings and experiences of half a century. If the marine steam +engine be such a wonderfully-improved machine in that period of time, +what may not photography be when the art-science is fifty years old? +What have not the thousands of active brains devoted to its advancement +done for it already? What have not been the improvements and wonderful +workings of photography in a quarter of a century? What improvements +have not been effected in the lifetime of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +any old Daguerreotypist? +When I first knew photography it was a ghostly thing—a shimmering +phantom—that was flashed in and out of your eyes with the rapidity of +lightning, as you tried to catch a sight of the image between the total +darkness of the black polish of the silvered plate, and the blinding +light of the sky, which was reflected as from a mirror into your eyes.</p> + +<p>But how these phantom figures vanished! How rapidly they changed from +ghostly and almost invisible shadows to solid, visible, and all but +tangible forms under the magical influence of Goddard’s and Claudet’s +“bromine accelerator,” and Fizeau’s “fixing” or gilding process! How +Mercury flew to the lovely and joint creations of chemistry and optics, +and took kindly to the timid, hiding beauties of Iodine, Bromine, +Silver, and Light, and brought them out, and showed them to the world, +proudly, as “things of beauty,” and “a joy for ever!” How Mercury clung +to these latent beauties, and “developed” their charms, and became +“attached” to them, and almost immovable; and consented, at last, to be +tinted like a Gibson’s Venus to enhance the charms and witcheries of his +protégés! Anon was Mercury driven from Beauty’s fair domain, and bright +shining Silver, in another form, took up with two fuming, puffy fellows, +who styled themselves Ether and Alcohol, with a villainous taint of +methyl and something very much akin to gunpowder running through their +veins. A most abominable compound they were, and some of the vilest of +the vile were among their progeny; indeed, they were all a “hard lot,” +for I don’t know how many rods—I may say tons—of iron had to be used +before they could be brought into the civilized world at all. But, +happily, they had a short life. Now they have almost passed away from +off the face of the earth, and it is to be hoped that the place that +knew them once will know them no more; for they were a dangerous +set—fragile in substance, frightful abortions, and an incubus on the +fair fame of photography. They bathed in the foulest of baths, and what +served +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +for one served for all. The poisonous and disgusting fluid was +used over and over again. Loathsome and pestiferous vapours hovered +about them, and they took up their abode in the back slums of our +cities, and herded with the multitude, and a vast majority of them were +not worth the consideration of the most callous officer of the sanitary +commission. Everything that breathes the breath of life has its moments +of agony, and these were the throes that agonised Photography in that +fell epoch of her history.</p> + +<p>From the ashes of this burning shame Photography arose, Phœnix-like, +and with Silver, seven times purified, took her ethereal form into the +hearts and <i>ateliers</i> of artists, who welcomed her sunny presence in +their abodes of refinement and taste. They treated her kindly and +considerately, and lovingly placed her in her proper sphere; and, by +their kind and delicate treatment, made her forget the miseries of her +degradation and the agonies of her travail. Then art aided photography +and photography aided art, and the happy, delightful reciprocity has +brought down showers of golden rain amidst the sunshine of prosperity to +thousands who follow with love and devotion the chastened and purified +form of Photography, accompanied in all her thoughts and doings by her +elder sister—Art.</p> + +<p>I must apologise for this seeming digression. However, as I have not +entirely abandoned my photographic impressions, I take it for granted +that I have not presumed too much on the good nature of my readers, and +will now endeavour to further develop and redevelop the Hudson, and +point out the many phases of beauty that are fit subjects for the camera +which may be seen on the waters and highland boundaries of that +beautiful river in all seasons of the year.</p> + +<p>Albany is the capital of the State. It is a large and flourishing city, +and one of the oldest, being an early Dutch settlement, which is +sufficiently attested by the prevalence of such cognomens +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +as “Vanderdonck” and “Onderdunk” over the doors of the traders.</p> + +<p>About six or eight miles above Albany the Hudson ceases to be navigable +for steamers and sailing craft, and the influence of the tide becomes +imperceptible. Troy is on the east bank of the river; and about two +miles above, the Mohawk River joins the Hudson, coming down from the +Western part of the State of New York. For about two hundred miles the +Hudson runs almost due north and south from a little below Fort Edward; +but, from the Adirondack Mountains, where it takes its spring, it comes +down in a north-westerly direction by rushing rapids, cascades, and +falls innumerable for about two hundred miles more through some of the +wildest country that can possibly be imagined.</p> + +<p>We did not proceed up the Upper Hudson, but I was told it would well +repay a trip with the camera, as some of the wildest and most +picturesque scenery would be found in tracking the Hudson to its source +among the Adirondack Mountains.</p> + +<p>I afterwards sailed up and down the navigable part of the Hudson many +times and at all periods of the year, except when it was ice-bound, by +daylight and by moonlight, and a more beautiful moonlight sail cannot +possibly be conceived. To be sailing up under the shadow of the +Palisades on a bright moonlight night, and see the eastern shore and +bays bathed in the magnesium-like light of a bright western moon, is in +itself enough to inspire the most ordinary mind with a love of all that +is beautiful and poetical in nature.</p> + +<p>Moonlight excursions are frequently made from New York to various points +on the Hudson, and Sleepy Hollow is one of the most favourite trips. I +have been in that neighbourhood, but never saw the “headless horseman” +that was said to haunt the place; but that may be accounted for by the +circumstance of some superior officer having recently commanded the +trooper without a head to do duty in Texas.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +My next trip up the Hudson was in winter, when the surface of the river +was in the state of “glacial,” solid at 50° for two or three feet down, +but the temperature was considerably lower, frequently 15° and 20° below +zero—and that was nipping cold “and no mistake,” making the very breath +“glacial,” plugging up the nostrils with “chunks” of ice, and binding +the beard and moustache together, making a glacier on your face, which +you had to break through every now and then to make a breathing hole.</p> + +<p>On this arctic trip the whole aspect of the river and its boundaries is +marvellously changed, without losing any of its picturesque attractions. +Instead of the clear, deep river having its glassy surface broken by the +splash of paddle-wheels, it is converted into a solid highway. Instead +of the sound of the “pilot’s gong,” and the cries of “a sail on the port +bow,” there is nothing to be heard but the jingling sound of the sleigh +bells, and the merry laugh and prattle of the fair occupants of the +sleighs, as they skim past on the smooth surface of the ice, wrapped +cosily up in their gay buffalo robes.</p> + +<p>The great excitement of winter in Canada or the States is to take a +sleigh ride; and I think there is nothing more delightful, when the wind +is still, than to skim along the ice in the bright, winter sunshine, +behind a pair of spanking “trotters.” The horses seem to enjoy it as +much as the people, arching their necks a little more proudly than +usual, and stepping lightly to the merry sound of the sleigh bells.</p> + +<p>At this time of the year large sleighs, holding fifteen to twenty +people, and drawn by four horses, take the place of steamers, omnibuses, +and ferry boats. The steam ferries are housed, except at New York, and +there they keep grinding their way through the ice “all winter,” as if +they would not let winter reign over their destinies if they could help +it. Large sleighs cross and recross on the ice higher up the Hudson, and +thus keep up the connection between the various +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +points and opposite +shores. As the mercury falls the spirits of the people seem to rise, and +they shout and halloo at each other as they pass or race on the ice. +These are animated scenes for the skill of a Blanchard or any other +artist equally good in the production of instantaneous photographs.</p> + +<p>Another of the scenes on the Hudson worthy of the camera is “ploughing +the ice.” It is a singular sight to an Englishman to see a man driving a +team of horses on the ice, and see the white powder rising before the +ice-plough like spray from the prow of a vessel as she rushes through +the water, cutting the ice into blocks or squares, to stow away in +“chunks,” and afterwards, when the hot sultry +weather of July and August is prostrating you, have them brought out to +make those wonderful mixtures called “ice-creams,” “sherry-cobblers,” +and “brandy-cocktails.”</p> + +<p>The Hudson is beautiful in winter as well as in summer, and I wonder its +various and picturesque beauties have not been photographed more +abundantly. But there it is. Prophets are never honoured in their own +country, and artists and photographers never see the beauties of their +country at home. I am sure if the Hudson were photographed from the sea +to its source it would be one of the most valuable, interesting, and +picturesque series of photographs that ever was published. Its aspects +in summer are lovely and charming, and the wet process can then be +employed with success. And in winter, though the temperature is low, the +river is perfectly dry on the surface, the hills and trees are +glistening with snow and icicles, the people are on the very happiest +terms with one another, and frequently exhibit an abundance of dry, good +humour. This is the time to work the “dry process” most successfully, +and, instead of the “ammonia developers,” try the “hot and strong” ones.</p> + +<p>With these few hints to my photographic friends, I leave the beauties of +the Hudson to their kind consideration.—<i>British Journal of +Photography</i>, 1865.</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> + +<h3>PICTURES OF THE POTOMAC IN PEACE AND WAR.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">When</span> first I visited that lovely region which has so recently been torn +and trampled down—blackened and defaced by the ruthlessness of +war—peace lay in the valleys of the Potomac. Nothing was borne on the +calm, clear bosom of the broad and listless river but the produce of the +rich and smiling valleys of Virginia. Its banks were peaceful, silent, +and beautiful. The peach orchards were white with the blossoms that +promised a rich harvest of their delicious fruit. The neat and pretty +houses that studded the sloping boundaries of the river were almost +blinding with their dazzling whiteness as the full blaze of the sun fell +upon them. Their inhabitants were happy, and dreamt not of the storm so +soon to overtake them. The forts were occupied by only a few, very few +soldiers. The guns were laid aside, all rusty and uncared for; and +pilgrims to the tomb of Washington, the good and great, stopped on their +return at Fort Washington to examine the fortifications in idleness and +peaceful curiosity. The Capitol at Washington echoed nothing but the +sounds of peace and good will. The senators of both North and South sat +in council together, and considered only the welfare and prosperity of +their great confederation.</p> + +<p>The same harmonious fellowship influenced the appearance and actions of +all; and at that happy conjuncture I made my first acquaintance with +Washington, the capital of the United States. I shall not attempt a +description of its geographical position: everybody knows that it is in +the district of Columbia, and on the banks of the Potomac. It is a city +of vast and pretentious appearance, straggling over an unnecessary +amount of ground, and is divided into avenues and streets. The avenues +are named after the principal States, and take their spring from the +Capitol, running off in all directions in angular form, like the spokes +of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +a wheel, the Capitol being the “angular point.” The streets running +between and across the avenues rejoice in the euphonious names of First, +Second, and Third, and A, B, and C streets, the straight lines of which +are broken by trees of the most luxurious growth all along the +side-walks. These trees form a delightful sun-shade in summer, and have +a very novel and pleasing effect at night, when their green and leafy +arches are illuminated by the gas lamps underneath.</p> + +<p>Excepting the Capitol, White House, Court House, Post Office, Patent +Office, and Smithsonian Institute, there is nothing in the city of +photographic interest. The “United States,” the “National,” and +“Willards,” are large and commodious hotels on Pennsylvania Avenue; but +not worth a plate, photographically speaking, unless the landlords wish +to illustrate their bar bills. The Capitol is out of all proportion the +largest and most imposing structure in Washington—it may safely be said +in the United States. Situated on an elevated site, at the top of +Pennsylvania Avenue, it forms a grand termination to that noble +thoroughfare at its eastern extremity. The building consists of a grand +centre of freestone painted white, surmounted by a vast dome of +beautiful proportions. Two large wings of white marble complete the +grand façade. Ascending the noble flight of marble steps to the +principal entrance, the great portico is reached, which is supported by +about eighteen Corinthian columns. The pediment is ornamented with a +statue of America in the centre, with the figures of Faith on her left, +and Justice on her right. On each side of the entrance is a group of +statuary. On one side an Indian savage is about to massacre a mother and +her child, but his arm is arrested by the figure of Civilization. On the +other side the group consists of a man holding up a globe, representing +Columbus and the figure of an Indian girl looking up to it.</p> + +<p>The large rotunda, immediately underneath the dome, is divided into +panels, which are filled with paintings, such as the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +“Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers,” “The Baptism of the Indian Princess Pocahontas,” and +other subjects illustrative of American history. On either side of the +Rotunda are passages leading to the House of Representatives on the one +side, and the Senate Chamber on the other. Congress being assembled, I +looked in to see the collective wisdom of the “States” during a morning +sitting. In many respects the House of Representatives very much +resembled our own House of Commons. There was a Mr. Speaker in the +chair, and one gentleman had “the floor,” and was addressing the House. +Other members were seated in their desk seats, making notes, or busying +themselves with their own bills. In one essential point, however, I +found a difference, and that was in the ease of access to this assembly. +No “member’s order” was required. Strangers and “citizens” are at all +times freely admitted. There is also a magnificent library, which is +free to everyone.</p> + +<p>During the Session there is Divine service in the Senate Chamber on +Sunday mornings. On one occasion I attended, and heard a most excellent +discourse by the appointed chaplain. The President and his family were +there.</p> + +<p>In some side offices, connected with the Capitol, I found a government +photographer at work, copying plans, and photographing portions of the +unfinished building, for the benefit of the architects and others whose +duty it was to examine the progress of the works. From this gentleman I +received much courteous attention, and was shown many large and +excellent negatives, all of which were developed with the ordinary iron +developer.</p> + +<p>I next visited the Patent Office, and the museum connected therewith, +which contains a vast collection of models of all kinds of inventions +that have received protection—among them several things, in apparatus +and implements, connected with photography. The American patent laws +require a model of every new invention to be lodged in this museum, +which is of immense +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +value to inventors and intending patentees; for +they can there see what has already been protected; and as the Patent +Office refuses to grant protection to anything of a similar form, use, +or application, much litigation, expense, and annoyance are saved the +patentees. Our Government would do well to take a leaf out of “Brother +Jonathan’s” book on this subject; for not only is there increased +protection given to inventors, but the fees are considerably less than +in this country.</p> + +<p>The presidential residence, called the White House, was the next +interesting subject of observation. It is situated at the west end of +Pennsylvania Avenue, and a good mile from the Capitol. The building is +of white marble, and of very unpretending size and architectural +attractions, but in every respect sufficient for the simple wants of the +chief magistrate of the United States, whose official salary is only +twenty-five thousand dollars per annum.</p> + +<p>During congressional session the President holds weekly <i>levées</i>; and +one of these I determined to attend, prompted as much by curiosity to +see how such things were done, as desire to pay my respects. +Accordingly, on a certain night, at eight o‘clock precisely, I went to +the White House, and was admitted without hesitation. On reaching the +door of the reception room, I gave my card to the district marshal, who +conducted me to President Pierce, to whom I was introduced. I was received +with a hearty welcome, and a shake of the hand. Indeed, I noticed that +he had a kindly word of greeting for all who came. Not having any very +important communication to make that would be either startling or +interesting to the President of the United States, I bowed, and retired +to the promenade room, where I found numbers of people who had been +“presented” walking about and chatting in groups on all sorts of +subjects—political, foreign, and domestic, and anything they +liked. Some were in evening dress, others not; but all seemed perfectly +easy and affable one with another. There was no restraint, and the only +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +passport required to these <i>levées</i> was decent behaviour and +respectability. There was music also. A band was playing in the +vestibule, and everyone evidently enjoyed the <i>reunion</i>, and felt +perfectly at home. Never having been presented at court, I am not able +to make any comparison <i>pro</i> or <i>con</i>.</p> + +<p>There is also an observatory at Washington, which I visited; +but not being fortunate enough to meet the—what shall I say? +“astronomer-royal,” comes readiest, but that is not correct: well, +then, the—“astronomer republic,” I did not see the large telescope +and other astronomical instruments worked.</p> + +<p>The photographic galleries were all situated on Pennsylvania Avenue, and +they were numerous enough. At that time they rejoiced in the name of +“Daguerrean Galleries;” and the proprietor, or operator, was called a +“Daguerrean.” Their reception rooms were designated “saloons,” which +were invariably well furnished—some of them superbly—and filled with +specimens. Their “studios” and workshops behind the scenes were fitted +with all sorts of ingenious contrivances for “buffing” and “coating” and +expediting the work. Although the greatest number of mechanical +appliances were employed in the Daguerreotype branch of photography, art +was not altogether ignored in its practice. One house made a business +feature of very beautifully coloured Daguerreotypes, tinted with dry +colours, quite equal to those done in Europe. Another house made a +feature of “Daguerreotypes painted in oil;” and the likeness was most +admirably preserved. I saw one of the President, and several of the +members of Congress, which I knew to be unmistakable portraits. Although +the Daguerreotype was most tenaciously adhered to as the best means of +producing photographic portraits, the collodion process—or the +“crystaltype,” as they then called it—was not neglected. It was used by +a few for portraits, but chiefly for views.</p> + +<p>Having seen all that was worth seeing in the city, I made +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +excursions into the country, in search of subjects for the camera or pencil.</p> + +<p>Georgetown, a little way from Washington, and its picturesque cemetery, +offer several pretty bits for the camera. Arlington Heights, the Long +Bridge, and many nooks about there, are sufficiently tempting; but of +all the excursions about Washington, Mount Vernon—a few miles down the +Potomac, on the Virginia side—is by far the most interesting. Mount +Vernon is the name of the place where General George Washington lived +and died, and is the “Mecca” of the Americans. Nearly every day there +are pilgrims from some or all parts of the States to the tomb of +Washington, which is in the grounds of Mount Vernon. They visit this +place with a kind of religious awe and veneration, and come from far and +wide to say they have seen it. For, in truth, there is little to see but +the strangest-looking and ugliest brick building I ever beheld, with +open iron gates that allow you to look into the darkness of the +interior, and see nothing. I took a view of the tomb, and here it is:—A +red brick building, squat and low, of the most unsightly design and +proportions imaginable—resembling one of our country “deadhouses” more +than anything else I could compare it to. It was stuck away from the +house among trees and brushwood, and in an advanced state of +dilapidation—a disgrace to the nation that had sprung from that great +man’s honest devotion! Over the Gothic entrance is a white slab, with +the following inscription on it:—</p> + +<div class="center"> +“Within this Enclosure<br /> +Rest<br /> +the remains of<br /> +<span class="smcap">General George Washington</span>.”</div> + +<p>The remains of “Lady Washington” lie there also; and there are several +white obelisks about to the memory of other members of the family.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +The house itself is a “frame building” of two storeys, with a piazza +running along the front of it, and is on the whole a mean-looking +edifice; but was probably grand enough for the simple tastes of the man +who dwelt in it, and has hallowed the place with the greatness and +goodness of his life. The interior of the house looked as if it had once +been a comfortable and cozy habitation. In the hall was put up a desk, +with a “visitors’ book,” wherein they were expected to enter their +names; and few failed to pay such a cheap tribute to the memory of the +father of their country.</p> + +<p>The grounds, which were full of natural beauties, had been allowed to +run into a state of wild tangle-wood; and I had some trouble to pick my +way over broken paths down to the riverside again, where I took the +“boat,” and returned to the city, touching at Fort Washington on the +way. The day had been remarkably fine; the evening was calm and lovely; +the silence of the river disturbed only by the splash of our paddles, +and the song of the fishermen on shore as they drew in their laden nets; +and the moon shone as only she can shine in those latitudes. Nothing +could denote more peace and quietude as I sailed on the Potomac on that +lovely evening. There was such a perfect lull of the natural +elements—such a happy combination of all that was beautiful and +promising—it seemed impossible for such a hurricane of men’s +passions—such yells of strife and shouts of victory, such a swoop of +death as afterwards rushed down those valleys—ever to come to pass.</p> + +<p>Such sad reverse was, however, seen on my second visit to the Potomac. +The narration of the stirring scenes then presented will form a picture +less peaceful and happy, but unfortunately intensely real and painfully +true.</p> + +<p>My second visit to the Potomac was paid after the lapse of several +years, and under very different circumstances. When the Capitol echoed +loudly the fierce and deadly sentiments of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +the men of the North against +the men of the South. When both had shouted—</p> + +<p class="p30 smaller">“Strike up the drums, and let the tongue of war</p> +<p class="p35 smaller">Plead for our int‘rest.”</p> + +<p>When the deliberations of the senators were “war estimates,” arming of +troops, and hurrying them to the “front” with all possible despatch. +When the city of Washington presented all the appearance of a place +threatened with a siege. When every unoccupied building was turned into +barracks, and every piece of unoccupied land was made a “camp ground.” +When the inhabitants were in terror and dismay, dreading the approach of +an invading host. When hasty earth-works were thrown up in front of the +city, and the heights were bristling with cannon. When the woods and +peach orchards on the opposite side of the Potomac were red with the +glare of the camp fires at night, and the flashing of bayonets was +almost blinding in the hot sun at noon. When the vessels sailing on the +river were laden with armed men, shot, shell, and “villainous +saltpetre.” When the incessant roll of drums and rattle of musketry +deadened almost every other sound. When sentinels guarded every road and +access to the capital, and passports were required from the military +authorities to enable you to move from one place to another. In short, +when the whole atmosphere was filled with sounds of martial strife, and +everything took the form of desolating war.</p> + +<p>In spite of all these untoward events, I found photography actively +engaged in the city, in the camp, and on the field, fulfilling a mission +of mercy and consolation in the midst of carnage and tumult—fulfilling +such a mission of holy work as never before fell to the lot of any art +or art-science to perform. For what aspect of life is photography not +called upon to witness?—what phase of this world’s weal or woe is +photography not required to depict? Photography has become a handmaiden +to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +the present generation—a ministering angel to all conditions of +life, from the cradle to the grave. An <i>aide-de-camp</i> of the loveliest +character to the great “light of the world,” humanizing and elevating +the minds of all, administering consolation to the sorrowing, increasing +the joy of the joyous, lessening the pangs of separation caused by +distance or death, strengthening the ties of immediate fellowship, +helping the world to know its benefactors, and the world’s benefactors +to know the world. When grim death stalks into the gilded palaces of the +great and powerful, or into the thatched cottages and miserable +dwellings of the poor, photography is the assuager of the griefs of the +sorrowing survivors, and the ameliorator of their miseries, by +preserving to them so faithful a resemblance of the lost one. When the +bride, in her youth and loveliness, is attired for the bridal, +photography is the recorder of her trustful looks and April smiles, the +fashion of her dress, the wreath and jewels that she wore; and, come +what change in her appearance that may, the husband can look upon his +bride whene‘er he likes in after years, as vividly and as distinctly as +on that day, connecting the present with the past with a kind of running +chord of happy recollections. Photography is now the historian of earth +and animated nature, the biographer of man, the registrar of his growth +from childhood to “man’s estate,” the delineator of his physical, moral, +and social progress, the book of fashion, and the mirror of the times. +The uses and applications of photography are almost indescribable; +scarcely an art, or a science, or a trade or profession that does not +enlist photography into its service. Photography does not merely pander +to the gratification of earthly vanity, but is an alleviator of human +misery. Photography enters our hospitals and registers faithfully the +progress of disease, its growth and change from day to day, until it is +cured, or ripe for the knife of the surgeon; its pictures are lessons to +the professor, and a book of study for the students, charts +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +for their +guidance through the painful and tedious cases of others similarly +afflicted, teaching them what to do and what to avoid, to relieve the +suffering of other patients. Photography is dragged into our criminal +law courts, and sits on the right hand of Justice, giving evidence of +the most undeniable character, without being under oath, and free from +the suspicion of perjury, convicting murderers and felons, and +acquitting the innocent without prejudice; and in our courts of equity, +cases are frequently decided by the truth-telling evidence of +photography.</p> + +<p>Astronomers, geographers, and electricians freely acknowledge how much +they are indebted to photography in making their celestial and +terrestrial observations. Engineers, civil and military, employ +photography largely in their plans and studies. Art, also, has recourse +to photography, and is the only one of the liberal professions that is +half ashamed to admit the aid it gains from the camera. If art admits it +at all, it is done grudgingly, apologetically, and thanklessly. But +there it is the old, old story of family quarrels and family jealousies. +Old art might be likened to an old aunt that has grown withered and +wrinkled, and peevish with disappointment, who, in spite of all her +long-studied rules and principles of light and shade, harmony of colour, +painting, “glazing,” and “scumbling,” has failed to win the first +prize—that prize which a woman’s ambition pants after from the moment +she enters her teens until her dream is realized—that living model, +moulded after God’s own image, which, not having won in her mature age, +she becomes jealous of the growing graces, the fresh and rollicking +charms, the unstudied and ingenuous truthfulness of form exhibited by +her niece. Old Art the aunt, Photography the niece. Readers, draw the +moral for yourselves.</p> + +<p>I have digressed, but could not help it. Photography is so young and +lovely, so bewitchingly beautiful in all her moods, so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +fascinating and +enslaving—and she has enslaved thousands since she first sprung from +the source that gives her life. But to return to my theme.</p> + +<p>The practice of photography, like the aspects of the country and +condition of the people, was changed. “Old things had passed away, and +all things had become new.” The shining silver plates, buffing wheels, +coating boxes, mercury pans, &c., of the old dispensation had given +place to the baths, nitrate of silver solutions, and iron developers of +the new. Ambrotypes, or glass positives, and photographs on paper, had +taken the place of the now antiquated Daguerreotype. Mammoth photographs +were the ambition of all photographers. The first full-length life-sized +photograph I ever saw was in Washington, and was the work of Mr. +Gardner, the manager of Mr. Brady’s gallery. But a more republican idea +of photography, which, strange to say, originated in an empire not +remarkable for freedom of thought, soon became the dominant power. +Cartes-de-visite, the many, ruled over mammoth, the few. The price of +mammoth photographs was beyond the reach of millions, but the prices of +cartes-de-visite were within the grasp of all; and that, combined with +their convenient size and prettiness of form, made them at once popular, +and created a mania.</p> + +<p>The carte-de-visite form of picture became the “rage” in America about +the time the civil war commenced, and as the young soldiers were proud +of their new uniforms, and those who had been “in action” were prouder +still of their stains and scars, the photographers did a good business +among them, both in the city and in the camp. I saw a little of this +“camp work” and “camp life” myself, and some of the havoc of war as +well. Photographers are adventurous, and frequently getting into odd +kinds of “positions,” as well as their “sitters.”</p> + +<p>It was my destiny, under the guidance of the Great Source of Light, to +witness the results of the first great conflict between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +the opposing +armies of the Federals and Confederates; to hear the thunder of their +artillery, and see the clouds of smoke hovering over the battle field, +without being in the battle itself. To see the rout and panic of the +Northern troops, who had so recently marched proudly on to fancied +victory; to witness the disgraceful and disastrous stampede of the +Northern army from the field of Bull Run; to listen to the agonized +groans of the “severely wounded” as they were hurried past to the +temporary hospitals in Washington and Georgetown; to be an eye-witness +to the demoralized condition of men who, naturally brave, were under the +influence of a panic caused by the vague apprehension of a danger that +did not exist; to hear the citizens exclaim, “What shall we do?” and +“For God’s sake don’t tell your people at home what you have seen!” and +comparing the reverse of their national arms to a “regular Waterloo +defeat,” which was anything but a happy simile. To see the +panic-stricken men themselves, when they discovered their error, and +began to realize their shame, weeping like women at the folly they had +committed. But they atoned for all this, afterwards, by deeds of +glorious valour which were never surpassed, and which ended in restoring +their country to peace and reunion.</p> + +<p>The 21st of July, 1861, was a Sunday, and as calm and beautiful a day as +could be wished for. From its associations it ought to have been a day +of rest and peace to all; but it was not. There was terrible slaughter +among men that Sunday in Virginia. During the morning, I took advantage +of an opportunity offered me to go down to Alexandria, in Virginia, +about five or six miles below Washington, which was then occupied by a +portion of the Federal Army. Everything in the place had the appearance +of war. There were more soldiers than civilians about. Hotels were +turned into barracks and military storehouses. The hotel where Colonel +Ellsworth, of the New York Fire Zouaves, was shot by the proprietor for +hauling down the Confederate flag—which the latter had hoisted over his +house—had been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +taken possession of by the military authorities, and +the whole place was under martial law. It was there I first heard +rumours of a battle being fought in the neighbourhood of Manassas +Junction. These rumours were soon confirmed by the roar of cannon in the +distance, and the hurrying of fresh troops from Washington to the field +of battle. But they were not needed. Before they could reach the field +the “stampede” had commenced, and the retreating hosts came like a +rushing tide upon the advancing few, and carried them back, absorbed in +the unshapen mass of confusion.</p> + +<p>The night came, and little was known by the inhabitants of Washington of +the rout and rush of terrified men towards the city; but the next +morning revealed the fact.</p> + +<p>Wet and wretched was the morning after the battle. The heavens seemed to +weep over the disgrace as the men poured into the city, singly and in +groups, unofficered, and without their firearms, which many had lost, or +thrown away in their flight. The citizens gathered round them, anxious +to learn all about the defeat, and the whereabouts of the Confederate +army, and invited them into their houses to take refreshment and rest. +Several instances of this impromptu hospitality and sympathy I witnessed +myself; and many of the weary and wounded soldiers I talked to. They +that were only slightly wounded in the hands and arms had their wounds +washed and dressed by the wives and daughters of many of the residents. +The hotels were crowded, and the “bars” were besieged by the drenched +and fatigued soldiers, whom the curious and sympathizing citizens +invited to “liquor.” The men all told wonderful stories of the fight and +of their own escape, but none could tell satisfactorily what had created +the panic. Some said that a few “teamsters” took the alarm, and, riding +to the rear in hot haste, conveyed the impression that an exterminating +pursuit by the Confederates had commenced.</p> + +<p>In a day or two the majority of the men were mustered +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +together again, +and occupied their old camping grounds, where I visited them, and heard +many of their stories, and got some of the relics of the battle field. +Fresh troops were raised, and placed under the command of another +general. But it was long before another “onward march to Richmond” was +attempted. The North had learned something of the strength and prowess +of the South, and began to prepare for a longer and fiercer struggle +with “Secession.”</p> + +<p>Such are the two pictures of the Potomac which I have endeavoured to +reproduce, and which fell under my observation during my professional +peregrinations in connection with the practice of photography.</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>RAMBLES AMONG THE STUDIOS OF AMERICA.</h3> + +<h3 class="smcap">Boston.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">My</span> impressions of America, from a photographic point of observation, +were taken at two distinct periods—which I might call the two epochs of +photographic history—the dry and the wet; the first being the +Daguerreotype, and the second what may be termed the present era of +photography, which includes the processes now known and practised.</p> + +<p>I take Boston as my starting point for several reasons. First, because +it was the first American city I visited; secondly, it was in Boston +that the change first came over photography which wrought such a +revolution in the art all over the United States; thirdly and severally, +in Boston I noticed many things in connection with photography which +differed widely from what I had known and practised in England.</p> + +<p>Visiting the gallery of Mr. Whipple, then in Washington Street, the +busiest thoroughfare in Boston, I was struck with the very large +collection of Daguerreotype portraits there exhibited, but particularly +with a large display of Daguerreotypes of the moon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +in various aspects. +I had heard of Mr. Whipple’s success in Daguerreotyping the moon before +I left Europe, but had no idea that so much had been achieved in lunar +photography at that early date until I saw Mr. Whipple’s case of +photographs of the moon in many phases. Those Daguerreotypes were +remarkable for their sharpness and delicacy, and the many trying +conditions under which they were taken. They were all obtained at +Cambridge College under the superintendance of Professor Bond, but in +what manner I had better allow Mr. Whipple to speak for himself, by +making an extract from a letter of his, published in <i>The Photographic +Art Journal</i> of America, July, 1853. Mr. Whipple says: “My first attempt +at Daguerreotyping the moon was with a reflecting telescope; the mirror +was five feet focus, and seven inches diameter. By putting the prepared +plate directly in the focus of the reflector, and giving it an exposure +of from three to five seconds, I obtained quite distinct impressions; +but owing to the smallness of the image, which was only about +five-eighths of an inch in diameter, and the want of clockwork to +regulate the motion of the telescope, the results were very far from +satisfactory.</p> + +<p>“Having obtained permission of Professor Bond to use the large Cambridge +reflector for that purpose, I renewed my experiments with high hopes of +success, but soon found it no easy matter to obtain a clear, +well-defined, beautiful Daguerreotype of the moon. Nothing could be more +interesting than its appearance through that <i>magnificent</i> instrument: +but to transfer it to the silver plate, to make something tangible of +it, was quite a different thing. The “governor,” that regulates the +motion of the telescope, although sufficiently accurate for observing +purposes, was entirely unsuitable for Daguerreotyping; as when the plate +is exposed to the moon’s image, if the instrument does not follow +exactly to counteract the earth’s motion, even to the nicety of a +hair’s-breadth, the beauty of the impression is much injured, or +entirely spoiled. The governor had a tendency to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +move the instrument a +little too fast, then to fall slightly behind. By closely noticing its +motion, and by exposing my plates those few seconds that it exactly +followed between the accelerated and retarded motion, I might obtain one +or two perfect proofs in the trial of a dozen plates, other things being +right. But a more serious obstacle to my success was the usual state of +the atmosphere in the locality—the sea breeze, the hot and cold air +commingling, although its effects were not visible to the eye; but when +the moon was viewed through the telescope it had the same appearance as +objects when seen through the heated air from a chimney, in a constant +tremor, precluding the possibility of successful Daguerreotyping. This +state of the atmosphere often continued week after week in a greater or +less degree, so that an evening of perfect quiet was hailed with the +greatest delight. After oft-repeated failures, I finally obtained the +Daguerreotype from which the crystallotypes I send for your journal were +copies; it was taken in March, 1851. The object glass only of the +telescope was used. It is fifteen inches in diameter, and about +twenty-three feet focal length; the image it gives of the moon varies +but little from three inches, and the prepared plate had an exposure of +thirteen seconds.”</p> + +<p>Copies of several of these “crystallotypes” of the moon I afterwards +obtained and exhibited at the Photographic Exhibition in connection with +the British Association which met in Glasgow in 1855. The +“crystallotypes” were simply enlarged photographs, about eight or nine +inches in diameter, and conveyed to the mind an excellent idea of the +moon’s surface. The orange-like form and the principal craters were +distinctly marked. Indeed, so much were they admired as portraits of the +moon, that one of the <i>savans</i> bought the set at the close of the +exhibition.</p> + +<p>Mr. Whipple is still a successful practitioner of our delightful art in +the “Athens of the Western World,” and has reaped the reward of his +continuity and devotion to his favourite +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +art. The late decision of the +American law courts on the validity of Mr. Cutting’s patent for the use +of bromides in collodion must have laid Mr. Whipple under serious +liabilities, for he used bromo-iodized negative collodion for iron +development as far back as 1853.</p> + +<p>There were many other professional photographers in the chief city of +Massachusetts; but I have described the characteristics of the principal +and oldest concerns. Doubtless there are many new ones since I visited +the city where Benjamin Franklin served his apprenticeship as a printer; +where the “colonists” in 1773, rather than pay the obnoxious “tea tax,” +pitched all the tea out of the ships into the waters of Boston Bay, and +commenced that long struggle against oppression and unjust taxation +which eventually ended in severing the North American Colonies from the +mother country. With the knowledge of all this, it is the more +surprising that they should now so quietly submit to what must be an +obnoxious and troublesome system of taxation; for, not only have +photographers to pay an annual licence of about two guineas for carrying +on their trade, but also to affix a government stamp on each picture +sent out, which is a further tax of about one penny on each. Surely the +patience of our brother photographers on the other side of the Atlantic +must be sorely tried, what with the troubles of their business, the +whims and eccentricities of their sitters, Mr. Cutting’s unkind cut, and +the prowling visitations of the tax-collector.</p> + +<h3 class="smcap">New York.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">What</span> a wonderful place New York is for photographic galleries! Their +number is legion, and their size is mammoth. Everything is “mammoth.” +Their “saloons” are mammoth. Their “skylights” are mammoth. Their +“tubes,” or lenses, are mammoth. Their “boxes,” or cameras, are mammoth; +and <i>mammoth</i> is the amount of business that is done in some of those +“galleries.” The “stores” of the dealers in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +photographic “stock” are +mammoth; and the most mammoth of all is the “store” of Messrs. E. & H. +T. Anthony, on Broadway. This establishment is one of the many palaces +of commerce on that splendid thoroughfare. The building is of iron, tall +and graceful, of the Corinthian order, with Corinthian pilasters, +pillars, and capitals. It is five storeys high, with a frontage of about +thirty feet, and a depth of two hundred feet, running right through the +“block” from Broadway to the next street on the west side of it. This is +the largest store of the kind in New York; I think I may safely say, in +either of the two continents, east or west, containing a stock of all +sorts of photographic goods, from “sixpenny slides” to “mammoth tubes,” +varying in aggregate value from one hundred and fifty thousand to two +hundred thousand dollars. The heads of the firm are most enterprising, +one taking the direction of the commercial department, and the other the +scientific and experimental. Nearly all novelties in apparatus and +photographic requisites pass through this house into the hands of our +American <i>confrères</i> of the camera, and not unfrequently find their way +to the realms of Queen Victoria on both sides of the Atlantic.</p> + +<p>When the carte-de-visite pictures were introduced, the oldest and +largest houses held aloof from them, and only reluctantly, and under +pressure, took hold of them at last. Why, it is difficult to say, unless +their very small size was too violent a contrast to the mammoth pictures +they were accustomed to handle. Messrs. Rockwood and Co., of Broadway, +were the first to make a great feature of the carte-de-visite in New +York. They also introduced the “Funnygraph,” but the latter had a very +short life.</p> + +<p>In the Daguerreotype days there was a “portrait factory” on Broadway, +where likenesses were turned out as fast as coining, for the small +charge of twenty-five cents a head. The arrangements for such rapid work +were very complete. I had a dollar’s +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +worth of these “factory” +portraits. At the desk I paid my money, and received four tickets, which +entitled me to as many sittings when my turn came. I was shown into a +waiting room crowded with people. The customers were seated on forms +placed round the room, sidling their way to the entrance of the +operating room, and answering the cry of “the next” in much the same +manner that people do at our public baths. I being “the next,” at last +went into the operating room, where I found the operator stationed at +the camera, which he never left all day long, except occasionally to +adjust a stupid sitter. He told the next to “Sit down” and “Look thar,” +focussed, and, putting his hand into a hole in the wall which +communicated with the “coating room,” he found a dark slide ready filled +with a sensitised plate, and putting it into the camera, “exposed,” and +saying “That will dew,” took the dark slide out of the camera, and +shoved it through another hole in the wall communicating with the +mercury or developing room. This was repeated as many times as I wanted +sittings, which he knew by the number of tickets I had given to a boy in +the room, whose duty it was to look out for “the next,” and collect the +tickets. The operator had nothing to do with the preparation of the +plates, developing, fixing, or finishing of the picture. He was +responsible only for the “pose” and “time,” the “developer,” checking +and correcting the latter occasionally by crying out “Short” or “Long” +as the case might be. Having had my number of “sittings,” I was +requested to leave the operating room by another door which opened into +a passage that led me to the “delivery desk,” where, in a few minutes, I +got all my four portraits fitted up in “matt, glass, and +preserver,”—the pictures having been passed from the developing room to +the “gilding” room, thence to the “fitting room” and the “delivery +desk,” where I received them. Thus they were all finished and carried +away without the camera operator ever having seen them. Three of the +four portraits were as fine +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +Daguerreotypes as could be produced +anywhere. Ambrotypes, or “Daguerreotypes on glass” as some called them, +were afterwards produced in much the same manufacturing manner.</p> + +<p>There were many other galleries on Broadway: Canal Street; the Bowery; +the Avenues, 1, 2, and 3; A, B, and C, Water Street; Hudson Street, by +the shipping, &c., the proprietors of which conducted their business in +the style most suited to their “location” and the class of customers +they had to deal with; but in no case was there any attempt at that “old +clothesman”—that “Petticoat Lane”—style of touting and dragging +customers in by the collar. All sorts of legitimate modes of advertising +were resorted to—flags flying out of windows and from the roofs of +houses; handsome show cases at the doors; glowing advertisements in the +newspapers, in prose and verse; circulars freely distributed among the +hotels, &c.; but none of that “have your picture taken,” annoying, and +disreputable style adopted by the cheap and common establishments in +London.</p> + +<p>Unhappily, “Sunday trading” is practised more extensively in New York +than in London. Nearly all but the most respectable galleries are open +on Sundays, and evidently do a thriving trade. The authorities +endeavoured to stop it frequently, by summoning parties and inflicting +fines, but it was no use. The fines were paid, and Sunday photography +continued.</p> + +<p>The “glass houses” of America differ entirely from what we understand by +the name here; indeed, I never saw such a thing there, either by chance, +accident, or design—for chance has no “glass houses” in America, only +an agency; there are no accidental glass houses, and the operating rooms +built by design are not “glass houses” at all.</p> + +<p>The majority of the houses in New York and other American cities are +built with nearly flat roofs, and many of them with lessening storeys +from front to back, resembling a flight of two or three steps. In one of +these roofs, according to circumstances, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +a large “skylight” is fixed, and pitched usually at an angle of 45°, and +the rooms, as a rule, are large enough to allow the sitter to be placed +anywhere within the radius of the light, so that any effect or any view +of the face can easily be obtained.</p> + +<p>The light is not any more actinic there than here in good weather, but +they have a very great deal more light of a good quality <i>all the year +round</i> than we have.</p> + +<p>The operators work generally with a highly bromized collodion, which, as +a rule, they make themselves, but not throughout. They buy the +gun-cotton of some good maker—Mr. Tomlinson, agent for Mr. Cutting, +generally supplied the best—then dissolve, iodize, and bromize to suit +their working.</p> + +<p>Pyrogallic acid as an intensifier is very little used by the American +operators, so little that it is not kept in stock by the dealers. +Requiring some once, I had quite a hunt for it, but found some at last, +stowed away as “Not Wanted,” in Messrs. Anthony’s store. The general +intensifier is what they laconically call “sulph.,” which is sulphuret +of potassium in a very dilute solution, either flowed over the plate, or +the plate is immersed in a dipping bath, after fixing, which is by far +the <i>pleasantest</i> way to employ the “sulph. solution.” Throwing it about +as some of them do is anything but agreeable. In such cases, “sulph.” +was the first thing that saluted my olfactories on putting my head +inside one of their “dark rooms.”</p> + +<p>Up to 1860 the American photographic prints were all on plain paper, and +obtained by the ammonia nitrate of silver bath, and toned and fixed with +the hyposulphite of soda and gold. The introduction of the +cartes-de-visite forced the operators to make use of albumenized paper; +but even then they seemed determined to adhere to the ammonia process if +possible, for they commenced all sorts of experiments with that volatile +accelerator, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +both wet and dry, some by adding ammonia and ether to an +80-grain silver bath, others by fuming, and toning with an acetate and +gold bath, and fixing with hypo afterwards.</p> + +<p>With the following “musings” on “wrappers” (not “spirit wrappers,” nor +railway wrappers, but “carte-de-visite wrappers”), I shall conclude my +rambles among the galleries of New York. Wrappers generally afford an +excellent opportunity for ornamental display. Many of the wrappers of +our magazines are elegantly and artistically ornamented. Nearly every +pack of playing cards is done up in a beautiful wrapper. The French have +given their attention to the subject of “carte-de-visite wrappers,” and +turned out a few unique patterns, which, however, never came much into +use in this country. The Americans, more alive to fanciful and tasteful +objects of ornamentation, and close imitators of the French in these +matters, have made more use of carte-de-visite wrappers than we have. +Many wrappers of an artistic and literary character are used by the +photographers in America—some with ornamental designs; some with the +address of the houses tastefully executed; others with poetical +effusions, in which the cartes-de-visite are neatly wrapped up, and +handed over to the sitter.</p> + +<p>Surely a useful suggestion is here given, for wrappers are useful things +in their way, and, if made up tastefully, would attract attention to the +photographic establishments that issue them. Photography is so closely +allied to art that it is desirable to have everything in connection with +it of an elegant and artistic description. The plain paper +envelopes—gummed up at the ends, and difficult to get open again—are +very inartistic, and anything but suitable to envelop such pretty little +pictures as cartes-de-visite. Let photography encourage art and art +manufactures, and art will enter into a treaty of reciprocity for their +mutual advancement.—<i>Photographic News</i>, 1865.</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> + +<h3>TO DUBLIN AND BACK, WITH A GLANCE AT THE EXHIBITION.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> bell rings; a shrill shriek; puff, puff goes the engine, and we dart +away from the station at Euston Square, provided with a return ticket to +Dublin, issued by the London and North Western Railway, available for +one month, for the very reasonable charge of £3, first-class and cabin; +£2 7s. 6d. second class and cabin; or forty shillings third class and +steerage, via Holyhead. These charges include steamboat fare and +steward’s fee. The Exhibition Committee have made arrangements with the +railway companies to run excursion trains once a fortnight at still +lower rates; twenty-one shillings from London to Dublin and back, and +from other places in proportion. This ticket will be good for a +fortnight, and will entitle the holder to another ticket, giving him two +admissions to the Exhibition for one shilling. With the ordinary monthly +ticket, which is issued daily, it is quite optional whether you go by +the morning or evening train; but by all means take the morning train, +so that you may pass through North Wales and the Island of Anglesea in +daylight. Passing through England by Rugby, Stafford, Crewe, and +Chester, nothing remarkable occurs during our rapid run through that +part of the country. But an “Irish Gentleman,” a fellow traveller, +learning our destination, kindly volunteered to enlighten us how we +could best see Dublin and its lions in the shortest possible time, and +advised us by all “manes” not to “lave” Dublin without seeing “Faynix +Park,” and taking a car drive to Howth and other places round the “Bee +of Dublin.” Accordingly we agreed to take his advice; but as our primary +object in visiting Dublin is to see the Exhibition, we will first attend +to that on our arrival in the Irish capital; and if, after that, time +will permit, the extraneous lions will receive our attention. First of +all, we must describe how we got there, what we saw on the way, and what +were our impressions on entering Dublin Bay.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +As we said before, nothing particular occurred during our journey +through England to excite our attention or curiosity; but on passing +into Wales—Flintshire—our attention is at once arrested by the +difference of the scenery through which we pass. Soon after leaving +Chester, we get a sight of the river Dee on our right, and continue to +run down by its side past Flint, Bagillt, Holywell, and Mostyn, then we +take a bend to the left and skirt a part of the Irish Channel past Rhyl, +Abergele, and Colwyn to Conway, with its extensive ruins of a once vast +and noble castle, through, under, and about the ruins of which the +double lines of iron rails twist and twine and sinuously encoil +themselves like a boa constrictor of civilization and demolisher of +wrecks, ruins, and vestiges of the feudal ages and semi-barbarism. Our +iron charger dashes up to the very walls of the ancient stronghold, +close past the base of a tower, and right under the hanging ruins of +another, which is in truth a “baseless fabric,” but no “vision,” for +there it is suspended in mid air, a fabric without a base, holding on to +its surroundings by the cohesive power of their early attachments. We +rush into the very bowels of the keep itself, snorting and puffing +defiance to the memoried sternness of the grim warriors who once held +the place against all intruders. Anyone who has not had an opportunity +before of visiting North Wales should keep a sharp look-out right and +left, and they will get a peep at most of the principal places on the +route: the Welsh mountains on the left, their summits illuminated by the +sun sinking towards the west, and the mass of them thrown into shadow in +fine contrast.</p> + +<p>Now we are at Penmænmawr, that pretty little watering place, with its +neat-looking houses snugly nestling in the laps of the hills, and we +pass along so close to the sea, we can feel the spray from the waves as +they break on the shore.</p> + +<p>Passing Llanfairfechan and Aber we are at Bangor, and almost immediately +afterwards make a dive into the long, dark chamber of the Tubular +Bridge, with a shriek and rumbling rattle that is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +almost startling. In +a few seconds we are out into the daylight again, and get a view of the +Straits of Menai; and on the right-hand side, looking back, get an +excellent sight of the Tubular Bridge. At the moment of our passing, a +ship in full sail was running before the wind through the Straits, which +added considerably to the picturesque beauty of the scene. On the left a +fine view of the “Suspension Bridge” is obtained. We are soon past +Llanfair, and across that bleak and desolate part of the island of +Anglesea between the Menai Straits and the Valley. Arriving at Holyhead, +we go on board the steamer which is to carry us across the Channel to +Dublin. The boat not starting immediately, but giving us a little time +to look around, we go on shore again, and saunter up and down the narrow +hilly streets of Holyhead, listening in vain for the sound of a word +spoken in our mother tongue. Not a word could we hear, not a word of +English could we get without asking for it. The most of the people can +speak English with a foreign-like accent, but you seldom hear it unless +you address them in English. Even the urchins in the streets carry on +their games and play in the Welsh and unintelligible sounds resembling +language.</p> + +<p>We also had time to examine the stupendous breakwater which the +Government is building at Holyhead to form a harbour of refuge. The wall +is a mile and three-quarters in length, and of immense thickness, in the +form of three terraces, the highest towards the sea. At one place we +noticed that the solid slatey rocks were hewn and dressed into shape, +and thus formed part of the wall itself, a mixture of Nature’s handiwork +and the work of man.</p> + +<p>Time to go on board again, and as the wind was blowing rather strong, we +expected to have a rough voyage of it; and sure enough we had, for we +were scarcely clear of the sheltering kindliness of the sea wall and the +“north stack” till our vessel began to “pitch and toss,” and roll and +creak, and groan in agony; and so highly sympathetic were we that we +did +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +the same, and could not help it, do what we could. Strong tea, +brandy and water, were all no use. Down we went, like prostrate sinners +as we were, on our knees, with clasped hands, praying for the winds and +the waves “to be still;” but they did not heed our prayer in the least, +and kept up their inhumane howling, dancing, and jumbling until, by the +time we reached the middle of the Channel, we began to think that the +captain had lost his course, and that we were somewhere between Holyhead +and purgatory, if not in purgatory itself, being purged of our sins, and +becoming internally pure and externally foul. But we discovered that we, +and not the captain, had lost the course and the even tenour of our way, +for we fancied—perhaps it was only fancy—that we could hear him +humming snatches of old song, among them “Oh! steer my bark to Erin’s +Isle!” and soon the mountains of Wicklow are in sight. As we near, and +get under the lee of the land—for it was a stiff “sou’-wester” that +bothered us—our sensations and feelings begin to improve, and we pick +ourselves up out of the mire, and turn our eyes eagerly and hopefully +towards the Emerald Isle, and Dublin Bay more particularly.</p> + +<p>As we approach the Bay, the Carlingford Hills can be seen on the right, +and a little more southwards Lambay and Ireland’s Eye. The latter island +is rugged and precipitous, seaward, in the extreme—a barren and +desolate-looking spot, possessing an unenviable notoriety on account of +the murder of a lady by her husband having been committed there a few +years ago: Howth, the light-house, and the Bailey Rock, where the <i>Queen +Victoria</i> steamer was wrecked, now attract our attention. And, as nearly +as we can remember, these are the most striking features on the north +side of the Bay. On the south the Harbour of Kingstown is distinctly +visible, and we saw the mail steamer which crosses from Holyhead to +Kingstown, a distance of sixty miles, in three and a half hours, blowing +off her steam. By paying a little extra you can cross in the mail +steamers, if you wish, but it is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +not worth while paying the difference, +as the ordinary steamers cross from Holyhead to Dublin in about five and +a half hours. All round the south side of the Bay we could trace the +Kingstown and Dublin railway, which is the oldest line but one in the +United Queendoms of Great Britain and Ireland. An obelisk commemorates +the visit of the last of the four Georges to Ireland in 1821. Right over +Kingstown the Killinny Hills are to be seen, and all along the water-line +the Bay is studded with pretty little villas, and the scene is +truly beautiful. If possible, arrange your entrance into the Bay of +Dublin in the early morning, for then the sun, rising in the east, +lights up the subjects to the very best advantage, and throws a charm +about them which they do not exhibit at any other time of the day. By +waiting at Holyhead for the early morning boat you can easily manage +this. But now we are at the North Wall, and on landing are besieged by +Carmen to have a “rowl,” and jumping on to one of those light, +odd-looking, jaunting cars which are one of the institutions of the +country, we are “rowled” up the North Wall for nearly a mile, past the +Docks, over the drawbridges, and past the Custom House—a large stone +building, too large for the business of the port—along Carlisle Bridge, +down Westmoreland Street, past the Bank of Ireland—once the Houses of +Parliament—and up Dame Street, leaving the College on our left, and +passing King William’s statue, representing a mounted Roman with +<i>gilded</i> laurels and ornamental toga, we arrive at Jury’s Hotel, a +commercial and family house of superior arrangements which was well +recommended to us before we left London; and here we rest.</p> + +<p>After breakfast, and having made ourselves internally and externally +comfortable, we start for the Exhibition, which is within easy walking +distance of the hotel; but the car fares are so very moderate that we +prefer a “rowl.” The fare is sixpence a “set down;” that is, you may +ride from one end of the city to the other for sixpence, but if you get +off to post a letter, or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +buy an umbrella to keep the rain off—for the +cars have no covering—that is a “set down;” and so every time you get +down and get up again you have sixpence to pay, no matter how short the +distance you are taken each time. So we hailed a car at the door of the +hotel, determined to be “rowled” to the Exhibition for sixpence each. We +go down Dame Street, across College Green, up Grafton Street, along the +west and south sides of St. Stephen’s Green or Square to Earlsfort +Terrace and the principal entrance to the Dublin Exhibition, which +occupies the site of what was formerly Coburg Gardens.</p> + +<p>Arriving at the entrance-hall, we pay our admission fee, and on passing +the registering turnstiles we are at once in the sculpture hall on the +ground floor, the contents of which we shall notice more particularly +by-and-by. Passing through the Sculpture Hall we are within the western +transept, or winter garden portion of the Exhibition. This transept is +500 feet long and of lofty proportions, with galleries on each side, and +tastefully hung with the banners and flags of the nations exhibiting. +The northern court is about 300 feet long, also of iron and glass, with +galleries running round both sides similar to the western transept. The +ground floor and part of the galleries of the northern court are devoted +to the productions of the United Kingdom. On the north side of the +northern court is the machinery department, both at rest and in motion. +Here machines of the most delicate and ponderous nature are at work. +There a forge-hammer daintily cracking nuts, or coming down with a +crushing force at the will of the attendant. In another place a delicate +curving-machine is at work; and another can be seen making steel pens. +There are high pressure engines, sewing machines, and photographic +rolling-presses. Indeed, there is almost everything to be seen and +everything going on that is instructive, edifying, and amusing. The +Exhibition building is small, but well arranged and compact, and +partakes of the character of an art and industrial exhibition and place of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +amusement and recreation, like our Crystal Palace at Sydenham, with +ornamental gardens and archery grounds attached. The gardens are +small—a little larger than the area of the building itself—but most +tastefully laid out. And there are fountains and grottoes, and rockeries +and cascades, with flowers growing about them, which give the whole +place a pleasant, healthy, and delightful appearance. Stepping out of +the western transept into the gardens, we found the band of the 78th +Highlanders playing in the centre, and their pipers walking about the +grounds ready to take up the strains of music in another key, for +presently we saw them marching about, playing “Hielan’ Skirls,” and +sounding the loud pibroch, with a five-bag power that was more stunning +than the nocturnal wailings of a dozen or two Kilkenny cats. The +directors furnish music and offer other inducements to secure a good +attendance, and their efforts ought to be successful, and it is to be +hoped they will be so.</p> + +<p>On the first day of our visit there was a grand archery meeting, and the +turn-out of Dublin belles was double in numbers. There was a large +attendance of bowmen, too, and belles and beaux were banging away at the +targets most unmercifully in keen contest for the prize; whether it was +a medal, a ring, or an heiress, we could not learn; but if nothing more +than the privilege of entering the lists against such lovely +competitors, the bowmen ought to have been satisfied; but we don’t +suppose they were, for men are both ambitious and avaricious, and +probably some of them hoped to win a prize medal, kill a beauty, and +catch an heiress all at once, with one swift arrow sent whizzing and +quivering into the very heart and gilded centre of the gaily-painted +target.</p> + +<p>Perched up on the top of the cascades we noticed a double sliding-front +stereoscopic camera, and doubtless Mr. York was busy photographing the +scene we have been describing—impressions of which the London +Stereoscopic Company will probably issue ere long. We must, however, +leave this gay +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +scene and turn our attention to other things, certainly +not more attractive; but duty calls us away from beauty, and we must +submit.</p> + +<p>Re-entering the Exhibition building, we seek the photographic +department, which we readily find on the ground floor, between the music +hall and the first-class refreshment-room. Entering from the Belgian +department in the western transept, we find three rooms in the main +building devoted to the exhibition of photographs, and a lobby between +the rooms pretty well filled with apparatus. To Sir J. Jocelyn Coghill +are photographers indebted for obtaining so much space for their works, +and in such a get-at-able situation; but it is a pity the rooms are not +better lighted. Many of the pictures on the screens are very +indistinctly seen, and some are in dark corners scarcely to be seen at +all.</p> + +<p>The foreign department, which is the first room we enter, is mainly made +up of reproductions of old and modern engravings, and copies of drawings +and paintings. One very remarkable photograph on the wall of this room +is an immense magnification of a flea, by A. Duvette. What a subject for +the camera!—one that suggests in sporting phraseology something more +than the “find,” the “chase,” and the “death.”</p> + +<p>A panoramic view of Rome, by M. Petagna, is a great achievement in +panoramic photography. There are seven impressions from 15 by 12 plates, +all carefully joined, and of equal tone. The point of view is “Tasso’s +Oak,” and the panorama gives us an excellent idea of Rome at the present +day.</p> + +<p>The British part of the Photographic Exhibition in Dublin might be very +properly denominated an enlargement of the Society’s exhibition now open +in Conduit Street, London. Nearly all the principal exhibitors there +have sent duplicates of their chief works to the Dublin Exhibition. +There is Robinson’s beautiful picture of “Brenda,” +his “May Gatherers,” “Sunshine,” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +“Autumn,” “Somebody Coming,” “Bringing home the May,” &c., +all old and familiar pictures, every one of which we have seen before. +Robinson himself in his study—a beautiful piece of photography, even to +his black velvet coat. Blanchard also repeats his “Zealot,” and other +subjects, and sends a frame full of his exquisite stereographs. England +also sends some of his charming stereoscopic pictures of Switzerland and +Savoy. Bedford’s contribution is much the same as his pictures in the +London exhibition. Among them are his lovely Warwickshire pictures. +Wet-plate photography is well represented, both in landscape, +portraiture, and composition. Among the latter, Rejlander is most +prominent. One frame containing some pictures showing the “expression” +of the hands, illustrates Rejlander’s artistic knowledge and ability +more than many of his other pictures. None but a thoughtful and +accomplished artist could have disposed of those members in such a +skilful manner. His pictures of “Grief,” “The Mote,” “The Wayfarer,” +“’Tis Light within—Dark without,” and his “Home, Sweet Home,” reveal +exquisite feeling in his treatment of such subjects. Thurston Thompson +also exhibits some of his fine reproductions of Turner. There is +“Crossing the Brook,” and “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage;” but a much +larger collection of these beautiful copies of Turner’s pictures are now +on view at Marion’s, in Soho Square.</p> + +<p>Dry plate photography is exemplified in all its phases, from the oldest +form of albumen alone, to the latest modifications with collodion, +collodio-albumen, Fothergill, tannin, malt, &c. The most prominent and +largest contributor to this department is Mr. Mudd. In addition to the +duplicates in the London Exhibition, he sends a few others, the most +remarkable of which is a large view of “Borrowdale,” a noble picture, +exquisitely treated, showing masses of light and shade and pleasing +composition which stamp it at once as a work of art.</p> + +<p>Mr. G. S. Penny exhibits some very fine examples of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +tannin and malt +process. They are soft and delicate, and possess sufficient force to +give powerful contrasts when necessary. Mr. Bull’s tannin and malt +pictures are also very good; his “Menai Bridge” particularly so.</p> + +<p>The amateur photographers, both wet and dry, make a good show. And among +the Irish followers of our delightful art are Sir J. J. Coghill, who +exhibits twelve very pretty views of the neighbourhood of +Castletownsend. Dr. Hemphill, of Clonmel, also exhibits a variety of +subjects, many of them pretty compositions and excellent photography.</p> + +<p>Dr. Bailey, of Monaghan, contributes both landscapes and portraits of +very good quality. Mr. T. M. Brownrigg shows seventeen photographs all +excellent examples of the wet collodion process. Many of them are +exquisite bits of photography, and evince an amount of thought and care +in selecting the best point of view, arranging the lines of the subject, +and catching the best effect of light so as to make them pictures, which +is seldom attended to by professional photographers.</p> + +<p>Amongst the Irish professional photographers in landscape work, Mr. F. +Mares, of Dublin, stands pre-eminent. His pictures of Killarney, and +views in the county of Wicklow, are very beautiful, and give evidence of +a cultivated eye and artistic taste in the selection of his subjects and +points of view. There are other excellent views and architectural +subjects by Irish photographers; but we are sorry to observe some that +really ought not to have been admitted. They are not even average +photography, being utterly destitute of manipulative skill, and as +deficient in art-excellence as they can well be.</p> + +<p>One branch of landscape, or, we should say, marine photography, is +without competition. We refer to those exquisite and charming +transparencies by Mr. C. S. Breese. His moonlight effect is wonderfully +managed; the water looks “alive,” and the moonlight is dancing on the +waves just as we have seen it far away upon the sea. His “Breaking Wave” +is marvellous, coming to shore with its cavernous curl; we almost fancy +we +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +hear its angry howl as it dashes itself into foam on the beach. We +have seen such a wave sweep the deck of a ship before now, and know well +with what a ponderous weight and velocity it comes; and we wonder the +more at Mr. Breese’s success in catching the wave in such a position. We +cannot, however, speak so highly of the “Sunlight” effects by the same +artist. The transparencies as photographs are inimitable; but there is +colour introduced into the skies which ought to have been taken up by +the rocks, and so carried into the foregrounds of the pictures, to be +natural. Such warm skies and cold middle distances and foregrounds are +too antagonistic for the harmony of nature.</p> + +<p>In portraiture, our Irish brethren of the camera contribute somewhat +liberally. In that branch we noticed the works of Messrs. Robertson and +Co., S. Lawrence, and G. Schroeder, of Grafton Street; Millard and +Robinson, Nelson and Marshall, and S. Chancellor, of Sackville Street, +Dublin. T. Cranfield, Grafton Street, also exhibits some photographs +beautifully coloured in oil.</p> + +<p>The most eminent English photographers also show up well. We saw the +well-known works of Mayall, Silvy, Claudet, Maull and Co., and others, +eminent in plain photography. Messrs. Lock and Whitfield exhibit a Royal +case of exquisitely coloured photographs of the Prince and Princess of +Wales, and Prince Albert Victor. Mr. G. Wharton Simpson also exhibits a +few specimens of his beautiful collodio-chloride of silver printing +process. There are some lovely specimens of that process with such a +frightfully ugly name, but which, in plain parlance, are pictures on +opal glass, though Mr. Helsby has christened them “Helioaristotypia +miniatures.” As a set-off to this, the next dry process that is +discovered should be called “Hydrophobiatypia.”</p> + +<p>In amateur portraiture, Mr. H. Cooper, Jun., exhibits a large number of +his clever life studies, as well as those quiet and charming +representations of his friends in their habits as they live.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +Solar camera enlargements are very numerously contributed. Mr. Claudet +sends some good pictures enlarged by solar camera, and developed with +gallic acid. Mr. Salomon also has some very good examples of enlarging. +Dr. D. Van Monckhoven is an exhibitor of the capabilities of his direct +printing camera. Mr. Mayall exhibits two series of very interesting +enlargements by the Monckhoven camera, printed direct on albumenized +paper; one is Tennyson, in eight different sizes, from a one-ninth to a +life-size head on a whole sheet of paper; of the other, Captain Grant, +there are seven similar pictures. These photographs are all bold and +vigorous and uniform in colour, and come nearer to our idea of what an +enlargement should be than anything we have yet seen. Of the two, that +of the Poet-Laureate is the best; the other is harsher, which is in all +probability due to the difference in the subjects themselves. We can +easily imagine that the face of Captain Grant, bronzed and +weather-beaten as it must be, will present more obstacles to the +obtaining of a soft negative than that of Tennyson. Specimens of +photo-sculpture are also to be seen at the Dublin Exhibition, many of +which are very pretty and life-like statuettes; but some of the figures +seem much too large in the <i>busts</i>, and the plinths on which the figures +of ladies stand are in very bad taste; being diminishing beads of a +circular form, they suggest the idea of a huge crinoline just dropped.</p> + +<p>Nearly all the denominations of photography have their representative +forms and impressions in this Exhibition; and the history of the art, +from the early days of the Daguerreotype to the latest vagary of the +present day, may be traced in the collection of photographs spread +before you on the walls and screens of the Dublin International +Exhibition. There is the Daguerreotype, the Ambrotype, and the +collodiotype, which ought to have been known as the Archertype; for the +wet collodion process, although it is the most important of all the +discoveries in photography that have been made since the first +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +pictures were obtained by Wedgwood, is without a name conferring honour on the +man who first applied collodion to photography. Archer’s name is +generally associated with it, but without taking that definite and +appellative form it ought to. We know that another claimant has been +“cutting in” for the honour, but unless that claim can be “backed up” by +data, we are not disposed to believe that it was anterior to 1851—the +year of the first exhibition; at that date we know that Mr. Archer took +photographs on collodionized glass plates. Then why should we not honour +Archer as the French honoured Daguerre, and call the wet collodion +process the Archertype?</p> + +<p>In printing and toning, there are samples of nearly all the formulæ that +have been discovered since the days of printing on plain salted paper +and fixing in “hypo” only. There are prints on plain paper and on +albumenized paper, toned and fixed in every conceivable way. There are +prints on glass, porcelain, and ivory; prints in carbon, from the +negative direct; and impressions in printer’s ink from plates, blocks, +and lithographic stones, which have had the subjects transferred to them +by the aid of photography. There are Wothlytypes, and Simpsontypes, and +Tooveytypes, and all the other types that have sprung from a desire to +introduce novelties into the art.</p> + +<p>In graphs and the various forms and fanciful applications of photography +to portraiture, &c., there are stereographs and micrographs, and the +old-fashioned “sit-on-a-chair” graphs, the “stand-not-at-ease” graphs, +the “small carte” graph, the “large carte” graph, the “casket gem” +graph, the “magnesium” graph, the “cameo” graph, the “double-stupid” +graph, and the latest of all novelties, the “turn-me-round” graph. The +latter is a great curiosity, and must have been suggested by a +recollection of that “scientific toy” of ancient manufacture with which +we used to awaken the wonder of our little brothers and sisters at +Christmas parties when we were boys, by twirling +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +before their astonished eyes a piece of cardboard with a bird painted on +one side and a cage on the other, both pictures being seen at the same +time during the rapid revolution of the card.</p> + +<p>In apparatus there is not much to talk about, the Pantascopic camera +being the chief novelty. There are several of the manufacturers +exhibiting in the photographic department, but we could not reconcile +ourselves to the circumstance of Mr. Dallmeyer not exhibiting in the +right place. His name is honoured by photographers, and he should have +honoured Photography by going in under her colours. If he must go to the +“scientific department,” he ought to have gone there with his scientific +instruments alone, and shown his photographic apparatus in the place +assigned for that purpose. True, he makes a handsome show, but that does +not atone for his mistake. Photographers are queer animals—jealous of +their rights, and as sensitive to slight as their plates are to light; +and we fear we are ourselves not much better. A large majority of +photographers stand by Mr. Dallmeyer, and very justly believe in his +1 and 2 B’s as shippers do in A 1’s at Lloyd’s; and <i>his</i> stand should +have been in the photographic department.</p> + +<p>In other parts of the Exhibition building there are various subjects +highly interesting to photographers.</p> + +<p>The chemical department has its attractions in samples of +collodio-chloride of silver, prepared by Messrs. Mawson and Swan, for +the opal printing process and the Simpsontype. Specimens of each type +are also to be seen there; and there are other chemicals used in +photography, even to dextrine and starch: the purity of the latter is +known by the size and length of its crystals.</p> + +<p>In metallurgy there is also something to interest photographers. Messrs. +Johnson and Sons exhibit some very fine samples of nitrate of silver, +double and treble crystallized, silver dippers, chloride of gold, +nitrate of uranium, and other scarce metals.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +Messrs. Johnson, Matthey, and Co. also exhibit some fine samples of +nitrate of silver and chloride of gold; and some wonderful specimens of +magnesium, in various forms, in wire and ribbon. One coil of ribbon is +4,800 feet long, and weighs 40 ounces; and there is an obelisk of +magnesium about 20 inches high, and weighing 162 ounces.</p> + +<p>There are many other things in this case of great value which have a +photographic bearing—amongst these a platinum boiler, valued at £1,500, +for the concentration and rectification of sulphuric acid; a platinum +alembic, value £350, for the separation and refining of gold and silver; +also an ingot of platinum, weighing 3,200 ounces, and valued at £3,840. +The exhibitors say that “such a mass of fused platinum is never likely +to be again produced.” The whole of the contents of Messrs. Johnson, +Matthey, and Co.’s case of precious metals, most of which have a direct +or indirect application to photography, are estimated at the enormous +value of £16,000!</p> + +<p>Mining, too, has its attractions for us; and as we near the Nova Scotia +division of the Exhibition building the needle of our observation dips +towards a bar of pure gold, weighing 48 pounds, and valued at £2,200 +sterling.</p> + +<p>By the gentlemanly courtesy of the Rev. Dr. Honeyman, Honorary Secretary +and Commissioner in Dublin, from the province of Nova Scotia, we were +favoured with a “lift” of this valuable lump of gold, and we could not +help exclaiming, “What a lot of chloride this would make!” But we had to +“drop it” very quickly, for the muscles of our fingers could not bear +the strain of holding it more than a few seconds. This bar of gold was +obtained from very rich quartz, specimens of which are to be seen near +it; and Dr. Honeyman informed us that the average daily remuneration +from such quartz was thirty shillings sterling per man.</p> + +<p>It is not generally known that the province of Nova Scotia is so rich in +gold; but, from statistics by the Chief Commissioner +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +of Mines for the province, we find that the average yield of the Nova +Scotia quartz is over 19 dwt. per ton, and richer than the quartz of +Australia; and the deeper the shafts are sunk the richer the quartz +becomes. In 1864 the total yield from all the gold districts of Nova +Scotia was 20,022 ounces, 18 dwts., 13 grs. Gold dust and scales have +also been found in the sands on the sea coast of the province, and in +the sands of Sable Island, which is eighty miles distant, in the +Atlantic Ocean. Having in our own colonies such an abundance of one of +the precious metals so extensively used in the practice of our art, +photographers need not be under any apprehension of having their +supplies cut off.</p> + +<p>Continuing our general survey, we stumble upon many things of +considerable interest. But, as our space will only allow us to +particularize those articles which have a photographic attraction, +direct or indirect, we must as far as possible imagine ourselves +something like animated photometers for the time being, registering the +aspects, changes, and remarkable phenomena connected with our art, and +whatever can be applied to photography and the use of photographers; or +whatever photography can be applied to, artistically or commercially +considered.</p> + +<p>Of some things non-photographic, but of interest to photographers as +well as others, we may be induced to say a little; but of most subjects +foreign to our profession we shall simply say to our readers, “We have +seen such wondrous things, go ye and do likewise.”</p> + +<p>We finished our last paper with a few comments on what was +photographically interesting in the province of Nova Scotia. Passing +from that to the provinces of the Lower and Upper Canadas, which are +very properly placed next door to each other, we are struck with some +very good and interesting photographs of Canadian scenery, both plain +and in colours, and a frame of portraits of the delegates of the British +North American Confederation. Samples of all kinds of native and Indian +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +manufactures, and specimens of mineral ores, chiefly iron and copper, +are also displayed here.</p> + +<p>Pursuing our way southwards from the Colonial division of the galleries, +we come to China and Japan. The geographical and relative positions of +the countries exhibiting are not strictly adhered to in the plan of the +Exhibition, so we must, of necessity, make some “long legs,” and +experience some imaginary transitions of temperature during our journey +of observation. In Japan we stop to look at a life-size group of female +figures, representing a princess at her toilette, attended by four +female slaves, books illustrated with wood-cuts, plain and coloured, +bronzes, and many other articles of art and manufacture, by the +Japanese, of much interest.</p> + +<p>In China, there is a State bedstead of great beauty, books of paintings +upon rice-paper, and many beautiful bronzes, carvings, and other +specimens of Chinese art.</p> + +<p>We pass through Turkey, and next come to Siam, but the latter country +does not exhibit much, except of a “seedy” character. We admit we are +sometimes addicted to making puns, but the Siamese send puns for +exhibition. There is an article called “pun,” which is “prepared lime, +coloured pink with turmeric,” but to what use it is applied we have not +been enlightened.</p> + +<p>Passing through France, Austria, Prussia, Belgium, and Holland, without +stopping to notice anything particularly, and turning into the south +corridor, we enter the Water Colour Gallery, which we quickly leave, +sighing, “How unlike that beautiful and attractive section of the Art +Treasure Exhibition at Manchester in 1857!” Hastening into the Central +Picture Gallery, we are much struck with the different appearance it +presents, and find numbers of ladies and gentlemen admiring the numerous +productions by painters belonging to the various foreign schools. Among +these works are some grand subjects, both in historical and ideal +composition, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +landscape representations. This gallery has a particularly noble and +handsome appearance. It is oblong, well-lighted, and open in the middle, +by which means the Sculpture Hall, which is underneath, is lighted. The +sides of the gallery next the open space are handsomely railed round, +and pedestals, with marble busts and statuettes on them, are tastefully +arranged at intervals, leaving room enough for you to look down into the +Sculpture Hall below. What with the fine pictures on the walls and +staircase, and the noble statues in marble about and below, you cannot +but come to the conclusion that this is a noble temple of art.</p> + +<p>We next enter the east front room, which contains the works of the +Belgian artists. Many of these paintings are very finely conceived and +executed. The largest and most striking of them is the “Defeat of the +Duke of Alençon’s Troops by the Citizens of Antwerp,” painted by A. +Dillens.</p> + +<p>Now we enter the Great Picture Gallery, which is devoted to the painters +belonging to the British school. Here we find many of the well-known +works from the National Gallery and Kensington Museum. There are +examples of the works of Callcott, Collins, Wilkie, Wilson, Turner, +Landseer, Mulready, Etty, Egg, Ward, Leslie, and a host of others. Her +Majesty the Queen also sends several pictures from her private +collection, as examples of the works of Winterhalter, Thomas, and +Stanfield. Nearly all the British artists are creditably represented in +the Dublin International Art Exhibition.</p> + +<p>We next come to the Collection of Ancient Masters in the North Gallery, +which we enter from the North Corridor. To this part of the Fine Art +Exhibition the Earl of Portarlington is the most liberal contributor. He +sends examples of Titian, Rubens, Carlo Dolci, Tintoretto, Canalette, +Claude, Watteau, Rembrandt, Gerard Dow, Schneiders, Vandevelde, Sir +Joshua Reynolds, Sir Peter Lely, and others. The Marquis of Drogheda +also sends several examples of the same masters, some of them +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +very fine +ones. Sir Charles Coote sends a great many paintings; among them a +Murillo, a Guido, and a Gainsborough.</p> + +<p>Thence we pass into the Mediæval Court, where we find nothing but +croziers, sacramental cups and plates, carved panels for pulpits and +clerks’ desks, reminding us of “responses” and “amens.” These we leave +to Churchmen, enthusiastic Puseyites, and devotees of Catholicism. And +we wend our way round the galleries, passing through Switzerland and +Italy into the United Kingdom, where we stop to examine some of the art +manufactures peculiar to Ireland, and are particularly interested in the +specimens of Irish bog oak, carved most tastefully into various +ornaments, such as brooches, pins, paper-knives, &c., and sculptured +into humorous and characteristic statuettes. The most noticeable of that +class of Irish art and industry is a clever group, entitled, “Where’s +the man that dare tread on my coat?” This really humorous and artistic +statuette is one of a group of two. One is a rollicking Irishman +brandishing his shillelagh over his head and trailing his coat on the +ground, which is the Irishman’s challenge for a fight at such places as +Donnybrook Fair. The other Irishman, who is equally ready for a “row,” +is in the act of treading on the coat, as an acceptance of the +challenge. The story is so cleverly told, that we almost fancy we see +the fight begin, and hear the shillelaghs cracking crowns in a genuine +Irish row.</p> + +<p>Pushing on through India to the British Colonies again, whence we +started, we descend to the ground floor, and resume our survey of +Sweden, Norway, Italy, and Rome, and turn into the Music Hall, which is +on the south side of the entrance and Statuary Hall. Here we find the +organ builders at work on the grand organ, blowing up one pipe after +another, and producing such volumes of inharmonious sounds that we are +glad to leave them to the full and hearty enjoyment of their pipes, +chords, discords, and bellows-blowing. The walls of the Music Hall are +nearly covered with cartoons and paintings of a high-class, some +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +of them so high that we require an opera-glass to bring them within the +range of our visual organs.</p> + +<p>We next enter the Sculpture Hall with a view of examining the statues +and describing them carefully. But they are so numerous that we can only +find space to call attention to the most striking. There are over three +hundred pieces of sculpture from various countries, comprising colossal +and life-size figures, groups, busts, statuettes, and alto-relievos in +marble and bronze. The most attractive of the marble statues are +“Michael Angelo, when a child, sculpturing the head of a Faun” (his +first work), by Emilio Zocchi, of Florence. The earnestness of purpose +and devotion to his task are wonderfully expressed in the countenance of +the boy-sculptor. Plying the hammer and chisel actively and vigorously, +every part of the figure betokens a thorough abandonment to his +occupation. A very remarkable work by a lady sculptor—Miss Harriett +Hosmer—entitled “The Sleeping Faun,” is the very opposite to the other, +in its complete abandonment to repose. This fine statue has been +purchased by Mr. Guiness, and we were told he had given a munificent sum +for it. Another piece of exquisite beauty and daring skill in marble +working is “The Swinging Girl,” by Pietro Magni, of Milan, the sculptor +of “The Reading Girl,” which attracted so much attention in the +International Exhibition of 1862. The figure of the girl swinging is +beautifully modelled, and entirely free from contact with the base; and +is supported only by the swing attached to the branch of a tree, and the +hand of a boy giving action to the subject. “Ophelia,” by W. C. +Marshall, is perhaps the most poetic conception of the loveliest and +most mournful of Shakespeare’s creations that has ever been sculptured. +It is almost impossible to look at this touching representation of +Ophelia in her madness without exclaiming, in a modified quotation of +her own description of Hamlet—</p> + +<p class="center smaller">“O, what a gentle mind is here o‘erthrown.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> + +<p>But we must stop. To go on in this way describing all the beautiful +works of art in the Dublin Exhibition would fill a volume. Already we +have allowed our admiration to carry us beyond the limits we had +assigned ourselves. We have been tempted to describe more than +photographic works, but none that have not a value artistically or +otherwise to photographers. We recommend all our readers that possibly +can to go and see for themselves. The trip is a very pleasant one, and +need not be expensive; nor need much time be spent unnecessarily. A +week’s absence from business will give you five clear days in Dublin, +the other two only being occupied in travelling. Five days will be amply +sufficient to see the Exhibition and the “extraneous lions” of Dublin +also. If your time is limited, give a carman a job to “rowl” you to the +principal places of interest. But “by all means” select a rough, ragged, +red-headed, laughing-faced Irishman for your jarvey, and depend upon it +he will keep you in good humour during the whole of your trip. And every +time you come to a public-house he will say his “horse wants a dthrink,” +and “Won’t yer honours have a dthrop?” as if he was going to stand +treat; but of course you know what he means; besides, the idea of +allowing a carman to treat his fare is not to be entertained for a +moment, nor can you resist the good-humoured intimation of his desire to +drink your health, for which honour, as a matter of course, you pay +costs.</p> + +<p>Having endeavoured to conduct our readers to Dublin, and give them a +glance at the Exhibition, photographically and generally, we shall now +take our leave of the capital of Ireland, and return to town in much the +same manner as we went. We leave the Irish capital at 1.30 in the +afternoon, and, after a pleasant and quiet run across the Channel, enter +Holyhead harbour about seven o‘clock. This arrangement gives you an +opportunity of seeing the Welsh coast to the best advantage as you +approach. Stepping into the train which is waiting our +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +arrival, we are +speedily on our way home. At Rugby we have to change, and wait a little; +but before leaving there we pass the sign which only old masons and +travellers know, and are provided with a first-class bed and <i>board</i>, +and so make ourselves comfortable for the night. We know nothing more of +the remainder of the journey. Old Somnus has charge of us inside, and an +old kind-hearted guard takes care of us outside, until we are aroused by +the guard’s “Good morning, gentlemen!” about six o‘clock, a.m., within a +few miles of Euston Square. In conclusion, we sincerely recommend as +many of our readers as can to take a trip “to Dublin and back,” and a +glance at the Dublin International Exhibition.</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE NORTH.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> a recent journey northwards, I was tempted to stop at York, take a +look at the Exhibition there, and see if there were anything worth +notice in the Photographic Department. That part of the Exhibition is +exceedingly scanty, but the best Yorkshire photographers are well +represented, both in landscape and portraiture. Among the contributors +are the names of Sarony, Glaisby, Holroyd, Gowland, and other well-known +names. Mr. Sarony exhibits a couple of frames containing several “new +photo-crayons,” cartes-de-visite vignettes, which are very sketchy and +effective, exhibiting those free and “dashy lines” and “hatchings” so +characteristic of the “softening off” of artistic crayon drawings. This +effect may be produced by a process of double printing, but it is more +likely to have been obtained direct in the camera from a screen, having +the edges of the aperture “softened off” with some free touches, the +screen, in all probability, being placed between the lens and the +sitter. Mr. Sarony also exhibits some large photographs very beautifully +finished in colours. Messrs. Gowland exhibit, in a revolving case, a +very unique collection of medallions and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +vignettes, both plain and coloured, mounted on tinted grounds, which +give the pictures a very chaste and delicate appearance. The photographs +themselves are exquisite bits of artistic pose and careful manipulation. +They also exhibit a charming vignette of twenty-nine young ladies, all +cleverly arranged, each figure sharp and distinct, and evidently +recognisable portraits. This picture reminds one of Watteau, for the +figures are in the woods, only, instead of semi-nude nymphs, the sitters +are all properly and fashionably dressed young ladies. Messrs. Holroyd +contribute some very excellent cartes-de-visite and enlargements. Mr. E. +C. Walker, of Liverpool, exhibits some very beautiful opalotypes, or +“photographs on enamelled glass.” Mr. Swan, Charing Cross, London, also +sends specimens of his crystal cube portraits. Mr. A. H. Clarke, a deaf +and dumb photographer, exhibits some very good groups of the Princess of +Wales, Lady Wharncliffe, Lady Maud Lascelles, Countess Granville, and +the Hon. Mrs. Hardinge, taken in the conservatory, when the Princess and +suite were on a visit to Studley Royal, Yorkshire.</p> + +<p>Amongst the landscape photographs are to be found some of Bedford’s +finest views of Egypt and Jerusalem, Devonshire and Warwickshire, the +beauties of which are so well-known to everyone interested in +photography. Some of the local views by local artists are very fine; W. +P. Glaisby’s views of York Minster are capital, especially the +interiors. Messrs. Jackson Brothers, of Oldham, exhibit some very fine +views, and show what atmospheric effects the camera is capable of +rendering. That view of “Birstall Church” is a perfect master-piece of +photo-aerial perspective. There are also a considerable number of +photographic productions from the South Kensington Museum. Mr. Gregson, +of Halifax, exhibits some excellent photographs of machinery. In +apparatus there is nothing novel or striking, there being but one case +of cameras, &c., exhibited by a London maker. There is a “water +agitator” in the machinery +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +“annexe,” for washing photographic prints, but the invention is more +ingenious than effective, for the water is not agitated sufficiently, +except in the immediate neighbourhood of the fan or “agitator,” which +moves backwards and forwards in the water, in a manner somewhat similar +to the motion of the pendulum of a clock, and so laves the water to and +fro; but the force is not sufficient to prevent the prints from lying +close together at the extremities of the trough, and imperfect washing +is sure to be the result. The motion is given to the “agitator” by the +water falling on a small wheel, something like “Williams’s revolving +print washing machine.”</p> + +<p>To describe the Exhibition itself: It is rather like a “compound +mixture” of the church, the shop, and the show. The “Great Hall” is +something like the nave of a wooden cathedral, with galleries running +all round, and a grand organ at the end, peeling forth, at intervals, +solemn strains of long measure. Over the organ, in white letters on a +red ground, is the quotation, “He hath made all things beautiful in his +time.”</p> + +<p>The show cases on the floor of the Grand Hall are arranged as +indiscriminately as the shops in Oxford Street. In one case there are +exhibited samples of Colman’s mustard, in that next to it samples of +“Elkington and Co.’s plated goods,” and in another close by are samples +of saddlery, which give the place more the business aspect of a bazaar +than the desirable and advantageous classification of an exhibition. +Then you are reminded of the show by the frequent ringing of a loud +bell, and cries of “This way to the fairy fountain, just going to begin, +only twopence.” Such things jar on the ears and nerves of quiet +visitors, and are only expected in such a place as the Polytechnic in +London.</p> + +<p>The great features of the York Exhibition are the picture galleries; and +here a better order of things prevails. The collections are classified; +one gallery, or part of it, being devoted to the works of the old +masters, another +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +to the modern, and another to the water-colours. Among +the old masters are some fine portraits by Velasquez, Tintoretto, +Rembrandt, Vandyke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough, Sir Peter Lely, +and others. And some of those grand old landscapes by Salvator Rosa, +Rubens, Claude, Wilson, the English Claude, and George Morland, such +pictures as are rarely seen out of private collections. The modern +masters are abundantly represented by Wilkie, Etty, Frith, Westall, +Faed, Cope, E. Nicol, Stanfield, Linnell, and a host of others. Amongst +the water-colours are many fine examples of the works of Turner, the +Richardsons (father and sons), Birket Foster, &c., &c.</p> + +<p>Sculpture is very faintly represented, but there is a charming little +Canova, Dirce, exhibited by Lord Wenlock; an antique bust of Julius +Cæsar, which seems to have been found in fragments and carefully joined +together. This bust is exhibited by the Hon. P. Downay, and was found in +Rome amongst some rubbish, while some excavations were being made. There +is also an interesting series of marble busts of the Twelve Cæsars, +exhibited by Lord Londesborough. The Exhibition is open in the evening, +and brilliantly lighted with gas till ten o‘clock; and, taking it “all +in all,” it is a very creditable effort in the right direction, and does +honour to York and Yorkshiremen.</p> + +<p>Further north still, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, there is another exhibition +of “Arts and Manufactures,” the chief photographic feature of which is a +considerable display of “Swan’s Carbon Prints,” from several well-known +negatives by Bedford and Robinson. The promise of this process is very +great, and its commercial advantages were singularly demonstrated to me +when visiting the printing establishment of Mr. Swan, which I happened +to do on a dark and unfavourable day—one totally unfit for silver +printing; and yet I saw several very beautiful carbon prints that had +been produced that day, the rate of production being about eight to one +over silver printing. As a proof of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +the certainty and commercial application to which Mr. Swan has reduced +his beautiful process, I need only mention that he has undertaken the +printing of two thousand copies of the celebrated picture of “The First +General Assembly of the Church of Scotland,” painted by D. O. Hill. This +historical picture contains four hundred and fifty portraits: the +negatives were taken from the original painting by Mr. Annan, +photographer, Glasgow, and are 32 by 14 inches, and 24 by 9 inches; and +Mr. Swan has to turn off one thousand copies of each within a given +time. The publishers of the work give a guarantee to their subscribers +that every print shall be of a high standard, for each one has to pass +the examination of two competent judges. They also very justly pride +themselves on being the very first to translate and multiply such noble +works of art by a process “so beautiful, and, at the same time, +<i>imperishable</i>.” I saw several of the prints, both in process of +development and complete; and anything more like rich, soft, and +brilliant impressions of a fine mezzotint engraving I never saw, by any +process of photography.</p> + +<p>Mr. Swan’s arrangements for conducting the various parts of his process +are very extensive and complete; and his mode of “developing and +transferring” seems to be the very acme of perfection. But, as Mr. Swan +is about to publish a work containing a full description of the process, +with a beautiful specimen print as frontispiece, I will not anticipate +him, or mar his own comprehensive account of the details of a process +which he has brought to such a state of beauty and perfection, by an +amount of patient perseverance and thoughtful application rarely +exhibited or possessed by one individual.</p> + +<p>I also visited the photographic establishment of Messrs. Downey in +Newcastle, and there saw some <i>cabinet pictures</i> of the Princess of +Wales, taken recently at Abergeldie Castle. Messrs. Downey have just +returned from Balmoral with upwards of two hundred negatives, including +whole-plate, half-plate, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +and <i>cabinet</i> size, which will be published in +one or all those sizes, as soon as the orders of Her Majesty have been +executed. From the well-known reputation of the Messrs. Downey as +photographers, it is, in all probability, a treat in store for the +lovers of photography, to get a sight of their latest works at Balmoral +and Abergeldie.</p> + +<p>Mr. Parry, another excellent photographer in Newcastle, was also making +arrangements to introduce the new cabinet size picture in a style that +will insure its success.</p> + +<p>Altogether, the movements of the best photographers in the North are +highly commendable, and, with their notoriously practical minds, there +is little doubt of their undertakings becoming a success. Let us hope +that the same elements of energy and “push” will speedily impregnate the +minds of all photographers, and create a combination that will develop a +new form of popular beauty, and result in forming a salt that will +savour their labours, produce deposits of gold, and create innumerable +orders of merit.</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>ERRORS IN PICTORIAL BACKGROUNDS.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> have recently had a few papers on the necessity of art culture and +art knowledge in relation to photography, but they have chiefly been of +a theoretical and speculative character, few, if any, assuming a +practical form. “Apply the rod to teach the child” is an old saying, and +our artist-friends and teachers <i>have</i> applied the rod and belaboured +photography most unmercifully, but they have <i>not</i> taught the child. +They have contented themselves with abusing photographers for not doing +what was right, instead of teaching them how to avoid what was wrong.</p> + +<p>It will be my endeavour to point out, in this paper, some errors that +have crept into photographers’ and artists’ studios, and I hope to be +able to suggest a remedy that will lessen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +these evils, and elevate photography in the scale of art. The faults in +pictorial backgrounds that I invite your attention to, arise from the +neglect of the principles of linear and aerial perspective. I do not +speak of the errors in perspective that may exist in the backgrounds +themselves, viewing them as pictures; but I refer to the manifest fault +of depicting the sitter—the principal object—according to +one condition of perspective, and the background that is placed behind +him according to another. An unpardonable error in any work of art, +whether photograph or painting, is to represent a natural object in an +unnatural position. By this I do not mean an awkward and constrained +attitude, but a false position of the principal subject in relation to +the other objects by which it is surrounded. We frequently see +portraits, both full-length and three-quarter size, with landscape +backgrounds—or a bit of landscape to be seen through a painted or +actual window—of the most unnatural proportions in relation to the +figure itself. The head of the subject is stuck high in the +heavens—sometimes so high that, in relation to the painted +landscape, nothing shorter than a church steeple could attain such an +altitude. The trees and castles of the pretty landscape, supposed to be +behind the sitter, are like children’s toys; the mountains are like +footballs in size, and the “horizon” is not so much in relation to the +figure as the width of a fishpond is to a man standing on one side of +it. It must be admitted that artists themselves have set this bad +example of departing from truth to give increased importance to their +subjects by placing their figures against diminutive backgrounds; but +that is a liberty taken with nature which photographers should neither +imitate nor allow. Photography is, in all other respects, so rigidly +truthful that it cannot consistently sanction such a violation of +natural laws.</p> + +<p>Pictorial backgrounds have usually been painted on the same principle as +a landscape picture, and one of the earliest things the painter has to +determine is, where he shall represent that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +line where the sky and earth appear to meet—technically, the +<i>horizontal line</i>. This settled, all the lines, not vertical or +horizontal in the picture, below this are made to appear to rise up to +it, and those above descend, and if all these are in due proportion the +perspective is correct, no matter whether this governing line is assumed +to be in the upper, lower, or middle part of the picture. A painter can +suppose this imaginary line to be at any height he pleases in his +picture, and paint accordingly. In photography it is invariable, and is +always on a level with the lens of the camera. To illustrate the +relation of the horizontal line to the human figure, when a pictorial +background is to be introduced, let us imagine that we are taking a +portrait out-of-doors, with a free and open country behind the person +standing for his carte-de-visite. The camera and the model are, as a +matter of course, on the same level. Now focus the subject and observe +the linear construction of the landscape background of nature. See how +all the lines of the objects below the level of the lens run up to it, +and the lines of the objects above run down to it. Right across the lens +is the horizontal line, and the centre is the point of sight, where all +the lines will appear to converge. Suppose the lens to be on a level +with the face of the subject, the horizontal line of the picture +produced on the ground glass will be as near as possible as high as the +eyes of the subject. Trees and hills in the distance will be above, and +the whole picture will be in harmony. This applies to interior views as +well, but the ocular demonstration is not so conclusive, for the +converging lines will be cut or stopped by the perpendicular wall +forming the background. Nevertheless, all the converging lines that are +visible will be seen to be on their way to the point of sight. Whether a +natural background consisted of an interior, or comprised +both—such as a portion of the wall of a room and a peep through a +window on one side of the figure—the conditions would be exactly +the same. All the lines above the lens must +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +come down, and all that are below must go up. The following diagrams +will illustrate this principle still more clearly.</p> + +<div class="fig_center"> +<b>Fig. 1.</b><br /> +<img src="images/249_1.png" width="519" height="249" alt="" title="" /><br /> +<br /> +<b>Fig. 2.</b><br /> +<img src="images/249_2.png" width="513" height="389" alt="" title="" /><br /> +</div> + +<p>Fig. 1 is a section of the linear construction of a picture, and will +show how the lines converge from the point of observation to the point +of sight. Artists, in constructing a landscape of an ordinary form, +allot to the sky generally about twice the space between the base and +horizontal lines. But for portraits and groups, where the figures are of +the greatest importance and nearer to the eye, the proportion of sky and +earth is reversed, so as to give increased value to the principal figures, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +by making them apparently larger, and still preserving the +proper relation between them and the horizontal line (see fig. 2). This +diagram represents the conditions of a full-length carte portrait, where +the governing horizontal line is on a level with the camera. If a +pictorial background, painted in the usual way, with the horizontal line +low in the picture, is now placed behind the sitter, the resulting +photograph will be incongruous and offensive. It will be seen, on +referring to fig. 2, that all the lines below the horizon must of +necessity run up to it, no matter how high the horizontal line may be, +for it is impossible to have two horizons in one picture; that is, a +visible horizon in the landscape background, and an imaginary one for +the figure, with the horizontal line of the background far below the +head of the figure, and the head far up in the sky. The head of a human +figure can only be seen so far above the horizontal line under certain +conditions; such as being elevated above the observer by being mounted +on horseback, standing on higher ground, or otherwise placed +considerably above the base line, none of which conditions are present +in a studio. Whenever the observed and observer are on the same level, +as must be the case when a photographer is taking the portrait of a +sitter in his studio, the head of the subject could not possibly be seen +so high in the sky, if the lens included a natural background instead of +a painted one. As, for convenience, the painted background is intended +to take the place of a natural one, care should be taken that the linear +and aerial perspectives should be as true to nature as possible, and in +perfect harmony with the size of the figures. The lens registers, on the +prepared plate, the relative proportions of natural objects as +faithfully as the retina receives them through the eye, and if we wish +to carry out the illusion of pictorial backgrounds correctly, we <i>must</i> +have the linear construction of the picture, which is intended to +represent nature, as true in every respect as nature is herself.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +Aerial perspective has not been sufficiently attended to by the painters +of pictorial backgrounds. There are many other subjects in connection +with art and photography that might be discussed with advantage—such as +composition, arrangement of accessories, size, form, character, and +fitness of the things employed; but I leave all these for another +opportunity, or to someone more able to handle the subjects. For the +present, I am content to point out those errors that arise from +neglecting true perspective, and while showing the cause, distinctively +supply a remedy.</p> + +<p>It is not the fault of perspective in the background where the lines are +not in harmony with each other—these too frequently occur, and are +easily detected—but it is the error of painting a pictorial background +as if it were an independent picture, without reference to the +conditions under which it is to be used. The conditions of perspective +are determined by the situation of the lens and the sitter. If the +actual objects existed behind the sitter, and were photographed +simultaneously with the sitter, the same laws of perspective would +govern the two. What I urge is, that if, instead of the objects, a +representation of them be put behind the sitter, that representation +be also a correct one. The laws of perspective teach how it may be made +correctly, and the starting point is the position of the lens in +relation to the sitter.</p> + +<p>Some may say that these conditions of painting a background cannot be +complied with, as the lens and sitter are never twice exactly in the +same relation to each other. There is less force in this objection than +at first appears. Each photographer uses the same lens for all his +<i>carte</i> portraits—and pictorial backgrounds are very frequently used +for these—and the height of his camera, as well as the distance from +his sitter, are so nearly constant, that the small amount of errors thus +caused need not be recognized. If the errors that exist were not far +more grave, there would be no necessity for this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +paper. Exceptional pictures should have corresponding backgrounds.</p> + +<p>When a “sitter” is photographed standing in front of a pictorial +background, the photograph will represent him either standing in a +natural scene, or before a badly-painted picture. Nobody should +wittingly punish his sitter by doing the latter when he could do the +former, and the first step to form the desirable illusion is pictorial +truth. There is no reason why the backgrounds should not be painted +truthfully and according to correct principles, for the one is as easy +as the other. I daresay the reason is that artists have not +intentionally done wrong—it would be too bad to suppose that—but they +have treated the backgrounds as independent pictures, and it is for +photographers to make what use of them they think proper. The real +principles are, however, now stated, by which they can be painted so as +to be more photographically useful, and artists and photographers have +alike the key to pictorial truth.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, I would suggest to photographers the necessity of +studying nature more carefully—to observe her in their walks abroad, to +notice the gradual decrease of objects both in size and distinctness, to +remember that their lens is to their camera what their eye is to +themselves, to give as faithful a transcript of nature as they possibly +can, to watch the flow of nature’s lines, as well as natural light and +shade, and, by a constant study and exhibition of truth and beauty in +their works, make photography eventually the teacher of art, instead of +art, as is now the case, being the reviler of photography.</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>PERSPECTIVE.</h3> + +<div class="center"><i>To the Editors.</i></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>,—At the end of Mr. Alfred H. +Wall’s reply to Mr. Carey Lea’s letter on <i>Artists and Photographers</i>, I notice +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +that he cautions your readers not to receive the very simple rules of +perspective laid down in my paper, entitled <i>Errors in Pictorial +Backgrounds</i>, until they have acquired more information on the subject. +Allow me to state that all I said on perspective in that paper only went +to show that there should be but one horizon in the same picture; that +the lines of all objects <i>below</i> that horizon should run up to it; that +the lines of all objects <i>above</i> should run down, no matter where that +<i>one</i> horizon was placed; and that the horizon of the landscape +background should be in due relation to the sitter and on a level with +the eye of the observer, the observer being either the lens or the +painter.</p> + +<p>If your correspondent considers that I was in error by laying down such +plain and common sense rules, which everyone can see and judge for +himself by looking down a street, then I freely admit that your +correspondent knows a great deal more about <i>false</i> perspective than I +do, or should like to do.</p> + +<p>Again, if your correspondent cannot see why I “volunteered to instruct +artists” or painters of backgrounds, perhaps he will allow me to inform +him that I did so simply because background painters have hitherto +supplied photographers with backgrounds totally unfit for use in the +photographic studio.</p> + +<p>In spite of Mr. Wall’s assumption of superior knowledge on subjects +relating to art, I may still be able to give him a hint how to produce a +pictorial background that will be much more natural, proportionate, and +suitable for the use of photographers than any hitherto painted.</p> + +<p>Let Mr. Wall, or any other background painter, go <i>out</i> with the camera +and take a <i>carte-de-visite</i> portrait out-of-doors, placing the subject +in any well-chosen and suitable natural scene, and photograph the “sitter” +and the natural scene at the same time. Then bring the picture so obtained +into his studio and enlarge it up to “life-size,” which he can easily do by +the old-fashioned system of “squaring,” or, better still, by the aid of a +magic lantern, and with the help of a sketch of the scene as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +well, to enable him to fill in correctly that part of the +landscape concealed by the figure taken on the spot; so that, when +reproduced by the photographer in <i>his</i> studio, he will have a +representation of a natural scene, with everything seen in the +background in correct perspective, and in natural proportions in +relation to the “sitter.” This will also show how <i>few</i> objects can +naturally be introduced into a landscape background; and if the distant +scenery be misty and undefined, so much the better. It is the sharpness, +hardness, and superabundance of subjects introduced into pictorial +backgrounds generally that I object to, and endeavoured to point out in +my paper; and I consider it no small compliment to have had my views on +that part of my subject so emphatically endorsed by so good an authority +as Mr. Wallis, in his remarks on backgrounds at the last meeting of the +South London Photographic Society.</p> + +<p>I make no pretensions to the title of “artist,” although I studied +perspective, drawing from the flat and round, light and shade, and other +things in connection with a branch of art which I abandoned many years +ago for the more lucrative profession of a photographer. Were I so +disposed, I could quote Reynolds, Burnett, and Ruskin as glibly as your +correspondent; but I prefer putting my own views on any subject before +my readers in language of my own.</p> + +<p>I endeavour to be in all my words and actions thoroughly independent and +consistent, which is more than I can say for your correspondent “A. H. +W.” In proof of which, I should like to call the attention of your +readers to a passage in his “Practical Art Hints,” in the last issue of +<i>The British Journal of Photography</i>, where he says:—“It is perversion +and degradation to an art like ours to make its truth and unity +subservient to conventional tricks, shams, and mechanical dodges,” while +at the last meeting of the South London Photographic Society, when +speaking of backgrounds, he admitted they were <i>all conventional</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +Now, that is just what we do not want, and which was the chief object I +had in view when I wrote my paper. We have had too many of those +art-conventional backgrounds, and want something more in accordance with +natural truth and the requirements of photography.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, allow me to observe that I should be truly sorry were I +to mislead anyone in the pursuit of knowledge relative to our +profession, either artistically or photographically. But let it be borne +in mind that it is admitted on all sides, and by the best authorities, +that nearly all the pictorial backgrounds now in use are quite +unnatural, and totally unsuited for the purposes for which they are +intended. Therefore the paper I read will have done the good I intended, +and answered the purpose for which it was written, if it has been the +means of calling attention to such glaring defects and absurdities as +are now being perpetrated by background painters, and bringing in their +place more natural, truthful, and photographically useful backgrounds +into the studios of all photographers.—I am, yours, &c.,</p> + +<p class="tdr smcap">J. Werge.</p> +<p class="tdl"><i>February 10th, 1866.</i></p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>PERSPECTIVE IN BACKGROUNDS.</h3> + +<div class="center"><i>To the Editors.</i></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>,—I must beg of you to allow me to reply to Mr. Wall once +more, and for the last time, on this subject, especially as that +gentleman expects an answer from me.</p> + +<p>To put myself into a fair position with regard to Mr. Wall and your +readers, I will reply to the latter part of his letter first, by stating +that I endeavour to avoid all personality in this discussion, and should +be sorry to descend to anything of the kind knowingly. When I spoke of +“independency and consistency,” I had not in view anything relative to +his private character, but simply that kind of independence which enables +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +a man to trust to his own powers of utterance for the +expression of his ideas, instead of that incessant quoting the language +of others, to which your correspondent, Mr. Wall, is so prone. As to his +inconsistency, I mean that tendency which he exhibits to advocate a +principle at one time, and denounce it at another. I shall prove that +presently. Towards Mr. Wall, personally, I have neither animosity nor +pique, and would take him by the hand as freely and frankly as ever I +did were I to meet him at this moment. With his actions as a private +gentleman I have nothing to do. I look upon him now as a controvertist +only. So far, I hope I have made myself clearly understood by Mr. Wall +and all concerned.</p> + +<p>I also should like to have had so important a question discussed without +introducing so much of that frivolous smartness of style generally +adopted by Mr. Wall. But, as he has introduced two would-be-funny +similes, I beg to dispose of them before going into more serious matter. +Taking the “butcher” first (see the fifth paragraph in Mr. Wall’s last +letter), I should say that, if I were <i>eating</i> the meat, I should be +able to judge of its quality, and know whether it was good or bad, in +spite of all the butcher might say to the contrary; and surely, no man +not an out-and-out vegetarian, or lacking one of the five senses—to say +nothing of <i>common sense</i>—will admit that it is <i>necessary</i> to be a +“butcher” to enable him to be a judge of good meat. On the same ground, +I contend that it is <i>not</i> necessary for a man to be an artist to have a +thorough knowledge of perspective; and I have known many artists who +knew as little about perspective, practically, as their easel did. They +had a vague and dreamy idea of some governing principles, but how to put +those principles into practice they had not the slightest notion. I once +met an artist who could not put a tesselated pavement into perspective, +and yet he had some right to the title of artist, for he could draw and +paint the human figure well. Perspective is based on geometrical +principles, and can be as easily mastered +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +by any man not an artist as the first book of Euclid, or the first four +rules of arithmetic; and, for all that, it is astonishing how many artists +know so little about the working rules of perspective.</p> + +<p>Again: Mr. Wall is surely not prepared to advance the dictum that no one +can know anything about art but a professional artist. If so, how does +he reconcile that opinion with the fact of his great and oft-quoted +authority, Ruskin, not being an artist, but simply, in his public +character, a voluminous writer on art, not always right, as many artists +and photographers very well know.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wall objects to my use of the word “artist,” but he seems to have +overlooked the fact that I used the quotation marks to show that I meant +to apply it to the class of self-styled artists, or men who arrogate to +themselves a title they do not merit—not such men as Landseer, Maclise, +Faed, Philips, Millais, and others of, and not of, the “Forty.” Mr. Wall +may be an artist. I do not say he is not. He also is, or was, a painter +of backgrounds. So he can apply to himself whichever title he likes +best; but whether he deserves either one or the other, depends on what +he has done to merit the appellative.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wall questions the accuracy of the principles I advocated in my +paper. I contend that I am perfectly correct, and am the more astonished +at Mr. Wall when I refer to vol. v., page 123, of the <i>Photographic +News</i>. There I find, in an article bearing his own name, and entitled +“The Technology of Art as Applied to Photography,” that he says:—</p> + +<p>“If you make use of a painted cloth to represent an interior or out-door +view, the horizontal line must be at somewhere about the height which +your lens is most generally placed at, and the vanishing point nearly +opposite the spot occupied by the camera. * * * * I have just said that +the horizon of a landscape background and the vanishing point should be +opposite the lens; I may, perhaps, for the sake of such operators as are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +not acquainted with perspective, explain why. The figure and the +background are supposed to be taken at one and the same time, and the +camera has the place of the spectator by whom they are taken. Now, +suppose we have a real figure before a real landscape: if I look up at a +figure I obtain one view of it, but if I look down on it, I get another +and quite a different view, and the horizon of the natural landscape +behind the figure is always exactly the height of <i>my</i> eye. To prove +this, you may sit down before a window, and mark on the glass the height +of the horizon; then rise, and, as you do so, you will find the horizon +also rises, and is again exactly opposite your eye. A picture, then, in +which the horizontal line of the background represents the spectator as +looking up at the figure from a position near the base line, while the +figure itself indicates that the same spectator is at that identical +time standing with his eyes on a level with the figure’s breast or +chin—such productions are evidently false to art, and untrue to nature. +* * * * The general fault in the painted screens we see behind +photographs arises from introducing too many objects.”</p> + +<p>Now, as I advanced neither more nor less in my paper, why does Mr. Wall +turn round and caution your readers not to receive such simple truths +uttered by me? I was not aware that Mr. Wall had forestalled me in +laying down such rules; for at that date I was in America, and did not +see the <i>News</i>; but, on turning over the volume for 1861 the other day, +since this discussion began, I there saw and read, with surprise, the +above in his article on backgrounds. I am perfectly aware that I did not +say all that I might have said on perspective in my paper; but the +little I did say was true in principle, and answered my purpose.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Wall (in the second paragraph of his last letter) speaks of the +“principal visual ray going from the point of distance to the point of +sight, and forming a right angle to the perspective plane,” it seems to +me that he is not quite sure of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +the difference between the points of <i>sight</i>, <i>distance</i>, and +<i>observation</i>, or of the relation and application of one to the other. +However, his coming articles on perspective will settle that. It also +appears to me that he has overlooked the fact that my diagrams were +<i>sections</i>, showing the perspective inclination and declination of the +lines of a parallelogram towards the point of sight. In my paper I said +nothing about the <i>point of distance</i>; with that I had nothing to do, as +it was not my purpose to go into all the dry details of perspective. But +I emphatically deny that anything like a “bird’s eye view” of the figure +could possibly be obtained by following any of the rules I laid down. In +my paper I contended for the camera being placed on a level with the +head of the sitter, and that would bring the line of the horizon in a +pictorial background also as high as the head of the sitter. And if the +horizon of the pictorial background were placed anywhere else, it would +cause the apparent overlapping of <i>two</i> conditions of perspective in the +resulting photograph. These were the errors I endeavoured to point out. +I maintain that my views are perfectly correct, and can be proved by +geometrical demonstration, and the highest artistic and scientific +testimony.</p> + +<p>I wish it to be clearly understood that I do not advocate the use of +pictorial backgrounds, and think I pretty strongly denounced them; but +if they <i>must</i> be used by photographers, either to please themselves or +their customers, let them, for the credit of our profession, be as true +to nature as possible.</p> + +<p>I think I have now answered all the points worth considering in Mr. +Wall’s letter, and with this I beg to decline any further correspondence +on the subject.—I am, yours, &c.,</p> + +<p class="tdr smcap">J. Werge.</p> +<p class="tdl"><i>March 5th, 1866.</i></p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p> + +<h3>NOTES ON PICTURES IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the following notes on some of the pictures in the National Gallery, +it is not my intention to assume the character of an art-critic, but +simply to record the impressions produced on the mind of a photographer +while looking at the works of the great old masters, with the view of +calling the attention of photographers and others interested in +art-photography to a few of the pictures which exhibit, in a marked +degree, the relation of the horizon to the principal figures.</p> + +<p>During an examination of those grand old pictures, two questions +naturally arise in the mind: What is conventionality in art? and—In +whose works do we see it? The first question is easily answered by +stating that it is a mode of treating pictorial subjects by established +rule or custom, so as to obtain certain pictorial effects without taking +into consideration whether such effects can be produced by natural +combinations or not. In answer to the second question, it may be boldly +stated that there is very little of it to be seen in the works of the +best masters; and one cannot help exclaiming, “What close imitators of +nature those grand old masters were!” In their works we never see that +photographic eye-sore which may be called a binographic combination of +two conditions of perspective, or the whereabouts of two horizons in the +same picture.</p> + +<p>The old masters were evidently content with natural combinations and +effects for their backgrounds, and relied on the rendering of natural +truths more than conventional falsehoods for the strength and beauty of +their productions. Perhaps the simplest mode of illustrating this would +be to proceed to a kind of photographic analysis of the pictures of the +old masters, and see how far the study of their works will enable the +photographer to determine what he should employ and what he should +reject as pictorial backgrounds in the practice of photography. As a +photographer, then—for it is the photographic application of art +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +we +have to consider—I will proceed to give my notes on pictures in the +National Gallery, showing the importance of having the horizontal line +in its proper relation to the sitter or figure.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most beautiful example is the fine picture by Annibale +Carracci of “Christ appearing to Peter.” This admirable work of art as +nearly as possible contains the proportions of a carte-de-visite or +whole-plate picture enlarged, and is well worthy the careful attention +and study of every photographer; not only for its proportions and the +amount of landscape background introduced, showing the proper position +of the horizon and the small amount of sky visible, but it is a +wonderful example of light and shade, foreshortening, variety and +contrast of expression, purity of colour, simplicity of design, and +truthfulness to nature. Neither of the figures lose any of their force +or dignity, although the horizontal line is as high as their heads, and +the whole of the space between is filled in with the scene around them. +In its linear perspective it is quite in keeping with the figures, and +the scenery is in harmonious subjection, controlled and subdued by +aerial perspective.</p> + +<p>The large picture of “Erminia takes refuge with the Shepherds,” by the +same artist, is also a fine example of a horizon high in the picture. +The figure of Erminia is separated from the other figures, and could be +copied or reproduced alone without any loss of beauty and dignity, or +any violation of natural laws.</p> + +<p>Murillo’s picture of “St. John and the Lamb” suggests an admirable +background for the use of the photographer. It consists of dark masses +of rock and foliage. Nothing distinct or painfully visible, the distant +masses of foliage blend with the clouds, and there is nothing in the +background but masses of light and shade to support or relieve the +principal objects.</p> + +<p>In the picture of “Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene,” by Titian, the +water-line is above the head of Christ, but if the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +figure were standing +upright, the head of the Saviour would break the horizontal line.</p> + +<p>Titian’s “Bacchus and Ariadne” also has the water-line breast high, +almost to the neck of Ariadne. The figure of Bacchus springing from the +car, as a matter of course, is much higher in the sky. This picture +presents the perspective conditions of the painter having been seated +while painting such figures from nature, or similar to the results and +effects obtained by taking a group with the lens on a level with the +breast or lower part of the necks of figures standing.</p> + +<p>In Titian’s portrait of Ariosto there is a dark foliated background +which gives great brilliancy to the picture, but no sky is visible. The +“Portrait of a Lady,” by Paris Bardone, has an architectural background +in which no sky is to be seen. The picture is very brilliant, and the +monotony of a plain background is skilfully overcome.</p> + +<p>The picture of “St. Catharine of Alexandria,” by Raphael, has a +landscape background, with the horizon about as high as the breast, as +if the artist had been seated and the model standing during the process +of painting.</p> + +<p>Raphael’s picture of “The Vision of a Knight” is another example of the +fearlessness of that artist in putting in or backing up his figures with +a large amount of landscape background.</p> + +<p>The proportions of Correggio’s “Venus, Mercury, and Cupid,” are as +nearly as possible those of a carte-de-visite enlarged; and that picture +has no sky in the background, but a very suitable dark, cool, rocky +scene, well subdued, for the rocks are quite near to the figures. This +background gives wonderful brilliancy to the figures, and contrasts +admirably with the warm and delicate flesh tints.</p> + +<p>Correggio’s “Holy Family” has a landscape and architectural background, +with a very little sky visible in the right-hand corner.</p> + +<p>In the “Judgment of Paris,” by Rubens, the horizontal line +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +of the +background cuts the waist of the first female figure, showing that the +artist was seated. The other two female figures are placed against a +background of rocks and dark masses of foliage. Rubens’ picture of the +“Holy Family and St. George” is also a good example of the kind of +picture for the photographer to study as to the situation of the +horizontal line.</p> + +<p>The picture of “The Idle Servant,” by Nicolaes Maes, is also an +excellent subject for study of this kind. It shows the due relation of +the horizon of an interior in a very marked degree, and its shape and +subject are very suitable to the size and form of a carte-de-visite. So +are his pictures of “The Cradle” and “A Dutch Housewife.”</p> + +<p>The picture of “John Arnolfini of Lucca and his Wife,” painted by John +Van Eyck in the fifteenth century, is an excellent specimen of an +interior background, with a peep out of a window on one side of the +room. This is a capital subject for the study of photographers who wish +to use a background representing an interior.</p> + +<p>“The Holy Family at a Fountain,” a picture of the Dutch school, painted +by Schoorel in the sixteenth century, has an elaborate landscape +background with the horizon above the heads of the figures, as if the +artist had been standing and the models sitting.</p> + +<p>For an example of a portrait less than half-length, with a landscape +background, look at the portrait of “An Italian Gentleman,” by Andrea da +Solario. This picture shows how very conscientiously the old masters +worked up to the truth of nature in representing the right amount of +landscape in proportion to the figure; but the background is much too +hard and carefully worked out to be pleasing. Besides, it is very +destructive to the force and power of the picture, which will be at once +visible on going to the portraits by Rembrandt, which have a marvellous +power, and seem to stand right before the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +dark atmospheric backgrounds which that artist generally painted in his +portraits.</p> + +<p>There are other examples of half-length portraits with landscape +backgrounds, wherein the horizontal line passes right through the eyes +of the principal figure, one of which I will mention. It is that of the +“Virgin and Child,” by Lorenzo di Credi. In this picture the horizontal +line passes right through the eyes of the Virgin without interfering +with the interest of the chief object.</p> + +<p>Several examples of an opposite character are to be seen in the National +Gallery, with the horizon of the landscape background much too low in +the picture. It is needless to call special attention to them. After +carefully examining the works already named, and comparing them with the +natural effects to be observed daily, it will be quickly seen which is a +truthful picture in this respect, and which is a false one.</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>SHARPNESS AND SOFTNESS <i>V.</i> HARDNESS.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> discussion on “Sharpness: what is it?” at the meeting of the South +London Photographic Society in May, 1861, and the more recent discussion +on “Focussing” at the last meeting of the same Society, seem to me to +have lost much of their value and importance to photographers for want +of a better definition of the term <i>hardness</i> as applied to art, and as +used by <i>artists</i> in an <i>artistic sense</i>. Webster, in his second +definition of the word “hardness,” gives it as “difficulty to be +understood.” In that sense Mr. Wall succeeded admirably when he gave the +term <i>concentration</i>, in reply to Mr. Hughes, who asked Mr. Wall what he +meant by <i>hardness</i>. Fairholt gives the <i>art meaning</i> of the word as +“want of refinement; academic drawing, rather than artistic feeling.” +But even that definition would not have been sufficiently comprehensive +to convey an adequate idea of the meaning of the term in +contradistinction to the word <i>sharpness</i>, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +and I cannot but think that +Mr. Wall failed in his object in both papers, and lost considerable +ground in both discussions, by not giving more attention to the nice +distinctions of the two terms as used in art, and explaining their +artistic meanings more clearly.</p> + +<p>Sharpness need not be hardness; on the contrary, sharpness and softness +can be harmoniously combined in the representation of any object +desired. On the other hand, a subject may possess abundance of detail, +and yet convey to the mind an idea of <i>hardness</i> which the artist did +not intend. This kind of hardness I should attribute to a miscarriage of +thought, or a failure, from want of manipulative skill, to produce the +desired effect. For example: one artist will paint a head, model it +carefully, and carry out all the gradations of light and shade, and for +all that it will be <i>hard</i>—hard as stone, resembling the transcript of +a painted statue more than flesh. With the same brushes and colours +another artist will paint a head that may be no better in its drawing, +nor any more correct in its light and shade, but it will resemble +<i>flesh</i>, and convey to the mind of the observer a correct impression of +the substance represented—its flexibility and elasticity—that it is +something that would be warm and pleasant to the touch, and not make you +recoil from it as if it were something cold, hard, and repulsive, as in +the former case. Again, two artists will paint a fabric or an article of +furniture (say a table) with the same brushes, pigments, and mediums: +the one artist will render it so faithfully in every respect that it +would suggest to the mind the dull sound peculiar to wood when struck, +and not the sharp, clear ring of metal which the work of the other +artist would suggest.</p> + +<p>Another example: one artist paints a feather, and it appears to have all +the feathery lightness and characteristics of the natural object; the +other will paint it the same size, form, and colour, and yet it will be +more like a painted chip, wanting the downy texture and float-in-the-air +suggestiveness of the other. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +Thus it will be seen that both artists had similar ideas, had similar +materials and means at their disposal to render on canvas the same or +similar effects. The one succeeded, and the other failed, in giving a +faithful rendering of the same subjects; but it was no fault in the +materials with which they worked. The works of one artist will convey to +the mind an idea of the thing itself; with its texture, properties, +weight, and proportions; nothing undervalued; nothing overrated, nothing +softer, nothing harder, than the thing in nature intended to be +portrayed. The other gives the same idea of form and size, light and +shade, and colour, but not the texture; it is something harder, as iron +instead of wood, or hard wood instead of soft wood, or stone instead of +flesh. This, then, is the artistic meaning of hardness (or +concentration, as Mr. Wall said), and that is an apparent packing +together, a compression or petrifaction of the atoms or fibre of which +the natural materials are composed. This difference in the works of +artists is simply the effects of <i>feeling</i>, of power over the materials +employed, and ability to transfer to canvas effects that are almost +illusions. And so it is with photographers in the production of the +photographic image. There is the same difference in feeling and +manipulative skill, the same difference of power over the materials +employed, that enables one photographer to surpass another in rendering +more truthfully the difference of texture. Photographers may and do use +the same lenses and chemicals, and yet produce widely different results. +One, by judgment in lighting and superior manipulation, will transfer to +his plates more texture and suggestiveness of the different substances +represented than the other. It is a fact well-known to old photographers +that in the best days of the Daguerreotype practice two widely different +classes of pictures were produced by the most skilful +<i>Daguerreotypists</i>, both sharp and full of exquisite detail; yet the one +was <i>hard</i>, in an artistic sense, not that it wanted half-tone to link +the lights and shades together, but because it was of a bronzy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +hardness, unlike flesh from which it was taken, and suggested to the +mind a picture taken from a bronze or iron statue of the individual, +rather than a picture taken from the warm, soft flesh of the original. +The other would be equally sharp as far as focussing and <i>sharp lenses</i> +could make it, and possess as much detail, but it would be different in +colour and texture; the detail would be soft, downy, and fleshy, not +irony, if I may use that word in such a sense; and this difference of +effect arose entirely from a difference of feeling, lighting, +preparation of the plate, and development of the pictures. They might +all use the best of Voightlander’s or C. C. Harrison’s lenses, the +favourite lenses of that day. They might all use the same make of +plates, the same iodine, bromine, and mercury, yet there would be this +difference in the character of the two classes of pictures. Both would +be sharp and possess abundance of detail, still one would be <i>soft</i> and +the other hard in an artistic acceptation of the word <i>hardness</i>.</p> + +<p>Collodion positives exhibited a similar difference of character. The +works of one photographer would be cold and metallic looking, while the +works of another would be softer and less metallic, giving a better idea +of the texture of flesh and the difference of fabrics, which many +attributed to the superiority of the lens; but the difference was really +due to manipulation, treatment, and intelligence. And so it is with the +collodion negative. A tree, for instance, may be photographed, and its +whole character changed by selecting a bad and unsuitable light, or by +bad manipulation. The least over-development or “piling up” of a high +light may give it a sparkling effect that would change it into the +representation of a tree of cast iron, rather than a <i>growing tree</i>, +covered with damp, soft, and moss-stained bark. Every object and every +fabric, natural or manufactured, has its own peculiar form of “high light” +or mode of reflecting light, and care must be taken by both artist and +photographer not to exceed the amount of light reflected by each particular +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +object, else a <i>hardness</i>, foreign to the natural object, will be +represented. But not only should the artist and photographer possess +this feeling for nature in all her subtle beauties and modes of +expressing herself, to prevent a miscarriage in the true rendering of +any object, the photographic printer should also have a sympathy for the +work in hand, or he will, by over-fixing, or in various other ways, mar +the successful labours of the photographer, and make a negative that is +full of softness, and tenderly expresses the truth of nature, yield +prints that are crude, and convey to the mind a sense of <i>hardness</i> +which neither the natural objects nor the negative really possess.</p> + +<p>Now, I think it will be seen that <i>hardness</i> in a painting or a +photograph does not mean sharpness; nor is the artistic meaning of the +word <i>hardness</i> confined to “rigid or severe drawing,” but that it has a +broader and more practical definition than concentration; and that the +converse to the art meaning of <i>hardness</i> is softness, tenderness, +truthfulness in expressing the varied aspects of nature in all her +forms, all of which are coincident with sharpness.— +<span class="smcap">J. Werge</span> (<i>Photographic News</i>).</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>UNION OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH LONDON PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETIES.</h3> + +<div class="center"><i>To the Editors, British Journal.</i></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>,—Allow me to express my opinion on the suggestion to unite +the North and South London Societies, and to point out a few of the +advantages which, I think, would accrue from a more extensive +amalgamation.</p> + +<p>Though I am a member of all the three London photographic societies, I +have long been of opinion that there are too many, and that the objects of +all are considerably weakened by such a diffusion of interests. If the +furtherance of the art and the free and mutual interchange of thought and +experience among the members were the only things considered, there would be but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +one society in London; and with one society embodying all the members +that now make the three, how much more good might be done!</p> + +<p>In the first place, the amounts now paid for rent by the three would, if +united, secure an excellent meeting room or chambers, in a central +position, for the <i>exclusive</i> use of the society, where the ordinary and +special meetings, annual exhibitions, and <i>soirées</i> could be held much +more independently than now, and at a cost little or no more than what +is now paid for the privilege of holding the ordinary meetings alone.</p> + +<p>Secondly: If such a place of meeting were secured, then that laudable +scheme of an art library, so strenuously advocated by Mr. Wall and Mr. +Blanchard at the South London Photographic Society, might be +successfully carried into effect. Then a library and a collection of +works of art might be gradually gathered together, and one of the +members could be chosen curator and librarian, to attend the rooms one +evening in the week, or oftener, as circumstances might require, so as +to give members access to the library to make exchanges, extracts from +bulky books, &c.</p> + +<p>Thirdly: If the union were effected, and the place of meeting more +central, there would be a larger attendance of members, and more +spirited and valuable proceedings would be the result. Papers to be read +at the regular meetings would be much more certain, and the discussions +would be more comprehensive and complete. The members would become +personally acquainted with each other, and a much better feeling would +pervade the whole photographic community.</p> + +<p>These, gentlemen, are a few of the advantages which ought to accrue from +a union of the three societies; but, if that cannot be effected, by all +means let the triumvirate now existing be reduced to a biumvirate. If it +be not possible for the “Parent Society” and her offspring to reunite +their interests and affection for the common good, surely the other two +can, and thereby +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +strengthen themselves, and secure to their members a moiety of the +advantages which would result from the triple alliance.</p> + +<p>But, before proceeding farther, let me ask—Has such a thing as a triple +alliance ever been considered? Has it been ascertained that an amicable +amalgamation with the Photographic Society of London is impossible? If +so, what are the motives of the proposers of the union of the North and +South London Societies? Do they wish to form a more powerful antagonism +to the other society, or do they simply and purely wish to further the +advancement of our art-science, and not to gratify personal pique or +wounded pride? I do not wish to impute such unworthy motives to anyone; +but it does seem singular that the proposition should come from the +Chairman of the North London Photographic Association almost +simultaneously with the resignation of his seat at the council board of +the Parent Society.</p> + +<p>If, however, the motives are pure, honest, and earnest, I heartily +approve of the suggestion as a step in the right direction, although I +candidly admit that I would much rather see all the societies united in +one, and fully believe that that would be the most advantageous +arrangement that could possibly be made for all concerned.—I am, +yours, &c.,</p> + +<p class="tdr"><span class="smcap">Union Jack</span> (J. Werge).</p> +<p class="tdl"><i>London, February 18th, 1867.</i></p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>UNION OF THE LONDON PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETIES.</h3> + +<div class="center"><i>To the Editors of the British Journal.</i></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>,—Perhaps I am in courtesy bound to answer the questions of +your correspondents, Mr. Homersham and “Blue Pendant,” but in +self-justification I do not think it necessary, for it turns out that my +suspicions of antagonism to the Parent Society were well founded; and, +from their remarks, and the observations of your contributor “D.,” I +learn that the disaffection is more widely spread than I at first +thought it was.</p> + +<p>I may have been wrong in suspecting the Chairman of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +North London Photographic Association of unworthy motives; if so, I +frankly beg that gentleman’s pardon. But I am not wrong in suspecting +that antagonism is mixed up with the movement.</p> + +<p>Your contributor “D.” chooses to construe my unwillingness to make a +direct charge—my hope that there were no such unworthy motives—into +timidity; but I beg to remind “D.” that there is not much, if any, of +that apparent in my putting the plain questions I did, which, +by-the-by, have not yet been very satisfactorily answered.</p> + +<p>I flatter myself that I know when and how to do battle, and when to sue +for peace, as well as any in the service under whose flag I have the +honour to sail; and I, as much as anyone, admire the man that can fight +courageously when in the right, or apologise gracefully when in the +wrong; but, as the object of this correspondence is neither to make +recriminations, nor indulge in personal abuse, I return to the primary +consideration of the subject, and endeavour to sift the motives of the +movers of the proposition to unite the North and South London Societies, +and ascertain, if possible, whether they have the good of those +societies and the furtherance of photography really at heart or not.</p> + +<p><i>Imprimis</i>, then, let us consider the arguments of “D.,” who cites the +resignation of three gentlemen in proof of the management of the London +Photographic Society being “out of joint.” He might as well say, +“because a man is sick, leave him and let him die.” If there were +anything they disliked in the government of the Society, or any evil to +be corrected, their most manly course was to have held on, and fought +the evils down. They all had seats at the Council board, and if they had +wished well to the Society, they would not have resigned them, but +battled for the right, and brought their grievances, real or imagined, +before the members. A special meeting has been called before now to +consider personal grievances which affected +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +the honour of the Society, and I should think it could have been done +again. I do not maintain that all is right in the Society, but I do +think that they were wrong in resigning their seats because an article +appeared in the Society’s journal condemnatory of a process to which +they happened to be devotedly attached.</p> + +<p>It can scarcely be supposed that the cause of reform, or the general +good of the country, would have been forwarded had Gladstone, Bright, +and Earl Russell resigned their seats as members of either House because +they could not carry their ministerial bill of last session. From this I +argue that men who have the object they advocate, and the “best +interests” of the Society, thoroughly at heart, will stick to it +tenaciously, whether in or out of office, and, by their watchfulness, +prevent bad becoming worse, in spite of captious opposition, fancied +insults, or journalistic abuse.</p> + +<p>The next paragraph by “D.” on which I shall comment contains that bold +insinuation of timidity, which I have already noticed as much as I +intend to do. But I wish to discuss the question of “absorption” a +little more fully. I cannot at all agree with the sentiments of “D.” on +that subject. Absorption is in many instances a direct and positive +advantage to both the absorber and absorbed, as the absorption of Sicily +by Italy, and Frankfort and Hanover by Prussia. Nitric acid absorbs +silver, and how much more valuable and useful to the photographer is the +product than either of the two in their isolated condition; and so, I +hold, it would be with the Society were the two other Societies to join +the old one, impart to it their chief characteristics, re-model the +constitution, and elect the members of the Council by ballot. We should +then have a society far more powerful and useful than could ever be +obtained by the formation of a new one.</p> + +<p>In the foregoing, I think I have also answered the question of Mr. +Homersham, as well as that part of “Blue Pendant’s” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +letter relating to the establishment of a <i>fourth</i> society. On that +point my views harmonise with those of your contributor, “D.”</p> + +<p>On the subject of “members of Council,” I do not agree with either “D.” +or your correspondent “Blue Pendant.” The Council should be elected from +and by the body of members, and the only qualifications necessary should +be willingness and ability to do the work required. No consideration of +class should ever be admitted. The members are all recommended by +“personal knowledge,” and elected by ballot, and that alone should be +test sufficient on the score of respectability.</p> + +<p>Concerning “papers written as puffs,” I cordially agree with “Blue +Pendant” as far as he goes; but I go further than that, and would insist +on each paper being scrutinised, before it is read, by a committee +appointed for the purpose, so as to prevent “trade advertisements” and +such shamefully scurrilous papers as I have heard at the South London +Photographic Society.</p> + +<p>With reference to the questions put by “Blue Pendant,” I beg to decline +answering his second, it not being pertinent; but I shall reply to his +first more particularly. He seems to have forgotten or overlooked the +fact that I thought the advantages I enumerated would result from a +union of the <i>three</i> societies—not from an alliance of the two only. +That I still look upon suspiciously as antagonistic to the Parent +Society; and “Blue Pendant’s” antagonism is proved beyond doubt when he +says it is “tottering to its fall,” and he almost gloatingly looks +forward to its dissolution coming, to use his own words, “sooner or +later,” and “perhaps the sooner the better.” But I venture to think that +“Blue Pendant” is not likely to be gratified by seeing the “aged Parent” +decently laid in the ground in his time. There is too much “life in the +old dog yet”—even since the secession—for that to come to pass. It +cannot be denied that the Parent Society has amongst its members some of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +the best speakers, thinkers, writers, and workers in the whole +photographic community.</p> + +<p>While discussing this subject, allow me, gentlemen, to advert to an +article in your contemporary of Friday last. In the “Echoes of the +Month,” by an Old Photographer, the writer thinks that the advantages I +pointed out as likely to accrue from a union of the societies are a +“pleasant prospect that will not bear the test of figures.” It is a fact +that “figures” are subject to the rules of addition as well as of +subtraction, and I wish to show by figures that my ideas are not so +impracticable as he imagines. In addition to the eight guineas a year +paid by the North and South London Photographic Societies for rent, I +notice in the report of the London Photographic Society, published last +month, two items in the “liabilities” which are worth considering. One +is “King’s College, rent and refreshment, £42 4s. 6d.,” which, I +presume, is for one year. The other is “King’s College <i>soirée</i> account, +£20 15s. 6d.,” part of which is undoubtedly for rent of rooms on that +occasion. Now there is a clear showing of over £50 12s. 6d. paid in one +year by the three societies for rent and refreshment, the latter not +being absolutely necessary. I may be mistaken in my estimate of the +value of central property; but I do think a sum exceeding £50 is +sufficient to secure a room or chambers large enough for the purposes of +meeting, and keeping a library, &c.; or, if not, would it not be worth +while making a strain to pay a little more so as to secure the +accommodation required? If the Coventry Street experiment were a failure +from apathy or other causes, that is no proof that another attempt made +by a more numerous, wealthy, and energetic body would also be abortive. +In sea phraseology, “the old ship has made a long leg to-day!” but I +hope, gentlemen, you will not grudge the space required for the full and +careful consideration of this subject. The “developing dish” and the +ordinary <i>modus operandi</i> of photography can well afford to stand aside +for awhile to have this question discussed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +to the end. I have not said all I can on the amalgamation project, and +may return to it again with your kind permission, if necessary.—I +am, yours, &c.,</p> + +<p class="tdr"><span class="smcap">Union Jack</span> (J. Werge).</p> +<p class="tdl"><i>London, March 4, 1867.</i></p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>THE SOCIETY‘S EXHIBITION.</h3> + +<div class="center smcap">Impressions and Convictions of “Lux Graphicus.”</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> brief and all but impromptu Exhibition of the Photographic Society, +recently held in the rooms of the Architectural Society, 9, Conduit +Street, Regent Street, where the Society’s meetings are to be held in +future, was one of the pleasantest and most useful expositions in +connection with photography that has been consummated for many years. In +the first place the idea of an exhibition evening free from the +formalities of a <i>soirée</i> was a happy one; the <i>locale</i> was happily +chosen; and the whole arrangements most happily successful. Everybody +seemed to be pleased; cordial expressions of agreeable surprise were +freely exchanged; and there were abundance and variety enough of +pictorial display to satisfy the most fastidious visitor.</p> + +<p>As might have been expected, the works of M. Salomon, exhibited by +Mr. Wharton Simpson, were the chief objects of attraction, and +during the whole of the evening an anxious group surrounded the +collection; and it was curious to remark with what eagerness these +pictures were scrutinized, so as to ascertain whether they were +examples of photography “pure and undefiled,” or helped by artistic +labour afterwards. That they are the very finest specimens of +art-photography—both in the broad and masterly treatment of light and +shade, pose, manipulation, tone of print, and after finish—that have +ever been exhibited, is unquestionable; but to suppose that they are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +photographs unaided by art-labour afterwards is, I think, a mistake. All +of the heads, hands, and portions of the drapery bear unmistakable +proofs of after-touching. Some of them give evidence of most elaborate +retouching on the hands and faces, on the surface of the print. I +examined the pictures by daylight most minutely with the aid of a +magnifying glass, and could detect the difference between the retouching +on the negative, and, after printing, on the positive. The faces of +nearly all the ladies present that appearance of dapple or “stipple” +which nothing in the texture of natural flesh can give, unless the +sitter were in the condition of “goose flesh” at the moment of sitting, +which is a condition of things not at all likely. Again, hatching is +distinctly visible, which is not the photographic reproduction of the +hatch-like line of the cuticle. In support of that I have two forms of +evidence: first, <i>comparison</i>, as the hatchings visible on the surface +of the print are too long to be a reproduction of the hatch-like +markings of the skin, even on the hands, which generally show that kind +of nature’s handiwork the most. Besides, the immense reduction would +render that invisible even under a magnifying glass, no matter how +delicate the deposit of silver might be on the negative; or even if it +were so, the fibre of the paper would destroy the effect. Again, the +hatchings visible are not the form of nature’s hatchings, but all +partake of that art-technical form called “sectional hatchings.” I could +name several of the prints that showed most conclusive evidence of what +I say, but that is not necessary, because others saw these effects as +well as I did. But I wish it to be distinctly understood that I have not +been at the pains to make these examinations and observations with the +view of lessening the artistic merit of these pictures. I unhesitatingly +pronounce them the most beautiful achievements of the camera that have +ever been obtained by combining artistic knowledge and skill with the +mechanical aid of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +camera and ability to handle the compounds of +photographic chemistry. There is unmistakable evidence of the keenest +appreciation of art, and all that is beautiful in it in the production +of the negative; and if the artist see or think that he can perfect his +work by the aid of the brush, he has a most undoubted right to do it. +This question of pure and simple photography has been mooted all the +summer, ever since the opening of the French Exhibition, and I am glad +that I, as well as others, have had an opportunity of seeing these +wonderful pictures, and judging for myself. Photography is truth +embodied, and every question raised about the purity of its productions +should be discussed as freely and settled as quickly as possible.</p> + +<p>There was another picture in the exhibition very clever in its +conception, but not so in its execution, and I am sorry to say I cannot +endorse <i>all</i> the good that has been said of it. I allude to Mr. +Robinson’s picture of “Sleep.” How that clever photographer, with such a +keen eye to nature as he generally manifests in his composition +pictures, should have committed such a mistake I am at a loss to know. +His picture of “Sleep” is so strangely untrue to nature, that he must +have been quite overcome by the “sleep that knits up the ravell‘d sleeve +of <i>care</i>” when he composed it. In the centre of the picture he shows a +stream of light entering a window—a ghost of a window, for it is so +unsubstantial as not to allow a shadow to be cast from its <i>seemingly</i> +massive bars. Now, if the moon shone through a window at all, it would +cast shadows of everything that stood before it, and the shadows of the +bars of the window would be cast upon the coverlet of the bed in broken +lines, rising and falling with the undulations of the folds of the +covering, and the forms of the figures of the children. In representing +moonlight, or sunlight either, there is no departing from this truth. If +the direct ray of either stream through a closed window and fall upon +the bed, so will the shadows of the intervening bars. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +Any picture, either painted or photographed, that does not render those +shadows is simply untrue to nature; and if the difficulty could not have +been overcome, the attempt should have been abandoned. Then the beams +are not sharp enough for moonlight, and the shadows on the coverlet and +children are not deep enough, and the reflections on the shadow side of +the children’s faces are much too strong. In short, I do not know when +Mr. Robinson more signally failed to carry out his first intentions. +Wanting in truth as the composition is, it proves another truth, and +that is, the utter inability of photography to cope with such a subject. +Mr. Robinson exhibited other pictures that would bear a very different +kind of criticism; but as they have been noticed at other times I shall +not touch upon them here.</p> + +<p>Herr Milster’s picture bears the stamp of truth upon it, and is a +beautiful little gem, convincing enough that the effect is perfectly +natural.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ayling’s pictures of the Victoria Tower and a portion of Westminster +Abbey are really wonderful, and the bit of aerial perspective “Across +the Water” in the former picture is truly beautiful.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cameron persists in sticking to the out-of-the-way path she has +chosen, but where it will lead her to at last is very difficult to +determine. One of the heads of Henry Taylor which she exhibited was +undoubtedly the best of her contributions.</p> + +<p>The pictures of yachts and interiors exhibited by Mr. Jabez Hughes were +quite equal to all that could be expected from the camera of that +clever, earnest, and indefatigable photographer. The portrait +enlargements exhibited by that gentleman were exquisite, and of a +totally different character from any other exhibitor’s.</p> + +<p>Mr. England’s dry plate pictures, by his modified albumen process, are +undoubtedly the best of the kind that have been taken. They lack that +appearance of the representation of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +<i>petrified</i> scenes that most, if not all, previous dry processes +exhibited, and look as “juicy” as “humid nature” can well be rendered +with the wet process.</p> + +<p>Mr. Frank Howard exhibited four little gems that would be perfect but +for the unnatural effect of the artificial skies he has introduced. The +“Stranded Vessels” is nicely chosen, and one of the wood scenes is like +a bit of Creswick uncoloured.</p> + +<p>Messrs. Locke and Whitfield exhibited some very finely and sketchily +coloured photographs, quite up to their usual standard of artistic +excellence, with the new feature of being painted on a ground of carbon +printed from the negative by the patent carbon process of Mr. J. W. +Swan.</p> + +<p>Mr. Adolphus Wing’s cabinet pictures were very excellent specimens, and +I think it a great pity that more of that very admirable style of +portraiture was not exhibited.</p> + +<p>Mr. Henry Dixon’s copy of Landseer’s dog “Pixie,” from the original +painting, was very carefully and beautifully rendered.</p> + +<p>Mr. Faulkner’s portraits, though of a very different character, were +quite equal in artistic excellence to M. Salomon’s.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bedford’s landscapes presented their usual charm, and the tone of +his prints seemed to surpass the general beauty of his every-day work.</p> + +<p>Mr. Blanchard also exhibited some excellent landscapes, and displayed +his usual happy choice of subject and point of sight.</p> + +<p>An immense number of photographs by amateurs, Mr. Brownrigg, Mr. +Beasley, and others, were exhibited in folios and distributed about the +walls, but it is impossible for me to describe or criticise more.</p> + +<p>I have already drawn my yarn a good length, and shall conclude by +repeating what I said at starting, that a pleasanter evening, or more +useful and instructive exhibition, has never been got up by the +Photographic Society of London, and it is to be hoped that the success +and <i>eclat</i> attending it will encourage +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +them to go and do likewise next year, and every succeeding one of its +natural life, which I doubt not will be long and prosperous, for the +exhibition just closed has given unmistakable evidence of there being +“life in the old dog yet.”</p> + +<p class="p99"><i>Photographic News, Nov. 22nd, 1867.</i></p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>THE USE OF CLOUDS IN LANDSCAPES.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> subject of printing skies and cloud effects from separate negatives +having been again revived by the reading of papers on that subject at +the South London Photographic Society, I think it will not be out of +place now to call attention to some points that have not been commented +upon—or, at any rate, very imperfectly—by either the readers of the +papers or by the speakers at the meetings, when the subject was under +discussion.</p> + +<p>The introduction of clouds in a landscape by an artist is not so much to +fill up the blank space above the object represented on the lower part +of the canvas or paper, as to assist in the composition of the picture, +both as regards linear and aerial perspective, and in the arrangement of +light and shade, so as to secure a just balance and harmony of the +whole, according to artistic principles.</p> + +<p>Clouds are sometimes employed to repeat certain lines in the landscape +composition, so as to increase their strength and beauty, and to unite +the terrestrial part of the picture with the celestial. At other times +they are used to balance a composition, both in form and effect, to +prevent the picture being divided into two distinct and diagonal +portions, as evidenced in many of the pictures by Cuyp; on other +occasions they are introduced solely for chiaroscuro effects, so as to +enable the artist to place masses of dark upon light, and <i>vice versa</i>. +Of that use I think the works of Turner will afford the most familiar +and beautiful examples.</p> + +<p>In the instances cited, I make no allusion to the employment +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +of clouds +as repeaters of colour, but merely confine my remarks to their use in +assisting to carry out form and effect, either in linear composition, or +in the arrangement of light and shade in simple monochrome, as evidenced +in the engraved translations of the works of Rembrandt, Turner, Birket +Foster, and others, the study of those works being most applicable to +the practice of photography, and, therefore, offering the most valuable +hints to both amateur and professional photographers in the management +of their skies.</p> + +<p>Before pursuing this part of my subject further, it may be as well, +perhaps, to state my general opinions of the effects of so-called +“natural skies,” obtained by one exposure and one printing. Admitting +that they are a vast improvement on the white-sky style of the early +ages of photography, they fall far short of what they should be in +artistic effect and arrangement. In nearly all the “natural skies” that +I have seen, their office appears to be no other than to use up the +white paper above the terrestrial portion of the picture. The masses of +clouds, if there, seem always in the wrong place, and never made use of +for breadth of chiaroscuro.</p> + +<p>No better illustrations of this can be adduced than those large +photographs of Swiss and Alpine scenery by Braun of Dornach, which +nearly all contain “natural clouds;” but, on looking them over, it will +be seen that few (if any) really exhibit that artistic use of clouds in +the composition of the pictures which evidence artistic knowledge. The +clouds are taken just as they happen to be, without reference to their +employment to enhance the effects of any of the objects in the lower +portion of the view, or as aids to the composition and general effect. +For the most part, the clouds are small and spotty, ill-assorting with +the grandeur of the landscapes, and never assisting the chiaroscuro in +an artistic sense. The most noticeable example of the latter defect may +be seen in the picture entitled “Le Mont Pilate,” wherein a bald and +almost white mountain is placed against a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +light sky, much to the injury of its form, effect, and grandeur; indeed, +the mountain is barely saved from being lost in the sky, although it is +the principal object in the picture. Had an artist attempted to paint +such a subject, he would have relieved such a large mass of light +against a dark cloud. An example of a different character is observable +in another photograph, wherein a dark conical mount would have been much +more artistically rendered had it been placed against a large mass of +light clouds. There are two or three fleecy white clouds about the +summit of the mountain, but, as far as pictorial effect goes, they would +have been better away, for the mind is left in doubt whether they are +really clouds, or the sulphurous puffs that float about the crater of a +slumbering volcano. That photographs possessing all the effects required +by the rules of art are difficult, and almost impossible to obtain at +one exposure in the camera, I readily allow. I know full well that a man +might wait for days and weeks before the clouds would arrange themselves +so as to relieve his principal object most advantageously; and, even if +the desirable effects of light and shade were obtained, the chances are +that the forms would not harmonize with the leading lines of the +landscape.</p> + +<p>This being the case, then, it must be self-evident that the best mode of +procedure will be to <i>print in skies</i> from separate negatives, either +taken from nature or from drawings made for the purpose by an artist +that thoroughly understands art in all its principles. By these means, +especially the latter, skies may be introduced into the photographic +picture that will not only be adapted to each individual scene, but +will, in every instance where they are employed, increase the artistic +merit and value of the composition. But to return to the subject chiefly +under consideration.</p> + +<p>Clouds in landscape pictures, like “man in his time,” play many +parts—“they have their exits and their entrances.” And it is almost +impossible to say enough in a short paper on a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +subject so important to all landscape photographers. I will, however, as +briefly and lucidly as I can, endeavour to point out the chief uses of +clouds in landscapes. Referring to their use for effects in light and +shade, I wrote, at the commencement of this paper, that the engraved +translations of Turner afford the most familiar and beautiful examples, +which they undoubtedly do. But when I consider that Turner’s skies are +nearly all sunsets, the study of them will not be so readily turned to +practical account by the photographer as the works of +others,—Birket Foster, for instance. His works are almost equal to +Turner’s in light and shade; he has been largely employed in the +illustration of books, and five shillings will procure more of his +beautiful examples of sky effects than a guinea will of Turner’s. Take, +for example, Sampson Low and Son’s five shilling edition of Bloomfield’s +“Farmer’s Boy,” or Gray’s “Elegy in a Churchyard,” profusely illustrated +almost entirely by Birket Foster; and in them will be seen such a varied +and marvellous collection of beautiful sky effects as seem almost +impossible to be the work of one man, and all of them profitable studies +for both artist and photographer in the varied uses made of clouds in +landscapes. In those works it will be observed that where the lower part +of the picture is rich in variety of subject the sky is either quiet or +void of form, partaking of one tint only slightly broken up. Where the +terrestrial part of the composition is tame, flat, and destitute of +beautiful objects, the sky is full of beauty and grandeur, rich in form +and masses of light and shade, and generally shedding a light on the +insignificant object below, so as to invest it with interest in the +picture, and connect it with the story being told.</p> + +<p>From both of these examples the photographer may obtain a suggestion, +and slightly tint the sky of his picture, rich in objects of interest, +so as to resemble the tint produced by the “ruled lines” representing a +clear blue sky in an engraving. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +Hitherto that kind of tinting has generally been overdone, giving it +more the appearance of a heavy fog lifting than a calm blue sky. The +darkest part of the tint should just be a little lower than the highest +light on the principal object. This tint may either be obtained in the +negative itself at the time of exposure, or produced by “masking” during +the process of printing. On the other hand, when the subject has little +to recommend it in itself, it may be greatly increased in pictorial +power and interest by a judicious introduction of beautiful cloud +effects, either obtained from nature, or furnished by the skill of an +artist. If the aid of an artist be resorted to, I would not recommend +painting on the negative, but let the artist be furnished with a plain +white-sky print; let him wash in a sky, in sepia or india ink, that will +most harmonise, both in form and effect, with the subject represented, +take a negative from that sky alone, and put it into each of the +pictures by double printing. This may seem a great deal of trouble and +expense, and not appear to the minds of some as altogether legitimate, +but I strenuously maintain that any means employed to increase the +artistic merit and value of a photograph is strictly legitimate; and +that wherever and however art can be resorted to, without doing violence +to the truthfulness of nature, the status of our art-science will be +elevated, and its professional disciples will cease to be the scorn of +men who take pleasure in deriding the, sometimes—may I say too +often?—lame and inartistic productions of the camera.</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>THE USE OF CLOUDS AS BACKGROUNDS IN PORTRAITURE.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">There</span> has long been in the world an aphorism that everything in Nature +is beautiful. Collectively this is true, and so it is individually, so +far as the adaptability and fitness of the object to its proper use are +concerned; but there are many things +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +which are truly beautiful in themselves, and in their natural uses, +which cease to be so when they are pressed into services for which they +are not intended by the great Creator of the universe. For example, what +can be more beautiful than that compound modification of cloud forms +commonly called a “mackerel sky,” which is sometimes seen on a summer +evening? What can be more lovely, or more admirably adapted to the +purposes of reflecting and conducting the last flickering rays of the +setting sun into the very zenith, filling half the visible heavens with +a fretwork of gorgeous crimson, reflecting a warm, mysterious light on +everything below, and filling the mind with wonder and admiration at the +marvellous beauties which the heavens are showing? Yet, can anything be +more unsuitable for forming the background to a portrait, where +everything should be subdued, secondary, and subservient to the features +of the individual represented—where everything should be lower in +tone than the light on the face, where neither colour nor light should +be introduced that would tend to distract the attention of the +observer—where neither accessory nor effect should appear that +does not help to concentrate the mind on the grand object of the +picture—the likeness? Still, how often do we see a photographic +portrait stuck against a sky as spotty, flickering, and unsuitable as +the one just described! How seriously are the importance and brilliancy +of the head interfered with by the introduction of such an unsuitable +background! How often is the interest of the spectator divided between +the portrait and the “overdone” sky, so elaborately got up by the +injudicious background painter! Such backgrounds are all out of place, +and ought to be abandoned—expelled from every studio.</p> + +<p>As the photographer does not possess the advantages of the painter, to +produce his effects by contrast of colour, it behoves him to be much +more particular in his treatment of light and shade; but most +particularly in his choice of a background that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +will most harmonise with the dress, spirit, style, and condition in life +of his sitter. It is always possible for a member of any class of the +community to be surrounded or relieved by a plain, quiet background; but +it is not possible, in nine cases out of ten, for some individuals who +sit for their portraits ever to be dwellers in marble halls, loungers in +the most gorgeous conservatories, or strollers in such delightful +gardens. In addition to the unfitness of such scenes to the character +and every-day life of the sitter, they are the most unsuitable for +pictorial effect that can possibly be employed. For, instead of +directing attention to the principal object, they disturb the mind, and +set it wandering all over the picture, and interfere most seriously with +that quiet contemplation of the features which is so necessary to enable +the beholder to discover all the characteristic points in the portrait. +When the likeness is a very bad one, this may be advantageous, on the +principle of putting an ornamental border round a bad picture with the +view of distracting the attention of the observer, and preventing the +eye from resting long enough on any one spot to discover the defects.</p> + +<p>When clouds are introduced as backgrounds to portraits, they should not +be of that small, flickering character previously alluded to, but broad, +dark, and “massy,” so as to impart by contrast more strength of light to +the head; and the lighter parts of the clouds should be judiciously +placed either above or below the head, so as to carry the light into +other parts of the picture, and prevent the strongly-lighted head +appearing a spot. The best examples of that character will be found in +the engraved portraits by Reynolds, Lawrence, Gainsborough, and others, +many of which are easily obtained at the old print shops; some have +appeared in the <i>Art Journal</i>.</p> + +<p>As guides for introducing cloud effects, accessories, and landscape bits +into the backgrounds of carte-de-visite and cabinet pictures, no better +examples can be cited than those exquisite little figure subjects by R. +Westall, R.A., illustrating +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +Sharpe’s Editions of the Old Poets. The engravings are about the size of +cartes-de-visite, and are in themselves beautiful examples of +composition, light, and shade, and appropriateness of accessory to the +condition and situation of the figures, affording invaluable suggestions +to the photographer in the arrangement of his sitter, or groups, and in +the choice of suitable accessories and backgrounds. Such examples are +easily obtained. Almost any old bookstall in London possesses one or +more of those works, and each little volume contains at least +half-a-dozen of these exquisite little gems of art.</p> + +<p>Looking at those beautiful photographic cartes-de-visite by Mr. Edge, I +am very strongly impressed with the idea that they were suggested by +some such artistic little pictures as Westall’s Illustrations of the +Poets. They are really charming little photographs, and show most +admirably how much the interest and artistic merit of a photograph can +be enhanced by the skilful and judicious introduction of a suitable +background. I may as well observe, <i>en passant</i>, that I have examined +these pictures very carefully, and have come to the conclusion that the +effects are not produced by means of any of the ingeniously contrived +appliances for poly-printing recently invented and suggested, but that +the effects are produced simply by double printing, manipulated with +consummate care and judgment, the figure or figures being produced on a +plain or graduated middle tint background in one negative, and the +landscape effect printed on from another negative after the first print +has been taken out of the printing-frame; the figures protected by a +mask nicely adjusted. My impressions on this subject are strengthened +almost to conviction when I look at one of Mr. Edge’s photographs, in +particular a group of two ladies, the sitting figure sketching. In this +picture, the lower part of the added landscape—trees—being darker than +the normal tint of the ground, shows a <i>line</i> round the black dress of +the lady, as if the mask had overlapped it just a hair’s breadth during the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +process of secondary printing. Be that as it may, they are lovely +little pictures, and afford ample evidence of what may be done by skill +and taste to vary the modes of treating photography more artistically, +by introducing natural scenery sufficiently subdued to harmonise with +the portrait or group; and, by similar means, backgrounds of clouds and +interiors may be added to a plain photograph, which would enrich its +pictorial effect, and enable the photographer to impart to his work a +greater interest and beauty, and, at the same time, be made the means of +giving apparent occupation to his sitter. This mode of treatment would +enable him, in a great measure, to carry out the practice of nearly all +the most celebrated portrait painters, viz., that of considering the +form, light, shade, and character of the background <i>after</i> the portrait +was finished, by adapting the light, shade, and composition of his +background to the pose and condition of life of his sitter.</p> + +<p>I shall now conclude my remarks with a quotation from Du Fresnoy’s “Art +of Painting,” bearing directly on my subject and that of light and +shade:—</p> + +<div class="p30 smaller">“Permit not two conspicuous lights to shine</div> +<div class="p35 smaller">With rival radiance in the same design;<br /> +But yield to one alone the power to blaze,<br /> +And spread th’ extensive vigour of its rays;<br /> +There where the noblest figures are displayed,<br /> +Thence gild the distant parts and lessening fade;<br /> +As fade the beams which Phœbus from the east<br /> +Flings vivid forth to light the distant West,<br /> +Gradual those vivid beams forget to shine,<br /> +So gradual let thy pictured lights decline.”</div> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>“LUX GRAPHICUS” ON THE WING.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Mr. Editor</span>,—I have often troubled you with some of my ideas and +opinions concerning the progress and status of photography, and you have +pretty often transferred the same to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +the columns of the <i>Photographic News</i>, and troubled your readers in +much the same manner. This time, however, I am going to tell you a +secret—a family secret. They are always more curious, interesting, +and important than other secrets, state secrets and Mr. McLachlan’s +photographic secret not excepted. But to my subject: “<i>The</i> Secret.” +Well, dear Mr. Editor, you know that my vocations have been rather +arduous for some time past, and I feel that a little relaxation from +pressing cares and anxieties would be a great boon to me. You know, +also, that I am a great lover of nature, almost a stickler for it, to +the exclusion of <i>prejudicial art</i>. And now that the spring has come and +winter has fled on the wings of the fieldfares and +woodcocks—that’s Thomas Hood’s sentiment made seasonable—I +fain would leave the pent-up city, where the colour of the sky can +seldom be seen for the veil of yellow smoke which so constantly obscures +it, and betake myself to the country, and inhale the fresh breezes of +early spring; gladden my heart and eyes with a sight of the bright blue +sky, the glistening snowdrops and glowing yellow crocuses, and regale my +ears and soul with the rich notes of the thrush and blackbird, and the +earliest song of the lark at the gates of heaven.</p> + +<p>It is a pleasant thing to be able to shake off the mud and gloom of a +winter’s sojourn in a town, in the bright, fresh fields of the country, +and bathe your fevered and enfeebled body in the cool airs of spring, as +they come gushing down from the hills, or across the rippling lake, or +dancing sea. I always had such a keen relish for the country at all +seasons of the year, it is often a matter of wonder to me that I ever +could bring my mind to the necessity of living in a town. But bread and +butter do not grow in hedgerows, though “bread and cheese” do; still the +latter will not support animal life of a higher order than grub or +caterpillars. “There’s the rub.” The mind is, after all, the slave of +the body, for the mind must bend to the requirements of the body; and, +as a man cannot live by gazing at a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +“colt’s foot,” and if he have no +appetite for horseflesh, he is obliged to succumb to his fate, and abide +in a dingy, foggy, slushy, and bewildering world of mud, bricks, and +mortar, instead of revelling in the bright fields, fresh air, and +gushing melodies which God created for man, and gave man senses to enjoy +his glorious works.</p> + +<p>But, Mr. Editor, I am mentally wandering among “cowslips,” daises, +buttercups, and wild strawberry blossoms, and forgetting the stern +necessity of confining my observations to a subject coming reasonably +within the range of a class journal which you so ably conduct; but it is +pardonable and advantageous to allow mind to run before matter +sometimes, for the latter is more frequently inert than the former, and +when the mind has gone <i>ahead</i>, the body is sure to follow. Melancholy +instances of that present themselves to our notice too frequently. For +example, when a poor lady’s or gentleman’s wits are gone, <i>lettres des +cachets</i>, and some kind or <i>un</i>kind friends, send the witless body to +some retreat where the wits of all the inmates are gone. I must, +however, in all sober earnestness, return to my subject, or I fear you +will say: “He is going to Hanwell.” Well, perhaps I am, for I know that +photography is practised at that admirable institution; and now that I +have struck a professional chord, I may as well play on it.</p> + +<p>Lenses and cameras, like birds and flowers, reappear in spring, and, as +the season advances and the sun attains a higher altitude, amateurs and +professionals are quickened into a surprising activity. Renewed life is +imparted to them, and the gregarious habits of man are developed in +another form, and somewhat in the manner that the swallows return to +their old haunts. At first, a solitary scout or reconnoitering party +makes his appearance, then another, and another, until a complete flock +of amateur and professional photographers are abroad, seeking what food +they can devour: some preferring the first green “bits of foliage” that +begin to gem the woods with emeralds, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +others waiting till the leaf is +fully out, and the trees are thickly clothed in their early summer +loveliness: while others prefer a more advanced state of beauty, and +like to depict nature in her russet hues, when the trees “are in their +yellow leaf.” Some are contented with the old-fashioned homesteads and +sweet green lanes of England for their subjects; others prefer the +ruined abbeys and castles of the feudal ages, with their deeply +interesting associations; others choose the more mythical monuments of +superstition and the dark ages, such as King Arthur’s round tables, +druidical circles, and remains of their rude temples of stone. Some +delight in pictorializing the lakes and mountains of the north, while +others are not satisfied with anything short of the sublime beauty and +terrific grandeur of the Alps and Pyrenees. Truly, sir, I think it may +be safely stated that photographers are lovers of nature, and, I think, +they are also lovers of art. If some of them do not possess that art +knowledge which is so necessary for them to pursue advantageously either +branch of their profession, it is much to be regretted; but there is now +no reason why they should continue in darkness any longer. I know that +it requires years of study and practice to become an artist, but it does +not require a very great amount of mental labour or sacrifice of time to +become an artistic photographer. A little hard study of the subject as +it appears in the columns of your journal and those of your +contemporaries—for I notice that they have <i>all</i> suddenly become alive +to the necessity of imparting to photographers a knowledge of art +principles—will soon take the scales off the eyes of a man that is +blind in art, and enable him to comprehend the mysteries of lines, +unity, and light and shade, and give him the power to compose his +subject as readily as he could give a composing draught to an infant, +and teach him to determine at a glance the light, shade, and atmospheric +effects that would most harmonize with the scene to be represented. +Supposing that he is master of the mechanical manipulations of +photography, he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +has acquired half the skill of the artist; and by +studying and applying the rules of composition and light and shade to +his mechanical skill, he is then equal to the artist in the treatment of +his subject, so far as the means he employs will or can enable him to +give an art rendering of nature, fixed and immovable.</p> + +<p>I do not profess to be a teacher, but I do think it is much more genial +in spirit, and becoming the dignity of a man, to impart what little +knowledge he has to others, than to scoff at those who do not know so +much. If, therefore, Mr. Editor, in the course of my peregrinations, I +see an opportunity of calling your attention, and, through you, the +attention of others, to any glaring defects or absurdities in the +practice of our dearly beloved art, I shall not hesitate to do so; not, +however, with any desire to carp and cavil at them for cavilling’s sake, +but with the more laudable desire of pointing them out, that they may be +avoided. During the coming summer I shall have, or hope to have, many +opportunities of seeing and judging, and will endeavour to keep you duly +advised of what is passing before me.</p> + +<p>My letters may come from all parts—N., E., W., and S.—so that they +will, in that sense at least, harmonize with the nomenclature of your +periodical. Where I may be at the date of my writing, the post-mark will +reveal to you. And now I must consider my signature: much is in a name, +you know. I can hardly call myself your “Special Correspondent”—that +would be too much <i>a la Sala</i>; nor can I subscribe myself an “Old +Photographer,” for that would be taking possession of another man’s +property, and might lead to confusion, if not to difficulties; neither +can I style myself a “Peripatetic Photographer”—though I am one—for +that name sometimes appears in the columns of a contemporary; and my own +name is such a long one, consisting of nearly half the letters of the +alphabet. Well, I think, all things considered, I cannot do better than +retain my old <i>nom de plume</i>. And with many apologies for this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +long, +roundabout paper, and every expression of regard, I beg to subscribe +myself your obliged and humble servant,</p> + +<div class="tdr"><span class="smcap">Lux Graphicus</span> (J. Werge).</div> +<div class="tdl" style="margin-left: 3em;"><i>March 27th, 1868.</i></div> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>“LUX GRAPHICUS” ON THE WING.</h3> + +<div class="center smcap">Oxford and Cambridge—Cabinet +Portraits—Mr. McLachlan’s Secret.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Mr. Editor</span>,—Do not let the above heading alarm you. I have no +desire to convert the columns of your valuable journal into a kind of +photographic <i>Bell’s Life</i> or <i>Sporting Chronicle</i>. Although the great +University boat race has just been decided for the eighth consecutive +time in favour of Oxford, it is not of that aquatic struggle that I am +going to write, but of another matter in which the Cantabs seem to be +behind the Oxonians in the race of life, or the pursuit of novelties. +Not only are the Cantabs short in their stroke with the oars, and unable +to obtain the first place in the contests on the Thames, they are also +slow in giving their orders for a certain article of commerce which is +of very great importance to professional photographers, especially those +in the neighbourhood of the University of Cambridge. It is a remarkable +fact, that while Oxford has gone in with a rush for those very charming +portraits technically named “cabinets,” Cambridge holds aloof. How is +this, I wonder. There are as good photographers in Cambridge—Mr. +Mayland, to wit, whose work is all of the first class—as in Oxford; the +sun shines as brightly in the region of the Cam as he does in that of +the Isis. Have the Cantabs made up their minds not to be <i>cabinet</i> men +in opposition to Oxford? or is the fact due to the lukewarmness of the +Cambridge photographers themselves? It seems somewhat strange that two +places likely to be so similar in tastes and a refined appreciation of +the beautiful should so differ in this respect. Are the men of the two +great seats of learning in this country opposed in matters of +photographic proportion as they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +are in other matters of minor +importance—as in the proper pronunciation of either and neither, for +instance? Not having graduated at either, I do not know which is +correct, neither do I care; but I am concerned in this question of +photography. While at Oxford the cabinet picture has taken deep root, +and has grown into a strong and vigorous article of demand, it is a +well-known fact that at Cambridge it is “sicklied o‘er with the pale +cast of thought,” and languishes on in a state trembling between life +and death. Whether the producers or consumers are to blame for this +langour in the demand for an article that is certainly worth being +cultivated, is more than I can say. I know that the discrepancy exists, +and the rest I leave to those most immediately interested. It cannot, +however, be supposed that a demand for any particular size or style can +spring up spontaneously; that must be created by the producer, by +popularising the style in some attractive and judicious manner, and the +cabinet size is well deserving of a very strenuous effort being made in +its favour.</p> + +<p>Of all the photographic sizes that have been introduced to the public, +the cabinet is the most artistic in its proportions. As nearly as +possible it falls under that art rule of producing an oblong or +parallelogram of the most agreeable proportions, which is as the +diagonal is to the square. The size of the cabinet is 5<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> by 4, and if +you measure the diagonal of the square of 4 inches, you will find that +the length of the cabinet, 5<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> inches, is as near that as possible. +Doubtless Mr. Window had this in view when he introduced the size, and +whether for upright or horizontal pictures, such proportions are +decidedly the best. Many of the sizes already in use are too long, +others are too short and square. In addition to the beautiful +proportions of the cabinet size, it gives the portrait photographer more +room and opportunities to introduce harmonious forms and effects in the +posing and arrangements of portraits and groups; and I have seen some +very charming views on the cabinet size, 5<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> by 4 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +inches horizontally; +as well as some very beautiful interiors of Westminster Abbey, by Mr. V. +Blanchard, on the cabinet cards vertical, which proves pretty +conclusively that the proportions of the diagonal to the square of any +size will suit both vertical and horizontal pictures. I have not the +least doubt but a much greater demand for those cabinet pictures, both +portrait and landscape, could be created, if photographers would set +about introducing them with a will: depend upon it if they will but put +their heart into the matter, they would put money into their pockets. I +know how much has been done by launching them fearlessly on the sea of +public patronage in several localities, and I feel certain the demand +would be much more general if the cabinet picture were judiciously +introduced. Mr. H. P. Robinson and Mr. Nelson K. Cherrill, having +entered into partnership, are on the point of opening a photographic +establishment at Tunbridge Wells, where they intend to incur +considerable expense to introduce the cabinet portrait, and give it that +prominence it so justly merits.</p> + +<p>Since writing you last, I learn from a friend who is intimate with Mr. +McLachlan that there is every possibility of his secret being revealed +ere long. That this secret formula will be an immense boon to all +photographers, there can be little doubt. If an absolute immunity from +streaks in the direction of the dip, brain-markings, and pinholes—which +are the advantages said to be derived from the process—can be +guaranteed, then will the manipulatory part of photography be at once +made easy; and Mr. McLachlan will have conferred a personal obligation +on every photographic manipulator. Not only will photographers be +benefitted by Mr. McLachlan’s generous conduct, the whole world will +participate in the advantages he intends to place as a gift in the hands +of photographers; and even <i>art</i>, that is so afraid of a photographic +amalgamation, will be <i>honoured</i> by the revelation. But once let the +mind of the operator be for ever free from the cares and anxieties of +his negative being clean, spotless, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +and excellent in quality, he will +then have more time and inclination to put his art knowledge, if he have +any, into practice, by paying more attention to the pose of his sitters +and the artistic choice and arrangement of accessories. If he be without +art knowledge he will be obliged to acquire it and put it into practice, +or be driven out of his field of operations. For, if the chemical +difficulties and uncertainties are to be so summarily disposed of, and +all the manipulations reduced to a certainty and dead level, a +pre-eminence in the profession can only be maintained by him who +exhibits a taste, feeling, and love for his labours superior to the +desire to palm upon the public, for mere gain, works that are a disgrace +and a scandal to the profession of which he is a member. That such a +condition of things photographic may be quickly brought about is much to +be desired, and if such be the result of Mr. McLachlan’s very noble +willingness to give to the photographic community experiences that have +cost him much time and money in acquiring by close observation and +experiment, he will, at the least, be entitled to the sincere and hearty +acknowledgments of all well-wishers and lovers of our art-science.</p> + +<p><i>Apropos</i> of clean and easy development, I should like to know if any of +your numerous readers have tried the effect of sulphate of zinc with the +iron developer. I understand its use obviates the necessity of using +acetic acid as a retardant; that the deposit of silver is much more +delicate than that produced by iron alone; that the control over it is +very great; that any amount of intensity can be obtained by one or more +applications, without the aid of pyrogallic acid, and without producing +harshness or hardness. With such recommendations it is certainly worth a +trial. I have had no time to try it myself, but think it is of +sufficient importance to give your readers an opportunity of +experimenting with it, and judging for themselves.</p> + +<p class="p99"><i>Photographic News, April 10th, 1868.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>“LUX GRAPHICUS” ON THE WING.</h3> + +<div class="center smcap">The Late Lord Brougham—New Fields for Photography—Natural Objects +Coloured—The Monochrome and Autotype—Mr. McLachlan again.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Death</span> has just swept away one of the most gigantic intellects of the +nineteenth century. For me to state what the late Lord Brougham was, or +attempt to enumerate his vast attainments, or measure the strength of +his colossal mind, would be a piece of intolerable presumption; but I +think I may safely say that he was an enthusiastic admirer of +photography. Years ago, in the midst of his parliamentary and other +pressing duties, whenever he could find time to enjoy the quiet of +Brougham Hall, near Penrith, his giant mind was not above indulging in +the delightful relaxation it afforded; and many a pleasant hour he used +to spend chatting with Mr. Jacob Thompson, an artist of great ability, +and also a very early amateur photographer, on the wonderful results +obtained by the new art. The late Lord Brougham began his literary +career by publishing a treatise on “Light,” before photography was known +or thought to be practicable; in after life he interested himself in its +marvellous productions, and his last literary labour was also about +light. Not only did the great statesman “know a little of everything,” +he did a little in everything. The deceased lord took a lively interest +in the progress of photography during his lifetime, from its earliest +introduction to within a short period of his death; and it would have +been a graceful and fitting compliment to the memory of the great man of +law, politics, literature, and science, if the English newspapers had +embellished their memoirs of the late Lord Brougham with a photographic +portrait of his lordship. Such a thing is quite practicable, and has +been done successfully by our more enterprising confrères in Canada and +the United States. The <i>Montreal Weekly Herald</i> of April 18th +illustrates its memoir of the late Mr. T. d‘Arcy McGhee with a very +excellent +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +carte-de-visite portrait of the lamented and unfortunate +Canadian Minister, mounted on the upper corner of the front page, +surrounded with a deep black border. What an appropriate accompaniment +such a presentation would have been to the able articles and memoirs +which appeared in the daily press on Monday, May 11th, 1868! How much +more interesting and valuable those clever biographical sketches of +great men, as they pass away to their rest, which appear in the <i>Daily +Telegraph</i> and other daily and weekly papers, would appear if +illustrated with a photograph from life! That it can be done the +<i>Montreal Weekly Herald</i> has recently and satisfactorily shown; and +surely there is enterprise, spirit, and wealth enough among the British +newspaper proprietors to follow the very laudable example of our +transatlantic cousins. Negatives of great men are always attainable, and +there need be no commercial difficulty between the photographer and +newspaper proprietor on the score of supply. A multiplication of +negatives or Woodbury’s process, would afford all the necessary +facilities for producing the prints in large numbers.</p> + +<p>Many new fields for the good of photography are opening up. Pathological +works have been photographically illustrated with some amount of +success. But far pleasanter fields are open to enterprising +photographers in the faithful representation of natural objects, such as +flowers, fruits, ferns, grasses, shrubs, trees, shells, seaweeds, birds, +butterflies, moths, and every variety of animal life, from the lowest +orders to the highest. I believe the time is not far distant when the +best works on all the physical sciences will be illustrated by coloured +photographs. Those very beautiful German photographs of flowers recently +introduced show most conclusively of what photography is capable as a +help to a study of the natural sciences. The flowers are not only +photographed from nature, but exquisitely coloured after the same +fountain of truth; and the sense of reality, roundness, and relief which +they convey is truly wonderful.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +Hitherto the colouring of natural objects photographed from nature has +been a very difficult thing to accomplish; but now it is done, and with +a marvellous success.</p> + +<p>The monochromatic process is also making great strides in advance. Those +very beautiful transparencies, cabinet size, of the Queen and Royal +Family are now to be seen in most of the photographic picture +shop-windows in town and country. These transparencies are the +productions of the Disderi Company, by Woodbury’s photo-relief process, +and the results now obtained are really beautiful, both in effect and +colour, and sold at a very low price. But the <i>chef d’œuvre</i> of all +monochromatic effects has just been achieved by the triple labours of +Mr. Macnee, the artist, and Mr. Annan, the photographer, of Glasgow, and +Mr. J. W. Swan, of Newcastle. The subject in question is a work of art +in every respect. The original is a full-length portrait of Lord +Belhaven, painted by Daniel Macnee, and now in the Royal Academy +Exhibition. A photograph taken from the painting by Mr. Annan was worked +up in monochrome by the eminent artist, from which another negative was +taken by the same skilful photographer, and placed in the hands of Mr. +J. W. Swan to be printed in carbon, which the latter gentleman has done +in the most admirable manner. Altogether, the result is the most +satisfactory reproduction by photography that has ever been placed +before the public, and is less like a photograph and more like a fine +mezzotint engraving than anything I ever saw. Mr. Annan is now +publishing the work on his own responsibility, and a specimen of it can +be seen at the offices of “The Autotype Printing and Publishing Co.,” 5, +Haymarket, London. Mr. Hill, of Edinburgh, is also about to publish, in +carbon, a photograph of that beautifully painted picture entitled “A +Fairy Raid,” which was exhibited last year in the rooms of the Royal +Academy by Sir Noel Paton. As in the former case, Mr. Annan copied the +painting, Sir Noel worked on a print in monochrome, which was again +photographed by Mr. Annan, and the negative +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> +passed to Mr. J. W. Swan to +be printed in carbon. I understand that Poynter’s celebrated picture of +“Israel in Egypt” is about to be published, in a similar manner, by the +Autotype Company. It is therefore quite evident that photography is +becoming, in reality, more and more “a foe to graphic art,” and +eclipsing the lights and deepening the shadows of the <i>unluxy</i> engraver.</p> + +<p>Mr. McLachlan has again spoken without giving any very materially new +facts, or throwing much more light on his mysterious mode of working. +The great point is, to throw light on the concentrated solution of +nitrate of silver; and until that has been done it will be impossible +for any one to say from experience and practice that there is nothing in +the principle. Mr. McLachlan attributes a chemical property to the +action of light on the bath that has never been thought of before, and +he seems to believe it so sincerely himself, and expresses his +convictions so earnestly, that I think photographers are somewhat bound +to wait patiently till time and light will enable them to comply with +all the conditions he lays down, and make a series of careful +experiments, before they can say whether they are under obligations to +him or not. At any rate, natural justice suggests that they should not +render a foregone verdict.</p> + +<p class="p99"><i>May 17th, 1868.</i></p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<div class="center smcap">The Exhibition of National Portraits—The Tintype of America—The +Spirit of Photography in Canada—The “Wise Week,” and the Total +Eclipse of the Sun.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Mr. Editor</span>,—From various causes I have been absent from your +columns as a contributor for some time, but not as a reader. The chief +reason for this was the weather, which of late has been so hot and +prostrating as to dry up both my ink and my energies. Now that the +atmosphere is more cool, moist, and pleasant, my ink and my thoughts may +flow together, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +the resulting epistle may find a place on some page +of the Photographic News; if not, I shall not be angry. I know that the +world—and photography is my world—is not always mindful of its atoms. +The great and immortal Cicero discovered that even he could be absent +from Rome, and all Rome not know it. How much easier, then, for your +readers not to discover my absence from your pages. But my inability to +write and attend to other duties entailed more serious losses to myself. +Amongst others I missed seeing the Royal Academy Exhibition, but found a +compensating pleasure in going to see the Exhibition of National +Portraits at South Kensington. What a school it is for photographers! +What a variety of pose, arrangement, management of light and shade, is +to be seen in that glorious collection of Vandykes, Hogarths, +Gainsboroughs, Reynolds, Opies, Wilkies, Raeburns, Northcotes, +Lawrences, Phillips, Shees, Richmonds, Grants, and many others of the +present day! I hope many photographers have seen the collection. None +ought to have missed the opportunity. All that saw must have profited by +the sight. Portraits of great men that have been familiar to me in black +and white for years were there before me in the rich mellow colouring of +Vandyke, Reynolds, Wilkie, and Lawrence, and the mind seemed carried +back into the past while looking at the works of those great artists.</p> + +<p>The exhibition will soon close, and all that have not seen it should +endeavour to do so at once. There may never again be seen such a +gathering together of the great of England, painted by England’s +greatest portrait painters. The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition was +a great assemblage of the glory of England, but it was not so complete, +nor so instructive, nor so comfortable to view as that now open at South +Kensington. In addition to the paintings there is a large and valuable +collection of rare engravings, both in mezzotints and in line. The +latter collection alone would make a visit highly pleasing, and, in a +sense, remunerative to every photographer. Art is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +beginning to take +root in the minds of those who follow photography, either professionally +or for amusement, and those exhibitions are the salt that “savoureth the +earth,” which in due time will bring forth rich fruits.</p> + +<p>The “Tintype” is now being largely practised in America, and is fitted +into an envelope or slip, carte-de-visite size. The slip is formed of +paper, with an aperture to show the picture, and a flap to fall over it +as a protector. I had some of these shown to me a short time ago. The +tintype is only another name for the ferrotype or melainotype, which is +a collodion positive picture taken on a piece of tin or iron, coated +with black japan on the front, and a varnish on the back, to prevent the +metal from acting on the bath. The carte-de-visite form of the tintype +fitted in the envelope or holder is a very good and ready way of +supplying all portraits wanted in a hurry, and its adoption might be +found very serviceable to many photographers in England. The American +examples that I have seen are very brilliant and beautiful, and, to my +mind, next in delicacy of detail and richness of colour to the long +discarded but ever beautiful Daguerreotype. I must admit, <i>en passant</i>, +that the Americans always excelled in producing fine, brilliant +Daguerreotypes, and it is much the same with them in the production of +glass positives, ferrotypes, or tintypes.</p> + +<p>The spirit of photography in America and Canada is admirable. Mr. +Notman, of Montreal, has long been doing some excellent cabinet pictures +representing out-of-door-life, pleasures, and pastimes. Now Mr. Inglis, +of Montreal, also produces most beautiful carte-de-visite and cabinet +pictures of indoor and out-of-door scenes, such as drawing-rooms, +libraries, &c., with suitably arranged and occupied figures in the +former, and boating, bathing, and fishing parties in the latter. Some of +these pictures have recently been shown to me. They are all very fine +examples of photography. The tone and quality of some are beautiful. +Many of them are admirably arranged, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +exhibit considerable knowledge +of composition; but some of them, particularly the interiors, are sadly +at fault in their chiaroscuro. They possess no dominant light, or, if +they do, it is in the wrong place, leading the eye away from the +principal object. In most cases the lights are too scattered, giving a +spotty and flickering effect to the picture, which is painful to look +at. With his out-of-door scenes Mr. Inglis is more happy, and probably, +from his antecedents, more at home. For example, the “Boating Party” is +very happily composed, embracing the double form of angular +composition—the triangle and the lozenge—and just a little more skill +or care would have made it perfect in its lines. The whole scene is well +lighted and got up. The boat, foreground of pebbles, stones, shrubs, and +trees are all real; the water is represented by tin-foil, wet black +oilcloth, or something of the kind, which reflects the forms and colours +of objects placed upon or above it. The reflections seem too sharp to be +those of water. The plan adopted by Mr. Ross, of Edinburgh, is the best. +That gentleman has a large shallow trough fitted up in his studio with +water in it.</p> + +<p>Surely such pictures of groups of friends and families would take in +London and the provinces if people only knew where to get them. At +present I know there is not a place in London where photographic +pictures possessing such a variety and interest can be obtained. Mr. +Faulkner is the only photographer that has yet attempted to produce such +rural subjects in London, but I am not aware that he has yet introduced +“the boat” into his studio.</p> + +<p>This is the “Wise Week,” and it is to be hoped that the gathering +together of the wisdom of the world at Norwich will in some way be +beneficial to photography. You, Mr. Editor, I presume, will attend the +meetings, and I shall look forward with considerable interest to your +gleanings from the harvest of science that will this year be garnered in +the transactions of the British Association.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +As I think of the date to affix to my letter, I am reminded that this is +the day of the great total eclipse, visible in India, and that several +expeditions are engaged in taking observations. The photographic +arrangements, I notice, are more than usually complete, and I most +sincerely hope that the astronomical photographers are favoured with +bright and calm weather, so that they may succeed in obtaining the best +photographic representations of the phenomenon. In this I am not +influenced by the mere photographic idea of getting a picture, but +rather with the hope that photography may be the legitimate and +honourable handmaiden to the savants, astronomers, and mathematicians in +enabling them to ascertain the constitutional condition, mode of +sustenance, and interminable length of life of the great source of all +our labours and achievements. Then would the sun write his +autobiography, and his amanuensis would be his favoured child, +photography.</p> + +<p class="p99"><i>August 18th, 1868.</i></p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<div class="center smcap">The Harvest is over, the Granaries are Full, yet Famine is +in our Midst—Photographers’ Benevolent and Provident +Societies—Photography Ennobled—Revival of the Eburneum +Process—The Societies and the Coming Session—Photographic +Apparatus <i>v.</i> Personal Luggage.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Mr. Editor</span>,—My quill is as restless as my wing, and, as I skim +about like the swallows, many things fall under my observation that +would otherwise not do so, some of which are noteworthy and of interest +to the photographic profession, many are not; but harvest time is +interesting to everyone, and it is of this I am going to make a few +remarks. It is always a subject of grave importance and anxiety to a +nation like ours, with a very limited area of cereal land, until it is +known whether the harvest has been abundant or otherwise. It is also +equally important that the harvest, however plentiful, should be +carefully reaped and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +garnered, so that famine may not fall upon the +people before another season of plenty shall come in its course. The +cereal harvest is over, and has been wonderfully abundant, in spite of +the unusually long, dry, and hot summer. The stack-yards are full, and +the granaries are teeming with plenty, and there is bread enough for all +that can afford to buy. There, that is the qualification that brings to +my mind the most serious part of this subject. Although the season has +been wonderfully fine and favourable for a rich harvest of all things, +“famine is in our midst.” A cry of woe is mingled with our mirth. A +glorious summer and autumn have, on the whole, yielded a rich reward to +the labourers in the pleasant and profitable fields of photography; yet +there is want among some of the workers. In the columns of your +contemporary I observe a letter “begging alms” on behalf of a poor widow +and her little orphans. It is a case of pure charity, and far be it from +me to say to anyone, “Do not help her;” “They have no claim on the +sympathies of the photographic public;” “Neither she nor her late +husband did anything to forward the progress of the art nor advance the +interests of photographers in general.” I grant the latter hypothesis, +and say, “He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord.” Nevertheless, +I cannot refrain from expressing my opinion that such painful appeals +should not be allowed to appear in the columns of the photographic +journals; all such private cases could and should be provided for by any +of the provident organisations so common to other trades. The subject +has been frequently mooted in your own columns, but no action has been +taken. Very recently a lady correspondent called attention to the +subject again, and now, in the pages of your contemporary, I notice an +elaborate plan is laid down as the ground-work of a Photographers’ +Provident and Benevolent Society. That plan is open to some objections, +but it is certainly desirable that such a society should be formed. It +is rather late in the season for photographers to make any provision for +cases 1 and 2, as the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +correspondent in your contemporary suggests—this +year, at least; but I think his other plan of making a provision, +however small, for widows and orphans is highly to be commended, and, if +only carried into effect, would undoubtedly mitigate the anguish and +lessen the fear of want in the minds of many deserving women, and might +prevent the recurrence of those painful appeals to which I have just +alluded. It is just as important and imperative a duty for every man to +make some sort of provision for those dependent upon him as it is for +the husbandman to reap and carefully house his harvest. Knowing the +interest which you, Mr. Editor, personally take in this subject, I trust +that you will exert your influence, and see if it be possible to found a +society <i>at once</i> that will grow in after years to be a monument to +photography and to the goodness and forethought of the photographers of +the present generation.</p> + +<p>Photography, like the fine arts, is honoured with a title of nobility. A +baronetcy has recently fallen to the lot of one who for years has +followed photography as a profession, taking cartes-de-visite and other +photographs in the usual business-like manner. Of all the styles of +distinction that are conferred upon men, I think baronetcies have been +subject to the greatest number of vicissitudes, and spiced with the +greatest amount of romance, from the romantic succession of Sir Robert +Innes to Sir William Don, “a poor player;” and now the photographic +profession includes among its members one of the baronets of England.</p> + +<p>Your description of the Eburneum process, given recently in your “Visits +to Noteworthy Studios,” has awakened quite a new interest in that +beautiful form of photograph, introduced a few years ago by Mr. Burgess. +Several photographers whom I know have set about producing them. The +specimens which I have seen are very beautiful as cards, but they are +particularly suitable for lockets, brooches, studs, pins, rings, &c., +being sharp, clear, and delicate, and easily cut to fit any size or +shape.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +Next month some of the London photographic societies will commence the +session of 1868-9, and it might be asked, What are their prospects? It +is to be hoped that the North London will do better than it did last +session. There was more than one <i>nil</i> meeting. The South London will +doubtless keep up its character, and exhibit its usual vitality. The +personal interest taken in the meetings by their kind, genial, and +courteous President is almost sure to develop all the latent force of +the members. It is also to be hoped that <i>the</i> Society will make as +brilliant a start as it did at the commencement of the session last +November. Such an exhibition as that in Conduit Street may easily be +repeated, though it may not be such a startling one.</p> + +<p>The question raised, whether photographic apparatus be or be not +considered “personal luggage” by the railway companies, is one of very +great importance to photographers, but particularly to amateurs, for if +decided against them it will cause no end of inconvenience, vexation, +and expense by delays and extra charges. On the other hand, it must be +admitted that the view taken by the railway authorities is technically +correct. The very word “personal” shows that they mean such articles as +are really and absolutely necessary for the personal comfort and +convenience of travellers, which can only rightly include wearing +apparel, changes of linen, dressing-cases, ladies’ work boxes, and +writing desks. These are absolutely indispensable for the comfort and +convenience of travellers. Photographic apparatus, and particularly +chemicals, do not come under that classification, and I think it is of +great consequence to the railway companies and their passengers to know +what should, or should not, be put into the “luggage van.” I know a case +where an amateur photographer was travelling by rail with a 12 by 10 +bath full of nitrate of silver solution packed among his clothes in a +box in the luggage van. The bath leaked, the solution spoiled all his +shirts, and he was driven +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +to the shift of papering the fronts. Now, +supposing the box containing the leaky bath had stood upon someone +else’s box—say a lady’s—it might have run through and spoiled some +valuable dresses; at the least, it would have spoiled the appearance of +the box, to the great annoyance of the lady passenger, and the probable +claim on the company for compensation. There are always two sides to a +question, and though few men have travelled more with photographic +apparatus in the luggage van than myself, I think, in this case, the +best of the argument may be fairly ceded to the railway companies.</p> + +<p class="p99"><i>September 18th, 1868.</i></p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>“LUX GRAPHICUS” ON THE WING.</h3> + +<div class="center smcap">His Flight to and from the Exhibition of the Photographic Society.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Mr. Editor</span>,—On Tuesday night last I took the liberty of looking +into the rooms of the Architectural Society, to see the photographs, and +listen to the gossip of the visitors at the <i>conversazione</i> of the +Photographic Society. To hear the complimentary remarks and the +exclamations of pleasure was as delightful to my ear as the first song +of the lark in spring.</p> + +<p>The assemblage—not brilliant, but genial, pleasant, and happy—was as +refreshing to the eye as the first glimpse of the vernal flowers; and +the pictures hung upon the walls and screens, and laid upon the tables, +were, in more senses than one, a feast to the mind almost without alloy. +For my own part, I felt so joyful, I could not help fluttering my wings, +shaking my feathers, and flitting about from one place to another, +chirping, chatting, and pecking lovingly about this pretty thing, and at +that old friend, till long after my usual time of going to roost. And +when I did at last tear myself away and fly home, I could not help +exclaiming, Well, there never was a pleasanter evening nor a nicer +exhibition in the whole history of the Society! But +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +I could not sleep; +I put my head under my wing, shook my feathers, and tried to settle into +the most comfortable and cosy positions, but it was no use. The pretty +landscapes and pleasing portraits I had seen shone brighter and brighter +before me; I was compelled to mentally review them; and here follows the +result of my incubations. My first thoughts were to work the pleasures +of the evening by a kind of rule-of-three process, by considering the +value of the landscapes and portraits exhibited, to arrive at the worth +of the exhibition; but not so much in a money point of view, as in the +merits of the works, and their probable influences on the workers.</p> + +<p>Taking the landscape portion of the exhibition as first in the order +into which I had mentally catalogued the pictures, it was an easy and +delightful thing to skim over such a vast extent of this world’s surface +that evening. To journey to and from the glens of Scotland, the dales of +England and Wales, the lakes of Ireland, the mountains of the Tyrol, to +Abyssinia and the famous heights of Magdala, was but the work of a few +minutes, thanks to the purveyors of that mental banquet. But to do full +justice to the exhibitors I must endeavour to enumerate their principal +works, and comment thereon with the utmost impartiality. Most +unquestionably the gems of the landscape portion of the exhibition were +eight exquisite little pictures by Mr. Russell Manners Gordon, affording +unmistakable proof of what the gum-gallico dry process is capable of +yielding in his hands. It is almost, if not quite, equal to the wet +process for detail and delicacy. This is particularly noticeable in the +view of Carnarvon Castle. Indeed, Mr. Bedford’s picture of the same +subject—which, I presume, is by the wet process—on the other side of +the screen, contrasts rather unfavourably with it. Mr. Gordon’s +selection of his point of sight, and general treatment of that subject +alone, are unmistakable proofs of his refined taste and feeling for the +art capabilities of landscape photography. The wet collodion pictures by +Mr. Gordon are also beautiful +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +examples of the art. His cottages with sheep browsing in the foreground, +which is an instantaneous picture, is remarkable for its beauty and +arrangement. These pictures are beautifully printed, and possess a tone +which harmonizes charmingly with the subjects. Amongst the other landscape +photographers Mr. England and Mr. Bedford stand unrivalled in their +peculiar branches. The views in the Tyrol, lately taken by Mr. England, +are so excellent that they cannot but add to that gentleman’s high +reputation.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bedford’s views are also quite equal, if not superior, to his +previously-exhibited works. Some pretty views of the Lakes of Killarney +by Mr. Archibald Irvine were well worthy of notice. Mr. F. Beasley, +Junr., exhibited some very excellent examples of the Fothergill process; +some printed in silver, and others in carbon, from the same negatives. I +think the carbon prints were superior in colour, but the silver prints +possess most detail and depth. Views of Wimbledon and other places by +Mr. Vernon Heath were also good examples of that gentleman’s +photography. Some beautiful cloud effects by Messrs. Robinson and +Cherrill, of Tunbridge Wells, and Mr. Fox, of Brighton, attracted +considerable attention, and elicited great praise. The large composition +picture, “Returning Home,” by Mr. Robinson, was greatly admired by +nearly everyone that looked at it. One or two ill-natured or ignorant +remarks were made about that picture, but I candidly think it is the +very best picture that Mr. Robinson has produced. The sunshine on the +one side, and the rain storm sweeping over the other, are both cleverly +and artistically managed. I am sorry I cannot say the same of the group +of children which hung near the latter. The group, though perfect in its +photographic details and tone, is too suggestive of scissors and paste +to be a good picture, in my estimation.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wardley’s large Taupenot pictures were very excellent. The very +interesting pictures of Abyssinia by the 10th Company +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +of Engineers were +very attractive. Groups of the captives—political, religious, and +artisan, with their families—and the officers of the Expedition, formed +interesting pictures. The views of Magdala, Theodore’s house, the +mushroom fortifications, and other flimsy defences, as revealed by the +truth-telling camera, seemed to lessen considerably the glory of the +capture of Magdala.</p> + +<p>Having dismissed the landscape portion of the exhibition without +mentioning all the many excellent contributions thereto, I next turn my +thoughts again to the contributions of portraits. The examples of that +branch of photography were nearly all of first-rate excellence, a large +number of them being <i>à la Salomon</i>, M. Adam-Salomon himself +contributing no less than fifteen. With one or two remarkable +exceptions, these pictures were not equal to those exhibited last year, +and a general feeling prevailed that they were neither his later works, +nor the best of his former; still, they were a very effective display, +and attracted great and deserved attention. As I have, on a former +occasion, expressed my opinion on the great excellence of M. Salomon’s +works, I shall not comment further thereon at present, but proceed to +notice those which most nearly approached them in photographic +and artistic essentials. Undoubtedly Mr. Valentine Blanchard’s +contributions, both in number and quality, come nearer to M. Salomon’s +works than any other contributor’s. Mr. Blanchard exhibited ten +portraits <i>à la Salomon</i>, some of which are quite equal to the French +artist’s best works, without the elaborate working-up which the latter +exhibit. Mr. Blanchard has not been at all times fortunate in his +sitters, which is very much to be regretted, for we all know how much a +beautiful subject helps a good photograph. Hitherto, Mr. Blanchard has +been an exhibitor chiefly as a landscape and figure-study photographer. +Now that he has taken more kindly to portraiture, and exhibits such +capabilities for its successful practice, I hope he will find it +sufficiently remunerative to induce him to be a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +steady and persevering +disciple of M. Salomon. Messrs. Robinson and Cherrill also exhibited two +beautiful and Salomon-like portraits: one of M. Salomon himself, and one +of Mr. Hain Friswell; the latter, I think, is decidedly the best. Mr. +Mayland, of Cambridge, sent six very excellent portraits in Salomon’s +style, all very good but one; a gentleman in a velvet coat was +particularly successful.</p> + +<p>The pictures exhibited by Mr. Briggs, of Leamington, though extremely +forcible and beautiful, were not exactly an imitation of the style of M. +Salomon.</p> + +<p>Mr. Leake, of Cornhill, had a frame containing six very capital +portraits in the style of the eminent French photographer, but a little +overdone in after-touching—too much elaborated. In this respect he far +outdid his great prototype. Messrs. Fradelle and Leach also exhibited a +number of whole-plate pictures <i>à la Salomon</i>, which were very good +indeed. Messrs. Slingsby, Burgess, Ashdown, Dunmore, and S. Fry, were +also exhibitors of the same style of portraits, 10 by 8 size; but it is +a pity the latter did himself the injustice of exhibiting so many, for +there was only one—an old gentleman with a grey beard—that was really +worthy of him. Never did any man’s joke recoil more forcibly on himself +than that of Mr. Fry’s. The faces of some of his female portraits—one +in particular—were, in my estimation, as flat, white, and shadowless as +a piece or knob of sal-ammoniac itself; but I must say that the portrait +of the gentleman above referred to was all that could be desired as an +artistic photograph.</p> + +<p>Amongst the cabinet pictures exhibited by English photographers, I think +those by Mr. Hubbard were decidedly the finest. One entitled “The +Toilet,” and another of a lady seated at a window, which might be named +“A Sultry Day in Town,” are charmingly artistic photographs. A +composition picture by the same artist was also very skilfully treated; +indeed, it was mistaken by many to be a copy of a picture, and might +easily +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +have been taken for a copy of a painting by T. Faed. Mr. Briggs, +Mr. Godbold (of Hastings), Mr. Gillo, Messrs. Lucas and Box, also +exhibited some beautiful cabinet pictures.</p> + +<p>Cartes-de-visite in their ordinary form were somewhat scarce, but Dr. +Wallich, Mr. Charles Heath, Mr. Bateman, and others, made a good show of +vignettes.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cameron exhibited some large pictures in her peculiar style; but my +own opinion and that of others was, that she is improving.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ernest Edwards exhibited a large collection of carbon pictures, in +black and other colours; some mounted on chromo-tinted paper, and some +excellent enlargements in carbon. The Autotype Company exhibited a fine +copy of Lord Belhaven, which I noticed some time ago; also a very +valuable and beautiful collection of copies from drawings by old +masters, all bound together, making a handsome and very interesting +collection.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rejlander had a large collection of his art photographs on view, all +of which were clever, some facetious, and many very beautiful +conceptions.</p> + +<p>A frame of coloured enamels by Mr. Bailey, and some in black-and-white +by Mr. Henderson and Mr. Barnes, also attracted considerable notice.</p> + +<p>The eburneumtypes by Mr. Burgess, a coloured collodio-chloride portrait +on ivory by Mr. J. Edwards, and other collodio-chloride and opalotype +pictures, were very much admired. The cabinet vignettes by Reutlinger, +and the cabinet pictures by Wenderoth, were both in request at the +table, on account of their beauty and interest.</p> + +<p>I must not forget to mention a very interesting series of twenty-four +stereoscopic pictures by Mr. Alfieri, illustrative of “The Potter’s +Art.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Jabez Hughes and Mr. Meagher were both exhibitors of very excellent +and useful apparatus—cameras, camera-stands, and rolling-presses.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> +Now I think such an exhibition as I have but partially described cannot +fail to have produced a pleasing and beneficial effect on the minds of +all who saw it, and ought, on the whole, to have given infinite pleasure +and satisfaction to both exhibitors and visitors. Yet I think I heard +one or two growls of discontent about the hanging from someone whose +pictures or whose friend’s pictures were not on the line; but I think I +may safely say there never was a case of hanging yet that was not +objected to by one individual at least. Even the hangers of the Royal +Academy do not escape censure, and they are supposed to have far more +skill, taste, and experience in hanging than the volunteer hangers of +the late photographic exhibition. I think, however, that the hangers +performed their duties both conscientiously and creditably, especially +when it is considered in how very short a time the work had to be done. +Anyone who felt aggrieved, and expressed himself churlishly on that +point, must surely have been in that unenviable state which the French +very adroitly designate <i>Etre marqué au B</i>.</p> + +<p>After these reflections I felt too drowsy to reflect any more, and was +barely awake enough to subscribe myself—Yours very truly.</p> + +<p class="p99"><i>November 10th, 1868.</i></p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<div class="center smcap">The Refunding of the Balance of the Goddard Fund—The +Photographers’ Provident Society—A Ferocious Doorsman—The South +London Dinner—A Christmas Carol.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Sir</span>,—Now that the balance of the Goddard Fund is returned to +the contributors, and all the trials and vexations the administration of +the fund brought upon the chief promoters are known, I think the very +best thanks of the whole body of subscribers to that fund are due to the +committee for their firm and sensible determination to provide for the +wants of the poor imbecile recipient in the manner they did, and for +their withstanding +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> +the attempt made by a person who was not in the +least related to the late Mr. Goddard to obtain possession of the +balance in hand. I, for one, a subscriber to the fund, return them my +most hearty acknowledgments, not for the money returned to me, but for +the straightforwardness of their report, and the wise and judicious +manner in which they dispensed the funds. While congratulating myself +and confrères on seeing the money not required for the relief of the +late Mr. Goddard returned to the subscribers instead of going into the +possession of a person for whom it never was intended, I think it is to +be regretted that no responsible party had foreseen that much of this +returned money would have been gladly placed to the credit of some +benevolent or provident institution connected with photography. The +whole amount, or even the half of it, would have made a very handsome +nucleus for the commencement of such a fund. I have heard several wishes +to that effect expressed during the last few days. Doubtless the +committee did the very best thing they could have done for their own +credit and the entire satisfaction of the whole of the subscribers; but +I am afraid an opportunity has been lost in the interest of the +incipient relief fund by not having had a receiver for these stray and +unexpected sums appointed. The praiseworthy act of Messrs. Ross and +Pringle, as noticed in another journal, confirms this impression.</p> + +<p>While the subject of a photographers’ provident or relief fund is before +me, I may mention that in the Report of the Friendly Societies recently +issued by Mr. Tidd Pratt, he speaks in the highest terms of those +societies which are managed by the members themselves without salaries, +and condemns the extravagance exhibited by the societies of a similar +nature which are conducted by salaried officials. Now, as it is a +friendly society pure and simple that sick or needy photographers ought +to look to for future help, in my opinion the former is the kind of +society that should be established. The movement is not to be started +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> +as a business speculation, and there should be no salaries attached to +any of the offices. Each member joining the provident society should be +prepared to submit to the tax on his time and energies, if elected to +office, as part and parcel of the amount he subscribes for the general +welfare of the body and relief of individual members. For my part, I +object to the contemplated society taking the form of a relief fund +depending upon donations, collections at dinners, &c., for its support. +Such means for raising the necessary funds to start the society may be +allowable; but after it is commenced, every individual connected with it +should be a subscribing member, and not allowed to receive any benefit, +except under the most urgent necessities, until he has paid a certain +number of subscriptions.</p> + +<p>During one of my peregrinations about town lately I stumbled upon a very +ferocious doorsman. My attention was suddenly arrested, while passing +one of those photographic establishments which keep a kind of two-legged +hyena prowling up and down before their doors, by hearing the somewhat +startling and cannibalistic exclamation of “I‘ll eat yer!” Looking +round, I saw that one of those prowling bipeds had fastened upon two +quiet-looking young gentlemen, evidently strangers in town and to town +ways, and had so importuned them to sit for “a correct likeness,” until +they turned upon him, and threatened to give him in charge if he did not +desist; when he retaliated by threatening to eat them, and used a great +deal of sanguinary and abusive language as a substitute for more +palatable suavity. Is such an “outsider” or hanger-on a fit and proper +person to join a photographers’ provident society, or be the recipient +of a benevolent relief fund?</p> + +<p>The South London Photographic Society’s annual dinner came off on +Saturday evening last at the “Salutation Tavern,” Newgate Street. +Twenty-three members and friends, all told, sat down to dinner, and +enjoyed a thoroughly English repast. After the cloth was removed, the +pleasantest part of the evening +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +commenced. The worthy and honoured +president, the Rev. F. F. Statham, M.A., who occupied the chair, was all +geniality, and gave the toast of the evening—“The South London +Photographic Society”—in his usually felicitous style. To Mr. Jabez +Hughes was allotted the task of proposing the next important +toast—“Photography”—which he did in the most glowing and eloquent +terms, dwelling on the rise and progress of the art in England, its +position in a competitive point of view at the Paris Exhibition, +interspersed with some racy and facetious remarks on the different modes +and kinds of rewards, from the bronze, silver, and gold medals, to the +paper certificates, which he considered the most honourable mentions +that could be given by a discerning public. From that he soared into the +higher aspirations of photographers and sublime regions of photography, +giving, with thrilling effect, a description of the social joys, +scientific pursuits, and human ameliorations to which photography +administers. Mr. Baynham Jones, being the oldest photographer present, +had the honour of replying on behalf of the art. Mr. G. Wharton Simpson, +in very appropriate terms, gave the toast, “Art Photography,” which was +responded to by Mr. O. G. Rejlander. Mr. Johnson, of the Autotype +Company, had the honour of proposing the toast “Professional +Photography,” which was responded to by Mr. Valentine Blanchard, +who occupied the vice-chair. Other toasts of a professional and +semi-professional character were given and responded to. The intervals +were filled up with part and instrumental music by members of the +Society. Mr. Cooper contributed greatly to the evening’s enjoyment by +giving two charming performances on the cornet-a-piston, which were +admirably accompanied by Mr. Henry Cooper on the piano. Taking it all in +all, it was one of the pleasantest and merriest evenings I have ever +enjoyed at the convivial meetings of the South London Photographic +Society, and formed a delightful introduction to the season of universal +festivity which is close at hand.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +Christmas, all over the civilized world, is not only a period of festive +reunion, but, according to the only rational interpretation of the word, +a time of good will towards men, and peace upon earth. Photographers, +like other men, have had their little differences of opinion, which have +produced partial estrangements during a portion of the year which will +so soon expire; but let the approaching season, which is held in +commemoration of the birth of the greatest Peacemaker that ever came +among men, be looked upon by all as the fittest time to forget and +forgive all slights, injuries, or insults, real or imaginary; and let +not the great festival of our common faith be clouded or eclipsed by an +angry thought, nor the immeasurable charity of true Christianity be +dimmed by one unforgiving feeling. The light of the Christian faith is a +light that should penetrate to the dark cells of our hearts, and dispel +all the gloomy and corrosive accumulations of controversy that may have +lodged there, and unconsciously eaten away any part of our better +nature. Few of us—none but the most presumptuous—can lay his hand upon +his heart and say, “Mine is immaculate!” None of us are without sin, and +charity and forgiveness are the greatest of the Christian virtues; and +they should be the more carefully studied and practised by all who live +in and by the Light of the world.</p> + +<p class="p99"><i>December 15th, 1868.</i></p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE IMMURED POMPEIIANS.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Every</span> one must be sensible of the many and varied applications of +photography. Even photographers themselves, familiar as they are with +the capabilities of the art they practise, must necessarily have their +wonder excited occasionally at the scope of their art-science, +especially when they consider that the process, as practised at the +present day, is not more than seventeen years old. That it should be the +historian of the life and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> +manners of the present period more fully and +faithfully than any written account, is not so much a matter of +surprise. Appealing, as it does, to the vanity and affections of the +people, it is at once a recorder of the changes of fashion, a registrar +of marriages, births, and deaths, and a truthful illustrator of the +times in which we live; but that it should be brought to bear upon the +past, and make the inhabitants of the world in the nineteenth century +familiar with the forms, fashions, manners, life, and death of the +people of the first century of the Christian Era, is something to be +marvelled at, and at first seems an impossibility. Yet such is the fact; +and photography has been made the cheap and easy means of informing the +present generation of the manner in which the ancients behaved, +suffered, and died in the midst of one of the most appalling +catastrophes that ever overtook the inhabitants of any part of the +world, ancient or modern, as vividly and undeniably as if the calamity +had occurred but yesterday.</p> + +<p>The foregoing reflections were excited by seeing very recently some +photographs from plaster casts of the forms of human beings as they had +fallen and died when Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed by the first +known and terrible eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The photographs alluded +to reveal with a fearful fidelity the dreadful agonies of some of those +who perished at Pompeii, and, while looking at the pictures, it is very +difficult to divest the mind of the idea that they are not the works of +some ancient photographer who plied his lens and camera immediately +after the eruption had ceased, so forcibly do they carry the mind back +to the time and place of the awful immurement of both a town and its +people.</p> + +<p>That these photographs were not obtained from the lifeless forms of the +Pompeiians the reader will readily understand, for their bodies have not +been preserved entire from that day to this. The question then naturally +arises, “How could plaster casts be obtained from which the photographs +were produced?” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +To answer that question I must briefly explain that +Pompeii was not, as is generally understood, destroyed by an overflow of +red hot lava, which would have burnt up every particle of human flesh +with which it came in contact almost instantly, without leaving a mould +or impress of the form which it surrounded. The <i>black mud</i> which flowed +from Vesuvius into the doomed town of Pompeii entombed the houses and +inhabitants—covered them up and formed a thick crust over them, which +gradually hardened, and as the bodies crumbled away to dust a mould or +matrix was left, from which plaster casts of great beauty and finish +might have been obtained of almost everything that was destroyed. +Unfortunately, this was not discovered until very recently, after many +of the beautiful moulds had been destroyed by the process of hurried, +thoughtless, and unsystematic excavation. It was only a short time +ago, since Naples was united to Italy, that careful and intelligent +excavation secured to future generations impressions from those matrices +made by the most terrible process of natural mould making.</p> + +<p>Sig. Fiorelli, who was appointed superintendent of excavations at +Pompeii, happily thought of obtaining casts from these natural moulds by +pouring in soft plaster of Paris, and thus secure more useful mementos +than by preserving the moulds themselves. Amongst the first casts thus +obtained were the forms of four human beings, described as follows in +the <i>Quarterly Review</i> for 1864:—</p> + +<p>“These four persons had perished in the streets. Driven from their +homes, they sought to flee when it was too late. These victims of the +eruption were not found together, and they do not appear to have +belonged to the same family or household. The most interesting of the +casts is that of two women, probably mother and daughter, lying feet to +feet; they appear from their garb to have been people of poor condition. +The elder seems to lie tranquilly on her side, overcome by the noxious +gases. She +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> +probably fell and died without a struggle. Her limbs are +extended, and her left arm drops loosely. On one finger is still seen +her coarse iron ring. Her child was a girl of fifteen; she seems, +poor thing, to have struggled hard for life. Her legs are drawn up +convulsively. Her little hands are clenched in agony. In one she holds +her veil, or part of her dress with which she had covered her head, +burying her face in her arms to shield herself from the falling ashes +and from the foul, sulphurous smoke. The form of her head is perfectly +preserved. The texture of her coarse linen garments may be traced, and +even the fashion of her dress, with its long sleeves reaching to her +wrists. Here and there it is torn, and the smooth young skin appears in +the plaster like polished marble. On her tiny feet may still be seen her +embroidered sandals. At some distance from this group lay a third woman, +apparently about the age of twenty-five, and belonging to a better +class. Silver rings were on her fingers. She lay on her side, and had +died in great agony. Her garments had been gathered up on one side, +leaving exposed a limb of the most beautiful form. She had fled with her +little treasure, two silver cups, a few jewels, and some silver coins, +and her keys, like a careful matron. The fourth cast is that of a man of +the people, perhaps a common soldier. He is almost of colossal size. He +lies on his back, his arms extended by his side, and his feet stretched +out, as if, finding escape impossible, he had laid himself down to meet +death like a brave man. His dress consists of a short coat or jerkin, +and tight-fitting breeches of some coarse stuff, perhaps leather; heavy +sandals, with soles studded with nails, are laced tightly round his +ankles. On one finger is seen his iron ring. His features are strongly +marked, his mouth open, as in death. Some of his teeth still remain, and +even part of the moustache adheres to the plaster.”</p> + +<p>Such is the description of the plaster casts; and the photographs which +I possess of those casts convey to the mind at one glance all that is +there written. Wonderful photography! +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +How eloquent in their silence are +thy pictures! To what more dignified and sublime uses could any art be +put? Only a few can look upon those casts of the dead Pompeiians in the +Museum of Naples, but the whole world may view the photographs taken +from them, and look upon the Pompeiians in their forms and habits as +they died, and read a page from the unwritten histories of those +terrible death-struggles, when the strong man, the tender, placid +mother, and the young and delicate maiden were all entombed in that +fearful sea of mud, amidst darkness and horrors that can never be +adequately described.</p> + +<p>Such an awful catastrophe will never cease to interest the student of +ancient history, and photography will now be the means of deepening his +interest, and revealing to his mind with greater force and lucidity many +scenes that actually occurred at the very moment of the appalling +destruction of Pompeii, on the 24th of August, <span class="smaller">A.D.</span> 79.</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>A SIMPLE MODE OF INTENSIFYING NEGATIVES.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Undoubtedly</span> the best possible practice of photography is that which +requires no after intensification in the production of a first-class +negative. This, however, though a “consummation devoutly to be wished,” +is not always attained, even by the most experienced photographer. Every +operator knows that there is sometimes a condition of things that +renders a simple and efficient process of intensifying afterwards +indispensable.</p> + +<p>Of all the modes of intensifying—and their name is legion—I think the +readiest and most generally useful has been much neglected. The +persulphate of uranium and ferridcyanide of potassium process gave +wonderfully charming results. But what of that? It was completely +impracticable, and a failure, in consequence of its tendency to go on +increasing in intensity in the hands of the printer.</p> + +<p>The bichloride of mercury and iodine processes, unlimited in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +number, also went on increasing in an unlimited degree, and no amount of +“roasting” could reduce the negatives so treated to the desirable degree +of transparency that would enable any printer to obtain good +impressions. There is, however, one of the bichloride of mercury +processes, published some years ago, which I modified so as to give the +most satisfactory results. It rendered the negative sufficiently +intense, and preserved the most exquisite modelling, without changing +afterwards; but the process was very troublesome, and not very +agreeable.</p> + +<p>The simplest, cheapest, and most reliable process of intensifying +negatives that I know of is with sulphuret of potassium (liver of +sulphur) used in the following manner:—</p> + +<p>Make a very dilute solution of sulphuret of potassium, put it into any +old gutta-percha or porcelain bath; and, after the negative is developed +as far as is desirable with the ordinary iron developer, fixed, and +washed in the usual way, immerse the plate in that state at once into +the solution of sulphuret of potassium, in the same manner as in +sensitising the plate in the nitrate bath, by using a dipper, and leave +it there until sufficiently intense, which is generally in about the +time required for coating and sensitising another plate, so that, if the +operator be working single-handed, very little, if any, time is lost in +the process of intensifying.</p> + +<p>The solution may also be flooded over the plate in the same manner as +the developer, after fixing and washing as before.</p> + +<p>When sufficiently intense, rinse the plate with water, dry, and varnish +in the ordinary way. But it is best to use the intensifier in the manner +first described, which is by far the most cleanly and economical plan, +both in the saving of time and solution. By using it with the “bath and +dipper,” it is not offensive, on account of its extreme dilution, and +not being disturbed so much, or immediately under the olfactory nerves +of the operator, it may be worked in the ordinary dark room with the +greatest safety and convenience.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>A STRING OF OLD BEADS.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">He</span> is a rash man who announces “something new” in these days. I believe +there is nothing new under the sun, and in photography especially. If +any man be rash enough to rush into print with what he considers a new +idea, some other man rushes into print also and says the idea is old, +exploded, useless, worthless, or worse.</p> + +<p>I lay no claim to originality. I have lived so long in the atmosphere of +photography, I don’t know where or how I picked up my knowledge—such as +it is. Some of it I may have stumbled on, some of it I may have found, +and some of it I may have stolen. If the latter, I forget from whom, +when, or where, and in all such cases a bad memory is a good and +convenient thing. But I will endeavour to atone for such sins by +publicly restoring all I may have filched from other men’s brains for +the benefit of all whom it may concern. I shall not count the beads; +that would be like running over a rosary, and I object to sub rosa +revelations; neither shall I attend to the order of stringing the beads, +but will put them on record just as they come to hand; and the first +is—</p> + +<p><i>How to Make Vignette Papers.</i>—Take a piece of sensitised paper, lay it +under a piece of glass and let it blacken. Then take a camels’-hair +pencil dipped in a weak solution of cyanide of potassium, and paint the +extreme size and shape of the desired aperture. Let it dry, and with a +little stronger solution of cyanide paint <i>within</i> the size and shape, +and then with a stronger solution paint the centre, which will be +perfectly white and semi-transparent. The object of using the three +strengths of solution and painting three separate times is to obtain +gradation, and the edges will be yellow and softened like a vignette +glass. These vignette papers can be attached to the back of the negative +or to the outside of the printing-press, and can be used either in shade +or sunshine without materially prolonging the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> +time of printing. The +cost of production is trifling, as any waste piece of paper and spare +time can be employed in making them, and they do not occupy much time in +making; in fact, one can be made in less time than will be spent in +reading this description. I need not expatiate on the advantages of +being able to make a special vignette quickly. Every photographer must +have experienced the difficulty of purchasing a special size and shape +to suit a particular subject.</p> + +<p><i>How to Point a Pencil.</i>—Rub the pencil to a point in the groove of a +corundum file. This is a better and cheaper pointer than a Yankee +pencil-sharpener, and it puts a finer point to a blacklead pencil than +anything else I know. Retouchers, try it.</p> + +<p><i>How to Ease a Tight Stopper.</i>—There is nothing more annoying in the +practice of photography than to take up a bottle and find the stopper +<i>fixed</i>. In many instances the bottle is broken and time wasted in +trying to remove the fixed stopper. When such an obstinate stopper gets +into your hands, run a little glycerine round the top of the bottle. Set +the bottle down, and in a few minutes the stopper will be free. +Prevention is better than cure. Keep a little glycerine on all your +stoppers. Glycerine agrees with every chemical in photographic use, and +prevents stoppers and bottles coming to grief. In a thousand and one +ways a little glycerine is beyond all price.</p> + +<p><i>How to Prepare Albumenized Prints for Colouring.</i>—Pour over them a +little matt varnish. This removes the greasiness, and gives a fine tooth +and ivory-like surface for the artist to work upon.</p> + +<p><i>How to Remove Silver Stains from the White Ground of a +Vignette.</i>—Touch it with a solution of cyanide of potassium, and wash +off immediately. The other parts of the picture will not be injured.</p> + +<p><i>How to Stipple a Window White or Yellow.</i>—For white, mix a little +dextrine and kaolin in water. Dab the mixture on the glass with a piece +of cotton. For the purpose of obscuration that is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> +quite enough; but if +sightliness be essential, finish by stippling with the ends of a +hog’s-hair brush. For yellow, mix a little dextrine and deep orange +chrome in powder together in water, and apply it to the window in the +same manner. Dabbing once or twice with a piece of cotton will exclude +white light and make a luminous dark room. The same mixture makes an +excellent backing for dry plates to prevent halation.</p> + +<hr class="r10" /> + +<h3>LIGHTS AND LIGHTING.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">A great</span> deal has been written and said about lights and lighting—a +great deal too much; yet more must be said and written.</p> + +<p>Light is to the photographer what the sickle is to the shearer—a good +reaper can cut well with an indifferent sickle, but an indifferent +reaper never gets a good sickle in his hand. A good photographer, who +also understands light and shade, can produce good pictures in an +ordinary studio. It is the indifferent photographer who runs after +“fancy lights,” and is, like a benighted traveller in pursuit of a +will-o’-the-wisp, eventually left floundering in a bog. It is folly to +construct powerful concentrators if powerful reflectors have to be +employed to counteract their defects. If a limited amount of diffused +light be absolutely necessary it is best to retain it and use it in its +simplest and least expensive form.</p> + +<p>When I commenced photography glass houses were scarcer in England than +comets in the heavens, and the few that were in existence were all +constructed on false principles. It was not until I visited America that +I saw a <i>properly</i>-constructed studio. The Americans were, and are, +prone to give stupid names to sensible things; and the names they gave +to their studios were no exceptions. This, that, and the other +photographer advertised his “mammoth skylight.” I went to sit, see, and +be satisfied that their mode of lighting was very superior to ours. I +was convinced <i>instanter</i> that the perpendicular +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +sides and sloping +roofs of our miserable little hothouses were mistakes and things to be +abhorred, while their spacious rooms and “mammoth skylights” were things +to be admired and adopted.</p> + +<p>In one of these rooms, and almost without blinds or reflectors, the +sitter could be “worked” on a semi-circle or half oval, and “lighted” +either in front or on either side at pleasure, and with the greatest +facility. I determined, there and then, to build my next studio on +similar principles; but until recently I have had no opportunity of +carrying out my intentions. To get what I required and to make the best +of my situation I had to “fence and fiddle” the district surveyor: but I +gained my point, and the victory was worth the foils and the +fiddlestick.</p> + +<p>My studio can be lighted from either side; but the “light of lights” is +the north one, and that is a large fixed window 11 by 9 feet with a +single slope of two and a half feet in the height; that is, two and +a half feet out of the perpendicular at the top, with no other top light +and no perpendicular side light. With this light I do all ordinary work. +I can work round the light from one side of the room to the other, as +under a mammoth skylight, without using either blind or reflector. If I +want Rembrandt effects I have only to open a shutter on the south side, +and let in subdued sunlight. That at once becomes the dominant light, +and the north light illumines the shadows. The bottom of the north light +is three feet from the floor.</p> + +<p>The advantages of this form of studio are these. It is cool, because no +more light is admitted than is absolutely necessary. It is neat, because +no rag-like curtains are hanging about. It is clean, because there is +nothing to collect dirt. It is dry, because the pitch of the roof +renders leakage impossible. It is pleasant to the sitter, because of +these desirabilities, and that the light is not distressing. It is +agreeable to the operator, because the work is easy and everything is +comfortable.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p class="p0 center larger" style="margin-bottom: 2em">Printed by Piper & Carter, 5, Furnival Street, Holborn, London, E.C.</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<div class="center"> + +<div class="fig_left" style="width: 276px;"> +<img src="images/328.png" width="276" height="232" alt="Kodak Film Camera" title="Kodak Film Camera" /> +</div> + +<p class="center big">SEVEN NEW SIZES,</p> + +<p class="center p0" style="margin: 2em 0 2em 0;">ALL WITH</p> + +<p class="center larger">TRANSPARENT<br /> +<br /> +FILM.</p> + +<p class="center" style="margin: 2em 0 2em 0;"> +No apparatus connected with Photography has ever excited so much +interest as</p> + +<p class="center vbig">THE KODAK.</p> + +<p>The No. 1, making a round picture, was only the entering wedge, and +served its purpose admirably, in introducing to the public the vast +advantages of a Camera using films over any form of Camera using glass.</p> + +<p class="center">This year we beg to call your attention to SEVEN NEW +SIZES, viz.:—</p> + +<table summary="camera models"> +<tr> + <td>No. 2, </td> + <td class="tdl" colspan="9">3<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> inch Circular Picture,one finder.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> No. 3,</td> + <td class="tdl">Regular, </td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td> + <td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td> + <td> × </td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td> + <td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub>,</td> + <td>Square</td> + <td>Picture,</td> + <td>two finders.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>No. 3,</td> + <td class="tdl">Junior, </td> + <td> </td> + <td></td> + <td>„</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>No, 4,</td> + <td class="tdl">Regular, </td> + <td colspan="2">4</td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">5,</td><td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>No. 4,</td> + <td class="tdl">Junior, </td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td>„</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>No. 4,</td> + <td class="tdl">Folding, </td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td>„</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>No. 5,</td> + <td>„</td> + <td colspan="2">5</td><td>×</td><td>7,</td><td></td> + <td>„</td> + <td>„</td> + <td>„</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 1em;"><i>Send for the New KODAK PRIMER, fully describing all sizes and styles.</i></p> + +<p class="center mlarger" style="margin-bottom:2em">THE EASTMAN PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS COMPANY, Limited,<br /> +115, Oxford Street, London, W.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="mlarger"><b>IT IS ADMITTED by</b><br /> +Every Competent Authority</span> +THAT<br /> +<span class="big">WRATTEN’S</span><br /> +<span class="vbig">‘LONDON’ PLATES</span><br /> +ARE THE<br /> +<span class="larger undrln mrb1">UNIVERSAL STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE<br /> +AND COMPARISON.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="center">This high reputation has been sustained against a host of competitors +for twelve years:—a fact without parallel in the annals of the Gelatine +process.</span> +</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="center mrb1">Messrs. Wratten & Wainwright’s Complete Illustrated Catalogue contains +full Particulars and Prices of a large and varied Stock of Photographic +Requirements, together with specially-written Instructions for +developing the “London” Plates, Printing, Toning, and other operations, +and will be forwarded free upon application to<br /> +<br /> +<span class="mlarger">WRATTEN & WAINWRIGHT,</span> +<span class="larger"><b>PHOTOGRAPHIC CHEMISTS AND APPARATUS MAKERS,</b></span><br /> +<br /> +AND<br /> +<br /> +<span class="larger"><b>Sole Proprietors and Manufacturers of the</b><br /> +<b>“London” Dry Plates,</b></span> +<br /> +<span class="mlarger">38, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONG ACRE,<br /> +<b>LONDON, W.C.</b></span> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="big">THE AUTOTYPE COMPANY</span><br /> +<br /> +MANUFACTURES<br /> +<br /> +<span class="larger"><b>AUTOTYPE TISSUES, TRANSFER PAPERS, & MATERIALS +FOR PERMANENT PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING.</b></span><br /> +</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="references mrb1"><b>AUTOTYPE ENLARGEMENTS.</b>—Portraits and Views produced of any + dimensions up to 5 ft. by 3 ft. 6 in.; their grandeur, beauty, + and unalterability secure public favour.</p> + +<p class="references mrb1"><b>AUTOTYPE DRY PLATES</b>, manufactured with Burton’s Coating Machine, + are rich in silver, very rapid, yielding clear vigorous negatives, + of uniform quality. The plates are of superior glass, and packed + in strong metal-grooved boxes up to 15 by 12 inches. To be + obtained only of the Autotype Company.</p> + +<p class="references mrb1"><b>BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS</b>, by Sawyer’s <b>Collotype Process</b>, employed by + the Trustees of the British Museum, by the Royal, Palæographical, + Hellenic, Numismatical, and other learned Societies, and by the + leading publishers. Prints direct on the paper with suitable + margins.</p> + +<p class="references mrb1"><b>AUTO-GRAVURE.</b>—The Autotype process as applied to Photographic + Engraving on Copper is of wide application in the reproduction of + Works of Art, and is highly appreciated by the disciples of + Naturalistic Photography as efficiently rendering the qualities of + negatives direct from nature. Examples of Auto-gravure, in the + reproduction of paintings by Holman Hunt, the late Frank Holl, + R.A., W. Ouless, R.A., Val. Prinsep, A.R.A., of drawings by Hy. + Rylands, of a frieze, “Spring,” by Herbert Draper, of a Group from + the frieze of the Parthenon, &c., &c., can be seen at 74, New + Oxford Street.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="center mlarger"><b>The AUTOTYPE FINE ART GALLERY,</b><br /> + +<i>74, New Oxford Street, London</i>,</p> + +<p class="center">is remarkable for its display of Copies of celebrated Works by</p> + +<p class="center mlarger">“THE GREAT MASTERS”</p> + +<p style="text-indent:0">from the Louvre, Vatican, Hermitage, and the National Galleries of +Italy, Spain, Holland, and London, including H.M. Collections at +Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.</p> + +<p class="tdl">Albums of reference to the various Galleries are provided, are easily +looked over, and of great interest to lovers of Art. Send for the new +Pamphlet, “AUTOTYPE: a Decorative and Educational Art,” per post to +any address.</p> + +<p class="center">The AUTOTYPE FINE ART CATALOGUE, 186 pp., free per post for 6d.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="center mlarger"><b>THE AUTOTYPE COMPANY, LONDON.</b></p> + +<p class="center mrb1"><b>Offices: 74, New Oxford Street, w. c. — Works: Ealing Dene, Middlesex.</b></p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center"> +<b>Grand Prix & Gold Medal, Paris Exhibition, 1889.</b><br /> + Council Medal and Highest Award, Great Exhibition, London, 1851.<br /> + Gold Medal, Paris Exposition, 1867. Medal and Highest Award, + Exhibition, London, 1862.<br /> + Medal and Diploma, Antwerp. 1878.<br /> + Medal and Diploma, Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, 1875.<br /> + Two Gold Medals, Paris Exposition, 1878. Medal and Diploma, + Sydney, 1879.<br /> + Gold Medal, Highest Award, Inventions Exhibition, 1885.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="big"><b>ROSS’ LENSES AND APPARATUS.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="larger">IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.</span> +<br /> +In consequence of the greatly increased demand for their Photographic<br /> +Cameras and Apparatus, Ross & Co. have fitted up the first floor of<br /> +112, New Bond Street, as<br /> +<br /> +<span class="mlarger"><b>SPECIAL SHOW ROOMS.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +for exhibiting the newest and most improved forms of<br /> +<br /> +<span class="larger">CAMERAS AND ACCESSORIES OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS.</span><br /> +<br /> +For the convenience of purchasers, they have also constructed<br /> +<br /> +<span class="larger brdbt"><i>A FULLY EQUIPPED DARK ROOM.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +where the Apparatus may be practically tested, and<br /> +<br /> +<b>USEFUL INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO BEGINNERS.</b><br /> +<br /> +Amateurs are invited to inspect ROSS’ COMPLETE OUTFITS.<br /> +<br /> + +<span class="big">ROSS’ IMPROVED CAMERAS.</span><br /> + +<b>Extra Light and Portable; Double Extension.</b> +<br /> +<span class="larger">New Form DOUBLE SLIDE,</span><br /> + +<b>Less Costly than the Ordinary Form of Dark Slide.</b><br /> +<br /> +Absolutely Light-proof. Smaller than Ordinary. No Superfluous Openings.<br /> +No risk of Plates being broken by pressure. Certainty of Register.<br /> +Lighter than Ordinary. No Hinges or Clips to get out of order.<br /> +No chance of Warping.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="mlarger"><b>SPECIAL SMALL & LIGHT CAMERAS,</b></span> +<br /> +<b>For use with the New Form Double Slide.</b><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size:2.5em">~~~~~~~~~~</span> +<br /> +<i>Catalogues and Full Particulars, with Estimates, on application to</i><br /> +<br /> +<span class="mlarger">ROSS & CO., 112, NEW BOND STREET, LONDON.</span> +<br /> +<span class="larger mrb1"><b>Works: Clapham Common, S.W.</b></span> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<div class="center"> +<p class="center"> +<span class="vbig">H. MOORSE,</span><br /> +<span class="larger">Photographic Apparatus Manufacturer</span><br /> +<span class="larger"><b>TO THE GOVERNMENT</b></span> (Established over 25 years),<br /> +<span class="big smcap">154, High Holborn, London, W.C.</span><br /> +(Near New Oxford Street and Museum Street.)<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size:2.5em">~~~~~~~~~~</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="larger"><b>SQUARE CAMERA.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="center larger"><b>LIGHT CAMERA.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +Both one price. Cash with Order, 10 per cent. off.</p> +</div> + +<div class="fig_left" style="width: 295px;"> +<img src="images/332_1.png" width="295" height="171" alt="Bellows Cameras" title="Bellows Cameras" /> +</div> + +<div class="fig_right" style="width: 284px;"> +<img src="images/332_2.png" width="284" height="172" alt="Bellows Cameras" title="Bellows Cameras" /> +</div> + +<table width="85%" summary="Prices"> +<tr> + <td></td> + <td colspan="4" class="wsnw">4<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub> × 3<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td> + <td colspan="4" class="wsnw">6<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> × 4<sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td> + <td colspan="4" class="wsnw">8<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> × 6<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td> + <td colspan="4" class="wsnw">10 × 8</td> + <td colspan="4" class="wsnw">12 × 10</td> + <td colspan="4" class="wsnw">15 × 12</td> + <td colspan="4" class="wsnw">18 × 16</td> + <td colspan="4" class="wsnw">24 × 18</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="tdr05 ls5"> </td> + <td class="tdr0">£</td><td><i>s.</i></td><td><i>d.</i></td> + <td class="tdr05 ls5"> </td> + <td class="tdr0">£</td><td><i>s.</i></td><td><i>d.</i></td> + <td class="tdr05 ls5"> </td> + <td class="tdr0">£</td><td><i>s.</i></td><td><i>d.</i></td> + <td class="tdr05 ls5"> </td> + <td class="tdr0">£</td><td><i>s.</i></td><td><i>d.</i></td> + <td class="tdr05 ls5"> </td> + <td class="tdr0">£</td><td><i>s.</i></td><td><i>d.</i></td> + <td class="tdr05 ls5"> </td> + <td class="tdr0">£</td><td><i>s.</i></td><td><i>d.</i></td> + <td class="tdr05 ls5"> </td> + <td class="tdr0">£</td><td><i>s.</i></td><td><i>d.</i></td> + <td class="tdr05 ls5"> </td> + <td class="tdr0">£</td><td><i>s.</i></td><td><i>d.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl wsnw">Camera and Three Double Backs.</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">7</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">9</td><td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">11</td><td class="tdr0">15</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">14</td><td class="tdr0">14</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">18</td><td class="tdr0">18</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">24</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">26</td><td class="tdr05">0</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">Rectilinear Lens with Iris Diaphragm Traveling Bag.</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">16</td><td class="tdr0">15</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">25</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td></td> + <td colspan="16"></td> + <td class="center smaller wsnw" colspan="3">(2 cases)</td> + <td colspan="12"></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Brown Canvas with Spring Lock.</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">18</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">15</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdr0">14</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Solid Leather Spring Lock.</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdr0">15</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Rotating Turn Table with Tripod Stand.</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">7</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdr0">15</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Brass Binding Camera and Slide.</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="center2 larger" style="margin-top: 1em">CAMERA BELLOWS.</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table summary="prices"> +<tr> + <td colspan="5">Outside Size.</td> + <td>Length.</td> + <td>Leather.</td> + <td>Black Cloth.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr">6</td><td></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td></td> + <td>8</td> + <td>3/3</td> + <td>2/3</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">6</td><td></td> + <td>9</td> + <td>3/6</td> + <td>3/-</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">7</td><td><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">7</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td> + <td>12</td> + <td>8/-</td> + <td>6/-</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">9</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">9</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td> + <td>18</td> + <td>12/-</td> + <td>8/6</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">11</td><td></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">11</td><td></td> + <td>18</td> + <td>14/-</td> + <td>9/-</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">13</td><td></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">13</td><td></td> + <td>20</td> + <td>15/-</td> + <td>11/-</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">17</td><td></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">17</td><td></td> + <td>22</td> + <td>20/-</td> + <td>15/-</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">18</td><td></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">24</td><td></td> + <td>30</td> + <td>40/-</td> + <td>30/-</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">24</td><td></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">24</td><td></td> + <td>60</td> + <td>100/-</td> + <td>80/-</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p class="center larger" style="margin-top:2em">POCKET OR HAND CAMERAS, WITH THREE DOUBLE BACKS.</p> + +<p class="center larger" style="margin-bottom:2em">4<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub> × 3<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub>, £3 3s. 6<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> × 4<sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub>, £4 4s.</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center big">MARION & CO.’S PLATES.</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><i>Manufactured at their Works, Southgate.</i></p> + +<table summary="plates"> +<tr> + <td class="tdl larger"><b>BRITANNIA ORDINARY PLATES</b></td> + <td>(Yellow Label.)</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl larger"><b>BRITANNIA EXTRA RAPID PLATES</b></td> + <td>(White Label.)</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl larger"><b>INSTANTANEOUS PLATES</b></td> + <td>(Brown Label.)</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center" colspan="3">Prepared specially for extremely rapid work.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl larger"><b>ACADEMY LANDSCAPE PLATES</b></td> + <td>(Cream Label.)</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="center" colspan="2">Specially prepared for Landscape work; very thickly coated and rich in + Silver.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="larger"><b>Marion’s Argentic-Bromide Opals.</b></span><br /> +Principally used for Enlargements and Contact printing. Very effective.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="larger"><b>COWAN’S GELATINO-CHLORIDE PLATES (Green Label).</b></span><br /> +For Lantern Slide Work.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="larger"><b>COWAN’S CHLORO-BROMIDE PLATES (Violet Label).</b></span><br /> +For making Transparencies in the Camera.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="larger"><b>COWAN’S GELATINO-CHLORIDE TRANSPARENCY PLATES.</b></span><br /> +On ground glass.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="larger"><b>COWAN’S ORGANIC CHLORIDE OPALS (Red Label).</b></span><br /> +Printed and toned like ordinary sensitised paper. Very artistic. They +must be used fresh.</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-size:2.5em; margin-top: 1em;">~~~~~~~~~~</p> + +<p class="center" style="margin-bottom:2em">MARION & CO., 22 and 23, Soho Square,<br /> +LONDON.</p> + + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="larger"><b>For <span class="gesspert">PHOTOGRAPHIC</span></b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 3em;">GOODS AND PROMPT ATTENTION</span><br /> +<br /> +<b>GO TO</b><br /> +<br /> +<span class="big">J. WERGE,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="larger">PHOTOGRAPHIC STORES,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="mlarger"><b>11a, Berners Street, Oxford Street, London. W.</b></span> +</p> + +<hr class="r20" /> + +<p class="references"><span class="mlarger"><b>WERGE’S</b></span> <span class="larger">“Sans +Ammonia Developer”</span> is used by numerous expert +amateurs. A 1/- bottle will develop 128 quarter-plates, any make.</p> + +<p class="references"><span class="mlarger"><b>WERGE’S</b></span> <span class="larger">Dry +Plate Varnish</span> dries without heat, and protects the +negatives from silver and platinum stains, 1/- per bottle and upwards.</p> + +<p class="references"><span class="mlarger"><b>WERGE’S</b></span> <span class="larger">Retouching +Medium</span>, 1/- per bottle.</p> + +<p class="references"><span class="mlarger"><b>WERGE’S</b></span> <span class="larger">Sensitised +Paper</span> is the best. 12/6 per quire; sample sheet 10d. post free.</p> + +<p class="references"><span class="mlarger"><b>WERGE’S</b></span> <span class="larger">Borax +Toning Solution</span> gives the best tones, and is simplest and most economical. 1/- per pint.</p> + +<p class="references"><span class="mlarger"><b>WERGE’S</b></span> <span class="larger">Ferro-Prussiate +Paper</span> gives the best results with least trouble. 1/- per sheet.</p> + +<p class="references"><span class="mlarger"><b>WERGE’S</b></span> <span class="larger">Shilling +Lantern</span> is the best ever introduced.</p> + +<p class="references"><span class="mlarger"><b>WERGE’S</b></span> <span class="larger">Dry Plate +Instructions</span> are the best ever published. 1/1<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> post free, +including Jabez Hughes’s “Principles and Practice of +Photography.” Wet Plate Process, Printing, &c., &c.</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center mlarger"><b>J. H. DALLMEYER, OPTICIAN,</b></p> + +<p class="center larger">25, NEWMAN STREET, LONDON, W.</p> + +<p class="center">Has obtained the highest awards for his Lenses wherever exhibited, and +at all the great International Exhibitions.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="center2 mlarger"><b>CASH PRICES OF THE PRINCIPAL PORTRAIT AND VIEW LENSES:</b></p> + +<table summary="price lists"> +<tr> +<td class="vtop center"> +<p class="center" style="margin-top:1em"><b>EXTRA RAPID (C).</b></p> +<table summary="details"> +<tr> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td colspan="2">in.</td> + <td></td> + <td colspan="3">in.</td> + <td></td> + <td colspan="3"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">2C,</td> + <td>For Children,</td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub> dia.</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>f.</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr05">£15</td><td class="tdr05">15</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">3C</td> + <td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> „</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td></td><td>f.</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdr0">26</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="center" style="margin-top:1em"><b>QUICK ACTING (B).</b></p> +<table summary="pricing"> +<tr> + <td colspan="3"></td> + <td colspan="3" class="center">in.</td> + <td>distance.</td> + <td></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">1B,</td><td>for C.D.V.</td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td></td><td>dia.</td> + <td>12 ft.</td> + <td class="tdr05">£6</td><td class="tdr05">5</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">1B</td><td>Long,</td><td class="center">”</td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>8</sub></td><td class="center">„</td> + <td>14 ft.</td> + <td class="tdr0"> 6</td><td class="tdr0">15</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">2B,</td><td class="center">”</td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td class="center">„</td> + <td>18 ft.</td> + <td class="tdr0">12</td><td class="tdr0">16</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">2B</td><td>Patent,</td><td class="center">”</td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td class="center">„</td> + <td>18 ft.</td> + <td class="tdr0">13</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">3B</td><td class="center">”</td><td>Cabts. and</td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td class="center">„</td> + <td>18 ft.</td> + <td class="tdr0">20</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">4B</td><td class="center">”</td><td>larger</td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td class="center">„</td> + <td>25 ft.</td> + <td class="tdr0">40</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="center2 larger"><b>NEW RAPID RECTILINEAR PORTRAIT LENSES.</b></p> + +<p class="center">See descriptive Catalogue.</p> + +<div class="center2"> +<b>ORDINARY INTENSITY (A)—Patent.</b><br /> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="lenses"> +<tr> + <td>1A,</td> + <td class="tdl">for Cabinets, in short rooms.dia. 2<sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub> in., distance 14 ft.</td> + <td class="tdr0">£13</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>2A,</td> + <td class="tdl">for Cabinets up to 8<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> × 6<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub>, dia.3<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> in., distance 20 feet</td> + <td class="tdr0">18</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>3A,</td> + <td class="tdl">for Cabinets up to 9 × 7, dia.4 in., distance 24 feet</td> + <td class="tdr0">27</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>4A,</td> + <td class="tdl">for Imperial Portraits and 10 × 8dia. 4<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> in., focus 14 in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">38</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>5A,</td> + <td class="tdl">for plates 15 × 12 and under, dia.5 in., focus 18 in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">50</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>6A,</td> + <td class="tdl">for plates 20 × 16 and under, dia.6 in., focus 22 in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">60</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="center2"> +<b>PORTRAIT AND GROUP (D)—Patent.</b><br /> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="lenses"> +<tr> + <td>3D,</td> + <td class="tdl">Portraits</td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td> + <td>×</td><td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub>,</td> + <td>Views 10 ×</td><td class="tdr0">8,</td><td> dia.</td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>in.,</td> + <td>focus 10</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td> in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">9</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>4D,</td> + <td class="tdl">Portraits</td> + <td>10</td><td></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdl0">,</td> + <td>Views 12 ×</td><td class="tdr0">10,</td><td> dia.</td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td> in.,</td> + <td>focus 13</td><td></td><td> in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">13</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>5D,</td> + <td class="tdl">Portraits</td> + <td>12</td><td></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdl0">,</td> + <td>Views 15 ×</td><td class="tdr0">12,</td><td> dia.</td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td> in.,</td> + <td>focus 16</td><td></td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">17</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>6D,</td> + <td class="tdl">Portraits</td> + <td>15</td><td></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td class="tdl0">,</td> + <td>Views 18 ×</td><td class="tdr0">16,</td><td> dia.</td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td></td><td>in.,</td> + <td>focus 19</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td> in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">26</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>7D,</td> + <td class="tdl">Portraits</td> + <td>18</td><td></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">16</td><td class="tdl0">,</td> + <td>Views 22 ×</td><td class="tdr0">20,</td><td> dia.</td> + <td class="tdr0">5</td><td></td><td>in.,</td> + <td>focus 24</td><td></td><td> in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">48</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>8D,</td> + <td class="tdl">Portraits</td> + <td>22</td><td></td><td>×</td><td class="tdr0">20</td><td class="tdl0">,</td> + <td>Views 25 ×</td><td class="tdr0">21,</td><td> dia.</td> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td></td><td>in.,</td> + <td>focus 30</td><td></td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">58</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="center2"> +<b>STEREOSCOPIC LENSES.</b><br /> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="lenses"> +<tr> + <td align="left">Patent Stereographic Lens, 3<sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub>-in. f.</td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td> + <td class="tdr0">5</td> + <td class="tdr05">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left">Ditto, with rack-and-pinion</td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td> + <td class="tdr0">15</td> + <td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left">No. 1, Quick-acting Single Combination<br />Landscape Lens, 4<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> in. focus</td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td> + <td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left">No. 2, Ditto ditto 6 in. focus</td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td> + <td class="tdr0">5</td> + <td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left">Rect. Stereo. Lenses, 2 in. & 2<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> in. focus</td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td> + <td class="tdr0">0</td> + <td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +</table></div> + +<div class="center2"> +<b>NEW RECTILINEAR LANDSCAPE LENS (Patent).</b><br /> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="lenses"> +<tr> + <td>No.</td> + <td colspan="6">Largest<br />Dimensions<br />of Plate.</td> + <td colspan="3">Diameter<br />of Lenses.</td> + <td colspan="3">Equiv.<br />Focus.</td> + <td colspan="3">Price.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>1</td> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>by</td><td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr">£4</td><td>15</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>2</td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">11</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr">6</td><td>0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>3</td> + <td class="tdr0">10</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">8</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">13</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr">8</td><td>0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>4</td> + <td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">16</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr">10</td><td>5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>5</td> + <td class="tdr0">15</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">2</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">20</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr">12</td><td>10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>6</td> + <td class="tdr0">18</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">16</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">25</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr">16</td><td>0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>7</td> + <td class="tdr0">22</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">20</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr">32</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr">21</td><td>0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="center2"> +<b>OPTICAL LANTERN LENSES ONLY (Patent).</b><br /> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="lenses"> +<tr> + <td>No. 1 Lens,</td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>in. and 1<sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub> in.</td> + <td>dia.</td> + <td>with Rack Motion</td> + <td class="tdr">£ 4</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>No. 2 do.</td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>in. and 2 in.</td> + <td>do.</td> + <td>do.</td> + <td class="tdr">5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><i>Condensers</i>—</td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>in. dia.</td> + <td>mounted,</td> + <td>ea.</td> + <td class="tdr">£ 5</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><i>Do.</i></td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdl0"></td><td>in. do.</td> + <td>do.</td> + <td>do.</td> + <td class="tdr">6</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="vtop"> +<div class="center2"> +<b>RAPID RECTILINEAR (PATENT).</b><br /> +<br /> +The best Lens for general use out-of-doors, and for Copying.<br /> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="prices"> +<tr> + <td class="brdbt" colspan="6">Size of<br />View or<br />Landscape.</td> + <td class="brdbt" colspan="6">Size of Group<br />or Portrait.</td> + <td class="brdbt" colspan="3">Equiv.<br />Focus.</td> + <td class="brdbt" colspan="3">Price,<br />Rigid<br />Setting.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>by</td><td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>by</td><td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td></td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">£3</td><td class="tdr0">15</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">5</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">4</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">5</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">4</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">11</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">7</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">10</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">8</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">13</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">9</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">10</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">8</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">16</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">11</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">13</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">11</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td colspan="6">French size</td> + <td class="tdr0">17</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">12</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">15</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td><td>by</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td></td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">19</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">15</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">18</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">16</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">15</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">24</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">20</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">22</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">20</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">18</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">16</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">30</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">27</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">25</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">21</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">22</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">20</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">33</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">32</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="center2"> +<b>WIDE ANGLE RECTILINEAR (Patent).</b><br /> +<br /> +For Views in Confined Situations.<br /> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="prices"> +<tr> + <td class="brdbt center" colspan="2">No.</td> + <td class="brdbt center" colspan="5">Largest<br />Dimensions<br />of Plate.</td> + <td class="brdbt center" colspan="3">Back<br />Focus.</td> + <td class="brdbt center" colspan="3">Equiv.<br />Focus.</td> + <td class="brdbt center" colspan="3">Price.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></td><td>AA</td> + <td class="tdr0">7</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>by</td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td> + <td class="tdr0">1</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td></td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">£4</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td></td><td>1A</td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td></td><td>1</td> + <td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td><td>„</td><td>10</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">7</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">7</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td></td><td>2</td> + <td class="tdr0">15</td><td></td><td>„</td><td>12</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">7</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td></td><td>3</td> + <td class="tdr0">18</td><td></td><td>„</td><td>16</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">11</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">13</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">14</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td></td><td>4</td> + <td class="tdr0">22</td><td></td><td>„</td><td>20</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">14</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">15</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">20</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td></td><td>5</td> + <td class="tdr0">25</td><td></td><td>„</td><td> 21</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">17</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">19</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">30</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +</table> + <div class="center"><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a> + <a href="#FNanchor_A_1" style="font-size:0.8em;">[A]</a> + To be had in pairs for Stereoscopic Views.</div> +</div> + +<div class="center2"> +<b>WIDE ANGLE LANDSCAPE LENS (Patent),</b><br /> +for Landscapes, pure and simple.<br /> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="prices"> +<tr> + <td class="brdbt center">No.</td> + <td class="brdbt center" colspan="5">Size of<br />Plate.</td> + <td class="brdbt center" colspan="3">Equivalent<br />Focus.</td> + <td class="brdbt center" colspan="3">Price.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">1A</td> + <td class="tdr0">5</td><td></td><td>by</td><td class="tdr0">4</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">£3</td><td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>1</td> + <td class="tdr0">7</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td> + <td class="tdr0">7</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">3</td><td class="tdr0">15</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>2</td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>3</td> + <td class="tdr0">10</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">8</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">10</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>4</td> + <td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">7</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>5</td> + <td class="tdr0">15</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">15</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr0">5A</td> + <td class="tdr0">15</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">18</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">9</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>6</td> + <td class="tdr0">18</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">16</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">18</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>7</td> + <td class="tdr0">22</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">20</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">22</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">14</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>8</td> + <td class="tdr0">25</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">21</td><td></td> + <td class="tdr0">25</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">19</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="center2"> +<b>NEW RAPID LANDSCAPE LENS.</b><br /> + +For Distant Objects and Views.<br /> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="prices"> +<tr> + <td class="brdbt">No.</td> + <td class="brdbt" colspan="6">Largest<br />Dimensions<br />of Plate.</td> + <td class="brdbt" colspan="2">Diameter<br />of Lenses.</td> + <td class="brdbt" colspan="2">Equiv.<br />Focus.</td> + <td class="brdbt" colspan="3">Price.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>1</td> + <td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>by</td><td class="tdr0">4</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></td><td>in.</td> + <td>1·3</td><td> in.</td> + <td class="tdr">9</td><td>in.</td> + <td class="tdr0">£4</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr05">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>2</td> + <td class="tdr0">8</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">6</td><td class="tdl0"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></td><td>„</td> + <td>1·6</td><td>„</td> + <td>12</td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">5</td><td class="tdr0">15</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>3</td> + <td class="tdr0">10</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">8</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td>2·125</td><td>„</td> + <td>15</td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">7</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>4</td> + <td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td>2·6</td><td>„</td> + <td>18</td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">9</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>5</td> + <td class="tdr0">15</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">12</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td>3</td><td>„</td> + <td>22</td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">11</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>6</td> + <td class="tdr0">18</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">16</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td>3·5</td><td>„</td> + <td>25</td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">14</td><td class="tdr0">0</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>7</td> + <td class="tdr0">22</td><td></td><td>„</td><td class="tdr0">20</td><td></td><td>„</td> + <td>4·25</td><td>„</td> + <td>30</td><td>„</td> + <td class="tdr0">17</td><td class="tdr0">10</td><td class="tdr0">0</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 1em"> +<i>DALLMEYER “On the Choice and Use of Photographic Lenses.”</i><br /> + +<span class="tdl" style="padding-right:3em">Eighth Thousand (Greatly Enlarged), 1s.</span> +<span class="tdr" style="padding-left:3em">Descriptive Catalogue on application.</span><br /> + +<span class="larger"><b>25, NEWMAN STREET, OXFORD STREET, LONDON, W.</b></span> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<div class="trans_notes"> +<h2>Transcriber’s Note</h2> + +<p>Obvious typographical errors were corrected. The spelling of French +words has been made consistent. Also made consistent were those words +which appear as hyphenated, joined or as two individual words (for +example, first class to first-class and some one to someone). Other +corrections were made where inconsistent or incorrect spellings were +used in the publication. Where the inconsistencies occur in publication +titles or quoted text passages, they were left as published.</p> + +<p>Some of the entries in the INDEX appear to be missorted alphabetically. +They were left as printed. On <a href="#Page_114">page 114</a>, one line ends +with “modifica-” and it is assumed “tion” was left off the next line.</p> + +<p>Whole and fractional parts of numbers are displayed as 4<sup>5</sup>⁄<sub>8</sub> +or as a decimal number. In several of the advertisements, another type of ‘fraction’ +is displayed to represent shillings and pence: 1/1<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> +is one shilling, one and one-half pence and 1/- is 1 shilling and no pence.</p> + +<h2>Typographical Corrections</h2> + +<div class="center" style="margin-bottom: 1em;"> +<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="typo list"> +<tr> + <td class="brdbt2 larger">Page</td> + <td style="letter-spacing:2em; white-space: pre;"> </td> + <td class="brdbt2 larger">Correction</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdl">modifica- → modification</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdl">Willat’s → Willats’s</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdl">intotroduced → introduced</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdl">Frith → Firth</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdl">Coxackie → Coxsackie</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdl">Pearce → Pierce</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_248">248</a></td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdl">Nicolas Maas → Nicolaes Maes</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVOLUTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY ***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 38866-h.txt or 38866-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/8/8/6/38866">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/6/38866</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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