Photographic Incunabulum, 1839-1841

JF Ptak Science Books 

“Photogenic Drawing” followed by “Photogenic Drawings”¹ The first paper gives an account (taken from the London Mechanical Magazine), occupying pp 263-4, of the Daguerre process; the second, pp 264-5, gives an account of the Fox Talbot method as it first appeared in the British Association/Athenaeum.

These I believe are among the earliest of U.S. journal references for  two of the earliest photographic processes—the Fox Talbot method was much different from the Daguerre though much less known and certainly underappreciated as it was arguably the superior.

• “This early period of photography cannot be passed over without mention of the name of Henry Fox Talbot of England He was a man of many sided scientific character and an independent investigator in the photographic field prior to Daguerre's discovery and therefore not inspired by it to investigation. In 1839 January 31st he read a paper before the Royal Society entitled “Some Account of the Art of Photogenic Drawing etc” embodying a practical process on paper based on the abandoned process of Wedgewood and Davy which he improved and also completed by fixing the pictures although imperfectly...”--, JFI, Dec 1899, vol 148, p 4 11.

Then, in the September issue of 1839 come the following three contributions: “Invention of Photogenic Drawings”, p.208, from Mechanic's Magazine; “Light Drawn Pictures”, pp 208-9, Mechanic's Magazine;“The Daguerrotype Explained”, pp 209-210 (“A.D.B.”, Alexander Dallas Bache).

And then, a month later in the November issue, comes a Daguerre: “Practical description of the Process called the Daguerreotype, which consists of the spontaneous reproductions of the images of natural objects, in the Camera Obscura...”

• “A scientific friend having kindly sent to me, from Paris, a paper containing the authorized explanation of the process of M. Daguerre, which has attracted so much attention, I have made an abstract of it, which is at your service. The condition under which M. Daguerre received a pension from the French Government was, that he should make all the steps of his process public. His communication was first made confidentially to a Committee of the Institute, and M. Arago, acting as their organ, states that some of the steps of the process are not explicable by known laws...”--from “The Daguerrotype Explained”

In the 1840 volume² of the JFI, only about a year after the Daguerre announcement, there was a long paragraph called “The Daguerreotype”, (p 142) on the “great obstacle to the use of M. Daguerre's photogenic process, is the great difficulty of preserving the pictures when completed...”

There's also a second very short notice on the daguerreotype on p 285 regarding a “curious use” for the instrument: making a landscape photo with a crowd of people in it all of whom need to stand still for five minutes.

Further in the same volume is this description of an early optical machine in the genre of motion pictures, the “Trepiscope”³. “Trepiscope: an optical machine made by the late Richard Roberts of Manchester and first shown at the meeting of the British Association at Dublin in 1835... The machine being turned by hand or by power will cause the card on the disc to revolve from 6,000 to 40,000 times a minute on viewing the revolving disc through the eye hole the printing on the card can be read with ease and distinctness. The time given for one view of the card does not exceed the 150,000^th of a second when the disc is revolving at the highest speed.--Catalogue of the Special Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus at the South Kensington Museum..., 1876, #979 p 140.

Moving into the third volume of this period of photographic incunabula appears the lovely “Photogenic Drawing”(4) which is the only mention of photography or Daguerre in this first half of 1841 in the JFI.

“Professor Schafthaeutl of Munich described his mode of obtaining photogenic drawings resembling those of Mr [Henry Fox] Talbot where the lights are represented by shadows and also two new methods of procuring drawings similar to those of the Daguerreotype in which the lights and shades are represented as in nature The first is on paper prepared as follows...”

In the second volume for 1841 is a very significant appearance of Alexander J. Wolcott, “Specifications of a patent for an improved apparatus for taking Daguerreotype Likeness. Granted to Alexander J. Wolcott, city of New York, May 8, 1840”.⁵

Mr. Wolcott, a great but perhaps obscure name in the very early history of photography, had a very busy 1840—and it is a good thing, as the poor man would die young at 40 just four years later. In March of that year he and a partner would open the first U.S. Daguerrian Parlor in NYC, and evidently the world's first commercial daguerreotype gallery. (Referencing John Hannavy, Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography.)

A few months later, on May 8^th, 1840, Wolcott would be granted the first patent in the United States in photography (US Patent No. 1582). The patent was for a variation of the Daguerre process, using a mirror instead of a lens. The great factor introduced by the new process was reducing the amount of sitting/posing time by about 75%, to somewhere in the 5-9 minute range.

And the text from the patent report: “I, Alexander S. Wolcott...have invented a new and improved method of taking likenesses from life” Wolcott begins in the article, and then proceeds in a very compact way to describe the camera and the entire process. It is one of those articles that announces so much using so few words (600 or so, I reckon).

Notes:

1. The Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. XXIII, April, 1839, No.4, pp. 263-265 (about 1500 words). Also in this volume: John C. Trautwin, “Some remarks on the Internal Improvement of the South”, pp 10-22, with a nice (hand-colored) folding map. AND a lovely plate of Eastwick & Harrison's “Improved Locomotive Engine” AND a two-part paper on Espy's Theory of Centripetal Storms, AND Col. Reid's “Law of Storms Examined”, and much else.

2. Journal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, printed by the Institute, 1840. Offered in the volume of 430pp.

3. Description of an Optical Machine exhibited by Rd. Roberts of Manchester, to the Members of the British Association...1835 pp 221-223, 4 figures in text.

4. Journal of the Franklin Institute, edited by Thomas P. Jones. Philadelphia, printed by the Franklin Institute, 1841. Volume 31 (Third Series, Vol 1), pp 59-60 (about 450 words) in the volume of 429pp.

5. Journal of the Franklin Institute, edited by Thomas P. Jones. Philadelphia, printed by the Franklin Institute, 1841. Volume 32 (overall), Third Series,vol II. The article occupies pp 66-7 in the issue of 430pp.