The Skinniest Early Description in the USA of the Invention of Photography (1839)?

JF Ptak Science Books   Post 2801

Among the earliest and lengthiest mentions of the newly-announced Daguerre invention of photography in the U.S. was "Pencil of Nature—A New Discovery"  that appeared 13 April 1839 in the Corsair: A Gazette of Literature, Art, Dramatic Criticism, Fashion and Novelty. There's a lot in there on the effects of what the new process might be more so than any real description of what the magical new process was. It would take several months for that to appear, and one of the first to do so, to provide some real detail on what was still a rather mysterious event and process, appeared in the National Intelligencer on 25 September 1839 (which was based on the 23 August 1839 London Globe account).

The Corsair article starts out bemoaning "progress”, in a way, setting the reader up for the next step of the democratization of art, which would meanwhile send the world of engraving (and engravers), lithography, sketchers, painters, and so on, who would all be replaced by the new invention of Daguerre.

• “We know not how it is, but just as we are going to have something good in this world, up starts a mischief to mar it or to vilify it. There is not a real panacea, but has its rival. Engraving, set upon a firm basis, one would have thought might have been supreme. No such a thing—her illegitimate sister, Lithography, sets up her claim, and by means of cheap publications, calls in the masses, who naturally prefer the inferior article; and here commences the democracy of art.”

And just like any advancement in anything—from water delivery systems in towns and cities that would replace the water-fetcher to the lineman working on some U.S.-built car being replaced by robotics, and etc.--the author sees the fate of the artisan in light of photography:

• “Here is a revolution in art; and, that we may not be behindhand in revolutions, for which we have so imitative a taste, no sooner does one start up in Paris, but we must have one in London too. And so Mr. Daguerre’s invention is instantly rivalled by Mr. Fox Talbot’s. The Dagueroscope and the Photogenic revolutions are to keep you all down, ye painters, engravers, and, alas! the harmless race, the sketchers.” --Source: Gary Ewer, http://www.daguerreotypearchive.org/texts/P8390015_PENCIL_CORSAIR_1839-04-13.pdf

It is interesting to see the variety of titles given to the earliest articles and notices of Daguerre from January through August 1839—granted for most of that time there were very few details of the process until late summer 1839 at which time the article titles became more directed and less fanciful. The following is a selection of the articles that appeared at this early stage—all of the work putting together the remarkable list of linked publications that these titles are taken from is that of Gary Ewer at the Daguerreotype Archive, here: http://www.daguerreotypearchive.org/1839.php

• "The Daguerotype" [sic]
• "Fixation of Images"
•  "Chemical and Optical Discovery"
•  "The New Art
• “Clericus”
• “Remarkable Invention”
• "Extraordinary Chemical and Optical Discovery"
• "New Discovery—Engraving, and Burnett's Cartoons."
• "Self-Operating Processes of Fine Art"
•  "Sun-Painting"
• "The Daguerrotype" [sic]
•  "Photogenic Drawings"
• "Daguerre’s Photogenic Paper, and Fixation of Images"
• "Pencil of Nature—A New Discovery"
•  "New Discovery in the Fine Arts—The Daguerroscope" [sic]
• "The Daguerrotype, or Solar Engraving"
•  "The Daguerre Secret"
• “The Pencil of Nature”

Part of the Corsair note:

And the National Intelligencer article, in its skinny brilliance, is reproduced below (and yes I have this for sale right now in my book store in case anyway wants it):

 

Source: "The Daguerreotype", in the National Intelligencer, Washington D.C., September 25, 1839. 20.5 x 18 inches, 4pp. The article--nearly one column long--is a compact 1000+ words or so.  

See: The Daguerreotype in America, by Beaumont Newhall, lists the National Intelligencer article for September 25, 1839 as one of the earliest appearances in the U.S. announcing "the secret of M. Daguerre's invention, or discovery..." and Arago's extended prime accounts of the Daguerre process published  23 August 1839 in the London Globe.

The full article follows: