The Process of Calotype Photogenic Drawing - photo 1

The Process of Calotype Photogenic Drawing

Lot 82
27.01.2023 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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$ 16 380
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 887855
Lot 82 | The Process of Calotype Photogenic Drawing
Estimate value
$ 6 000 – 9 000
TALBOT, William Henry Fox (1800–1877). The Process of Calotype Photogenic Drawing, Communicated to the Royal Society, June 10th, 1841. [London: printed by J. L. Cox and Sons, 1841.]

First edition of a major and rare document in the history of photography. This is the first publication on Talbot’s calotype photographic process, the first negative-positive process in photography and the foundation of virtually all subsequent photographic processes for almost 150 years (until the advent of digital cameras). According to Gernsheim, this leaflet was "privately printed for the author for distribution to friends and editors;" likely to establish precedence in his discovery (later known as Talbotype). It was a negative-based photographic process that allowed the printing of multiple copies of photographic images from a single negative.

"It was with the development of photography that Talbot’s love of nature and landscapes merged with his interests in optics and photochemistry. His efforts to sketch Italian scenery had met with repeated frustration. When he realized that he lacked artistic talent, he turned in 1823 to the use of a camera obscura as a drawing aid, but without satisfaction. Again in October of 1833, while honeymooning on the shores of Lake Como, he met with failure when he used Wollaston’s recently developed ... camera lucida. At that time it occurred to Talbot to imprint the image on chemically sensitized paper. Returning to England in January 1834, he and his assistant, Nicholaas Henneman, conducted many experiments; by 1835 they were able to obtain 'negatives' by employing tiny camera obscuras and paper sensitized with excess silver nitrate and fixed with excess common salt. Between 1835 and 1839, Talbot and Henneman continued their experiments, motivated by a desire for an analytic tool for research on radiant heat and light, as well as by a desire for reproducing images from nature. Following Arago’s announcement to the Académie des Sciences 7 January 1839 of the existence of Daguerre’s photographic process, Talbot became concerned over the priority of his work; he frantically sought to improve his process prior to the disclosure of Daguerre’s ... In 1840 Talbot would develop a latent image on paper, and he called this new process the calotype. He patented and then disclosed the process in a paper presented to the Royal Society in June of 1841" (DSB). Gernsheim, Incunabula, no. 655.

Quarto (229 x 182 mm). 4 pages, folded as issued. Fine copy, unpressed and never bound. Custom morocco-backed folder.
Place of origin:United Kingdom
Auction house category:Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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13.01.2023 – 27.01.2023
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