200 Early Photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot will be auctioned off in New York next month. You can see some of those photos here. The works are remarkable for their beauty and historical significance. They are among the earliest photographs ever made. And they offer a rare glimpse into early Victorian life that is often impossible to glean from museums or books.
The Early Life of William Henry Fox Talbot
William Henry Fox Talbot was born on February 11, 1800, near Wiltshire, England, to a well-to-do family. He grew up with all the privileges available in those days, attending Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was one of the world’s first photographers and inventors of photographic processes. But he was also an important scientist, who studied chemistry, physics and archaeology. Talbot published many of his scientific papers in the most prominent journals of the period. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1831 for his work in integral calculus.
Talbot invented the salted paper and calotype (or Talbotype) photographic developing processes. These were important precursors to the photographic processes used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the 1840s, he developed photomechanical reproduction techniques that led to the photoglyphic engraving process. In the 1840s, he published The Pencil of Nature, illustrated with original salted paper prints from his calotype negatives. His research also paved the way for modern holography.
Who Invented Modern Photography?
In 1717, Johann Heinrich Schulze captured the image of cut-out letters on a bottle of a light-sensitive slurry. However, he never attempted to preserve these images. Ninety years later, Thomas Wedgwood made the first detailed photograms. But he never figured out how to fix these images and make them last.
In the 1820s, Nicéphore Niépce made the first lasting photographic image. But his process was impractical. He had to expose his subjects for hours or days. And the quality of his images was poor. But soon after, his associate, Louis Daguerre, developed the daguerreotype. His prints only required a few minutes of exposure, and the images were clear and detailed. He introduced his invention in 1839, a date generally accepted as the birth of practical photography.
The Talbot-Daguerre Controversy
Daguerre provided no details when he announced his process, in January 1839. Thus, other scientists and photographers couldn’t replicate his results. It also threatened Talbot’s ability to patent his process. So, on January 25, 1839, Talbot asserted priority of invention before the Royal Institution, based on his 1834 experiments. In 1839, France gave Daguerre a patent for his photographic process and declared his invention “free to the world.” That same year, Daguerre obtained a patent in the UK, making it the only place in the world where a license was required to make and sell daguerreotypes.
William Henry Fox Talbot died on September 17, 1877 (just after the Great Upheaval ended in the U.S.)