[draft:]

P. P./ May /56

I beg t ack^ge y^r l^r of y^e [blank space] & t th^k y. f^r s^dg me a Copy of y^r Specifⁿ I h^ve read it over C.fully & w^th much attentⁿ & I must assure you that I feel no doubt that your Comp^y are mak^g use of my invⁿ w^ch they are not authorisd to do without a lic^se f^m me, as it is secured by patent.

You appear to me not to be aware that in April 53 I [illegible deletion] sent a memoir to the French Ac. of S^ces (w^ch is f^d in y^e C^ptes R^dus) on the produ subject of raised ph^c pictures obt^d formed upon spaces coated with a mixt. of gel & BCP. and s in w^ch memoir I spec^lly pointed out that the great beauty of these pictures arose from their _^^not being not flat like other photographs, but raised above the surface level in some parts, & depressed in others thereby producing a new and pleasing effect. And I took casts in fusible metal of such surfaces - The principal part of your invⁿ was ¡à anticip^d by me in 52 & 53 ¨C

I do not mentⁿ this w^th any view to depreciate your ingen^s exert^ns but merely to establish my own rights in y^e matter as an inventor, & as I am desirous of proceeding in the most amicable manner towards the gentⁿ who are assoc^d w^th you in this Company, I will further say _add, that if you will furnish me with the name of the Solicitor of the Com^py I will call upon that gentⁿ on my return to Town, and have a conversⁿ w^th him. on this subject By this means M D Sir, we shall avoid all misund^g on y^e subject.

Before I conclude, I will advert to another point, w^ch is not strictly speak^g

[expanded version:]

Paul Pretsch
May 1856

I beg to acknowledge your letter ^<1> of the and to thank you for sending me a Copy of your Specification. I have read it over Carefully and with much attention and I must assure you that I feel no doubt that your Company ^<2> are making use of my invention which they are not authorised to do without a license from me, as it is secured by patent.

You appear to me not to be aware that in April 1853 I [illegible deletion] sent a memoir ^<3> to the French Academy of Sciences^<4> (which is found in the Comptes Rendus ^<5>) on the production subject of raised photographic pictures obtained formed upon spaces coated with a mixture of gelatine and Bichromate of Potash and specifically in which memoir I specifically pointed out that the great beauty of these pictures arose from their not being not flat like other photographs, but raised above the surface level in some parts, and depressed in others thereby producing a new and pleasing effect. And I took casts in fusible metal of such surfaces - The principal part of your invention was therefore anticipated by me in 1852 or 1853 -

I do not mention this with any view to depreciate your ingenious experiments but merely to establish my own rights in the matter as an inventor, and as I am desirous of proceeding in the most amicable manner towards the gentlemen who are associated with you in this Company, I will further say, additionally, that if you will furnish me with the name of the Solicitor of the Company ^<6> I will call upon that gentleman on my return to Town, and have a conversation with him. on this subject By this means My Dear Sir, we shall avoid all misunderstanding on the subject.

Before I conclude, I will advert to another point, which is not strictly speaking

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Notes:

1. Letter not located.

2. The Patent Photo-Galvanographic Company (commonly, The Photogalvanographic Company) was based on the work of Paul Pretsch (1808-1873), Austrian photographer & inventor and former Manager of the Imperial Printing Establishment in Vienna. Based in Holloway Road, Islington, London, from 1856-1857, Pretsch took over as manager and Roger Fenton (1819-1869), photographer & lawyer, was a partner and their chief photographer. Starting in late 1856, they published a serial portfolio, Photographic Art Treasures, or Nature and Art Illustrated by Art and Nature, illustratated with photogalvanographs derived from several photographer's works. Photogalvanography was uncomfortably closely based on elements of WHFT's patented 1852 Photographic Engraving but, unlike Talbot, the plates were heavily retouched by hand. Compounding the legal objections of Talbot, their former manager, Duncan Campbell Dallas, set up a competing company to produce the Dallastype. The company collapsed and near the end of 1860 Pretsch, out of money, allowed his patent to lapse. A public appeal was launched in 1861 to assist him but he returned to Vienna in 1863 in ill health, going back to the Imperial Printing Establishment, but finally succumbing to cholera. See Doc. No: 07253; Doc. No: 07660; Doc. No: 07465.

3. WHFT, "Gravure photographique sur l'acier", Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’ de l’Académie des Sciences, v. 36 no.18, 1853, pp.780-784.

4. Academie Royale des Sciences, Paris.

5. Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’ de l’Académie des Sciences.

6. Mr Loxley, of Fry and Loxley. The other partner, Peter Wickens Fry, had been a prominent opponent of WHFT's photographic patents.