Londres
10 Janvier 1861
Monsieur,
Je conçois toutes les difficultés de la demande de M. Lacan. <1> Mais il s’agit seulement de lui être utile sans vous compromettre & sans prendre la moindre responsabilité des opinions du journal. Vous pourriez lui écrire que vous êtes charmé d’apprendre qu’il va publier un journal photographique & que vous ne doutez pas que par l’habileté & la conscience avec lesquelles il a conduit la Lumière <2> depuis sa fondation, il continuera dans son nouveau journal à être utile aux progrès de la photographie; que naturellement pour la connaissance personnelle que vous avez de son caractère honorable, vous ne pourrez que prendre un grand intérêt au succès de son entreprise; & que toutes les fois que vous pourrez contribuer par vos travaux à lui donner l’occasion de publier quelques articles qui puissent intéresser ses lecteurs, vous ne manquerez pas de lui en faire la communication en temps utile, &c. &c. &c. quelque chose de semblable remplira parfaitement son but sans vous compromettre le moins du monde.
J’ai examiné avec le plus grand intérêt votre specimen de gravure, <3> cela promet, mais il faut pouvoir faire sortir les demi teintes. voilà la grande difficulté de tous ces procédés de gravures, Daguerrotypes ou autres. J’espère que vous arriverez. Je vous envoie 3, négatifs sur verre (cartes de visites) & je serai charmé si vous pouvez les en essayer la gravure par votre procèdé. Un des portraits est celui de Sir D. Brewster, <4> & si vous reussissez ce serait un sujet qui interesserait generalement le public. Les autres sont de jolies dames.
J’espère que vous aurez grand soin de ces négatifs & que vous pourrez me les renvoyer bientôt.
Les portraits de Sir D. Brewster & Wheatstone <5> avec mon mémoire, formaient un paquet sans doute trop volumineux pour vous être envoyé en Europe; vous les trouverez à votre retour.
Recevez, Monsieur, l’assurance de la considération très distinguée.
A Claudet
Je vais envoyer une quantité de specimens pour l’exposition de la Société photographique d’Ecosse, j’espère que vous en serez content.<6> Je vous recommande de prendre la peine de comprendre un mémoire que je vais adresser pour la Séance de Fevrier.<7>
Sans doute le graveur pourrait corriger les imperfections ou manques de force de votre gravure photographique. Ce serait un beau résultat.
H. F. Talbot Esq F.R.S.
Translation:
London
10 January 1861
Sir,
I can understand all the difficulties arising from Mr Lacan’s request. But it is simply a question of being of use to him without compromising yourself & without taking the slightest responsibility for the opinions of the journal. You could write to tell him that you are delighted to learn that he is going to publish a photographic journal & that because of the skill & conscientiousness with which he has managed la Lumière since it was founded, you do not doubt that he will continue to contribute to the advance of photography with his new journal; that your personal knowledge of his honourable character naturally means that you cannot help but take great interest in the success of his enterprise, and that, whenever your work gives him an opportunity to publish some articles which could interest his readers, you will not fail to inform him of the fact in time &c. &c. &c. Something of this nature will fulfil his aim perfectly without compromising you in the slightest.
I have examined your specimen of engraving with the greatest interest. It is promising but you need to be able to bring out the half-tones. This is the great difficulty with all these engraving processes, whether they are Daguerrotypes or others. I hope that you will succeed. I am sending you 3 negatives on glass (cartes de visites) & I will be delighted if you can use them to make an engraving with your process. One of the portraits is of Sir D. Brewster, & if you succeed, it would be a subject which would interest the public generally. The others are of pretty ladies.
I hope that you will take great care of these negatives and that you can return them soon.
The portraits of Sir D. Brewster & Wheatstone and my paper were probably too large a parcel to be sent to you in Europe; you will find them upon your return.
Please accept, Sir, my highest regards.
A Claudet
I am going to send a large number of specimens for the Scottish Photographic Society exhibition. I hope that you will be pleased with them. I ask that you take the trouble to understand a paper which I will send for the February meeting.
The engraver could doubtless correct the imperfections or the lack of force of your photographic engraving. The result would be beautiful.
H. F. Talbot Esq F.R.S.
Notes:
1. Ernest Lacan (1828–1879), editor of La Lumière. [See Doc. No: 08278].
2. A weekly Parisian journal begun in 1851 by Ernest Lacan under the title La Lumière, with varying sutitles, of which revue de la photographic, beaux-arts, heliographie, sciences is most common.
3. Possibly an advance on WHFT's 1858 Photoglyphic Engraving process, one that he continually improved on for the rest of his life.
4. Sir David Brewster (1781–1868), Scottish scientist & journalist.
5. Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802–1875), scientist.
6. The annual exhibition of the Photographic Society of Scotland opened in Edinburgh at the beginning of February. "In portraiture, as usual, the Exhibition is much indebted to that eminent photographer Claudet, who has led the way in carrying that branch of art to its present high degree of perfection. His beautifully clear and brilliant style, so truthful in its delicate middle tints and expression of local colour and effect, is regulated by artistic knowledge and a fine eye for the graceful and beautiful." The Scotsman, 4 February 1861, p. 3.
7. Claudet, "On the Laws which regulate the conjugate foci, and the sizes and proportions of images according to the distance of objects. New method for computing all these various measurements," read at the meeting of 12 February 1861 and published in The Photographic Journal, v. 7 no. 107, 15 March 1861, pp. 133-139.