Albemarle St
May 19
[in another hand?:] 1846
Dear Sir
I hasten to return you my very best thanks for your valued gift of the Scottish Talbottypes <1>- I am greatly interested in them & in the progress of the invention.
I am also requested by Miss Rigby <2> to offer her acknowledgments for the separate specimens wch will facilitate a comparison between the art in Edinburgh & London - I cannot refrain from wishing that it were possible for Mr Hill to act in conjunction with you. There are points in wch your Calotypes have the decided superiority over his - there are others in wch I think he excels - especially in obtaining artistic effects - a combination of the two wd be a step in advance -
I show the specimens English & Scotch to all friends & hope I am making converts -
I have not yet received your Volume on Etymologies:<3> I will give it careful attention as soon as it reaches me.
I remain Dear Sir your obliged & faithful
John Murray
H. Fox Talbot Esqr
Notes:
1. More commonly spelled Talbotype, an alternative name for the Calotype. It is likely that he is referring to WHFT,s Sun Pictures in Scotland, a collection of photographs published by subscription in 1845.
2. Elizabeth Rigby (1809-1893). See Doc. No: 09887 for the transmission of these photographs. In 1857, by then Lady Eastlake, Rigby published her powerful and influential analysis of the art under "Photography," London Quarterly Review, April 1857, pp. 442-468. 3. WHFT, English Etymologies (London: J. Murray, 1847).