<engraved letterhead/address>
La Belle Sauvage Yard,
Ludgate Hill, E.C.
London,
July 19 1860
Sir,
We have it in contemplation to publish in the Photographic News a series of biographical sketches of eminent photographers, & we are desirous of giving to your name that preeminence in the series to which it is entitled.
We should feel much obliged therefore if you will furnish us with such particulars as you may be willing to make public of the history of those discoveries which have had so important an influence upon the progress of photography, & should you be disposed to add to these any facts which will enable the Editor to prepare an account of your own life, it will add materially to the interest & value of the memoir.
We hope that no apology will be necessary for requesting your kind assistance in this matter. A good biographical history of photography is a desideratum, & while it would, of course, be impossible to omit your name from the list of memoirs, we are anxious that the account we publish shall be obtained from such a source as will render error or misrepresentation impossible
We are Sir, your obedt Servants
Cassell, Petter & Galpin
H. Fox Talbot Esq
&c &c &c