Naples
May 3d 1846
My dear Henry
By a letter Jones <1> received from you before his departure for Rome &c I learn that you had some thoughts of making a tour up the Rhine and toward Switzerland. As my route homewards as soon as my little girl is well enough to travel will be by Milan, Zurich, Basle &c it would be a pity if we could not meet somewhere, therefore pray give me a line directed to Poste Restante Genoa to say where you are to be found. I did a few Talbotypes for you, but did not find out till after a great many failures a very simple fact which ought to be known by every experimenter, namely that the solutions will not keep, and ought to be made fresh at least once a fortnight. Gallic acid especially decomposes. If you have not left England, I imagine you will have received the parcel of negatives I did for you. As for Jones, he has thought of nothing else since he left England, and I fear you will have had a surfeit of Malta - Still I should like to see a few of mine reversed whenever you can do it, for they will serve to remind me of scenes connected with a portion of my existence which however painful, I would not forget
Believe meYours most truly
CRM Talbot
Jane <2> will be crossing the Alps going northward about the middle of June.Notes:
1.Rev. Calvert Richard Jones(1802-1877), Welsh painter & photographer and close friend of Kit Talbot.
2.Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot(1796-1874)