London
June 15. 1841
My Dear Constance
I send seven portraits to be copied. I only want one good copy of each –
Before copying them I wish Nicole <1> to iron them, and also the 2 larger ones want clipping & pruning round the margin. My windows in Cecil St <2> command a good view of the river but unfortunately I find that the London atmosphere prevents a good result, even when the fog is hardly visible to the eye.
One or two of the portraits are so thick that Nicole had better wax them. He knows how to do it.
16th June
Last Sunday we put two letters directed to you into the Kensington post office, expecting you would receive them on Monday. Did they arrive on that day?
Tell Nicole to come up to Town by an early train on Friday morning. He had better bring with him 2 dozen sheets of iodized paper which Porter <3> has been preparing.
I am glad Mrs C. & Mina <4> intend a visit, I shall endeavour to meet them. I mean to return to my old room next time I come home.
Your affte
Henry
Wright <5> is going to order Newman to send a dozen of port immediately.
Notes:
1. Nicolaas Henneman (1813–1898), Dutch, active in England; WHFT’s valet, then assistant; photographer.
2. For an image of this see, ‘River Thames in London, from Talbot’s Cecil Street Flat’, Schaaf 3705, reproduced in Larry J. Schaaf, The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), p. 116.
3. Charles Porter (b. 1828), a servant at Lacock Abbey, was the frequent subject of photographs, and occasionally also photographic assistant.
4. Sister of Richard Charles Mellish (d. 1865), a clerk in the Foreign Office from 1824 to 1855, and her aunt Mrs Chambers. [See Doc. No: 04283].
5. James Wright, footman to the Talbots & Constable for Lacock.