Veranda.
Sept. 2.
1846.
My dear Sir,
I have some idea of making a short expedition to the Eastward on Tuesday next and shd be very glad to fall in with you, will you therefore be so kind as to let me know where you are likely to be next week; I am very anxious to see your Reading establishment<1> I had a note from Henneman <2> yesterday, to whom I sent last week a parcel of negatives, he tells me that he has nothing now to do with copying, which is altogether under Mr Cowderoys’s <3> management. I shd be very much obliged if you will put him in mind of sending me the copies of all the remaining Malta and Naples views which I begged for so long ago.
I promised also to ask him what wd be the price of copies of the Singleton views for Mr Vivian <4> before I ordered them.
Yours very Truly
Calvert R. Jones.
Notes:
1. Nicolaas Henneman (1813–1898), born in Holland and trained in Paris, was WHFT’s valet who emerged as his assistant in photography. Henneman set up his Calotype works at 8 Russell Terrace, Reading. Commencing operations at the start of 1844, it functioned both as a photographic studio and as a photographic printing works and continued through late 1846, at which time Henneman transferred his operations to London. Although Talbot supported Henneman through custom, such as printing the plates for The Pencil of Nature, and loans, it was always Henneman's operation. His business cards made no mention of "The Reading Establishment," the designation that it is popularly given today; the only contemporary use of that title seemed to be by Benjamin Cowderoy - see Doc. No: 05690.
2. Nicolaas Henneman (1813–1898), Dutch, active in England; WHFT’s valet, then assistant; photographer.
3. Benjamin Cowderoy (1812–1904), land agent in Reading; business manager for WHFT; later a politician in Australia.
4. John Henry Vivian (1785–1855), lived at Singleton Abbey, a neo-gothic pile of his own construction, located near Veranda.