Dear Mr Talbot,
I regret much that I was unable to see Colonel Reed before I left London on Saturday last. – I went to Woolwich on Friday and had no doubt I should find him. I was surprised, however, to learn that he was resident in London, and being obliged to leave London early on Saturday, I could not possibly obtain an interview with him.
Mr Henneman <1> had informed me of the strange conduct of the French <2> in calling the Talbotype, Daguerreotype sur Papier. I am quite sure that the Royal Commissioners <3> will not take any step in the matter, nor do I think it wd be desirable that they should. I think however, that Sir John Herschel <4> and myself as individual members of Class X <5> before which all Photographs come for examination might properly, & without being considered officious, take up the subject and communicate our opinion in a Note whh could be sent to the Academy of Sciences <6> & widely circulated. If Sir John should decline I have no objections to act with any other person in the matter. If you adopt this view of the matter you should draw up a Note such as you would desire to be circulated.
You do not stand alone under this form of persecution. Almost every person who has invented or discovered, has been similarly annoyed.
I am Ever Most Truly yrs
D Brewster
Leamington <7>Beauchamp Terrace
Octr 23d 1851
Notes:
1. Nicolaas Henneman (1813–1898), Dutch, active in England; WHFT’s valet, then assistant; photographer.
2. See Doc. No: 06484.
3. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was set up by Royal Commission. The Commissioners had arranged that the British invention of photography should be used to record the building and the exhibition. See Doc. No: 06948.
4. Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792–1871), astronomer & scientist.
5. The judging-panel for photographic exhibits in the Great Exhibition of 1851. See Doc. No: 06529.
6. The French Académie des Sciences.
7. Royal Leamington Spa, near Warwick, southwest of Birmingham. Brewster and his wife [d. 1850] had stayed there in 1842.