4 Raymond Terrace Cheltenham
26^th Oc^{t <1>}

To Fox Talbot Esq^re

My dear Sir

Long have I been anxious to pay my respects to you, & lay at the feet of my kind Preceptor, the great Discoverer of what has averted many a wretched thought, & amused some happy hours, – the fruit of my seven years wanderings – but much trouble & misfortunes have thwarted all my projects – & since I came to England these last few days have been all I could really call my own. –

I am employing them as you see: provoked thereto by some friends who set a higher value upon unadorned Truth, than does the vulgar world. – Your liberality has done all that Man can do to bring it into use & fashion – but like all great Discoverers you are defrauded of your due. –

My portfolio excells perhaps in number, but not in works creditable to the art itself – for the Desert, & mountain tops afford few facilities I doubt whether I shall succeed in the undertaking – tho’ our friend Calvert Jones ^<2> encourages me – but the copying under such a sun as this is slow & arduous – while I dare not trust my negatives to other hands. – I much fear too that the permanence of the positives is doubtful – perhaps only a matter of time: untill some substitute for Hypo-sulf. ^<3> is found. – I submit mine to the action of a stream of water for several days - but it requires time to prove the efficacy of even that – & I doubt it. –

I am going this week to pass a few days with the Bp. of Gloucester,^<4> & will see what M^r Owen ^<4> of Bristol is doing. –

But I am forgetting the immediate subject of my letter – A young Artist here, who succeeds admirably in the Collodion process,^<5> has applied to me to put him in the way of ascertaining what he may do without infringing your Patent – whether he may copy, on paper, such glass negatives, portraits or views, for Sale. –

I should imagine not – & that your patent covers all processes (for portraiture) which involved the use of paper, & its photographic manipulations. – If that be the case he wants to know what sort of pecuniary arrangement he could make to obtain the necessary permission to follow it as a matter of business. – Will you do me the favour to enlighten me?

I have adopted the grasshopper as the emblem of photography – but is not this a curious hieroglyphic which I copied from the walls of a tomb in Egypt – & since my coming to England, find that is amongst those copied by Colonel Vyse ^<6> also. –

During my short stay in London I called often on Henneman,^<7> but he was in France –

I beg to offer my respects to M^rs Talbot: ^<8> – & that, pardoning this my intrusion, you will believe me, my dear Sir

Truly & gratefully Your’s
Geo W Bridges

[envelope:]
To
Fox Talbot Esq^re
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Wilts

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Notes:

1. Although the first postmark on the envelope is 25 October, this is clearly Bridges' first letter to WHFT in some time - either he wrote the date incorrectly or, less likely, the postal clerk had not advanced his stamp.

2. Rev Calvert Richard Jones (1802–1877), Welsh painter & photographer.

3. Hypo sulphate or hypo is still used for fixing photographs.

4. James Henry Monk (1784–1856), Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. [See Doc. No: 05761].

5. Hugh Owen (1808–1897), photographer.

6. Richard William Howard-Vyse (1784–1856), explorer of the Egyptian pyramids.

7. Nicolaas Henneman (1813–1898), Dutch, active in England; WHFT’s valet, then assistant; photographer.

8. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.