Mr Maskelyne
Athm <1>
Monday night
Dec 11
Dr Sir
The trial <2> is put off till Monday the 18th or Tuesday the 19th this is tedious. The convenience of the Court decides these matters.
You say that you succeed <3> in 3 minutes good sunshine with Reades process. <4> His process <illegible deletion> employs infusion of Galls in water, not tincture as I supposed formerly – The tincture holding more galls in solution is correspondingly more energetic.
We found to day the following results – when Gallonitrate was spread on paper, and lightly dried off with blotting paper
| on iodized paper | on common paper | ||
| Expt 1. | one second | gave an equal result to | 25 minutes |
| Expt 2. | One second | ––– | 52 minutes |
Different persons witnessed the above 2 expts
Believe me
Yours Vy truly
H. F. Talbot
Notes:
1. The Athenæum and (London) Literary Chronicle, London.
2. The trial concerning WHFT’s patent took place from Monday 18 to Wednesday 20 December 1854. In 1852 WHFT had relinquished his photographic patents as far as amateur photography was concerned, though he retained them regarding professional portraiture. In 1854 he sought to obtain an injunction against William Henry Silvester, known as Martin Laroche, a professional photographer who took portraits using the collodion process. WHFT then found himself having to defend his right to his patents and even his claim to the invention of photography on paper.
3. See Doc. No: 07089.
4. Rev Joseph Bancroft Reade (1801–1870), microscopist & photographer, as stated in process, see Doc. No: 07004.