Dear Sir,
As I am now occupied with the Article on the subject of Photography <1> which I mentioned to you, I shall be glad to receive any information which you can send me, so as to give interest to the Article, and make the public better acquainted with your establishment <2> and the practical value of the Talbotype. It would be a good opportunity too to expose the shameful conduct of the Parisian artists in their plagiarism of your methods.
Perhaps you could refer me to some new printed sources of information that may be useful.
I wish much that you would publish your Expts with the Crystal that gives white light among the more refrangible rays, & which you regard as a folding back of the spectrum.
It is a fact so curious that the publication of it alone would excite interest, & it is so closely connected with my immediate researches, that if you are not desirous of printing it by itself I will insert it in my Paper as yours.
Ever Most Truly yrs
D Brewster
St Leonards College
St Andrews
May 19th 1847
H. Fox Talbot Esqr
&c &c &c
Notes:
1. See Doc. No: 05888.
2. 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.