[author’s copy]
(No 2)
Mr W. Crookes
Lacock
Sunday
Oct 24
Dr Sir
Your letter arrived after mine was gone to you – You will see that a short delay must necessarily occur in sending you the steel plate and I concur with you that Mr Brooker <1> must not be hurried in printing them – A copperplate I could send you sooner, as the maker has sent me some that have a good surface, but as they would not print the required number even if 5 or 6 duplicates were made, it is of no use to do so. I wish to consult several gentlemen with respect to the formation of a company of limited liability to carry out the new process especially one gentleman who is now abroad, and on that account I hesitate about granting licenses, not feeling sure that it might not impede the formation of such company At any rate I should wish to take a little time for further consideration.
If the first engraving is approved of, I shall be happy to send you some others, indeed such is the diversity of tastes and opinions that it is almost necessary to show various specimens of the art in order to obtain a favourable judgment of it from persons of various turn [sic] of mind who have different conceptions of what is beautiful in the Arts. I hope the first specimen will please the majority of your readers but we cannot rely upon it and the best way will be to be prepared with another.<2>
I remain Dr Sir Yours very truly
H. F. Talbot
Notes:
1. Thomas Brooker, engraver & printer, London.
2. WHFT produced photoglyphic engraving prints to accompany George Lumley's articles on the subject, and included ‘Bridge over the Moldau, Prague’; ‘Palace of the Duc de Montpensier, Seville’; ‘The New Louvre, Paris’; ‘The Gate of the Cathedral of San Gregorio, Valladolid’; and ‘The Institute of France’. See ‘Description of Mr Fox Talbot’s New Process of Photoglyphic Engraving’, Photographic News, v. 1 no. 7, 22 October 1858, pp. 73–75; and v. 1 no. 10, 12 November 1858, pp. 114–115.