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Document number: 6498
Date: 01 Nov 1851
Recipient: GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851 Exhibition Committee
Author: TALBOT William Henry Fox
Collection: British Library, London, Manuscripts - Fox Talbot Collection
Collection number historic: LA51-69
Last updated: 14th March 2012

[draft]

Ex. Comee Nov 1 / 51

Gn – I am desous if it meets wh yr appn t have an intrvw wth the membs of ye Body ye Ex Comee wh more particly represts Cheml Science in it Dr Playfair – respecting the formatn of the posve pictures best means of producing the photc pictures destined for your Work on the Cr. Palace –

I have reason to think that you have chiefly considd hithto the cost of producing the posve copies by one method or another.

But it apps t me that this is a Subordte considn – This wk is I understd destined to be sent to various Museums & distingd individls on ye Cont. as well as to the fortunate holders of the Council Medals. Now it is of the greatest possible consequence, that the pictures should be so thoroughly fixed, as to remain permanent if possible for centuries to come. It would be a great mortificatn to all parties concerned if at the expiratn of a few yrs a considerable portn of the work shd be found to have faded & perished

The experience of more than 15 yrs has shown me how difficult and delicate a thing is the fixatn of the positive photograph. If carelessly performed, the evil shows itself in a month or less. If with some, but only a moderate degree of care, the pictures will sometimes last well for a whole year and fade away during the second. The mischief is chiefly owing I believe to a small remnant of sulphur (derived from the h. of soda) left in combinatn with the silver wch gradually changes it into a pale coloured sulphuret –

About 2 yrs ago Mr Malone invented a process for remedng this of wch I thought so well that I assisted him to take a patent for it, It consists in [illegible deletion] dipping the picture in boiling caustc potash, to remove ye sulphur, wch does not at all injure ye picture in other respects, altho’ such injury might seem a priori probable. This process of Mr Malone’s if approvd of by the Exve Comee they wd be wd be very welcome to adopt it. I am informed that Liebig, Mitscherlich & other distingd Chemists have expressd their approbn of it.

What I shd recommend is that 2 Chemists shd be appointed, to control & supervise the performance of a work of so much such magnitude and importance. That no copy picture shd be inserted in the Work that has not been passed by them that is certified as havg undergone all the [illegible deletion] requisite processes – There is unfortunately no means of discovering whether a picture is fixed, except the test of time – If therefore any one possesses a beautiful photograph This renders it very important that responsible persons should watch over the process fm 1st to last

[expanded version:]

Executive Committee

November 1, 1851

Gentlemen,

I am desirous if it meets with your approbation to have an interview with the members of the Body the Executive Committee which more particularly represents Chemical Science in it Dr Playfair – respecting the formation of the positive pictures best means of producing the photographic pictures destined for your Work on the Crystal Palace.<1> I have reason to think that you have chiefly consideration hitherto the cost of producing the positive copies by one method or another. But it appears to me that this is a Subordinate consideration – This work is I understand destined to be sent to various Museums and distinguished individuals on the Continent as well as to the fortunate holders of the Council Medals. Now it is of the greatest possible consequence, that the pictures should be so thoroughly fixed, as to remain permanent if possible for centuries to come. It would be a great mortification to all parties concerned if at the expiration of a few years a considerable portion of the work should be found to have faded and perished.

The experience of more than fifteen years has shown me how difficult and delicate a thing is the fixation of the positive photograph. If carelessly performed, the evil shows itself in a month or less. If with some, but only a moderate degree of care, the pictures will sometimes last well for a whole year and fade away during the second. The mischief is chiefly owing I believe to a small remnant of sulphur (derived from the hyposulphite of soda) left in combination with the silver which gradually changes it into a pale coloured sulphuret –

About two years ago Mr Malone invented a process for remedying this of which I thought so well that I assisted him to take a patent for it, It consists in dipping the picture in boiling caustic potash, to remove the sulphur, which does not at all injure the picture in other respects, although such injury might seem á priori probable. This process of Mr Malone’s if approved of by the Executive Committee they would be be very welcome to adopt it. I am informed that Liebig, Mitscherlich <2> and other distinguished Chemists have expressed their approbation of it.

What I should recommend is that two Chemists should be appointed, to control and supervise the performance of a work of so much such magnitude and importance. That no copy picture should be inserted in the Work that has not been passed by them that is certified as having undergone all the requisite processes – There is unfortunately no means of discovering whether a picture is fixed, except the test of time – If therefore any one possesses a beautiful photograph This renders it very important that responsible persons should watch over the whole process from first to last.


Notes:

1. The Executive Committee of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, to be held in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London. The photographs were eventually published in Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851: Reports by the Juries. Four volumes, illustrated by original photographic prints from negatives by Hugh Owen and Claude Marie Ferrier. In the copies given to WHFT, a dedicatory sheet was inserted (most likely printed up by him): 'This Work, on the Results of the Great Exhibition of 1851, Illustrated with Photographic Plates, being One of Fifteen Copies Given by the Royal Commissioners to H.F. Talbot, Esq. of Lacock Abbey, as The Inventor of this Branch of the Photographic Art, was by him presented to _____'. This publication caused WHFT considerable consternation at the time, for he felt that the Commissioners had stealthily and unfairly taken the job of printing the plates away from Nicolaas Henneman. For a summary of this complex situation, see Nancy B Keeler, 'Illustrating the "Reports by the Juries" of the Great Exhibition of 1851; Talbot, Henneman, and Their Failed Commission,' History of Photography, v. 6 no. 3, July 1982, pp. 257-272.

2. Justus von Liebig (1803–1873), German Professor of Chemistry, and Eilhard Mitscherlish (1794–1863), German chemist.

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