[draft]

Hennⁿ July 15 /51

H^g tⁿ legal advice on y^e subj of y^e inj^y done t my int^sts as a P by sun^y gⁿ wh h t^kn inst^ns f^m y as Arr, but h not kept to y^e agr^s, w^ch they m^de w^t Y at y^t time, I h^ve bⁿ adv^s y^t it is nec^y to disc^nue y^t s^rt of arr^t & grant reg^r L^s as is done w^t resp to oth P^s You will �� plse t g^e n^tce to any p^son t w^hm y m give inst^rns in y^e art y^t y do so upon y^e und^std condⁿ y^t t^ey h the lic^ses t ex. y^e art as am^rs upon y^e t^rms w^ch are ask^d of oth^r p^rsns

[illegible] to ye Con^l pm^ts [illegible] def^g at pres. y^e t^rms of such L^s but they will not exc 20 g^s or if prop^sd an acc^nt paym^t w^ch may be discon^td when y^e L is no longer wished for

[expanded version]

to Nicolaas Henneman

July 15, 1851

Having taken legal advice on the subject of the injury done to my interests as a Patentee ^<1> by sundry gentlemen who have taken instructions from you as Arranged, but has not kept to the agreements which they made with You at the time, I have been advised that it is necessary to discontinue the start of the arrangement and grant regular Licenses as is done with respect to other Patentees. You will therefore please to give notice to any person whom you may give instructions in the art that you do so upon the understandable condition that they take licenses to execute the art as upon the terms which are asked of other persons.

[illegible] to the Continental patents my settling definitely at present the terms of such Licenses but they will not exceed twenty guineas or it preferred an annual payment which will be discontinued when the License is no longer wished for

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Notes:

1. Dispute concerning photographs of Crystal Palace. 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.