Ansd July 6 <1>
31 Sackville St <2>
July 2
Dear Sir
In the little packet of photogenic drawings which I send today by the Railway, there is a re-transfer of a fern leaf; <3> these are easily made but in the estimation of most people are less pretty than the first or white images.
I send also the copy of a transparency a view of ruins by moonlight, <4> re-transferred in the same way, which is necessary with this class of objects, otherwise they have no effect. If you recollect, you tried one of these transparent views last March, at which period of the year the weather was not good enough for a copy to be obtained from it.
I shall certainly make trial of your muriate of lead; it would be highly interesting if you could ascertain why the presence of that substance promotes the decomposition of nitrate silver – Chloride silver does the same, & bromide silver in a high degree but this is more intelligible, being compounds of the same metal.
Believe me yours very truly
H. F. Talbot
Notes:
1. The answer was the continuation of the letter that Herschel had started on 24 June, 1937–4849. [See Doc. No: 03905].
2. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT.
3. This is possibly the print of a buckler fern, formerly in Herschel’s collection, inscribed “H F Talbot 1839.” Eo56–3, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Schaaf no 156.
4. This is possibly the copy of an engraving of people walking in the open-roofed ruins of a cathedral. It was sent by WHFT to Herschell but dated only 1839. 1943–33/7, NMeM, Bradford. Schaaf no 1645.