Septr 11th 1859
Thanks, my dear Sir, for the photoglyphic engraving. <1> It is necessarily a most faithful representation of the Fern, Adiantum concinnum[?]
What we want now of days, is not only a representation of the plant, but the analysis of the fructification, venation &c. in magnified figures.
This is a great desideratum too in “ Nature-printing: <2>” – &, there besides, is the defect arising from inequality of surface in the plant; & where there is pubescence, & fructification – all that is blurred.
faithfully Yours,
W. J. Hooker.
To H. F. Talbot Esqre
&c &c
Notes:
1. Around this time, WHFT published a photoglyphic engraving based on a photograph by Charles Piazzi Smyth: as "Young Dragon trees, near Orotava, Teneriffe," Transactions of the Botanical Society (Edinburgh), March 1859, pl. 6. WHFT was later to publish a "Photoglyphic Engraving of a Fern" in the same journal, v. 7, June 1863, pl. 14, p. 559.
2. Nature printing, or Naturselbstdruck, was commercialised by Alois Auer in 1853, although its roots go back at least into the 18th century. A dried plant was squeezed into a soft metal plate in a press. The resulting intaglio impression could be inked (sometimes in multiple colours) and printed in a conventional press.