My dear Sir,
I have not been able to fulfil my intention of going into Yorkshire having been much engaged in business of different kinds, especially with respect to the formation of New Docks at Swansea, a measure of great importance to the place.
I have been considering the percentage you propose giving me i.e. 10 percent on the wholesale price and fear it is far too low to repay me for the trouble and expence [sic] of taking negatives; at any rate it will [illegible deletion] be very long before any return is made: when it may not be so much an object to me, whereas I want to make a little at this present time; in order to have some idea of what the percentage wd produce, I wish Mr Cowderoy <1> wd make a rough acct of what is at present due to me.
But I shd much prefer doing negatives for a certain price each, even if it were low: and propose that you shd make me an offer for all the negatives I have as yet done, similar to the arrangement you were so good as to suggest for the Yorkshire views: and as I said with regard to them, I will leave the price of these to your own valuation; I also propose to make it easier to you that you shd pay me by instalments [sic].
I have done about 50 large Negatives since I returned, of which I enclose a list: there are also above 90 Malta and Italian ones remaining, of which you have a list <2> likewise and 12 small views of Pompeii making altogether with what I have hitherto sent 216 large and 114 small. There is a considerable demand for Talbotypes <3> here, and if there were an agency established it wd, I am convinced, much increase I shd therefore strongly recommend this being done as soon as possible.
We are going in about a fortnight to stay at Cardiff Castle, where I expect to get some excellent subjects, and consider that Cardiff from its growing importance, and increasing trade will form a very good place for a depot.
I am sorry that you were not more successful on the Rhine and Moselle. Cöln does not afford a great deal, but there are some very nice bits at Coblentz and Mayence, also Frankfurt.
I have not heard how Henneman <4> gets on with the Portraits, but am sure that there is a great deal to be done that way and believe that Mr Hill <5> at Edinburgh succeeds admirably.
Yours very truly
Calvert R. Jones.
I will, if you please send you all my Negatives to see.| Large Negatives | |
| 120. | View on deck “Mary Dugdale”. |
| 121 | “Mary Dugdale” and Chelydra. Cuba ships |
| 122 | Swiss Cottage. Singleton <6>. |
| 123 | Swansea Pilot boats |
| 124 | Assembly rooms & Cambrian place. |
| 125 | Old houses on the Quai. |
| 126 | Vessels aground. Pier. |
| 127 | On the Strand. Castle in distance. |
| 128 | Schooner aground. Kilvey background |
| 129 | East & West Pierhead. |
| 130 | Heathfield. |
| 131 | Do garden front <7>. |
| 132 | Capstan at pierhead. |
| 133 | Do nearer view. |
| 134 | Cambrian place from Glocester [sic] place <8> |
| 135 | Cuba ships aground. |
| 136 | Head and bows. Ellen Simpson <9>. |
| 137 | Devonshire smacks aground. |
| 138 | Upper paving bank |
| 139 | Mackworth Arms & Wind street. <10> |
| 140 | Collier and barges. |
| 141 | Burrows & Cambrian place. |
| 142 | Old Castle square. |
| 143 | Quarter of Coppership & others aground |
| 144 | “Cobre” aground. pier. |
| 145 | Bow view of Cobre and schooner. |
| 146 | Foreign trade brig & coasting do. |
| 147 | Do. another point of view. |
| 148 | Scene on deck, poop cabins & Mary Dugdale |
| 149 | Ships boat aground. |
| 150 | Fisher street. |
| 151 | Agnes Blakie <11> aground. |
| 152 | Chalet at Singleton. |
| 153 | Part of garden front. Veranda. |
| 154. | Garden front Veranda. |
| 155 | Do another view. |
| 156 | Swansea bay from sands below Singleton. |
| 157 | Fountain. garden Singleton. |
| 158 | Aloe – – Do. |
| 159 | Barn and Farmyard. Do. |
| 160 | Dovecote Do. |
| 161 | Vessels aground. river. |
| 162 | “Aurora” Dutch Galliot |
| 163 | Bow of brig and schooner aground. |
| 164 | French brig. |
| 165 | Royal Institution of S. Wales. &[c]. |
| 166 | Brig aground leaky. |
| 167 | Dutch vessels from a picture by Chambers <12>. |
| 168 | Indiaman going into Rotterdam from do |
| 169 | Back yard and laundry. Veranda |
| 170 | Swansea bay from the Coquet hills |
| 171 | Do 2nd view. |
| – | ||
| |
Brecon views. | |
| |
41. | Priory Church from N. E. |
| |
42. | Chancel of do. from do. |
| – |
Veranda
Novbr 3. 1846.
Notes:
1. Benjamin Cowderoy (1812–1904), land agent in Reading; business manager for WHFT; later a politician in Australia.
2. See Doc. No: 05563 and Doc. No: 05685.
3. Although WHFT modestly prefered the term calotype, Jones and a few other loyal friends honoured the inventor by calling them Talbotypes, a direct parallel with the use of the term Daguerreotype.
4. Nicolaas Henneman (1813–1898), Dutch, active in England; WHFT’s valet, then assistant; photographer.
5. David Octavius Hill (1802–1870), Scottish painter & photographer.
6. Singleton Abbey, a neo-gothic pile near Veranda. [See Doc. No: 05721].
7. Reproduced in Larry J. Schaaf, Sun Pictures Catalogue Five: The Reverend Calvert R. Jones(New York: Hans P. Kraus, Jr, 1990), p. 54.
8. Probably house near Penllergaer, Glamorgan, 5 mi E of Loughor: home of the Llewelyn family. [See Doc. No: 03517].
9. A ship.
10. Swansea.
11. Probably the ship Agnes Blaikie.
12. George Chambers (1803–1840), painter of ships.