3 Hanover St
Edinr
11 Sept 1861
Dear Sir
I will be glad to know if the paper negative now sent per post under another cover will suit (or rather the character of negative) before doing any more as I am afraid I would not be able to do them good enough by your own original and still the proper negative paper process, not having done any for many years If it would suit your particular purpose better I daresay I could do negatives with strong black & white with collodion on glass and then transfer the film to paper and I could put either side of the film to the paper you choose so that if you printed it on the block it would read backward or forwards in either way your process required
I am Dear Sir your Servant to command
William McCraw
H. Fox Talbot Esq
Millburn Tower<1>
Notes:
1. Millburn Tower, Gogar, just west of Edinburgh; the Talbot family made it their northern home from June 1861 to November 1863. It is particularly important because WHFT conducted many of his photoglyphic engraving experiments there. The house had a rich history. Built for Sir Robert Liston (1742-1836), an 1805 design by Benjamin Latrobe for a round building was contemplated but in 1806 a small house was built to the design of William Atkinson (1773-1839), best known for Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford. The distinctive Gothic exterior was raised in 1815 and an additional extension built in 1821. Liston had been ambassador to the United States and maintained a warm Anglo-American relationship in the years 1796-1800. His wife, the botanist Henrietta Liston, née Marchant (1751-1828) designed a lavish American garden, sadly largely gone by the time the Talbots rented the house .