[printed notepaper:]
La Belle Sauvage Yard,
Ludgate Hill, E.C.
London.
Nov. 4 1858
H. Fox Talbot Esq
Sir
Mr Crookes <1> having communicated with us to-day the contents of the letter which he had just received from you upon the subject of the Photoglyphs we have thought it advisable to write you our reference thereto.
We regret to find that in our arrangements for the issue of the impressions we should have anticipated your wishes. It certainly would have been better to have deferred it but from the first of our announcement that a specimen would be presented with the Photographic News, <2> the engraving has been requested and we did not anticipate that so long a period would have been required for printing – Mr Brooker <3> having only first explained on the 2nd Inst. that it was desirable they should be printed at less speed than is usual.
As to the necessity of confining the impressions to one subject we at once suggested both to Mr Brooker and to Mr Crookes upon knowing the difficulty as to the time that your permission should be requested for the use of other subjects as we did not at all deem it necessary that the issue should be confined to one. – Upon learning your reply to-day we perceived that the request had not been clearly expressed, and being in accordance with your own suggestions, we recommended
a telegraphic message: should any expense to yourself have attended this please charge it against us.
With regard to a further issue, we propose to announce our intentions to publish one other and have referred to this present impression as being given in the interim of preparation of a larger subject. This second subject we should be glad to have of the largest size – or at least as large as a page of the Paper. We shall not promise until the plate is being printed from and a safe number of copies taken.
Having found that the expense attending the printing is considerably in excess of that which we had contemplated consequent upon the great care required in the first printing, and taking into consideration the desirability of issuing a second, we propose in accordance with the wishes of some of our subscribers to issue a few copies of proofs of superior impressions of the set of subjects complete, these to be charged for as a set off against the expense referred to, should you however feel any objection to this course we should not adopt it
We wish to take this opportunity of acknowledging your courtesy in giving our new Journal the benefit of first publishing your process. We beg also to say that we should be glad to learn whether you have made any arrangements for its commercial development, and if not whether you are disposed to submit any proposal either by way of licence or otherwise for this object.
Proof of the specification pamphlet [form?] is being [illeg.] by Mr Crookes and we will [illeg.] [assured?] to carry out your wishes in respect to the [illegible]
We are Sir Your obedient Serts
Petter & Galpin
Printers
Notes:
1. Sir William Crookes (1832-1921), chemist & physicist.
2. WHFT produced photoglyphic engraving prints to accompany George Lumley's articles on the subject, and included ‘Bridge over the Moldau, Prague’; ‘Palace of the Duc de Montpensier, Seville’; ‘The New Louvre, Paris’; ‘The Gate of the Cathedral of San Gregorio, Valladolid’; and ‘The Institute of France’. See ‘Description of Mr Fox Talbot’s New Process of Photoglyphic Engraving’, Photographic News, v. 1 no. 7, 22 October 1858, pp. 73–75; and v. 1 no. 10, 12 November 1858, pp. 114–115.
3. Thomas Brooker, engraver & printer, London.