Mrs Poncelet [illegible deletion] au sujet d’un envoi de dessins <1>
Londres 31 Sackville Street <2>
le 12 Septembre 1840
Monsieur
J’ai remarqué dans un des numéros des Comptes Rendus du mois de Juin dernier, qu’on y propose comme nouveau, le moyen d’enregistrer les observations météorologiques par des impressions obtenues sur les papiers photographiques.
Or, cela a été non seulement proposé, mais aussi executé ici, depuis plus d’une année, et le premier qui l’a mis en execution avec succès a été M. Jordan Secrétaire de la société Polytechnique de Cornouailles.. <3> Je vous envoye une petite brochure <4> de lui que je vous prie de montrer à l’Académie, <5> afin de constater sa priorité incontestable.
Je vous prie de me dire si vous avez jamais reçu un petit paquet contenant 14 dessins photogéniques, <6> que je vous ai envoyé par la Société Royale <7> en date du 8 Juin dernier.
Réponse, l’oubli, s’il ya oubli <8>
M. Jacobi, <9> si célèbre par ses découvertes Galvanoplastiques &c. est maintenant à Londres, se rendant à la grande reunion scientifique qui aura lieu cette année à Glasgow.
Agréez Monsieur, l’expression de toute ma consideration.
H. F. Talbot
Translation:
Messrs Poncelet Calotype about the sending of drawings
London, 31 Sackville Street
12 September 1840
Dear Sir,
I noticed in one of the editions of the Reports of this past month of June, that the means of recording meteorological observations by impressions obtained on photographic papers is proposed there as if new.
However, that has not only been proposed, but also executed here, for more than a year, and the first to carry it out successfully was Mr Jordan, the Secretary of the Polytechnic Society of Cornwall. I am sending you a little brochure by him and I request that you show it to the Academy, in order to attest to his indisputable precedence.
I beg you to tell me if you have ever received a small package containing, 14 photogenic drawings, that I sent you via the Royal Society on this past 8th of June.
Reply, forgotten, if not already sent
Mr Jacobi, so famous for his Galvanoplastic discoveries etc. is now in London, on his way to the big scientific meeting which will take place in Glasgow this year.
Accept Sir, the expression of all my consideration.
H. F. Talbot
Notes:
1. Written in another, possibly contemporary, hand.
2. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT.
3. Thomas Brown Jordan (1807-1890), a teacher of painting who became Secretary of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, where WHFT's uncle Sir Charles Lemon was President. In March 1839, he demonstrated his 'Self-Registering Barometer' and published its details in “On a New Mode of Registering the Indications of Meteorological Instruments”, Reports of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, v. 6, 1838, pp. 184–189
4. T. B. Jordan, ‘Réclamation de priorité en faveur de M. Jordan pour l’application des procédés photographiques aux besoins de la météorologie’, Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’ de l’Académie des Sciences, v. 11 no. 14, second semester 1840, p. 574.
5. Academie Royale des Sciences, Paris.
6. Sent to Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774–1862), French scientist. Letter not located. [See Doc. No: 04143].
7. Royal Society of London.
8. Written in another hand.
9. Moritz Hermann Jacobi (1801–1874), Prussian physicist, who, in 1838 discovered galvanoplastics, also known as electrotyping. He worked and lived much of his life in St Petersburg, Russia.