Editorial Department,
2 York Street,
Covent Garden, W.C.
London, 26th Augt 1865
H Fox Talbot Esqre
Sir,
I send you a Copy of our last number <1> from which you will see that a Frenchman (M. Placet) has made some discoveries in photo-engraving, <2> one of them being from photoglyphic process [sic]. I had no patience with the French discovery, & had to come down on it somewhat strongly.
I have been informed that you are making some experiments in photography in natural colours. <3> I should feel extremely obliged by your sending me some account of your experiments, and if your success has been such as to warrant your indulging the hope that this desideratum is not quite impossible.
In the same number Journal you will find an account of Woodbury’s method of printing from metal plates. <4> I enclose a specimen from which you will see that it is not destined to affect silver printing in any great degree.
I am your resply
John T Taylor.
Notes:
1. The British Journal of Photography, v. 12 no. 277, 25 August 1865.
2. Paul Emile Placet, a civil engineer in Paris, patented in England an 'Improved process of photographic engraving' - Taylor felt strongly that it was a mere imitation of WHFT's Photoglyphic Engraving process.
3. Taylor was slightly misinformed. WHFT was experimenting with a new type of spectroscope, designed for chemical analysis through colours. See Doc. No: 08974 and Doc. No: 08976. He didn't publish this work until some years later.
4. Walter B Woodbury (1834-1885) patented his Woodburytype process in 1864 and it was brought into commercial realisation in 1865. A photo-sensitised gelatin was exposed under an image and then placed in water - the gelatin swelled in those areas not affected by light, producing a relief image not unlike a coin. Once dried, this was hard enough to be pressed into a sheet of lead in a press, creating an intaglio impression. A warmed solution of pigment in gelatin was then poured into this, a sheet of paper placed on top and subjected to heavy pressure. The surplus mixture was pressed out, leaving a gelatin 'ink' on the paper in varying thicknesses, which produced a smooth range of tones. The results were quite photographic in appearance and quite permanent. Woodburytypes became important in book illustration, although they had to be printed on separate sheets (and usually trimmed and mounted), being incompatible with type.