History and Practice of the Art of Photography

Henry Hunt Snelling

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pubOne.info thank you for your continued support and wish to present you this new edition. THE DAGUERREAN AND PHOTOGENIC ART, BOTH ON METALLIC PLATES AND ON PAPER.

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• Publié par: Pub One Info
• Date de parution: 27 septembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782819923787
• Langue: English

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THE HISTORY AND PRACTICE
OF THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY;
OR THE PRODUCTION OF PICTURES
THROUGH THE AGENCY OF LIGHT.
CONTAINING ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS NECESSARY FORTHE COMPLETE PRACTICE OF
THE DAGUERREAN AND PHOTOGENIC ART, BOTH ON METALLICPLATES AND ON PAPER.
By HENRY H. SNELLING.
ILLUSTRATED WITH WOOD CUTS.
New York: PUBLISHED BY G. P. PUTNAM, 155Broadway, 1849.
Entered according to act of Congress in theyear 1849, by H. H. Snelling, in the Clerk's office, of theDistrict Court of the Southern District of New York.
New York: PRINTED BY BUSTEED & McCOY, 163Fulton Street.
TO EDWARD ANTHONY, ESQ., AN ESTEEMEDFRIEND.
Whose gentlemanly deportment, liberal feelings, andstrict integrity have secured him a large circle of friends, thiswork is Respectfully Dedicated By the AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
The object of this little work is to fill a voidmuch complained of by Daguerreotypists— particularly youngbeginners.
The author has waited a long time in hopes that somemore able pen would be devoted to the subject, but the wants of thenumerous, and constantly increasing, class, just mentioned, induceshim to wait no longer.
All the English works on the subject— particularlyon the practical application, of Photogenic drawing— are deficientin many minute details, which are essential to a completeunderstanding of the art. Many of their methods of operating areentirely different from, and much inferior to, those practised inthe United States: their apparatus, also, cannot compare with oursfor completeness, utility or simplicity.
I shall, therefore, confine myself principally— sofar as Photogenic drawing upon metalic plates is concerned— to themethods practised by the most celebrated and experienced operators,drawing upon French and English authority only in cases where Ifind it essential to the purpose for which I design my work,namely: furnishing a complete system of Photography; such an one aswill enable any gentleman, or lady, who may wish to practise theart, for profit or amusement, to do so without the trouble andexpense of seeking instruction from professors, which in many caseswithin my own knowledge has prevented persons from embracing theprofession.
To English authors I am principally indebted forthat portion of my work relating to Photogenic drawing on paper. Tothem we owe nearly all the most important improvements in thatbranch of the art. Besides, it has been but seldom attempted in theUnited States, and then without any decided success. Of theseattempts I shall speak further in the Historical portion of thisvolume.
Every thing essential, therefore, to a completeknowledge of the whole art, comprising all the most recentdiscoveries and improvements down to the day of publication will befound herein laid down.
INTRODUCTION
New York, January 27, 1849. E. ANTHONY, ESQ.
Dear Sir, — In submitting the accompanying “Historyand Practice of Photography” to your perusal, and for yourapprobation, I do so with the utmost confidence in your ability asa practical man, long engaged in the science of which it treats, aswell as your knowledge of the sciences generally; as well as yourregard for candor. To you, therefore, I leave the decision whetheror no I have accomplished my purpose, and produced a work which maynot only be of practical benefit to the Daguerrean artist, but ofgeneral interest to the reading public, and your decision willinfluence me in offering it for, or withholding it from,publication.
If it meets your approbation, I would mostrespectfully ask permission to dedicate it to you, subscribingmyself,
With esteem,
Ever truly yours,
HENRY H. SNELLING
New York, February 1st, 1849.
Mr. H. H. SNELLING.
Dear Sir— Your note of January 27th, requestingpermission to dedicate to me your “History and Practice ofPhotography, ” I esteem a high compliment, particularly since Ihave read the manuscript of your work.
Such a treatise has long been needed, and the mannerin which you have handled the subject will make the book asinteresting to the reading public as it is valuable to theDaguerrean artist, or the amateur dabbler in Photography. I haveread nearly all of the many works upon this art that have emanatedfrom the London and Paris presses, and I think the reader will findin yours the pith of them all, with much practical and usefulinformation that I do not remember to have seen communicatedelsewhere.
There is much in it to arouse the reflective andinventive faculties of our Daguerreotypists. They have heretoforestumbled along with very little knowledge of the true theory oftheir art, and yet the quality of their productions is far inadvance of those of the French and English artists, most of whoseestablishments I have had the pleasure of visiting I feeltherefore, that when a sufficient amount of theoretic knowledgeshall have been added to this practical skill on the part of ouroperators, and when they shall have been made fully acquainted withwhat has been attained or attempted by others, a still greateradvance in the art will be manifested.
A GOOD Daguerreotypist is by no means a mere machinefollowing a certain set of fixed rules. Success in this artrequires personal skill and artistic taste to a much greater degreethan the unthinking public generally imagine; in fact more than isimagined by nine-tenths of the Daguerreotypists themselves. And wesee as a natural result, that while the business numbers itsthousands of votaries, but few rise to any degree of eminence. Itis because they look upon their business as a mere mechanicaloperation, and having no aim or pride beyond the earning of theirdaily bread, they calculate what will be a fair per centage on thecost of their plate, case, and chemicals, leaving MIND, which is asmuch CAPITAL as anything else (where it is exercised, ) entirelyout of the question.
The art of taking photographs on PAPER, of whichyour work treats at considerable length, has as yet attracted butlittle attention in this country, though destined, as I fullybelieve, to attain an importance far superior to that to which theDaguerreotype has risen.
The American mind needs a waking up upon thesubject, and I think your book will give a powerful impulse in thisdirection. In Germany a high degree of perfection has been reached,and I hope your countrymen will not be slow to follow.
Your interesting account of the experiments of Mr.Wattles was entirely new to me, and is another among the manyevidences that when the age is fully ripe for any great discovery,it is rare that it does not occur to more than a single mind.
Trusting that your work will meet with theencouragement which your trouble in preparing it deserves, and withgratitude for the undeserved compliment paid to me in itsdedication,
I remain, very sincerely,
Your friend and well wisher,
E. ANTHONY.
PHOTOGRAPHY.
CHAP. I.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ART.
As in all cases of great and valuable inventions inscience and art the English lay claim to the honor of having firstdiscovered that of Photogenic drawing. But we shall see in theprogress of this history, that like many other assumptions of theirauthors, priority in this is no more due them, then the inventionof steamboats, or the cotton gin.
This claim is founded upon the fact that in 1802 Mr.Wedgwood recorded an experiment in the Journal of the RoyalInstitution of the following nature.
“A piece of paper, or other convenient material, wasplaced upon a frame and sponged over with a solution of nitrate ofsilver; it was then placed behind a painting on glass and the lighttraversing the painting produced a kind of copy upon the preparedpaper, those parts in which the rays were least intercepted beingof the darkest hues. Here, however, terminated the experiment; foralthough both Mr. Wedgwood and Sir Humphry Davey experimentedcarefully, for the purpose of endeavoring to fix the drawings thusobtained, yet the object could not be accomplished, and the wholeended in failure. ”
This, by their own showing, was the earliest attemptof the English savans. But this much of the principle was known tothe Alchemists at an early date— although practically produced inanother way— as the following experiment, to be found in old books,amply proves.
“Dissolve chalk in aquafortis to the consistence ofmilk, and add to it a strong solution of silver; keep this liquorin a glass bottle well stopped; then cutting out from a piece ofpaper the letters you would have appear, paste it on the decanter,and lay it in the sun's rays in such a manner that the rays maypass through the spaces cut out of the paper and fall on thesurface of the liquor the part of the glass through which the rayspass will be turned black, while that under the paper remainswhite; but particular care must be observed that the bottle be notmoved during the operation. ”
Had not the alchemists been so intent upon thedesire to discover the far famed philosopher's stone, as to makethem unmindful of the accidental dawnings of more valuablediscoveries, this little experiment in chemistry might have inducedthem to prosecute a more thorough search into the principle, andPhotogenic art would not now, as it is, be a new one.
It is even asserted that the Jugglers of India werefor many ages in possession of a secret by which they were enabled,in a brief space, to copy the likeness of any individual by theaction of light. This fact, if fact it be, may account for thecelebrated magic mirrors said to be possessed by these jugglers,and probable cause of their power over the people.
However, as early as 1556 the fact was establishedthat a combination of chloride and silver, called, from itsappearance, horn silver, was blackened by the sun's rays; and inthe latter part of the last century Mrs. Fulhame published anexperiment by which a change of color was effected in the chlorideof gold by the agency of light; and gave it as her opinion thatwords might be written in this way. These incidents are consideredas the first steps towards