Item #26155 TRAITÉ PRATIQUE DE PHOTOGRAPHIE SUR VERRE, D'APRÈS LES DERNIERS PERFECTIONNEMENTS. Jules Couppier.
TRAITÉ PRATIQUE DE PHOTOGRAPHIE SUR VERRE, D'APRÈS LES DERNIERS PERFECTIONNEMENTS.

TRAITÉ PRATIQUE DE PHOTOGRAPHIE SUR VERRE, D'APRÈS LES DERNIERS PERFECTIONNEMENTS.

Paris: Ch. Chevalier, Puech et Cie, Guilloux, 1852. First edition. 8vo., 61 pp. Original printed paper wrappers with a release stamp from the S F P [Société Française de Photographie] indicating that this was a duplicate and released for sale in 1971; with the original bookseller's stamp on the front wrapper. The SFP stamp is repeated on the title page, as is the ownership stamp of A. [Aymar] de la Baume Pluvinel. Occasional light foxing; else, very good. Housed in a new cloth clamshell box with printed labels. Item #26155

Jules Couppier, a chemist, was a founding member of the Sociéte Française de Photographie (1854) an outgrowth of the first photographic society in the world, Sociéte Héliographique, founded in 1851. In 1848, Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor, the second cousin of the first photographer, J. N. Niépce, and a founder of the Sociéte Héliographique, published a paper in the journal of the Academy of Sciences on his experiments with albumen coated glass plates for obtaining a negative from which a sharper and tonally richer positive print could be obtained. A distinct advantage of this process was that it allowed for the manufacture of the plates in advance of their use; however, the plate had a low sensitivity to light, therefore portraiture was not possible.

In this, the earliest full manual covering the albumen negative on glass and positive print processes, Couppier has dedicated it appropriately to Niépce de Saint-Victor. As a skilled chemist, Couppier was able to improve upon many of the earlier difficulties of sensitivity that had limited this process; improved formulas are provided. Couppier is known today for his albumen glass plate stereographs; one from 1859 taken in the cemetery of Melegnano, showing the bodies of over 2000 combatants, is a harsh testament to the brutality of war.

The copy of Aymar de la Baume Pluvinel (1860 - 1938) an accomplished astronomer and astrophotographer, the first to photograph the surface of Mars through a telescope, and author of scientific works, including, LA THÉORIE DES PROCÉDÉS PHOTOGRAPHIQUES.

Roosens and Salu No. 183. WorldCat locates only two copies; Bibliotheque Nationale de France and Bibliotheque Centrale du Service de Sante des Armees. Not listed in Bellier de la Chavignerie, Manuel Bibliographie du Photographe Francais, 1863.

Price: $1,500.00

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