ON SOME EARLY EXPERIMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY: BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF A LETTER ADDRESSED TO ROBERT HUNT, ESQ.
[London: Taylor & Francis], May, 1854. Offprint from the PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE, May 1854. 8vo., 6 pp. Later spine of green paper. A few light specks of foxing; single ink library stamp on the first leaf. Presented "From the Author" in ink on the top right blank margin. Fine. [with] Wood, R. [Rupert] Derek. J. B. READE, F.R.S., AND THE EARLY HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PARTS I. A RE-ASSEMENT ON THE DISCOVERY OF CONTEMPORARY EVIDENCE. PART II. GALLIC ACID AND TALBOT'S CALOTYPE PATENT. AND, THE INVOLVEMENT OF SIR JOHN HERSCHEL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PATENT CASE, TALBOT V. HENDERSON, 1854. N.p.: [The author], 1971. 8vo., [13] - 83, [239] - 264 pp., [3] leaves of b&w plates. Three offprints from the ANNALS OF SCIENCE, Volume 27, Nos. 1 & 3, March and September, 1971. Staple-bound in orange stiff paper wrappers, with cloth spine, printed label mounted on front cover, erratum affixed to inside cover; a few holograph corrections by the author, with his corrected address label affixed. Fine. Item #53138
The Reverend J. B. Read (1801 - 1870) began his experiments in chemistry at an early age. An 1839 letter which he wrote to his brother, which was quoted by Sir David Brewster in 1847, describes a photographic process involving silver nitrate and gallic acid, which was fixed with "hypo" (sodium hyposulfite). As a result, Brewster asserted that Reade's experiments predated Talbot's caloype patent and were so credited in the early histories. In this letter to Robert Hunt, the photographer and historian who penned the first English book on photography, " A Popular Treatise on the Art of Photography (1841)", Reade stakes his claim as one of the early inventors of the medium.
The three offprints by Derek Wood provided an in-depth history of Reade's actual experiments and contributions and correct the prior misconceptions of chronological events.
Roosen and Salu No. 9204 and 9205. OCLC does not locate Reade's offprint and lists the George Eastman House, the Public Records Office U.K., and the National Art Library, Victoria & Albert Museum as the only holders of the volume by Derek Wood.
Price: $850.00