NY: Heath & Brother, 1855. First edition. 8vo., errata, 161 pp. Recent quarter cloth and marbled paper over boards with a paper spine label. Lacking the albumen frontispiece portrait from a drawing of Sir Humphrey Davy. An ex-library copy; the title page is stamped and has pencil and ink numerals, chipped and torn, resulting in slight loss of text, with later paper repairs; pages 157 - 160 are partially cracked at the gutter, but firm. Aside from an occasional small droplet stain, the text body is clean and very good. Item #53269

The Heaths were manufacturers of chemicals in New York. Here they describe: the daguerreian process in detail; processes on paper (Talbot's, Bingham's, Channing's, Cundell's, etc.); process on glass; positive paper; preparation of chemical products. The Heath's were among the first to call for a better camera - "It must give a large-size picture, correctly drawn, and equally distinct in all parts: it must command a most intense light, and it must be adapted equally for portraying, and for taking views of architectural objects. Now, up to the present time, the problem of fulfilling all these conditions equally, has not been solved."

A comprehensive manual on all the processes to date, and one of the earliest written by Americans. Roosens and Salu No. 6375.

Price: $210.00