| Names: | Born: William Henry Fox Talbot
Other: H. Fox Talbot
Other: H.F. Talbot
Other: H.F.T.
Other: Henry F. Talbot
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| | Dates: | 1800, 11 February - 1877, 17 September | | Born: | Great Britain, England, Dorsetshire | | Active: | England | | Gender: | Male |
English polymath, discover of the latent image and inventor of the negative / positive process and printing on paper. He was a Renaissance man who researched and wrote on botany, astronomy and archaeology as well as photography. Frustrated by his attempts to draw scenery with a Camera Lucida, Talbot experimented with the action of light on certain chemicals, to capture by other means the view he was unable to draw. With the help of Sir John Herschel, he managed to control this action and "fix" the image, finally producing a negative from which an infinite number of positives could be printed. Over the next thirty years, amongst many other things, he worked on photoglyphic engraving, a forerunner of photogravure.
For excellent Internet biographies check the Internet Resources section and more specifically the Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot site initiated at the University of Glasgow and currently maintained by De Montfort University (UK).
[With contributions by Pam Roberts]
In the secondary photographic literature Talbot is almost always referred to by his full name of William Henry Fox Talbot. However, in life he was known as Henry, not William or William Henry. The signature on his letters and photographs is generally either Henry F. Talbot or H.F. Talbot. Alternately, his photographs, which often are not signed in any case, can simply bear the initials H.F.T. Some of his publications, including "The Pencil of Nature," are credited to H. Fox Talbot. Sometimes in life, and certainly quite often since, Talbot has been referred to as simply Fox Talbot, a name to which he objected. Although some of his descendants have used the multiple names, as far as Henry is concerned Fox is one of his given names (it was a maternal family name) and shouldn't be considered as part of a compound family name, with or without hyphen.
[Contributed by Greg Drake]
Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 55, p.339-341
by George Clement Boase
TALBOT, WILLIAM HENRY FOX (1800–1877), pioneer of photography, born on 11 Feb. 1800, was only child of William Davenport Talbot (d. 1800) of Lacock Abbey, Chippenham, Wiltshire, by Elisabeth Theresa, eldest child of Henry Thomas Fox-Strangways, second earl of Ilchester. He was educated at Harrow from 1811, and was elected a scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge. He won the Porson prize in 1820, was twelfth wrangler and second chancellor's medallist in 1821, when he graduated B.A. He proceeded M.A. in 1825. The year after taking his degree he contributed to Gergonne's ‘Annales Mathématiques’ (1822, xiii. 242–7) a paper ‘On the Properties of a certain Curve derived from the Equilateral Hyperbola,’ which was followed by others in the same series, and from that time for upwards of fifty years he wrote numerous articles on mathematics, physics, astronomy, chemistry, and archæology. In 1826 he turned his attention to the chemical action of light, the results being communicated to the ‘Edinburgh Journal of Science’ and other periodicals.
On 1 Oct. 1833, when trying to sketch the scenery along the shores of the Lake of Como by the aid of Wollaston's camera lucida [see Wollaston, William Hyde], having previously tried the camera obscura for the same purpose, and wearied by many successive failures, he was led to consider whether it would be possible to make permanent the pictures which the glass lens of the camera obscura threw upon the paper. In 1802 Thomas Wedgwood [q. v.] (son of the potter) produced evanescent sun-pictures or ‘profiles by the agency of light’ upon sensitised paper, and Talbot followed up Wedgwood's line of research. After experimenting for five years he had nearly arrived at a satisfactory consummation when he learned that his results had been rivalled by Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre. Daguerre had since 1824 been seeking to perfect the experiments of Joseph Nicéphore de Niepce of Châlon-sur-Saône, who, as early as 1824, produced permanent ‘heliotypes’ by means of glass plates coated with bitumen. Some of Niepce's ‘heliotypes’ were exhibited in London in 1827. On 7 Jan. 1839 Arago communicated to the Académie des Sciences at Paris the fact of Daguerre's successful production upon silver plates of photographic images. On 25 Jan. following Faraday briefly described Talbot's independent invention of ‘photogenic drawing’ at the Royal Institution, and on 31 Jan. Talbot communicated to the Royal Society an account of his researches, entitled ‘Some Account of the Art of Photogenic Drawing, or the process by which natural objects may be made to delineate themselves without the aid of the artist's pencil’ (Proceedings, 1839, iv. 120–1; Philosophical Mag. 1839, xiv. 196–211). Talbot's process consisted in producing the photographic image on writing-paper highly sensitised by chemical treatment. White images of the objects were formed after a long exposure upon a dark ground, these being the ‘negatives,’ from which ‘positives’ could be obtained by printing in the manner still employed.
In September 1840 Talbot greatly improved and accelerated the procedure by employing paper rendered sensitive by iodide of silver and nitrate of silver. This paper received in the first few seconds of its exposure to the light an invisible image, which could be rendered visible by treating it with a solution of gallic acid. This improved method, at first called the ‘calotype,’ and afterwards the ‘talbotype,’ was the foundation of the photography of the present day. Talbot patented it on 8 Feb. 1841, but his claim to priority of invention in regard to this phase of the development of photography directly conflicts with that of Joseph Bancroft Reade [q. v.] In 1851, after the introduction of the ‘collodion’ process of Frederick Scott Archer [q. v.], Talbot discovered a method by which instantaneous pictures could be taken, and in 1852 a method of photographic engraving. About 1854 he secured a gloss on photographic prints by means of albumen. All these inventions were patented; but in 1852, at the solicitations of the presidents of the Royal Society and the Royal Academy, he consented to throw open his discoveries, with the sole exception of ‘portrait-taking for sale to the public.’ In December 1854 he unsuccessfully endeavoured in the law courts to enforce his patent against Sylvester Laroche, whose development of negatives by the collodion process he held to infringe his rights.
The simultaneous invention of the daguerreotype and the calotype naturally created jealousies on both sides of the Channel. Talbot found an advocate in Sir David Brewster, and the ‘talbotype’ rapidly drove the ‘daguerreotype’ out of the field. Blanquart Evrard and others who perfected the invention of photography developed the ‘talbotype’ system of printing from negatives. If the French were unjust to Talbot in the early days of photography, they made amends at a later period, and at the Paris Exhibition of 1867 awarded him the great gold medal.
Talbot's name is so closely associated with the beginnings of photography that his mathematical powers have been overshadowed. In his memoir, ‘Researches in the Integral Calculus,’ published in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ (1836, pp. 177–215, and 1837 pp. 1–18) he gave an account of his investigations upon the comparison of transcendents, which shows that he had independently been led to consider the development and generalisation of Fagnani's theorem, and was on the track that might have led him to rediscover Abel's great theorem. In 1842 he read at the British Association (Report, pp. 16–17) a paper ‘On the Improvement of the Telescope,’ and in the 41st report (1871, pp. 34–6) there is a paper ‘On a new Method of estimating the Distance of some of the Fixed Stars.’ He was, with Sir Henry Rawlinson and Dr. Hincks, one of the first to decipher the cuneiform inscriptions brought from Nineveh, and he made numerous contributions in literature and archæology to the Royal Society of Literature and to the Society of Biblical Archæology.
He was elected a member of the Royal Astronomical Society on 13 Dec. 1822, and a fellow of the Royal Society on 17 March 1831, receiving the royal medal in 1838 and the Rumford medal in 1842. He sat in the first reformed parliament for Chippenham from 1833 to 1834, and then retired from politics. He died at Lacock Abbey on 17 Sept. 1877, having married, on 20 Dec. 1832, Constance, youngest daughter of Francis Mundy of Markeaton, Derbyshire.
Of his writings the most interesting is ‘The Pencil of Nature,’ which was issued in six parts in 1844–6. It is the first book ever illustrated by photographs produced without any aid from the artist's pencil; it is now very rare. His other works were: 1. ‘Legendary Tales, in verse and prose,’ collected, 1830. 2. ‘Hermes, or Classical and Antiquarian Researches,’ 1838–9, two numbers only. 3. ‘The Antiquity of the Book of Genesis,’ 1839. 4. ‘English Etymologies,’ 1847. 5. ‘Assyrian Texts translated,’ 1856. He also contributed an appendix to the second edition of the English translation of G. Tissandier's ‘History and Handbook of Photography,’ 1878, and in the catalogue of scientific papers he is credited with fifty-nine contributions.
A portrait of Talbot is in the South Kensington Museum in the collection of ‘fathers of photography.’
[Proc. of Royal Soc. of London, 1878, xxvi. 427, 428; Proc. of Royal Soc. of Edinburgh, 1878, ix. 512–14; Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Soc. February 1878, pp. 148–51; Times, 25 Sept. 1877, p. 4; Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th edit. 1888, xxiii. 27; W. J. Harrison's History of Photography, 1888; Brothers's Manual of Photography, 1892; Werge's Evolution of
Photography, 1890; Ville's Introduction to Blanquart Evrard's Traité de Photographie, 1851; Photographic News, 5, 19, 26 Oct. 1897; cf. arts. Herschel, Sir John, Ponton, Mungo, and Taylor, Alfred Swaine.]Preparing biographies
William Henry Fox Talbot was one of a small group of individuals who experimented with light sensitive chemicals and optical devices in the 1830's. He is central to the birth of photography because of his calotype process, which he developed and eventually patented in 1841. This made use of ‘negatives’ from which an unlimited number of prints could be made. Talbot published the first photographically illustrated book in 1844-1846, The Pencil of Nature, which attempted to bring photography and its many uses to the attention of a wider audience.
This biography is courtesy and copyright of the Victoria & Albert Museum and is included here with permission.
Date last updated: 11 Nov 2011.
SHARED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION PROJECT
We welcome institutions and scholars willing to test the sharing of biographies for the benefit of the photo-history community. The biography above is a part of this trial.
If you find any errors please email us details so they can be corrected as soon as possible. |
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General reading
Buckland, Gail, 1980, Fox Talbot and the Invention of Photography, (Boston: D. R. Godine) [LL_REF:42]
Jones, Iwan Meical, 1990, ‘Scientific visions: the photographic art of William Henry Fox Talbot, John Dillwyn Llewelyn and Calvert Richard Jones‘, Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion [LL_REF:1837]
Keeler, Nancy B, 1982, ‘Photographing the Reports of the Juries of the Great Exhibition of 1851: Talbot, Henneman, and their Failed Commission‘, History of Photography, vol.6, no.3, pp.257-272 [LL_REF:212]
Lassam, Robert, 1977, ‘The Fox Talbot Museum‘, History of Photography, vol.1, no.4, pp.297-300 [LL_REF:228]
Schaaf, Larry, 1980, ‘Herschel, Talbot, and Photography: Spring 1831 and Spring 1839‘, History of Photography, vol.9, no.3, pp.181-204 [LL_REF:324]
Schaaf, Larry J, 1992, Out of the Shadows: Herschel, Talbot and the Invention of Photography, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press) [LL_REF:602]
Smith, Graham, 1994, ‘Rejlander, Babbage, and Talbot‘, History of Photography, vol.18, no.3, pp.285-286 [LL_REF:343]
Taylor, R, 2002, Photographs Exhibited In Britain 1839-1865. A Compendium Of Photographers And Their Works, (Ottawa: National Gallery Of Canada) [LL_REF:1011]
Readings on, or by, individual photographers
Arnold, HJP, 1977, William Henry Fox Talbot: Pioneer of Photography and Man of Science, (London: Hutchinson Benham) [LL_REF:939]
Batchen, Geoffrey, 2008, William Henry Fox Talbot, (London & New York: Phaidon Press) [LL_REF:414]
Bloore, Carolyn, 1984, ‘The Circle of William Henry Fox Talbot‘, in Haworth-Booth, Mark (ed.), The Golden Age of British Photography 1839-1900, pp.32-36 [LL_REF:24]
Booth, Arthur, 1965, William Henry Fox Talbot: Father of Photography, (London: Arthur Barker) [LL_REF:26]
Daniel, Malcolm, 1992, ‘L’Album Bertolini‘, in Fotografia & Fotografi a Bologna, 1839-1900 [LL_REF:1635]
Kraus Jr, HP & Schaaf, LJ, 1987, Sun Pictures. Catalogue 3. The Harold White Collection of Works by William Henry Fox Talbot, (New York: Hans P. Kraus, Jr.) [LL_REF:1008]
Lassam, Robert, 1979, Fox Talbot, Photographer, (Tisbury, England: Compton Press) [LL_REF:229]
Schaaf, Larry J, 2000, The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot, (Princeton: Princeton University Press) [LL_REF:941]
Schaaf, Larry J (ed.), 1996, Records of the Dawn of Photography: Talbot's Notebooks P and Q, (Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press) [LL_REF:327]
Smith, Graham, 1993, ‘Talbot and Botany: The Bertolini Album‘, History of Photography, vol.17, no.1, pp.33-48 [LL_REF:344]
Talbot, Henry Fox, 1839, Some Account of the Art of Photogenic Drawing or the Process by Which Natural Objects May be Made to Delineate Themselves Without the Aid of the Artist’s Pencil, (London: London: R. and J. E. Taylor) [LL_REF:1647 *B]
Talbot, William Henry Fox, 1844, Pencil of Nature, (London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans) [LL_REF:374 *B]
Talbot, William Henry Fox, 1933, Selected Texts and Bibliography, (Boston: G. R. Hall) [Mike Weaver, ed.] [LL_REF:375]
Talbot, William Henry Fox, 1989, The Pencil of Nature, (New York: Hans P. Kraus) [Facsimile edition] [LL_REF:942]
Weaver, Mike, 1993, Henry Fox Talbot: Selected Texts and Bibliography, (Boston: G. K. Hall) [World Photographers Reference Series, vol. 3] [LL_REF:943]
If you feel this list is missing a significant book or article please let me know - Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com
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Family history
If you are related to this photographer and interested in tracking down your extended family we can place a note here for you to help. It is free and you would be amazed who gets in touch.
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Exhibitions on this website |
 | Henry Fox Talbot : Botany |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot : Waxed paper negatives |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: A Fruit Piece |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: A Scene in a Library |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Bust of Patroclus |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Camera lucida drawings |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Dandelion seeds |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Diogenes |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: France: Orleans |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: France: Paris |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Great Britain: England: Cambridge |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Great Britain: England: Laycock Abbey |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Great Britain: England: London: Hungerford Bridge |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Great Britain: England: London: Nelson's Column under construction |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Great Britain: England: Oxford |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Great Britain: England: Reading: Talbot House |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Great Britain: Scotland: Abbotsford House |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Great Britain: Scotland: Loch Katrine |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Nicolaas Henneman sleeping |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Photomicrographs |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Sun Pictures in Scotland |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Textiles |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: The Bertoloni Album |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: The Pencil of Nature |
|  | Henry Fox Talbot: Winter Trees Reflected in a Pond |
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All photographs by this photographer
The following books are useful starting points to obtain brief biographies but they are not substitutes for the monographs on individual photographers. |
• Beaton, Cecil & Buckland, Gail 1975 The Magic Eye: The Genius of Photography from 1839 to the Present Day (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown & Company) p.32 [Useful short biographies with personal asides and one or more example images.]
• Capa, Cornell (ed.) 1984 The International Center of Photography: Encyclopedia of Photography (New York, Crown Publishers, Inc. - A Pound Press Book) p.505-507
• Weaver, Mike (ed.) 1989 The Art of Photography 1839-1989 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press) p.469 [This exhibition catalogue is for the travelling exhibition that went to Houston, Canberra and London in 1989.]
• Witkin, Lee D. and Barbara London 1979 The Photograph Collector’s Guide (London: Secker and Warburg) p.249-250 [Long out of print but an essential reference work - the good news is that a new edition is in preparation.]
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If there is an analysis of a single photograph or a useful self portrait I will highlight it here. |
| "A Painter‘s eye will often be arrested where ordinary people see nothing remarkable. A casual gleam of sunshine, or a shadow thrown across his path, a time-withered oak, or a moss-covered stone, may awaken a train of thoughts and feelings, and picturesque imaginings." |
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