1. | ![]() | Chase's Daguerreotype Rooms (Boston) n.d. Chase's Dauerreotype Rooms, 257 Washington Street, Boston Archives of Modern Conflict OR National Gallery of Canada |
2. | ![]() | C.C. Schoonmaker n.d. Business card for C.C. Schoonmaker - "Daguerreotypes by Steam for the Million" Business card Archives of Modern Conflict OR National Gallery of Canada C.C. Schoonmaker (Albany) For a contemporary account of buffing daguerreotype plates using steam: John Whipple, May 1852, "Preparing Plates by Steam", The Photographic Art Journal, Vol. 3, No. 5, pp. 271-272 By many daguerreotypers it is thought impossible to prepare daguerreotype plates by power with that degree of perfection that they can be made by hand. This is a mistaken idea, as I can prove to any one in a few minutes who will call at my rooms and see the operation of machinery for that purpose. I have now had steam power in successful operation for the past four years, and can with truth say, I should hardly know how to work were I go back to the tedious old way of scouring and scrubbing and hand-buffing principle. Its advantage on the score of economy as well as ease and expedition are very great; for the small sum of twenty-five cents for coal I can keep my engine going from morning till night, one boy can tend it and scour more plates for buffing than three operators could use. The buffs being put in motion by steam all that is necessary is for the plate to be held upon them; one can buff and coat as many plates as a third person can sit, and when a regular system is adhered to (without which no operator can succeed) the results are always as uniform and successful as could be desired. When I first commenced I had the greatest difficulty in making a scouring apparatus that would answer and do as well as by hand; the buffs were easy enough to manage. I tried various methods without success and was on the point of giving it up when a happy thought presented itself, to use an air cushion. I tried it; it worked to a charm, nothing could be better; by graduating it, the softest touch only could be given; or by condensing the air it could be made as hard as a board for cutting away fast. I also found that great speed was very advantageous; the spindle upon which the air-cushion is placed makes from 12 to 1500 revolutions per minute; this will give results that cannot be obtained otherwise, and by the means double wholes or whole plates can be made ready for the buffs in so short a time as to astonish one who is used only to cleaning by hand. My engine is 3 1/4 in. diameter of cylinder, and 6 inches stroke, running about 150 revolutions per minute, and is rated at one horse power. The boiler is an upright tubular one somewhat resembling a large stove, eighteen inches diameter and five feet high. Many think the escape of steam in a daguerreotype room is sure to prevent good results. I have not found it so; the vapor arising from water boiling in an open vessel is a very different affair from that escaping from under high pressure, the electrical state of the latter is entirely changed. When a kettle of water boiling upon a stove in my buffing room would cause trouble, great quantities of steam from the boiler does no harm; at least this has been my experience. Heating the mercury by steam I have found a most excellent plan; it is not a little too hot or a little too cold; it is one of the few things in daguerreotyping that can be depended upon; it is always just right the heat varying but the least degree with the variation of the barometer, which practically is of account, the atmospheric pressure changing so slightly and at comparatively long intervals. The way I arrange it, is simply to solder upon the bottom of my mercury bath a small cup and connect it with a pipe to my boiler having no other pipe to carry the waste steam and condensed water away, letting on just steam enough to keep the waste pipe hot, I am then sure that all is right. After enumerating the many and great advantages of steam, I should be doing injustice not to say that to manage it with success and profit, it is absolutely necessary that one should have the most thorough practical knowledge of all its operations, otherwise it would be attended only with vexation and annoyance, not to say danger. To illustrate, I will give a specimen of my first operation. This boiler was put in place, the engine connected with suitable pipes and bolted to the floor. The boiler being new, leaked, and to prevent this a few handfuls of meal was put in, which had the desired effect; a fire was kindled, and presently the steam began to roarin a close room it was frightful, especially to one unaccustomed to it. After putting the fire out and somewhat quelling its fury, steam was let on, the wheels began to move a little too fast; in endeavoring to shut it off the wrench slipped and fell, and by the time it was replaced the engine had gained such headway that it broke its fastenings which were insufficient, and jumped like a race horsethen came the finale; the weight was shaken from the safety-valve, the hot water and steam came rushing and roaring out in torrents, drenching us from head to foot and wetting nearly everything in the room. If the meal had not been added, steam only would have escaped doing little or no harm. However, after a few weeks use, one becomes accustomed to its management, and can tend it with the same regularity and certainty as he would mercuralize a plate after sitting. In fact, a regular system is everything in a daguerreotype establishment as well as in a merchant's counting-room, and without it no one can expect to prosper. I shall take pleasure in showing my apparatus to those who may have a desire to see it. I'm indebted to Rob McElroy for bringing this article to my attention. |
3. | ![]() | Theodor Hosemann (1807-1875) 1843 The photographer deprives the artist of his livelihood Caricature Source requested The illustration includes Voigtlander's portrait camera (1843). Source: Gernsheim (With thanks to Bálint Flesch for bringing this caricature to the attention of Alan Griffiths, 25 March 2014, Facebook, Storia della fotografia group) |
4. | ![]() | Cuthbert Bede 1853 (publication) 1973 (facsimile) To secure a pleasing Portrait is everything Book illustration Private collection of Alan Griffiths Original illustration in "Photographic Pleasures: popularly portrayed with pen and pencil" by Cuthbert Bede (London, T. McClean 1855) - Amphoto facsimile (1973). To secure a pleasing Portrait is everything. Daguerreotypist to cheerful sitter: "The process will commence as soon as I lift up this slide. You will have the goodness to look fixedly at one subject & call up a pleasant expression to your countenance." |
5. | ![]() | Honoré Daumier 1847, 24 July Position réputée la plus commode pour avoir un joli portrait au Daguerréotype. [Recommended position for having a perfect Daguerreotype portrait taken.] Lithograph Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Estampes et de la Photographie BnF, Estampes et Photographie, Rés. Dc-180c (2)-Bo¯te fol. From the series: Les Bons Bougeois, plate 49 Originally published in "le Charivari" (24 July 1847). The Daumier Register by Lilian and Dieter Noack, www.daumier-register.org, DR Number: 1525, LD Number: 1525, HD Number: 902. |
6. | ![]() | n.d. Advertisement for L.H. Griffin's Ambrotype and Photograph Rooms, 268 Washington St. Boston. Advert Archives of Modern Conflict OR National Gallery of Canada L.H. Griffin's Ambrotype Rooms Warranted Pictures in any weather, for 25 cents and upwards. A good assortment of cases, cheap. Likenesses set in Lockets, Pins, and Finger Rings. Copying carefully executed Up only one flight of stairs. 268 Washington St., Boston |
7. | ![]() | A.H. Beck (Mokelumne Hill) n.d. Business card for A.H. Beck, Ambrotype Gallery, Mokelumne Hill Business card Archives of Modern Conflict OR National Gallery of Canada |
8. | ![]() | George Cruikshank 1842 Photographic Phenomena, or the New School of Portrait Painting Magazine illustration Google Books Published in "George Cruikshank's Omnibus" (London: Tilt and Bogue, 1842), p.29. I. INVITATION TO SIT. Now sit, if ye have courage, cousins all! Sit, all ye grandmamas, wives, aunts, and mothers; Daughters and sisters, widows, brides, and nieces; In bonnets, braids, caps, tippets, or pelisses, The muff, mantilla, boa, scarf, or shawl! Sit all ye uncles, godpapas, and brothers, Fathers and nephews, sons, and next of kin, Husbands, half-brother's cousin's sires, and others; Be you as Science young, or old as Sin: Turn, Persian-like, your faces to the sun ! And have each one His portrait done, Finish'd, one may say, before it's begun. Nor you alone, Oh! Slight acquaintances! Or blood relations ! But sit, oh ! Public Benefactors, Whose portraits are hung up by Corporations. Ye Rulers of the likeness-loving nations, Ascend you now the Photographic throne, And snatch from Time the precious mornings claim'd By artists famed (In the Court Circular you'll find them named). Sit too, ye laurell'd Heroes, whom detractors Would rank below the statesman and the bard ! Sit also, all ye Actors, Whose fame would else die with you, which is hard : Whose Falstaffs here will never Slenders prove. So true the art is ! M.P.'s, for one brief moment cease to move; And you who stand as Leaders of great Parties, Be sitting Members ! Ye intellectual Marchers, sit resign'd ! And oh ! Ye Authors, men of dazzling mind. Perchance with faces foggy as November's. Pray sit! Apollo turned R.A. The other day, Making a most decided hit. They say. Phoebus himself he has become a Shee '. (Morning will rank among the Knights full soon) And while the Moon, Who only draws the tides, is clean outdone, The Stars are all astonishment to see Earth sitting for her portrait to the Sun ! II. THE PROCESS OF THE PORTRAITURE. It's all very fine, is it not, oh ! Ye Nine ? To tell us this planet is going too fast, On a comet-like track through the wilderness vast : Instead of collision, and chances of splitting In contact with stars rushing down the wrong line, The world at this moment can't get on for sitting : And Earth, like the Lady enchanted in Comus, Fix'd fast to her chair With a dignified air, Is expecting to sit for a century there; Much wondering, possibly, half in despair. How the deuce she's to find her way back to her domus. "Keep moving," we know, was the cry long ago; But now, never hare was " found sitting," I swear, Like the crowds who repair To old Cavendish Square, And mount up a mile and a quarter of stair. In procession that beggars the Lord Mayor's show! And all are on tiptoe, the high and the low, To sit in that glass-coverd blue studio; In front of those boxes, wherein when you look Your image reversed will minutely appear, So delicate, forcible, brilliant, and clear, So small, full, and round, with a life so profound, As none ever wore In a mirror before; Or the depths of a glassy and branch-shelter'd brook, That glides amidst moss o'er a smooth-pebbled ground. Apollo, whom Drummond of Hawthornden styled " Apelles of flowers," Now mixes his showers Of sunshine, with colours by clouds undefiled; Apelles indeed to man, woman, and child. His agent on earth, when your attitude's right, Your collar adjusted, your locks in their place, Just seizes one moment of favouring light, And utters three sentences " Now it's begun," " It's going on now, sir," and " Now it is done;" And lo ! As I live, there's the cut of your face On a silvery plate, Unerring as fate, Worked off in celestial and strange mezzotint, A little resembling an elderly print. " Well, I never ! " all cry; " it is cruelly like you ! " But Truth is unpleasant To prince and to peasant. You recollect Lawrence, and think of the graces That Chalon and Company give to their faces; The face you have worn fifty years doesn't strike you ! III. THE CRITICISMS OF THE SITTERS THE MORAL. " Can this be me ! Do look, mama !" Poor Jane begins to whimper; " I have a smile, 'tis true; but, pa! This gives me quite a simper." Says Tibb, whose plays are worse than bad, " It makes my forehead flat;" And being classical, he'll add, " I'm blow'd if I'm like that." Courtly, all candour, owns his portrait true; Extremely like me every feature but That plain pug-nose; now mine's the Grecian cut! Her Grace surveys her face with drooping lid; Prefers the portrait which Sir Thomas did; Owns that o'er this tome traits of truth are sprinkled; But views the brow with anger " Why, it's wrinkled!" " Like me .'" cries Sir Turtle; " I'll lay two to one It would only be guess'd by my foes; No, no, it is plain there are spots in the sun, Which accounts for these spots on my nose." " A likeness !" cries Crosslook, the lawyer, and sneers; " Yes, the wig, throat and forehead I spy, And the mouth, chin, and cheeks, and the nose and the ears, But it gives me a cast in the eye !" Thus needs it the courage, of old Cousin Hotspur, To sit to an artist who flatters no sitter; Yet Self-love will urge us to seek him, for what spur So potent as that, though it make the truth bitter ! And thus are all flocking, to see Phoebus mocking, Or making queer faces, a visage per minute; And truly 'tis shocking, if winds should be rocking The building, or clouds darken all that's within it, To witness the frights Which shadows and lights Manufacture, as like as an owl to a linnet. For there, while you sit up, Your countenance lit up, The mists fly across, a magnificent rack; And your portrait's a patch, with its bright and its black, Out-Rembrandting Rembrandt, in ludicrous woe, Like a chimney-sweep caught in a shower of snow. Yet nothing can keep the crowd below, And still they mount up, stair by stair; And every morn, by the hurry and hum, Each seeking a prize in the lottery there, You fancy the " last day of drawing " has come. L.B. |
9. | ![]() | Parker's Photographic Rooms (Pekin, ILL) 1865, 7 March (after, date of Potter's Patent) Advertising for Parker‘s Photographic Rooms,Pekin, ILL. Tintype, carte de visite mount Private collection of Laurie Minor Features engraving of photographer taking photo of mother and child, using large format camera on tripod. |
10. | ![]() | Honoré Daumier 1862, 25 May NADAR élevant la Photographie à la hauteur de l'Art. [NADAR elevating Photography to Art.] Lithograph Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Estampes et de la Photographie BnF, Estampes et Photographie, Rés. Dc-180b (69)-Fol. Published in "Le Boulevard", 25 May 1862 Published in "Souvenirs d'Artistes", 25 May 1862, pl.367 The Daumier Register by Lilian and Dieter Noack, www.daumier-register.org, DR Number: 3248, LD Number: 3248, HD Number: 243. |
11. | ![]() | Unidentified photographer / artist 1854 (entered according to Act of Congress) Two Daguerreotypes Magazine page Google Books Published in "In Doors and Out; or, Views From the Chimney Corner" by Oliver Optic (Boston: Higgins and Bradley) |
12. | ![]() | Unidentified artist 1877 [Topaz with animals with cameras] Book illustration Google Books |
13. | ![]() | Unidentified photographer / artist 1859 (event), 1862 (published) Niagara [Showing Blondin photographing the crowd] Book illustration Google Books G. Linnaeus Banks (ed.) Blondin: His Life and Performances (London: Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, 1862), inserted between p.36 and p.37. |
14. | ![]() | Unidentified photographer / artist 1860 The Sitting Book plate Google Books Published in "Stories of Rainbow and Lucky" by Jacob Abbott (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860) p. |
15. | ![]() | Honoré Daumier 1856 Nouveau procédé employé pour obtenir des poses gracieuses. [A New Process Used to Achieve Graceful Poses.] Lithograph National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada From the series: Croquis Parisiens, plate 4. Originally published in "le Charivari" (5 June 1856 ?). The Daumier Register by Lilian and Dieter Noack, www.daumier-register.org, DR Number: 2803, LD Number: 2803, HD Number: 1500. |
16. | ![]() | Phil May (Artist) 1900 (published) Force of Habit Drawing Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37767 Force of Habit Prison photographer (who has just obtained the post, to sitter, who is about to undergo twenty years' penal servitude: "Now sir, look pleasant!" Source: Phil May The Phil May Album Collected by Augustus M. Moore (London: Methuen & Co, 1900) [Thanks to Allan Janus for passing on the source of this illustration, October 2011] |
17. | ![]() | Honoré Daumier 1853, 31 March La pose de l'homme de la nature / Pose de l'homme civilise Newspaper cartoon Interencheres - La Gallerie de Chartes Collection Henry Koilski (Galerie de Chartres, Auction, 8 October 2011, Lot: 10) Le Charivari, 31 mars 1853 |
18. | ![]() | George Cruikshank 1858 Frontispiece of "Midnight Scenes and Social Photographs: being Sketches of Life in the Streets, Wynds, and Dens of the City by Shadow" (Glasgow: Thomas Murray and Son, 1858) Frontispiece Google Books |
19. | ![]() | Unidentified photographer / artist 1864 (published) Fig. 23. Le laboraitoire de M. Niépce de Saint-Victor Engraving Google Books Source: "Les merveilles de la science: ou Description populaire des inventions modernes" By Louis Figuier (Paris, Furne, Jouvet et Cie, Editeurs, 1864). This engraving is in the section on "La Photographie" p. 65 |
20. | ![]() | Konrad Brandel 1886, 23 October (published) The Russian Army Manoeuvres before the Czar, at Brest Litewsk, Poland Woodcut Private collection of Dainius Junevicius "In the Camp of the Besiegers - M. Mieczkowskiego, Photographer to the Imperial Court, at Work" (Pers. email - 12 Dec 2011 - Dainius Junevicius) Warsaw photographer Jan Mieczkowski (1830-1889) was taking pictures of the Russian army manoeuvres together with another Warsaw photographer - Konrad Brandel and most probably this photograph has been taken by the latter. This woodcut was published in the illustrated London weekly The Graphic, 23 October, 1886, page 432. (Editorial note - 12 Dec 2011 - Alan Griffiths) We would be interested to learn if the original photograph on which this woodcut was based still exists. |
21. | ![]() | Louis Boutan 1900 Fig. 33 A diagram showing how underwater photographs could be taken using magnesium light Book illustration, detail Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Estampes et de la Photographie Louis Boutan, 1900, La photographie sous-marine et les progrès de la photographie, (Paris: Schleicher frères), p. 234 |
22. | ![]() | Unidentified photographer / artist 1883 Photography studio with Electric Light Book illustration Google Books In the section "Artificial Light and its Application to Photography", Fig.10 is on p.115 of "The Progress of Photography since the Year 1879" by Dr. H.W. Vogel (Philadelphia, Edward L. Wilson, 1883) |
23. | ![]() | E.J. Foss 1887 Mr. E.J. Foss (Boston) Book illustration Google Books Published in "Wilson's Quarter Century in Photography. A Collection of Hints on Practical Photography which form A Complete Text-Book of the Art" by Edward L. Wilson (New York: Edward L. Wilson, 1887), p.115, fig.127. 43. Sometimes when a skylight is found uncontrollable, use has been made of a sub-studio, so to speak, constructed inside the larger one. Such a plan was suggested some time ago by Mr. E.J. Foss, Boston. It was contrived as described, and is illustrated below. (Fig. 127.) It is called a "shadow chamber," and is a conglomeration of sliding curtains which can be moved quickly, securing an endless number of effects. Mr, Foss's studio has a side light, thirteen feet wide and ten high, connecting with the skylight, which is thirteen feet square; the glass is all ground; the angle of the skylight is thirty-five degrees; there is a space from the side and skylights to the back wall of nine feet; in the ceiling of this space is a window some three feet wide, which extends clear across the room; this light is used for the purpose of lighting up the backgrounds, of which there are several on rollers, fastened to the ceiling; the three-feet light does not reach the sitters, they being in the shadow chamber. It is said to work very satisfactorily. |
24. | ![]() | Johann Baptist Isenring 1841, May Verwendung von sechs Kameras im Atelier des Wanderdaguerreotypisten Johann Baptist Isenring in Stuttgart Magazine page This work is out of copyright |
25. | ![]() | Unidentified artist 1920 (?) Encouraged by the photographer -- Drawing, charcoal and wash Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division Cabinet of American Illustration [CAI - Fuhr, no. 32 (A size)] The artist is Ernest Fuhr (1874-1933). Published in: "Four Flights Up" by Henry Payson Dowst, Saturday Evening Post, 193:54 (Sept. 11, 1920). |
26. | ![]() | Unidentified photographer / artist 1880 Fig.96 - Maniere de se servir de l'obturateur Cadett Book illustration Google Books Published in "Traité Général De Photographie" (SeptiÞme Edition) by D.V. Monckhoven (Paris: G. Masson, 1880) |
27. | ![]() | John Benjamin Stone 1909 The Camera Fiend, Searchlight of Greater Birmingham,1909 Birmingham Central Library Copyright: Birmingham Library and Archive Services Caricature of Sir Benjamin Stone. This was included in the exhibition in Birmingham in September 2008. |
28. | ![]() | Unidentified photographer / artist 1905, 30 September In Spite of the Prophet: A Moslem Ruler as Photographer Magazine page The Courtauld Institute of Art Copyright: Illustrated London News Ltd. All rights reserved, Gale Document Number: HN3100194585 "In Spite of the Prophet: A Moslem Ruler as a Photographer" Drawn by R. Caton Woodville from Photographs Illustrated London News (London, England), Saturday, September 30, 1905; pg. 466; Issue 3467. The Sultan of Morocco photographing the Ladies of his Harem. In spite of the Koran's prohibitions, Morocco's Commander of the Faithful has taken to photography with an enthusiasm which, given to statecraft, might have saved his kingdom from the hands of Giaour. Of all the amusements that have appealed to Mulai Abd-ed-Aziz IV, photography must be granted first place. By the side of his camera, motor-cars, bicycles, and mechanical toys hide their diminished heads in Fez or Marrakesh. Many photographs taken by the Sultan have been published, and he does not hesitate to develop and print his own work. Some two years ago, at the instance of a commercial attaché, he ordered from France ten thousand francs' worth of printing paper. So if the Conference should fail and Morocco be subject to a boycott, the Sultan can remain occupied. |
29. | ![]() | Henry Clay Price (author) 1882 [Woman taking a photograph] Book illustration Cornell University Library Henry Clay Price, How to Make Pictures: Easy Lessons for the Amateur Photographer (NY: Scovill Manufacturing Co. 1882) Curational comment from "Dawn's Early Light: The First 50 Years of American Photography", October 20, 2011 - May 4, 2012, Hirshland Exhibition Gallery in Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University This amateur manual boasts that the new "pocket camera" is ideal for the "gentler sex." The "tyrant man" will not be needed to carry about the simple-to-use device weighing only 3 ¥ pounds. An advertisement printed at the end of this book notes: "The introduction of Dry Plates and the impetus given them to the cause of Amateur Photography, created demand for light and compact apparatus that could be easily carried about." |
30. | ![]() | Frances Benjamin Johnston 1906, July Portrait placecard for Frances Benjamin Johnston Cyanotype Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsc-04898 (digital file from original, center, second from bottom) Photograph of placecards illustrated with original portraits signed Wm. Mills Thompson, dated July 19, '96; Frances Benjamin Johnston, center, second from bottom, is portrayed with a camera and an artist's palette. |
31. | ![]() | Unidentified photographer / artist 1891, 7 March Amateur Photographers in China: Sketches by the Rev. R. O'Dowd Ross-Lewin, Chaplain R.N. Magazine page The Courtauld Institute of Art Copyright: Illustrated London News Ltd. All rights reserved, Gale Document Number: HN3100461028 "Amateur Photographers in China: Sketches by the Rev. R. O'Down Ross-Lewin, Chaplain R. N." Illustrated London News (London, England), Saturday, March 07, 1891; pg. 311; Issue 2707. 4. The mob of hostile peasantry is kept at bay, dreading the levelled camera as a new kind of artillery. |
32. | ![]() | Cuthbert Bede 1853, 21 May Portrait of a Distinguished Photographer Who Has Just Succeeded In Focussing A View To His Complete Satisfaction Magazine illustration University of Glasgow, Library Published in "Punch", 21 May 1853. Originally published in a slightly different form as the frontispiece of "Photographic Pleasures: popularly portrayed with pen and pencil" by Cuthbert Bede (London, T. McClean 1855). |
33. | ![]() | Unidentified photographer / artist 1888 (ca) A Promising Outlook Lithograph 8 x 11 in (approx) Stereographica - Antique Photographica Courtesy of Bryan and Page Ginns (#20 / 229) Lithographed illustration from the Boy's Own Paper |
34. | ![]() | Studio Fischer (Berlin) 1900 (ca) Advertisement for Studio Fischer, Berlin. Advert Private collection of Jan Weijers (Servatius) This advert includes a host of details on a late nineteenth century studio with the glass skylights, screens, retouching desk, cameras, chemicals and examples. It is particularly interesting that one of the examples at the bottom is an X-ray of a hand with rings looking similar to the one taken by Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen and another is of a solar eclipse. |