Inventing Photography: William Henry Fox Talbot in the Bodleian Library

Inventing Photography: William Henry Fox Talbot in the Bodleian Library
ISBN-10
1851245960
ISBN-13
9781851245963
Category
Photography
Language
English
Published
2023-06-05
Author
Geoffrey Batchen

Description

A compelling look into the archives of the innovative photographer, William Henry Fox Talbot. William Henry Fox Talbot is celebrated today as the English inventor of photography. He first made early photographic experiments in the 1830s and released the details of his photogenic drawing process in January 1839. He continued to introduce important innovations to the medium in the 1840s and 1850s. Drawing on archival material in the Bodleian Library, including three albums given by Talbot to his sister, Horatia Feilding, and his illustrated books, Sun Pictures in Scotland and The Pencil of Nature, this volume shows how Talbot was continually inventing photography anew. A selection of eighty full-page plates provides a thematic survey of Talbot's work, reproducing images that document his travels, his home, and his family, as well as his intellectual interests, from science to literature to ancient languages. An illustrated introduction places Talbot's work within the context of a modernizing Britain, as well as within his own social and intellectual milieu, and explores how the competing daguerreotype process spurred Talbot to improve his own techniques and seek new functions and uses for paper-based photographs. This evocative selection is a testament to Talbot's constant quest for new photographic advances, offering a window into the archives of an extraordinarily determined and creative man.

Similar books

  • Legendary Locals of Beacon Hill
    By Karen Cord Taylor

    John Collins Warren Dr. John Collins Warren (1778–1856) assisted his father, Dr. John Warren (1753–1815), in 1811 in removing the cancerous breast of Nabby ...

  • America and the Tintype
    By Karen Halttunen, Steven Kasher, Brian Wallis

    By Steven kasher, with contributions by Geoffrey Batchen and Karen Halttunen.

  • Rail Depots of Eastern North Carolina
    By Larry K. Neal Jr.

    This book hopes to provide rail enthusiasts, local and economic historians, and history lovers in general a look back at the heyday of railroads and how much they affected daily life in North Carolina.

  • The Hall: A Celebration of Baseball's Greats: In Stories and Images, the Complete Roster of Inductees
    By The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

    In this unique, 75th anniversary edition, read the stories of every player inducted into the Hall, organized by position.

  • Sheffield in the 1980s
    By Mark Metcalf, Justine Jenkinson

    We soon afterwards set up SCAM to complete what had been intended fifty years earlier,' explains Terry Howard, who was secretary of the group until it was finally wound up in 2017. And achieve they did by peacefully trespassing over ...

  • Brookfield and Elm Grove
    By Thomas Ramstack

    ... (standing) Conrad Ramstack, Eleanor (Hastrich) Ramstack, Alma Theis, Veronica Ramstack, Helen (Phillips) Ramstack, and Joseph Ramstack. In 2009, this same tavern goes by the name O'Donahue's Irish Pub. (Author's collection.) ...

  • Antebellum Homes of Georgia
    By David King Gleason

    ... 101 Bailey, Mary Elizabeth, 101 Banks, William, 94 Barnsley Gardens, 82 Barnett, Samuel, 26 Barnsley, Godfrey, 4, 82 Barnsley, ... James W, 79 Elliott, Virginia Tennessee, 79 Emily and Ernest Woodruff Foundation, 59 Emmel, Walter C, ...

  • Hiroshima: Ground Zero 1945
    By Erin Barnett, Phil Mariani

    This exhibition includes approximately 60 contact prints drawn from a unique archive of more than 700 photographs in the collection of the International Center of Photography.

  • Legendary Locals of Lake Forest
    By Susan L. Kelsey, Arthur H. Miller

    Susan L. Kelsey, Arthur H. Miller ... This became the Bell School in the first half of the 20th century. ... The photograph of Clarice Hamill and her daughter on page 58 came from the Bell School's 50th anniversary celebration, ...

  • Pembroke
    By Karen Cross Proctor

    The Bay Path, a main route from Boston to Plymouth, ran through the West Elm and High Street neighborhoods. Over the generations, these diverse and vibrant communities have helped to shape Pembroke into the town it is today.