The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-10 00:00:00

WHO DISCOVERED PHOTOGRAPHY ?

A bewildering revelation has suggested this in-
quiry to the Saturday Review, and is thus com-
mented upon by our contemporary :
It has hitherto been considered a curious coinci-
dence that the process of taking permanent photo-
graphic pictures was discovered simultaneously in
England and France by Mr. Fox Talbot and M.
Daguerre—the former producing his pictures on
paper, the latter on silvered metal plates. Their
results were made public in 1839, and were respec-
tively called Talbotypes and Daguerrotypes. Prior
to this date, many scientific men had diligently
worked at the subject. The camera had been in-
vented at least 300 years before ; and the influence
of light on the salts of silver was certainly known
as early as the 16th century. But those investiga-
tors who recorded the results of their labours only
' chronicled a succession of failures in their endea-
vours to render permanent the pictures obtained ;
the latest confession of failure in this essential part
of the process being that made by Sir Humphrey
Davy in 1802.
At the meeting of the London Photographic So-
ciety, on Tuesday last, a large gathering of photo-
graphers assembled to ascertain what foundation
there might be for rumours which have been for
some time afloat concerning the discovery of certain
undoubted sun-pictures taken at the close of the
last century, and the very existence of whieh up to
the present time would afford sufficient evidence of
their durability. The whole history of the curious
circumstances connected with the discovery of these
pictures was related by Mr. Smith, Curator of the
Museum of Patents at South Kensington, to whom
belongs the credit of rescuing from impending de-
struction the numerous specimens exhibited. With
most praiseworthy industry he collected every scrap
of evidence, direct and corroborative, in order to
determine the means by which the exhibited pic-
tures were produced, the time when, and the person
by whom, they were taken. The story of the find-
ing of them may be briefly told, but nothing has
yet been discovered as to how they were done.
For purposes connected with his department, Mr.
Smith had to visit the old house at Soho, near Bir-
mingham, where the renowned engineering manu-
factory of Watt and Boulton was originally esta-
blished. The works were about to be removed,
and a clearing out of the house was being effected.
It may be mentioned, en passant, that it was here
the famous body the Lunar Society, which included
among its members the chief scientific men of the day,
held their meetings on the night of every full moon;
and the dismantling of the library disclosed traces
which led the initiated to believe that these meetings
had something of the nature of Freemason Lodges.
It certainly seems reasonable to conjecture that
many matters, scientific and otherwise, were dis-
cussed at the meetings of such eminent men, other
than are set down in the meagre records of the
transactions of the Lunar Society.
Matthew Boulton resided at Soho until his death
in 1809. His library and' its contents appear to
have remain undisturbed for half a century, when
in the course of clearing out, and whilst removing
a vast collection of old documents, there were found
a number of crumpled and folded sheets of paper
with pictures on them of a most puzzling kin—so
much so as to attract the attention of Mr. _
kind —so
mith,
d
he not being either an artist or p hoto gre pher, ,
moreover, being fully occupied at the time with far
different business. On
smoothing out these pic-
tures,they were found to consist of copies, on large
sheets of very coarse foolseaP
by Angelpaper, of certain
ina Kauffmannwell
known designs
the porous water-marked paper being thickly
coated with some
varnish-like substance, on
the surface of which the picture had been
produced. All the sheets found in the library,
as well as others subsequently discovered, presented
chara —a
the same
glossy surface with minute
eters
varnish-like cracks, the drawing of the figures most
elaborately finished, the lights and shades so fully
rendered as to give much the effect of a mezzotint, and
an invariable reversal of the position of the figures,
so that all the Nymphs and Cupids (Kauffmann's
pet subjects) appeared to be left-handed. These
pictures were sent to London, and
paper submitted
to the best authorities on the subjects of drawing
and painting; and here the mystery about them
began, for they were pronounced to have been pro-
duced by some process entirely different from any-
' thing !previously seen, and certainly
not to have
been done by hand. This led to immediate search
being made for any more of the • pictures that
might exist, and also to
inquiries,
among the oldest
inhabitants, for any one who had lived at Soho
in the time of Boulton,a
an could supply any in-
formation about them,

In a broker's shop were found several more of the
pictures, which had been brought from the house
as waste paper. One of these represented a large
figure picture by West, and was on two sheets of
paper, each about 2ft. by 18in., intricately cut at
the joining place so that the line of union might
fall at the edge of a shadow, and not be perceived
when the two halves were put together to form the
complete picture. Further research at Soho also
led to the discovery of a couple of silvered-metal
plates, each about the size of a sheet of note-paper,
precisely resembling in appearance those used by
Daguerre iu the early days of photographY.
• •
On each of these plates was a fault image
of the house at Soho, so unmistakeably taken
from nature, and so evidently produced byy
at once
the aid
of light, that all experts of any loth
iCrit
pronounced them to be photographed
ed
Attached to thesePtures taken
directly by means of a camera•
plates was a memorandum stating that they wererior to certain
sun-pictures representing the
house p
alterations made in 1791. Following out their
w
search as to the means by which these pictures were
produced, the investigators learnt that there had
once been found a camera in Boulton's library,
answering in description to the kind of instrument
required for plates of this size. Unfortunately this
had been given away, and great wai the hunt to

-,7-t--`--'

1

~.~

find some traces of its aubseq
discovery of the recipient of the treasure did not
much holy matters, as he had subsequently lost it
during a removal. So the search is still going on,
and there are sanguine expectations that it may yet
be found—possibly converted into a salt-box by
some thrifty housewife. Not very long ago there
was living an old man who had for many years
been employed at Soho, and who related how the
wise men used to come there at each full moon, and
used to sit very late at night, and that he remem-
bered Mr. Boulton and some of them once took a
picture of the house, and had to go into a dark place
during the process.
So far the evidence as to the metal plates, which,
if substantiated, will go far to prove that the dis-
coveries of Niapce and Daguerre were anticipated
by Boulton. It may possibly prove more; for the re-
semblance between these plates and the early pro:
ductions of Daguerre is really marvellous if only
accidental, and if no link be found to connect the
two processes. But the further evidence already
obtained as to the pictures on paper discovered at
Soho presents quite a tangle of curious circum-
stances. From invoices and other office papers, all
bearing date about the end of the last century, it is
evident that these pictures, however produced, were
quantities and at low
actually soldp ai
nest
aSapnopdheoafroin
rt
ol athhrageveme
prices. The dem was great, and con-
been taken to pre-
vsiednetratbhlee method of their production becoming
generally known. So there must exist a large
number of them at the present time, scattered
through various collections and portfolios.
The
glazy surface, the porous, rough, water-marhed,
foolscap paper, bearing Whatman's impress and
the reversed figures, will distinguish them; for their
appearance on cursory examination very much
resembles that of the common coloured mezzotints
which our grandsires so much affected.
It appears that Sir William Beatty painted
Boulton's portrait about 1794, the picture being
subsequently exhibited at the Royal Academy. He
was horrified on being shown a number of paper
pictures similar to those recently discovered; and
he got up a petition, signed by a number of artists,
entreating that the manufacture of these pictures
might be stayed, as it would inevitably ruin the
picture trade. A sort of foreman of Boulton's, named
Edginton, appears to have superintended the produc-
tion of these pictures, if he did not actually discover
the process by which the transfer to raper was done.
Several of his letters are extant:referring to the subse-
quent colouring which some of the pictures under-
went ;:none of them, however, afford any clue as to
the original method of their production. But a
little later, and after the alarm was taken by the_
artists, we find a talk of granting Edgington a
Government pension. This fell through because of a
curious autograph letter of Matthew Boulton's
which has been fortunately found. In this letter,
officially addressed to the Minister, he claims for
himself the discovery of the process on account of
which Eigington's annuity had been contemplated ;
he intimates his knowledge that the grant was only
intended to ensure the discontinuance of the pro.
cess, suggests that he could arrange this in a
much more certain way, and concludes his letter
with a strong hint that he is open to be dealt with.
Whatever ensued as the result of this letter, it
seems very clear that the production of the pictures
was thenceforward discontinued.

Here the evidence comes to an end so far as re-
gards these curious paper pictures, and the silvered
plates which the highest authorities refer to about
the year 1791. In this same year, Thomas Wedg.
wood, son of the famous potter, was certainly at
work on photography, as is shown by his bills and
orders for apparatus and chemicals. At the meet-
ing of the Photographic Society there was exhibited,
side by side with the above-mentioned metal plates,
a photograph of a neatly laid breakfast table, taken
upon paper by Wedgwood, and the information
about it tended to the conclusion that it also was
done in the year 1791. Thus far we have written the
history of this curious discovery in accordance with
the evidence laid before the Photographic Society ;
but still there are many links wanting before it can
be taken as proved that the pictures found at Soho
were produced by photography. If it shall be shown
that they were so produced, then it will also be
established that at that time photographic feats
were done which we cannot now-a-days accom-
plish. For it has been proved by chemical analysis
that these pictures do not contain a trace of silver,
and must, therefore, if of photographic origin, have
been lost to us. That an art promising such great
results should have been suffered to die out, is in
itself curious in these days of diffusion of know.
ledge ; but stall more remarkable is the double co-
incidence existing between the independently pro-
duced metal and paper photographs of Boulton
and Wedgwood, of 1791, and of Daguerre and Fox
Talbot in 1839.

bsequent career. But the

VHF.. Timm EDITION OF " TI-EE SUN,'
.111. Containing the Latest SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
pau be hail Every Evening of

G. GLMNIE, NEWS AGENT,
No. 4, Connaught-terrace, Ifyile-park.