William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877) was a British pioneer in photography, yet he also embraced the wider preoccupations of the Victorian Age—a time that saw many political, social, intellectual, technical, and industrial changes. His manuscripts, now in the archive of the British Library, reveal the connections and contrasts between his photographic innovations and his investigations into optics, mathematics, botany, archaeology, and classical studies.
Drawing on Talbot’s fascinating letters, diaries, research notebooks, botanical specimens, and photographic prints, distinguished scholars from a range of disciplines, including historians of science, art, and photography, broaden our understanding of Talbot as a Victorian intellectual and a man of science.

William Henry Fox Talbot: Beyond Photography (Volume 23) (Studies in British Art)

Robson, Eleanor

Smith, Graham

Schaaf, Larry J.

Wolf, Herta

Maimon, Vered

Secord, Anne

Barrow-Green, June

Biographies & Memoirs

YC British Art

This is the first publication of the two most important notebooks created by William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877), the inventor of negative/positive photography. Notebooks P and Q span the period from the first public announcement of photography in 1839 through the 1843 plateau of Talbot's researches. They record both his false starts and his triumphs. While the emphasis is on the new art of photography, there is substantial reference to chemistry, electricity, light, optics, and railroad motive power. The notebook pages are reproduced in full, preserving the tempo and organization of Talbot's thoughts, and keeping his sketches in context. This book will fascinate anyone interested in the history of science or technology.

Records of the Dawn of Photography: Talbot's Notebooks P & Q

Cambridge University Press

William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) is best remembered as the scientist who invented photography. Others had tried recording the images projected by a lens, but Talbot was the first to grasp the physical basis for realizing this dream and to conceive of a practical means for fixing these ephemeral images permanently onto a sheet of paper. But Talbot's considerable technical achievements have often overshadowed his growth as an artist. Larry Schaaf examines this artistic growth by bringing together for the first time high quality reproductions of one hundred photographs representing the full sweep of Talbot's work. These beautiful images are not only records of scientific triumphs, but also the evidence of the first steps in shaping a totally new type of vision. 
 A classicist, physicist, and mathematician by training, Talbot originally viewed his new invention as a means of visual documentation, particularly of the botanical specimens he loved so dearly. But gradually his new technology taught him to see, and the growth of Talbot's personal vision defined the beginnings of modern photography. The resulting corpus of work ranged from seminal early images rich in primal beauty to later, fully sophisticated photographs. Illuminating these images with excerpts from Talbot's own writings and those of his contemporaries, this book is a visual celebration of the early days of photography.
 The one hundred plates are reproduced in the actual size of the originals and in all the subtle colors that comprised Talbot's early work. They range from Talbot's Lilliputian pre-1839 negatives (made in "mousetrap" cameras) through botanical photograms to mid-1840s calotypes that demonstrate a sure command of the new art. Each plate is discussed in detail, drawing on important new research conducted by the author.
 Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Talbot's birth, The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot will not only deepen our understanding of early photography but will also serve as an important archive for those who may never have the pleasure to witness firsthand these rare and fragile works. As such, this beautifully produced book is an essential addition to the library of anyone who collects, studies, and admires photography.

The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot

Arts & Photography

Individual Artists

Princeton University Press

This 120-page publication Tracings of Light: Sir John Herschel &amp; The Camera Lucida, by photo historian Larry J. Schaaf combines a substantial assessment of the camera lucida as a drawing tool with biographical information on Herschel, his counterparts, and their role in the development of photography.

Tracings of Light: Sir John Herschel and the Camera Lucida

Photography & Video

Curatorial Assistance, Inc.

The Rubel Collection: Sun Pictures Catalogue 8

Hans P Kraus Junior Inc

Sun Pictures: Roger Fenton, a Family Collection

Hans P. Kraus, Jr. Catalogue Fourteen

Sun Pictures: From Talbot to Turner (Sun Pictures)

Hans P. Kraus, Jr.]

One of the New York Times Best Photo Books of 2018 This lavishly illustrated book features the beautiful and scientifically important photographs by Anna Atkins, whose landmark work combined a passion for botany with remarkable creativity and technical skill. Anna Atkins (1799-1871) came of age in Victorian England, a particularly fertile environment for learning and scientific discovery. Guided by her father, a prominent scientist, Atkins was inspired by William Henry Fox Talbot to take up photography and was friends with Sir John Herschel, who invented the cyanotype photographic process in 1842. The next year, Atkins began making cyanotypes in an effort to illustrate and distribute information about her herbarium. The result was Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, the first book to be illustrated with photographs. A decade later, she and her friend Anne Dixon expanded their visual inquiry to flowering plants, feathers, and other subjects. This volume is a revised and expanded edition of a long out-of-print monograph that first secured Atkins's place in the history of photography. It draws upon years of careful research and sets Atkins and her work in the proper context. Supplementary texts shed new light on her productions and on the cyanotype process, which is still used by artists today. The photographs themselves--ethereal, deeply hued, and wonderfully intricate--are brought to life with exquisite reproductions that are certain to win Atkins a new generation of followers. Copublished by The New York Public Library and DelMonico Books

Sun Gardens: Cyanotypes by Anna Atkins

Prestel

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