Unraveling the Mysteries of Plants

30 Jun 2017: . Amongst his many talents, Henry Talbot had a lifelong interest in botany, one inspired by his mother Lady Elisabeth and reinforced by several extended family members. Thus, it is not surprising that he turned to the plants in his gardens as subjects for his early photographs, and equally unsurprising, given his love of books, …

Tens of Thousands, Spelling Errors, New Pencils and Broken Graves

23 Jun 2017: As this title was beginning to approach a paragraph in length, I suppose that I really should made it another in the Miscellanea Photogenica series. But since we have a new guest blogger next week, this is likely to be the last posting by me before our annual Summer Pleasures series kicks in, so I’ll …

Miscellanea Photogenica, No 6

16 Jun 2017: . A recurring series of Talbot miscellany Heading towards 25K My 30 year old DOS database (left) and its conversion to the illustrated online one (right) Although this blog has been going on for more than 100 weeks now (gulp!), the website of which it has now become a part was launched in beta just …

Cherry Leaves and Flowers of the Sea

9 Jun 2017: In March we celebrated the birth of Anna Atkins in 1799 and now we pay tribute to her death today, 9 June, in 1871. She is buried near her home of Halstead Place, near Sevenoaks in Kent. It served several purposes after the family left and the only significant part of it that now survives …

The Coal Merchant and Talbot – Richard Beard

2 Jun 2017: Guest post by Geoffrey Batchen This is the second blog posting from my old friend and ex-pat Professor Geoffrey Batchen – his first was about a recent acquisition for his private collection. He teaches art history at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, specializing in the history of photography. His many and influential books …