String them up, turn them over – and don’t forget your milking stool

24 Nov 2017: What is the ‘correct’ way to orient a Talbot image? If you were hanging this 1839 photogenic drawing negative, which way would you prefer? Or if this was a quiz, what clue do you have to guide you to the correct answer? (the ‘H. F. Talbot 1839’ inscription just showing through below one plant implies …

Miscellanea Photogenica, No. 7

17 Nov 2017: An occasional series of tasty morsels that cross my desk More on Kensal Green Long time readers of this blog will know that we are trying to put together the bits and pieces of the history of Nicolaas Henneman’s printing works at Kensal Green, just outside London towards the site of Eastman Kodak’s later (and …

Sleuthing in a Library’s Davenport

10 Nov 2017: In 2004, an era of relative tranquility when unsolicited emails were less common, I recoiled at the word ‘Law’ in the From line. Normally lawyer-averse, I was relieved to see that this came from a Harvard librarian in their Law School’s Special Collections. Mary Person had become intrigued by the signature on the flypage of …

A Scene in a Library: Part Two – Imaginatively

2 Nov 2017: Dr Mirjam Brusius joins our Advisory Board I’m excited to welcome Mirjam Brusius as the latest addition to our Board. While completing her PhD on Talbot’s antiquarian interests at Cambridge, Mirjam catalogued Henry’s unruly but rewarding notebooks for the British Library. She was one of the organisers for the 2010 conference William Henry Fox Talbot: …