A Delicate Holiday Treat

16 Dec 2016: Out of respect to busy schedules during this festive season, we are returning to our tradition of pleasantly brief Holiday Treats LJS Guest post by Brian Liddy As a native of what was once called North Britain and currently resident in blistery Oxford, I like to wrap up warmly at this time of year. But …

The Reading Establishment’s “Hidden mysteries”

9 Dec 2016: In this wonderfully descriptive tableaux vivant, we have an early virtual reality presentation of Nicolaas Henneman’s photographic establishment in the market town of Reading, about halfway between Lacock Abbey and London. Possessed with a courageous if overly optimistic faith in Talbot’s new discovery, Henneman had taken the highly unusual risky step of separating from his …

Miscellanea Photogenica, No 1

2 Dec 2016: Some years ago a book of mine was inching its way towards actual publication. Coming up with titles is always a devilish process, but drawing inspiration from one of Talbot’s packet annotations, Miscellanea Photogenica (with a subtitle) struck me as the perfect choice. Alas, the workhorses in the marketing department were frightened by this use …

Lacock Abbey

25 Nov 2016: Guest post by Brian Liddy The most beautiful building in the world? The most important architectural building in the country? The grandest property owned by the National Trust? Lacock Abbey may be none of the above, but even those who have never visited Talbot’s home might recongise it from its star role in many major …

A Sister’s Fern Makes Nineteen

18 Nov 2016: Recently we talked about a ‘newly-discovered’ Talbot that had turned up unexpectedly in a German auction of the estate of a camera collector. Upon further scrutiny it proved to be a previously known example that had dropped out of sight years ago – it was critically linked to Charles Babbage and remains an important re-discovery. …

Copied by the Sun: Photography Invades Art History

11 Nov 2016: Guest post by Hilary Macartney Today’s guest editor was the mover and shaker not only behind an extended research program on early photographic illustration but also for a lovingly re-created facsimile of the first book on art history ever to be illustrated with photographs. Sir William Stirling Maxwell’s 1847 volume of Talbotype Illustrations to the …

Virtual and Virtuous Reality

4 Nov 2016: This past week I was honored (and pleasantly surprised) to be included on the menu of the 2016 Stereo & Immersive Media conference in Lisbon, Portugal. Even though my daily grasp on reality often seems so tenuous that venturing into virtual reality was intimidating, it was a fascinating and richly rewarding experience for me. My …

Intimate Collectors, No. 1 – Charles Babbage

28 Oct 2016: A tip of the hat to those collectors who over the decades have appreciated and helped to preserve a great number of the Talbots that we enjoy today. This is the first of an occasional series on an inner circle that perhaps you will indulge me in styling them ‘Intimate Collectors’ – those contemporaries of …

A delightful offering from Estonia

21 Oct 2016: It was a year ago this week that I had a chance to visit the University of Tartu in Estonia. During my too-brief visit I was ably assisted by their energetic librarian, Mr Sulo Lembinen. Sadly I did not have the opportunity to meet Professor Tullio Ilomets, but it was through his 1969 journal article …

The Clamour for Reform (or, the more things change, the more they stay the same)

14 Oct 2016: Guest post by Brian Liddy While no secret, perhaps it is not so well known that Henry Talbot was a Member of the First Reform Parliament at the very same time that he was creating the art of photography. In December 1832 Talbot was elected to Westminster as a Whig MP. Occurring just ten days …

The 183rd Anniversary of Tracings of Light

7 Oct 2016: On Monday of this week – the 5th of October in 1833 – the art of photography was conceived. It was an idea born out of frustration. The precocious and highly accomplished Henry Talbot had mastered nearly everything that had crossed his path in life: all sorts of languages, scientific and mathematical subjects, political skills …