1860 BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY VOL. VII

 

VERSION:  Feb. 17, 2009

START general transcription:  Nov. 1, p.321; my page 85

NOTES: 

   --Italics have been retained from publications, which use them for both titles as well as emphasis.  To more easily locate image titles, I have continued this italicization when titles have been rendered in all capitols or put in quotes, however italics have NOT been used when the general subject of an image is mentioned.

   --Image numbers listed in articles can be either an entry number in an exhibition, or the photographer’s own image number as found on labels. 

    --All names have been bolded for easy location.  Numbers frequently refer to the photographer’s image number, but can also refer to a number in a catalog for a show.  Decide whether to bold or not if can tell.

   --It is not always possible in lists of photographers to know when two separate photographers are partners or not, e.g., in a list, “Smith and Jones” sometimes alludes to two separate photographers and sometimes to one photographic company.  Both names will be highlighted and indexed but a partnership may be wrongly assumed.  Any information to the contrary would be appreciated.

   --  Brackets [ ] are used to indicate supplied comments by the transcriber;  parenthesis  ( )  are used in the original sources.  If the original source has used brackets, they have been transcribed as parenthesis to avoid confusion.

--“illus” means that I have the view mentioned and should be scanned and included.

   --Articles by photographers about technical matters – only name and titles have been listed.  If other names are associated with the paper they are listed as well.

  --Meetings of Societies – Names of officers, members attending or referenced, dates and locations of meetings have been given.  If the reports are very short or discuss photographs, then the articles have been copied; if administrative or technical in nature, they have not.

  -- Some journals, e.g., The Art-Journal, cover both photographer and painting/drawing.  As they frequently refer to the production of both the photographer and the painter as “pictures” it is not always possible to tell when photography is indicated.  If there is doubt, it will be included but a note will be added stating that the names listed may in fact not be photographers.

   --Mostly articles totally discussing technical aspects of photography, products, etc. are not transcribed unless they are part of a larger article covering photographs.   When technical descriptions are too lengthy to transcribe that is noted.

 

1860:  BJP Jan. 1,  vol. VII; #109, p. 6-7

            Illustrated Description of Messrs. Smith, Beck, and Beck’s Patent Achromatic Mirror Stereoscope.  [Illustrated with wood cuts]

            We recently described in our pages [vol. VI., page 284] the excellent hand-stereoscope indicated above, as well as we were able to do so without woodcuts; we have now to present to our readers an accurate illustration of the instrument, with description in the inventor’s own words:--

            “We have contrived this Instrument expressly for the exhibition of paper stereographs, either as mounted in the ordinary way, or, as there is every probability, they will frequently appear as illustrations in books.  The principal feature of this stereoscope is the application of a mirror in such a position as that, when the instrument is held facing the light, the picture receives reflected rays, in addition to the direct ones; this double illumination now only imparts a proportionate brilliancy to the photographs, but, from the circumstance of the light falling in opposite directions, there are no shadows to the irregularities upon the surface of the paper, and thus many of these annoying imperfections are rendered invisible.

            We have also combined with this arrangement the same achromatic lenses as in our other stereoscope, so as to afford the best definition, and to correct the colour produced on the margins of objects by single lenses.  The adjustments for different kinds of vision, as hereafter described, are as complete as possible;’ and a ground glass division, which separates the pictures without under any circumstance throwing a shadow, as well as the brass frame, which forms a margin to the object, will both be found of essential service.  Smith, Beck, and Beck”

            Directions for use.

            The instrument is intended to be held in the left hand by the handle A, and facing the light, the right hand is then at liberty either to shirt the views, or to make the necessary adjustments. 

            The milled head B is for the adjustment of the focus, by rank and pinion.  Those who have “long sight” will require the lenses farther from the picture; and as the full extent of the rackwork is frequently not sufficient, the distance can be increased by drawing out the lenses in their fittings at C C;  the reverse is, of course, required for short sight; whilst many of those whose vision is unaffected in either of these ways will be able to see well through the whole range of adjustment.

]           Every stereoscopic slide consists of two pictures, but they must unite and form one in the instrument.   This will generally be the case when the two arrows on the brass rings D D point to each other; but there are some kinds of vision, and, occasionally, errors in the slides, which require one or other of the lenses to be slightly turned round in its fitting C.  The method of mounting admits of this, and also of their being easily taken out for the purpose of wiping, which should be done frequently.

            The slides are placed under the brass frame H, and under the springs E; but if the stereograph is in a book, the springs are turned up, as shown in front view.”

 

           

1860:  BJP Jan. 1, vol. VII; # 109, p. 8-9:

            Notes of a Photographic Tour in the Holy Land. No. XI.

            Upon returning from Mount Carmel we found that the Tarbucket was to be detained yet another day.  Such is the fashion with the Eastern steamers, and we were fain to submit.  But as we sat in the cabin in the evening, an idea occurred to me which the rest of the party seized upon with avidity.

            It was to go on to Beyrout by land, visiting Tyre and Sidon by the way.  Early in the morning I went ashore and found a scribe to write a letter to Hassan, which I sent to Beyrout, with orders for him to return and meet me at Tyre.  I wrote in Arabic, not because he could read it, but so that if my messenger overtook him on the road he could get it read to him by a scribe in Sidon or elsewhere.  This is the custom here.  Then I boarded the ship again, roused our party, and having taken a cup of coffee of François’s best sort, we went ashore in a body.

            Our intention had somehow leaked out, though I had impressed secrecy on my messenger to Beyrout.  But he had a dragoman friend, and had whispered to him his chance for a bargain and he had not kept his secret.  Accordingly, on our landing, we were beset by a dozen accomplished dragomans—ragged, dirty fellows, who could talk a little Lingua-
Franca and ten words of English, every one of whom avowed his perfect ability to show us the wonders of Haifa and St. Jean d’Acre, and of all the world oriental that it should please us to visit.

            One of them was a tall Syrian, whose voice was like the small end of a thunder-bolt caught among the bushes—a rugged rumbling voice which was frightfully ludicrous.  I engaged him at once on the strength of his voice, and told him what I wanted.  He was exactly the man for us.  He had a brother at Tyre, who could accommodate us for the night.  A capital house he had—it was clean, roomy, airy, and finely situated.  He would get us horses—splendid animals—such as the Prophet of the accursed (our man was a Greek Christian) might have been proud to bestride.  He would take us to Tyre like princes, and to Beyrout like sultans.

            Bekam? Insinuated John, in his mildest tone, overwhelmed at the prospect of so much state and splendour, and beginning to think it would cost a trifle to travel in this style.

            “How much?”

            For the sum of ten pounds Demetri the Syrian agreed to convey us—six to Tyre and four of us to Beyrout—in the style aforesaid, within two days, resting at Tyre for the night in the palace of his brother.

            The horses of Haifa are not of the blood of the Prophet’s mare.  They are not of any blood at all.  They are bones absolutely and wholly.

            But bones or blood, the Syrian horses can go; and go they did with us across the plain and up the sea-coast towards the ancient city of Acre, which lies at the northern point of the bay, as Haifa lies at the south.  The distance is about seven and a-half miles.  Demetri led on at a rattling gallop.  His voice came back to us once in a while as he chanted a song intended to be gay, but in reality most lugubriously solemn.

            We paused at Acre, but I shall not stop to speak of it here.  The city is like all oriental cities, and the ancient fortifications—half-repaired, but never able to recover from the terrible shattering they received from British cannon, in 1840—lie in the sunshine in mournful weakness.  We loitered here too long, so that evening came down on us before we reached Cape Blanco.

            The road was various.  Now we were going at an easy gallop across a plain, and now risking our necks in a narrow mountain pass that no human being ought to dream of riding through in daylight, much less by night, as we were now doing.

            We crossed Cape Blanco, a mile or more of mountain climbing and descending, and then a better road brought us to the gate of Tyre.

            And this is Tyre!  There was a day when the world knew no such grandeur as was here.  How are the mighty fallen!  “Tyre shall be a place for fishers to spread their nets.”  “Was not that the prophecy?”  said John.

            And how fulfilled!

            As we rode down the neck of land which connects what was once the island of Tyre with the main land, Demetri, rejoiced beyond measure at escaping from the Bedouins, whom his cowardly heart had been fearing every inch of the way, raised a loud cry, which, in his unearthly voice, sounded like an Indian war-whoop, and dashed down the road.  We followed.  He whooped and yelled, and shouted, and kicked his beast, and plunged on to the very gate of the city, when a pistol-shot, which John let off for the purpose of startling him, completely and totally dissolved his nervous strength, and the poor Syrian went like a dead man over his horses’s head into a mud-hole directly in front of the gate of Tyre.  The gates were shut.

            When Demetri had picked himself up and ascertained to his satisfaction he was not shot, he began to shout in all sorts of gutturals to the guard within the gate, and at length induced the great door to swing on its hinges.  As we entered, the porters, two surly soldiers, reached out heir hands for a fee, and I had another chance to practice my stock of Arabic,  Bekam?

            We got off tolerably well for a few piastres, and then went on to the palace of Iskander, the brother of Demetri.

            Yea, verily, the palace of Alexander the Great, in the city of Tyre, on the coastw of Asia!  For Alexander would weight three hundred at least, and his palace—as for that, perhaps the least we can say is the best.

            Nevertheless, let us contrast the ancient with the modern.  Here, two thousand years ago, were splendid temples, shrines of magnificent adornment, houses whose ladies were wrapped in Tyrian purples that gave the very name of luxury to the vocabulary of the world.  There was no city where men did more joyously exist, where women lived in more luxurious delights, where sweeter incense intoxicated the devotees of Bacchus, Venus, or Mercury.  Marble flashed in the sunshine.  The carved ornaments of a temple were worth the purchase of a kingdom.  It was a trifle to Tyre that it gave Jerusalem the most costly parts of its great temple, and the king laughed at the paltry return of Solomon, who offered him cities and subjects!  The whole territory of Tyre, in its greatest days, was never a thousand square miles, perhaps never four hundred; but the still sea, on a sunny afternoon, reflected in its calm surface magnificence and grandeur which had no superior, even to the Pillars of Hercules.

            An old man, Ezekiel buy name, borne on angel’s hands, beheld a vision in the far future, and thus delivered the burden of his foresight:--

            “Oh thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles.  Thus saith the Lord God.  O Tyrus, thou hast said,  ‘I am of perfect beauty.’  Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.  * * * Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters:  the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.  All that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly.  And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus:  like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?  The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shall be any more.”

            Never was prophecy more literally and exactly fulfilled.  Tyre is as terror.  In the stormy nights of the Levant, the miserable mariner whose boat, with high lateen sail close-reefed, goes flying down the coast, prays God to keep him off the Isle of Sur, and save him from utter destruction on the ruins of the once mighty city!  The water is filled with columns and architraves, and where of old the glory was reflected on the surface, now deep down in the still sea you may sometimes catch sight of the floors on which the princely once trod.

            And modern Tyre we were in, and the house of Alexander was the successor of the palace of Hiram.

            It was built of stone that may have been part of the palace of the king for aught I know.  Possibly these walls had inclosed the ladies’ owners of those days.  But now a cold wind howled through their crevices, unstopped by the vain plastering of mud.  Demeteri was right.  The house was airy; but it was engaged before our arrival.  There were fifty—yes, seventy-five—yes, a hundred thousand fleas to every square yard of the mud floor; and as to the blankets he gave us to lie upon—the blankets were alive—they crawled—they positively moved with the indescribable crowds of inhabitants that filled its texture.

            It was a night of horror!  Before we slept, or attempted to sleep, we demanded food.  Demeteri gave us waster for our hands before eating, reminding us of the ancient custom of pouring water on the hands, which they follow precisely now, as I have often seen.  All the water is carried about these eastern cities in goat-skins, which have been taken off nearly whole, sewed up, and in some way cured.

            We washed and ate, and then we tried to sleep.   D.T.

 

1860:  BJP Jan. 1, vol. VII; # 109, p. 13-14:

             Exhibition of the Photographic Society of Scotland.

            I have again made it convenient to “conjoin business with pleasure,” and send you some notes regarding the progress of our northern friends in the beautiful and useful Art of Photography.

            The Exhibition was opened on the 16^th ult., as I am informed by the Mercury of the 17^th, which gives a brief account of the private view of the evening previous, and, after giving the names of the grandees who were present, winds up the peroration by stating that “Carlow, Cobalt, and Madder” had sent (!) some fine specimens from Kensington Museum.  Being tolerably familiar with the names of the great majority of photographic artists, on entering the exhibition room, which is the same as last year (90, George Street), I wended my way on a voyage of discovery to find out the productions of these gentlemen, when, lo and behold! Matters turned out as I had anticipated; these were the modes of production and not the names of artists at all.

            There were four proofs—two in carbon, a portrait and landscape, the finest that I have yet seen produced by this process:  in both the detail and half-tone are excellent, but the whites and sky are a dull cold grey, yet very superior to the copy exhibited by Mr. Pouncy the previous year.  The cobalt one is a small portrait, two inches by one, with a warm tint of variegated blue, and the madder (crimson red), a portrait of a lady, about an inch square, giving a curious but pleasing effect.  With regard to their permanency I can say nothing’; but your able chemical correspondent, Mr. C. J. Burnett, will probably be able to inform you on that matter.

            The most peculiar and prominent picture in the Exhibition is a panoramic view of Lucknow, in six divisions.  The respective sections are not harmoniously toned, but it is bold, clear, and well-defined, giving a very accurate realization of that great and wonderful city.  There are in all nine hundred and twenty separate views; counting the stereoscopic frames as one only.  Five hundred and sixty-five of these are of Scottish origin; the remaining three hundred and fifty-five are from either foreign artists or sent from foreign climes—a large number being from Indian.  Several artists have deluged the rooms with a plethora of specimens.  The Messrs. Hay, for instance, send forty-five; Messrs. Cramb, of Dundee, Thirty-five; Mr. M’Craw, thirty-five; Miss Taylor, twenty-nine; Mr. Wilson of Aberdeen, thirty-one; Mr. Scott Eiot (amateur), twenty-four; Messrs. Maull and Polyblank, twenty-give, &c.  I understood that, in consequence of the same thing occurring the previous year, a bye-law had been recommended or introduced by some member of the Society, to the effect that none were to exceed twenty specimens in one year, which is certainly an abundant limit, and only fair-play, to allow all to have their pictures exhibited.  An intelligent dealer informed me that the Society had more pictures sent them than they could conveniently exhibit.  The hanging committee, however, don’t seem to discard proofs because they are of humble pretensions, of which No. 209 is an example.  The catalogue states it to be the portrait of a gentleman, but who looks very like a condemned felon, seated solitarily in his cell, leaning his back against a perpendicular panel of timber, with one leg over the other, looking very sorry for himself—the foreground being very like a portion of a river or sea-bench, terribly out of focus.  There are a few more pictures of the same character.  I am persuaded had these been the product of some poor professional, instead of an office-bearer, they would certainly have been turned to the door and quietly disposed of.

            Another amateur office-bearer has gone all the way to Venice to invest his nitrate of silver in a few blurred, ill-focussed pictures of that palatial city, and, while packing up his other photographic traps, had evidently forgotten his spirit-level.  Architecture seems to have been in a merry mood when this gentleman planted his camera amidst that city of the sea, and disposed to dance a jib; for the perpendiculars of the buildings are nowhere.  I allude especially to No. 126.  A Canal in Venice—a picture awfully blurred and worthless—(No. 128, is equally poor, the camera having been tilted to embrace the field, clearly indicating, by the curved marginal lines, that it was not taken by one of the new lenses so be praised by the committee of the Photographic Society of Scotland.  Nevertheless this illustrates the charm and fascinating power this science has over its devotees, when gentlemen are impelled by it to make long, troublesome, and expensive journeys, to procure for themselves what they could purchase at home for a few shillings, infinitely superior proofs, and taken by artists on the spot.  I hope this indefatigable photo’ [sic] be more successful on some future occasion.

            I must try to mix a little sweet with the bitter, and give you an account of some things that are better; but knowing, as I do, your reverence for truth, and the rigid, inflexible way in which you fearlessly state your opinions in your criticisms upon the photographic art, I deemed it best to endeavour to give an accurate view of the tout ensemble.

            In this year’s Exhibition there are some very large portraits—that is, enlarged and coloured, as well as plain; but in these I find no appearance of progress.  No. 269 is one by Mr. Brady, an artist of new York, in which the face is entirely stippled over, and which would require a couple of days hard artistic labour with the pencil.  This picture is hung as an untouched photograph, which it is not; and, if I remember right, by one of the regulations of the Exhibition, promulgated by advertisement in the now British Journal of Photography was, that all such productions were to be labeled as touched or painted pictures.

            Such being the case, this picture, according to the Council’s own rules, ought to have been rejected and allowed no place on their walls.

            Messrs. Lyndon Smith and Raven, who took the medals last year, are large contributors; and Mr. Smith has not only doubled his diligence, but also the number and size of his pictures and lens.  He sends nine large landscapes, mostly from the somber, gloomy, misty region, entitled the Valley of Desolation. — Mr. Raven contributes twenty-two subjects, but I do not think any of these show any marks of progress; but no wonder, for, as he is doubtless carried by the same zeal and devotion to the discharge of his parochial and clerical duties, little time will be left to prosecute the science of photography. — Mr. Wilson, of Aberdeen, sends some thirty exquisite landscapes, and one frame of stereoscopic views which surpass in beauty and definition all the photographs that have been publicly exhibited in Britain hitherto; but, as you have noticed these so recently yourself, I shall pass them over. — Mr. Rodger, of St. Andrew’s contributes twenty-four, principally portraits, of rare excellence and beauty.  One of these is an artistic family group, consisting of twelve, all beautifully delicate, and in good focus, with one tiny exception – a little boy in the foreground has moved, and has three eyes and partially two heads – otherwise it is a perfect gem, and I am much mistaken if the Society’s medal will this year be awarded to misty, wooly, waxed-paper pictures.

            I have not time for further remarks at present, but will probably communicate with you again in a few days, more in detail.  Sel D’Or.

 

1860:  BJP Jan. 15, VII; #110, p. 23

            Notices of Recently Published Stereographs.  Mr. Wilson’s Scottish Gems.  (Concluded from page 7.)

            We now pass to another class of views, a series for which we venture to predict a world-wide reputation, containing some of the richest gems of Scottish scenery.

            The Trossachs and Ben Benue From Above the Inn (No. 24) is one of those sweet calm spots which needs only to be seen to make an indelible impression on the memory.  The still waqters of the lake, with its fringe of rich foliage, backed by the rugged side of the mountain, and the picturesque bit of building in the foreground, seen from between the branches of a couple of noble trees, form altogether a most agreeable composition.  This is a fit precursor to another scene at the Trossachs—

            The Pass of Beal-Ach-Nam-Bo, where we get more closely face to face with the bold, dark, broken, rocky side of the lofty hills, washed at the base by the waters of the lake, which reflect the grim outlines with a softened resemblance, while some silver birch trees on the right of the spectator partially veil them.

            The Upper Falls of Foynes, Invernesshire,--This is a scene of magnificent rugged grandeur; tall, grotesquely-formed rocks reaching to the top of the slide are united by a single arch of brickwork.  From between the crevices in the upper parts of the rock there spring some graceful ferns and straggling creepers; through the central opening is seen another mass of rock, over which, in a single steady stream, there flows the water of a mountain rivulet, which eddies around the projecting masses of stone, wearing away and undercutting their bases.  In the immediate foreground an artist is seated sketching, while an attendant is looking over his shoulder, watching the progress of the work.

            Upper Fall on the Giaw-Valt, Braemar.—It would not be easy to select a more perfect contrast to the preceding, amongst the same class of subjects, than the one now under consideration.  Here the fall is split and broken into numerous streamlets, which glide gently down the slopes of the rounded and well-worn stones in the bed of the river.  This also is spanned by a bridge; but how different to the last! this being a rustic wooden structure, whilst both banks of the stream are richly clothed with masses of vigorous fir-trees growing in wild luxuriance.

            We cannot take leave of the falls without a word or two more relative to three casually noticed in our last, viz.—

            The Upper, Second, and Lower Falls of Moness, Aberfeldy, which, for beauty of subject and perfection of execution, cannot be surpassed, the utmost amount of detail being united with a delicate softness yet brilliancy of effect.  They are perfect pictures of the highest class, comprising the most harmonious union of rocks, water, foliage, and above all, atmosphere.  We give up, in despair, the hope of describing adequately these gems of beauty, for such they truly are.

            Fingal’s Cave, Staffa.—The celebrity of this picturesque cavern would alone insure a large demand for a good illustration of it; but even if it were altogether unknown, such an (sic) one as we have before us would, of itself, be enough to render it celebrated henceforth.  The cave hollowed out of the basaltic rock by the restless action of the mighty waters of the ocean, presents to the eye much more the aspect of a work of art than one of nature.  The sides are formed of prismatic pillars of basalt, arranged with much regularity, while the angular peaked roof, about one hundred feet high, is composed, partly of the bases of truncated pillars, and partly of amorphous trap.  The sea washes into the cave, which is between three hundred and four hundred feet in depth, though it can be entered at one part on foot, the floor being composed of the sections of the pillar-tops.  The rich, transparent shadows and general artistic execution of this subject are beyond all praise.

            With a description of a few specimens of instantaneous photographs we shall close the present notice.

            Prince’s Street, Edinburgh, taken from just below the Sun Fire and Life Office, the spectator looking towards the Calton Hill, presents a stirring scene of activity.  It is high noon-day, the pavement is thronged with pedestrians, and the roadway with vehicdles in motion, while a volume of steam from the railway station, between the old and new towns, indicates that a train is upon the point of starting.  Quickly as this subject must have been taken, there is a slight blurr visible in the nearest figures, owing to their being in rapid motion, but how infinitely superior to those “cities of the dead” with which we have hitherto been compelled to content ourselves.

            The Breaking Wave.—The title bespeaks the subject.  A low sandy shore, and a somewhat smooth sea, relieved by the wave in the act of toppling over, and three little urchins, with trousers tucked above the knee, dabbling in the shallow water.  Here again the introduction of the figures is of incalculable benefit, in an artistic point of view; for the sea itself is not so striking and satisfactory alone as the specimens produced by Mr. Samuel Fry, of Brighton, which we noticed in these pages some time back; but, as compositions, Mr. Wilson’s work excels.  The manner in which the light on the water throws up the figures of the boys is remarkably effective.

            The Victoria Steamer.—This view is taken at low tide.  A calm sea and cloudless sky are broken up by the steamer leaving a long trail of b lack smoke b ehind as she speeds on her way towards Peterhead.  Riding at anchor, under bare poles, in a brigantine.  A long stretch of dry sand, with a hollow patch still wet, is studded here and there with masses of sea-weed, and indented by many a foot track, whilst towards the edge of the waves are seen numerous figures, chiefly boys, watching the progress of the vessel.

            Aberdeen Harbour, Twilight, is a fitting subject with which to close our somewhat volumnious remarks.  The dark hulls of the vessels moored in tiers contrast with the sharp tracery of the spars and rigging, which show strongly against a sky traversed by clouds portentous of windy weather.  The sun was sunk below the horizon, but still tinges with a fringe of gold the edge of a long low purple cloud that Millais would delight in painting.  A scarcely perceptible ripple stirs the surface of the water, and the houses of the city are almost lost in the shadows of evening.  While we watch this slide, we almost fancy we hear the “good night” of those departing towards home to rest.

            It is seldom, if ever, we have before seen a collection like the one we have been endeavouring to describe, possessing so uniform an excellence of equally elevated a grade.  Mr. Wilson is an artist in the fullest sense of the word, and infuses his spirit into all his productions.  In conclusion, we have only to say, that the printing and general getting up of these stereographs are worthy of the execution of the negatives.  Their wide diffusion will carry a gleam of sunshine into many a home.

 

1860:  BJP Jan. 15, VII; #110, p. 23-24

            Notes of a Photographic Tour in the Holy Land.  No. XII.

            Leaving Tyre in the morning, we rode on with our friends, passing Sarepta without pausing, until we reached the shore near Sidon, and here we parted from them, they going on the Beyrout to rejoin the steamer, we pausing to turn eastward into the holy land of Galilee.  Hassan met us here with the tents.  I wandered in the forenoon through Sidon, making a few purchases in the miserable little shops, and sat on the seashore, near our tents, all the afternoon, recalling the usual subjects of thought in such places, the illustrations of fulfilled prophecy.

            I defy any man to go through Palestine with his Bible in his hand and not believe that the men who wrote these predictions, which no one can doubt were written centuries ago, were inspired of God—that Ezekiel spoke the voice of the Almighty when he said, “Behold I am against thee, O Sidon.”

            Of the ancient glory of the city of purple nothing remains.  Along the coast, here and there, are broken tombs, masses of undefinable ruins, the solemn monuments of the accomplishment of God’s intent against the city of the sea.  Within the city is like all others that I have seen or described.  It would abut weary you to repeat the story of narrow streets, filthy bazaars, crowing Arabs, Druses, Moslems, and Christians.  Perhaps the pleasantest feature of the city is the American Mission here established.  I called on the resident missionaries, and was deeply impressed with their vast pre-eminence as sensible, labouring men, over the missionaries of all other nations I have seen.  The English mission to the Jews in Jerusalem is—with all deference to the Lord Bishop—a humbug.  It is a waste of money, labour, and intellect.  On the contrary, the American missions in the north of Syria are accomplishing wonders; and the reason for the difference is simply this—that the Americans are men of common sense, who take hold of the people in a frank and intelligent manner.  They gain their confidence, teach them to regard them as friends, show them that they are the pioneers of civilization, art, and science; and if they do not convert them, they at least stand in a position to take advantage of the political changes in the East, which all know are inevitable, sooner or later.

            Toward evening I walked out into a great cemetery of the Moslems.  Miserable, melancholy fields these Moslem burial-places are.  But the most melancholy scenes in them are the mourning groups of women.  I saw half-a-dozen of them, some here, some there, uttering those loud cries of sorrow which, in the streets and the houses, may seem mere noisy demonstrations of grief, but which have special signification in the place of graves.  There was one woman here that I feared would die, so fierce was her grief.

            God knows she had reason for it.  The widow of a Mahommedan who has loved her husband, hopeless of meeting him ever again, forced to believe him in the embraces of the houries, within whose arms he has forgotten her, may well be inconsolable.  As I approached to where she knelt, she spat towards me with a curse, then wailed aloud once more.  The air rang with the cry as she threw herself down on the tomb in which her husband lay, as she had left him to be q2uestionede by the angels.  They bury their dead with open space in the grave above their heads, so that they can sit up when the angel comes; and believing that they suffer torment from the moment of death till this examination is over, the4y hasten the ceremony of burial, so that it always follows death in a very few hours.

            As I came out of the cemetery I met a well-dressed man, attended by half-a-dozen officers, who walked directly towards me.  I have not yet found out who he was, whether the resident governor or only the sheik of the village.  In the party, however, was a miserable-looking fellah, a common man of the country, who was evidently labouring under strong suspicion of deserving a thrashing.

            The party approached me, and the chief advanced with a respectful salutation.  I returned it, and through his interpreter assured him of my profound sense of his grandeur.

            He assured me of my alliance with all the Sultans of the earth.  I enlightened him on the magnificence of his own ancestry.

            In short, we bowed and exchanged the usual salutations, and he then proceeded to business.

            This poor fellah had been caught, having in his possession a silk handkerchief, which it was suspected he had stolen from my tents.  A glance at it showed me that it was John’s, and he must have lost it as he rode through the town.  A few inquiries satisfied me that it had been taken from him as he sat in the bazaars a few moments.

            The culprit looked imploringly at me, and at length got down on his knees, and began to kiss my hands demonstratively.  I obtained leave of the officer in charge to punish him as I saw fit, and he sent him down to the tents with me, where John and myself held a consultation what to do with him.  Hassan recommended hanging.  Hassan thinks stealing from an Howajii the blackest of crimes.  Achmed, the cook, recommended the rope on his other extremity—to wit, a rapping on the soles of his feet.  I detest the bastinado.  John proposed to the fellow (fellah?) a chance for his life, and frighten him.

            So I ordered Hasaan to bring out my camera, and mount it on its tripod, which was done with due ceremony.  The culprit was then tied in a chair, placed at about ten feet distance, directly opposite the le4ns.  The poor wretch rolled his eyes in an agony of fear, his hair literally stood on end, and the perspiration rolled down his face in streams.  Yellow skinned as the knave was, he was fast turning white.  He evidently expected a four-pound ball through his body.  I went through the necessary operations of focusing the distant landscape, leaving the culprit out of the picture altogether.  With my head buried under the focusing cloth, I must of a certainty, have been an object of terror to the uninitiated oriental; but Hassan’s eye twinkled knowingly, and he performed his movements with ludicrious solemnity.  When all was ready, I directed him to remove the cap, keeping my eye on the culprit.  He knew the crisis was come;  closing his eyes he sputtered out some foam, and kicked and wriggled to such a degree that he toppled over, chair and all, at the moment John fired his revolver in the air.

            I thought the fellah had died of fright; he lay as motionless as if dead.  We let him lie for about five minutes, when Hassan crept stealthily behind him, and gave him a monitory kick behind.   He would have risen up, had he not been encumbered by the chair.  At a sign from John, Hassan loosened the cords, set the fellow on his legs again, and told him to be off, and that if he was caught his ears would surely be cut from his head.  Giving him a hundred yards start, we raised something of a war-whoop.  He started like a deer.  I think it probable he is running yet.  The last we saw of him he was on his way to Tyre at a flying gallop, and if he kept on at that rate he must be near to Jaffa by this time.

            Hassan had heard something at Demetri’s Hotel, in Beyrout, about letters for us, but he could not find any.  Indeed no banker would deliver them to him if there were any; but we thought it worth a day’s gallop to run the chance of getting them, and so the next day we rode up to Beyrout; but we found no letters, and returned in the afternoon, expecting to reach Sarepta, and find our letters there.

            We had directed our men to Sidon in the forenoon, but they had found pleasanter occupation, so that when we returned to our camp, they had but just left, and we overtook them in an hour.  The night was coming on.  It was manifest we should not reach Sarepta as we had anticipated, and we ordered them to halt on a slope close to the sea.  Here we sat and shivered while dinner was prepared.  John was in an ill-humour:  I in no better.  Food improved us a little.  Coffee soothed the waters of our trouble minds as if it were oil, and tobacco did the rest.  B y nine o’clock we were in a glorious condition, and then we sung.

            How we did sing!  Hassan and his men looked in with consternation and horror, thinking the Pashas had gone mad.  What do they know of music, poor rogues?  They sometimes drone a long song or story, in a monotonous strain, but when they hear a rattling, roaring song, they don’t understand it at all.

            Perhaps you have heard the “Postillion” song.  Perhaps you have sung it.  Well, sir, we sung it; and we sung “Come, land-lord, fill,” and John sand, “Lucy Neal,” and we sung many other songs along the coast of Tyre and Sidon that night.  Finally John took up the “Piff-Paff” song of the old covenanter from Meyerbeer’s Huguenots, and gave it in a rare style.  The transition from this to Luther’s grand chorale was but natural, and then, as the night wore on, we sung more quiet songs; took to hymns, in fact—dear old hymns!—to which the Holy Land was not uncongenial, which might make the atmosphere of Galilee more delicious and more glorious.  Some of these old hymns are very stirring and grand, and we made the hill back of the tents echo to our hallelujahs.  Then came—but why tell you what we sung?  You know those dear old hymns, which voices have sung which now form part of the choir of the heavenly host.

            The wind  came down from Lebanon to hear us, and the sea broke on the beach with a low deep melody, in unison with our thoughts and feelings; and then we lay back on our camp beds and slept.

            I give you this as a sketch of our usual evenings in the tents.  Sometimes we are pretty well tired out, and sleep instantly after dinner; but generally we talk a little, and laugh a little, and sing a little.  I cannot say that we do often sing quite so uproariously as on that evening.

            I have taken some very interesting views in this neighbourhood of Tyre, and Sideon, and  of Akra (St. Jean d’Acre).  I wish I could send some proofs to you; but I must wait till I meet a traveler returning to England, and who will take trusty charge of a small portfolio.  D.T.

 

1860:  BJP Feb. 1,  vol. VII; #111, p. 32-33

            Photographic Contributions to Knowledge. 

“Egypt and Palestine:”  (sic) By Francis Frith—Illustrated with Photographs.  (First Notice)

            There are but few persons in whom any mention of the localities Above named does not stir up deep and lively emotions; and no wonder that it is so, for not only do the Holy Scriptures teem with direct references thereto, both in the Old and New Testaments, but they are also continually alluded to in a spiritual sense when treating of a future state of existence.  One of the earliest impressions made on our childish imagination was, the flight of the Saviour into Egypt—Egypt the country in which Moses wrought such mighty wonders in execution of the awful wrath of the Almighty—where His chosen people “were oppressed four hundred years.”

            In the days when poetry and romance exert a potent charm over the youthful fancy, where so fitting a scene for the deeds of chivalry as Palestine, where the knights of old repaired to wrest from the heathen the holy places?  This, be it remembered, is no fancy, but sober truth, albeit many tales of the wildest romance have been so mixed up and blended with the records of actual occurrences not less singular that it is no easy task to separate the two.  This, so far from destroying the interest felt in a land around which the hand of the poet has cast a veil, has, without annihilating the hard lines of fact, superadded a softening influence that tends rather to increase the attraction.

            In later life, too, when the history of the past becomes a theme so absorbing as to claim for its study the whole waking hours of many a learned man, what lands yield such a harvest of records of the past as those of which we are now treating?  When recently noticing some stereoscopic illustrations of China, we could not help feeling impressed with the importance of them in an educational point of view; but, regarded in this light, what can we not say of the series of large pictures now before us?  We cannot but realise the fact that the art of photography is progressing with rapid strides, and though still but a child in years, it is doubtless destined to play an important part in the future history of civilisation.  The wonder of yesterday has become the luxury of today, and will most surely arrive at the stage of being the necessity of tomorrow.  It will no more be possible to do without photography than without the printing press—to annihilate which would be to cut off half our existence.

            We have noticed of late a growing increase in the importance of the works dependent upon photography for their being; but of all that have hitherto been issued none have approached in grandeur of scale and excellence to the two truly magnificent volumes now before us, published by Mr. James S. Virtue, of the City Road, and of Ivy Lane, London.

            These volumes—got up in a style that renders them a fit ornament for any drawing-room—contains no less than seventy-five views, chiefly of the highest order of merit as regards execution and interest of subject, and are such as are calculated to make the work an addition of importance to any library.  In them the artist, the antiquary, the architect, and the historian will find abundant material wherewith to satisfy the cravings of their respective desires, while the general admirer of the beautiful will be no less gratified.

            The very titles of the illustrations are enough to arrest the attention; and when we say that in general the executions of each picture is worthy of its subject, we can scarcely pronounce much higher commendation.  Were we to assert that in all the proofs the execution is equal we should be misleading out readers; when could such a declaration be truthfully made with regard even to any extensive series of engravings?  How could it then be expected that in photographs perfect uniformity could be attained?  None of the series are mediocre—all have considerable merit—whilst by far the majority are of a very high character; those that are the least satisfactorily treated being the extended distant views, such as Bethlehem and Distant View of Damascus, and one or two others, in which a want of definition rather mars the effect.  It is possible that the defect named may have arisen from an imperfection in the lens employed, or for the want of a little humouring, which some lenses require when taking “distance.”  With these trifling exceptions, we have scarcely a fault to find with the entire series.

            This magnificent work is issued to subscribers only, and completed in twenty-five parts, each part containing three views, of about nine inches by seven inches in size, accompanied by descriptive letterpress, on which we have somewhat also to remark.

            In most works of illustration the letterpress is commonly treated as so much waste paper.  It is, however, not likely to meet this fate in the work before us, it being interestingly descriptive, lively, and to the purpose, without being too diffuse, as is commonly the case.  It is written by Mr. Frith, and though much consists of compilation, much also is original.  Where extracts have been taken from previous publications they have been judiciously selected, and only resorted to when the information given is such as could not have been so readily acquired by the author’s own experience.

            We consider, by the way, that we have a right to regard Mr. Frith with peculiar interest, he having been originally a Liverpool Photographer.

            Besides the mass of information connected specially with the various subjects delineated, there is much also of interest to the photographer, and the whole is put together in a very pleasant, unconventional style.  There are many little extracts that we should like to have given, but our space will not permit us to indulge in more than the two following—for the present at least.  We will begin with something photographic:  let us take the introduction:--

            “ ‘Salaam!’—Peace be with thee, oh, thou pleasant Buyer of my book!

It is my intention, should my life be spared, and should the present undertaking prove successful, to present to the public, from time to time, my impressions of foreign lands, illustrated by photographic views.

I have chosen, as a beginning of my labours, the two most interesting lands of the globe—Egypt and Palestine.  Were but the character of the pen for severe truthfulness as unimpeachable as that of the camera, what graphic pictures might they together paint!  But we scarcly (sic) expect from a traveller ‘the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.’  Hear Albert Smith, himself an accomplished traveller, and a popular author:-- ‘Artists and writers will study effect, rather than graphic truth.  The florid description of some modern book of travel is as different from the actual impressions of ninety-nine people out of a hundred, allowing all these persons to possess average education, perception, and intellect, when painting in their minds the same subject, as artfully tinted lithograph, or picturesque engraving of the portfolio or annual, is from the faithful photography.’  Nobody that has ever floated in a dahibieh will argue that any existing Nile book conveys ‘graphic truth.’  Yet it does not follow, O Albert Smith, that a photograph, because it is not ‘over-coloured,’ is therefore faithful.  I am all too deeply enamoured of the gorgeous, sunny East, to feign that my insipid, colourless pictures are by any means just to her spiritual charms.  But, indeed, I hold it to be impossible, by any means, fully and truthfully to inform the mind of scenes which are wholly foreign to the eye.  There is no effectual substitute for actual travel; but it is my ambition to provide for those to whom circumstances forbid that luxury faithful representations of the scenes I have witnessed, and I shall endeavour to make the simple truthfulness of the camera a guide for my pen.

Now we shall see (if my bungling does not spoil the match) what sort of chance Fact has with Fiction in the race for popularity.

It is certain that a very large proportion—probably two-thirds—of the entire reading of the British public consists of works of fiction.  Everybody, almost—[poem, not copied]   But few, I fear, can tolerate simple truthfulness:  there is not enough of excitement in it.  Even Englishmen relish a little of that pleasant hyperbole which the Orientals stretch to its limit of tension.  It is remarkable that perhaps every book of world-wide fame (except the Holy Scriptures) is a romance.  Shakspeare, Miltohn, Dante, nearly all the poets are novelists:  Cervantes, Bunya, DeFoe, Harriett Stove—all novelists.  Furthermore, a man sitting quietly at home in London or New York may write even a Book of Travel, and an artist may compose for it a series of illustrations, with every chance of success, upon the most scanty materials, and without the cost and labour of travelling.  It is an artist’s privilege to ‘make a picture’ of his subject; but, alas for the poor photographer! and alack for the man who will write the truth, if he can, at all hazards!—they must be dull.

A photographer only knows—he only can appreciate the difficulty of getting a view satisfactorily into the camera:  foregrounds are especially perverse; distance too near or too far; the falling away of the ground; the intervention of some brick-wall or other commonplace object, which an artist would simply omit; some or all of these things (with plenty others of a similar character) are the rule, not the exception.  I have often thought, when manoeuvring about for a position for my camera, of the exclamation of the great mechanist of antiquity--  ‘Give me a fulcrum for my lever, and I will move the world.’  Oh what pictures we would make if we could command our points of view!

I may be allowed to state, as giving additional value to good photographs of eastern antiquities, that a change is rapidly passing over many of the most interesting.  In addition to the corroding tooth of time, and the ceaseless drifting of the remorseless sand, temples and tombs are exposed to continued plundering:  governors of districts take the huge blocks of stones, and the villagers walk off with the available bricks, whilst travellers of all nations break up and carry off, without scruple, the most interesting of the sculptured friezes and the most beautiful of the architectural ornaments.

The difficulties which I had to overcome in working collodion in those hot and dry climates, were also very serious.  When, at the second cataract, one thousand miles from the mouth of the Nile, with the thermometer at a hundred and ten degrees in my tent, the collodion actually boiled when poured upon the glass plate, I almost despaired of success.  By degrees, however, I overcame this and other difficulties; but I suffered a good deal throughout the journey from the severe labour rendered necessary by the rapidity with which every stage of the process must be conducted in climates such as these, and from excessive perspiration, consequent upon the suffocating heat of a small tent, from which every ray of light, and consequently every breath of air, was necessarily excluded.

I think I will confess to a weakness for rapid production in all that I undertake.  My views have been taken, for the most part, whilst my friends were hastily inspecting the scene or object copied; and as for any letterpress, I can only write rapidly, and in the very words which first occur; I dar not revise—out goes one-half that I have written, and the remainder is intolderably dull.  I have, however, one consolation, viz., that if the critics will be good enough not to call disagreeable attention to my writing, not one person in ten will think of looking at it.  Scarcely any one ever does read the letterpress which accompanies a series of views, any more than one thinks of scrutinising the ‘gold­sticks' who shuffle, as a matter of course, after a royal pageant.  Doubtless I am indebted for this security to the learned dullness of the great men who have hitherto invariably written for illustrated works, not one of whom, as far as I recollect, has been personally acquainted with the scenes which he undertook to describe.  I am perfectly content that my own descriptive matter should be thus considered as entirely subordinate to the views.  I have neither had time for elaborate investigations on the spot, nor is present space afforded for much topographical or critical detail:  upon such points I shall often prefer simply to quote the opinions at which other and more useful investigators have arrived.”

           

            In order to give his subscribers an ideal of the costume of the true believers, as the followers of Mahomet style themselves, Mr. Frith presents his own portrait as he appeared when attired as a Turk, touching which he says:--

“Turkish trowsers I shrink from describing; but if any of my readers have a fancy for a pair, they are welcome to the following recipe, which I pledge myself is literally correct: -- Take four yards of broad-cloth of some brilliant colour, fold the piece in the middle and sew up the end; you will thus have a bag six feet wide and five feet deep, open at top and at bottom; sew up the bottom, except a small hole at each extreme corner for the feet to come through, and your trousers, à la Turque, are complete.  To wear them the top of the bag must be bodkined, puckered, and gathered round the body with a worsted sash of bright colours and voluminous folds.  The two yards of heavy double cloth which, as it were, webs the legs together, like the connecting membrane of the foot of a goose, hangs, you may imagine, with awful square solidity in the mid space; and when the far gentleman walks, or rather waddles and rolls along, how it sways, and pendulates, and thumps, first against one leg and then against the other!”

 

            There is one little matter for which we feel some regret, and that is, that in consequence of the publication being in “parts,” the proprietor has judiciously enough managed to issue in each of the “parts” as great a variety of subjects as possible; but the binder of the book ash as injudiciously arranged them in precisely the same order (a proceeding wholly unnecessary, as neither the plates nor the letterpress bear any paging or numbering), and we are consequently bandied about from pillar to post—now Egypt, now Palestine—up and down, backwards and forwards, in the most erratic manner possible.  We would strongly recommend the numerous subscribers whom we are convinced will become purchasers of this beautiful work to have the several plates with the descriptive letterpress arranged in something like an order of locality for binding, which could very readily be done with but little trouble.

            In our next we shall proceed to describe critically the magnificent plates with illustrate the work.

 

1860:   BJP Feb. 1, vol. VII; # 111, p. 39. [transcribed directly from journal, no print-out]

            Liverpool Photographic Club, [meeting; exhibits]

            ….Very great interest was excited by the exhibition of a large collection of plates by the long-neglected and ill-appreciated process of Daguerre.  Mr. W. G. Helsby, who had resided for a long time in South America, had brought some truly brilliant reminiscences of his sojourn there.  They are all full-plate size, and remarkable for their high finish and perfect preservation.  He took occasion to point out that there was no process at present known that was equal to the Daguerreotype for the delineation of every salient point in the perspective, however distant or near at hand; and certainly many of the sierras were represented in their wild and trackless vastness with frightful fidelity.

Arequipa, a large city at the base of a volcano, was beautifully and tastefully rendered, with an evening light, artistically chosen, gilding all the prominent buildings; Tia Yuanaca, a flourishing city, but which was known previously to have existed as a vast ruin, three hundred years before the invasion of the Spaniards; Puno, a city of Bolivia, with its church built by the Jesuits from the ruins of the original Yuanaca, where the natives were in so deplorable a state of destitution, that the fee of one dollar demanded by the ecclesiastics for the burial of their dead was beyond their means, while a very unhealthy season with its consequent sickness, and concomitant death was raging.  A striking contrast was afforded by the halt of the caravan in the wilderness, with only a few roofless walls of loose stones to protect the wayfarers from the bleak driving wind, and the comforts of the yard of Jack Brothers.  In this picture the ordinary beast ofr burden, viz., the lama, a large and somewhat spiteful animal of the goat or rather alpaca tribe, excited great attention.  Much regard was also given to the frozen lake, Las Lagunillas, 13,000 feet above the level of the sea, the waters of which are unceasingly chained up in ‘thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice,’ the warmest day in summer having power only to dissolve the charm at its merest edge, and for only one hour in the day….”

 

1860:   BJP Feb. 1, vol. VII; # 111, p. 41-42.

            London Photographic Society’s Exhibition.

            The Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Society was, as intimated in our last, opened to the public on Friday, the 13^th ult., the private view having been held on the preceding day, on which occasion there was such a goodly gathering of photographers and their friends, that in the course of the day the visitors perhaps outnumbered the works exhibited, and, in consequence, there was not much possibility of seeing to advantage:  there was, however, no lack of something to be heard.

            The first thing that strikes one on entering the room is that, in returning to the old quarters occupied by the society for several years in succession *until the last two), we have literally come back and can almost fancy the collection to be the same as we last saw there, so familiar is the aspect presented by the general arrangement of the room.  There are, however, on the present occasion but very few striking pictures that stand prominently forward from amongst the general mass; yet it must not be supposed from this assertion that the collection is not a good one—on the contrary, it is precisely because the whole collection is generally highly meritorious that the absence of any markedly striking feature is felt.  We must, however, make one exception with regard to this statement; for the place of honour at the west end of the room is occupied by a production that is certainly conspicuous in a pre-eminent degree, we mean (No. 338) a copy of the cartoon, Paul Preaching at Athens, photographed by C. Thurston Thompson, and coloured by J. S. Morgan as to resemble the original before the colour was partially destroyed by age..  The picture is upon a very large scale, and as an illustration of what can be effected in this way by the aid of photography, is truly valuable; in fact, it shows us how, by a judicious combination of science and art, we may rescue many invaluable works from nearly total seclusion, and, at the same time, goes far to enable us almost to bid defiance to the destructive hand of time; for just as the printing press preserves the spirit of the manuscript so does this new application of the camera and the pencil preserve the spirit of the painting, in producing copies too numerous and, consequently, too widely diffused to allow of their running much chance of total extinction.

            We have often before had occasion to deprecate the abuse of the brush with regard to photography:  it is therefore with the greater pleasure that we feel able to recognize its legitimate application.  We cannot refrain also from noticing Mr. Thompson’s good taste in not attempting to overdo a good thing.  This single specimen is more effective than a dozen of the same tribe would be, and where the size is so large, the space required is an important consideration.  No one can grudge it for the one fine specimen; but with a room of such moderate dimensions as that occupied, a greater number of the cartoons, even if as well executed as the one under consideration, would have been embarrassing.  Mr. Thompson’s moderation is therefore  satisfactory as well as graceful.

            The general arrangement of the works does credit to the hanging committee.  There are, however, some very meritorious specimens that occupy but indifferent, not to say bad places.  Some of them we shall have to notice hereafter, when we can manage to see them; but on making inquiries of the custodian of the collection, we were informed that the works so placed were not sent in until long after the last day fixed for receiving contributions, and most of them not until after the arrangement of the pictures was completed and the catalogue partly framed.  Under these circumstances, though we are sorry that works deserving a better situation should be so placed that they can only be imperfectly seen, we do not think that the producers can justly complain.  They have only themselves to blame; for it would be simply impossible to re-arrange the whole at the last moment, even if those who have devoted their gratuitous labour and valuable experience to the performance of an onerous and thankless duty were inclined to do it.  There is one suggestion which we would offer to the gentlemen of the hanging committee:  that to exonerate themselves from want of due discrimination, they should append a label to all specimens that have been thus unavoidably badly placed for examination, indicating the unreasonable lateness of time at which they were sent in.  it is our opinion that had they been altogether excluded the committee would have been quite justified in such a decision, and their being included at all should be regarded as a concession.

            It is with considerable satisfaction we observe that the printing of the several productions is of a high character:  this has been more and more noticeable at each succeeding exhibition, and tends to display the growing conviction of the great importance of this part of the manipulation.  We also recognize the fact that there are more lady exhibitors than have ever hitherto favoured us, and we think there is not improbably some connection between the two circumstances.  Photographic printing is an employment peculiarly adapted for female industry, and when once sufficiently interested in the occupation to undertake it, it is not surprising that some at least of our photographic sisters should like to try their skill at producing negatives.  It is with much pleasure that we welcome them amongst our effective volunteers.  We may here remark, en passant, that one of the most beautiful landscape pictures in the exhibition (No. 463) is the handiwork of a lady.

            We would recommend for the future the addition of some initials at least to the intimation as given in the present catalogue, which merely indicates—“by a lady.”   The regulations require the name of the photographer, and though we are quite willing to admit that ladies should be entirely at liberty to withhold their names if they please, it is rather puzzling when we find works evidently by different hands described in the same manner.  This will no doubt suggest itself to the fair exhibitors for the future; the intimation simply “by a lady” being evidence of the novelty of the position—each one of course supposing that it would be sufficient distinction.

            We will now proceed to take a rapid glance at the various works.  Time will not permit us to review in detail more than a fraction of those that deserve special notice, the average of excellence being, as we before stated, very high.  We shall therefore content ourselves on the present occasion with general rather than particular remarks.

            Amongst the veteran contributors we observe the names of Bedford, Fenton, Gutch, Hennah, Lyte, Morgan, Robinson, Rosling, Thompson, Williams, &c., &c.  But several old friends are altogether unrepresented.  For instance, we miss the thoughtful productions of Rejlander, the charming rural scenes of Turner, the finished studies of Llewellyn, and many others for which we naturally look;’ but on the other hand we have some new recruits.

            Occupying the post of honour at the east end of the room, and exactly facing the cartoon before noticed, we find a mass of Mr. Fenton’s charming landscapes, &c., of which we may mention particularly (No. 134). The Keeper’s Rest, Ribbleside, which displays a wooded nook beside the river, where the guardians of wood and stream are assembled for their mid-day refreshment:  it is altogether a refreshing picture.  Nos. 131 and 142 are companions, and are both excellent subjects, but not given with Mr. Fenton’s usual ability.  No. 120, however, is on the contrary a perfect gem:  it presents a portion of The Cloisters, New College, Oxford, and is very artistic in its treatment.  No. 121, The Lily House, Botanic Garden, Oxford, deserves especial commendation, and is not only a picture but a valuable botanical illustration.  The two last are of smaller dimensions than most of Mr. Fenton’s works, but of a size that we very much prefer.  We think, also that they are on this account more likely to attain a much larger circulation than those of very great size.

            We notice also that Mr. Fenton has been unusually successful in copying a painting by Lance, as exhibited in No. 116, where the equivalent of colour in light and shade is very happily accomplished.  “May his shadow never be less!”—not an inappropriate sentiment towards a landscape photographer, as it presupposes the presence of sunshine.

            Mr. Henry White exhibits some very carefully-executed landscapes of large sizes.  No. 155, The Wheat Field, and No. 115, Scotch Firs, struck us as favourite examples, in which pleasing subjects are rendered with plenty of nice half-tone and well posed.

            Mr. Bedford charms us as usual with his highly-finished cabinet-picture style.  Our especial favourite is (No. 238) Moel Siabod, at [sic] (No. 216) View at Aber, (217) Pont-y-Pair, and (227) View at Capel Curig – all in North Wales – are decidedly above the average, that is, Mr. Bedford’s average, and consequently super-excellent.

            We are pleased to observe that Mr. Bedford has taken two views in Chester, one in Bridge Street, the other in Eastgate Street.  “food for the camera,” but somewhat difficult to get at, owing to the extreme narrowness of the streets.

            Conway Castle seems a very favourite subject, if we may judge from the frequency of its occurrence.  We have it by Mr. Bedford (in No. 225) from a more picturesque point of view than usual.  There are two illustrations of it by S.H.G. (a Liverpool lady, as we are credibly informed), No. 63 and 306, both beautifully printed from photographs in which Conway Castle has not figured.  It is something like the Finding the Body of Harold amongst the knights of the palette.

            Mr. John H. Morgan, of Bristol, whose exquisite productions we have several times noticed on former occasions, contributes many beautiful landscapes, &c., amongst which we prefer No. 90, View near Chagford, a lovely combination of wood and water; No. 93, The Cart Shed, a capital study; and No. 465, View at Aber.  This last is taken from a spot not far from that chosen by Mr. Bedford (No. 216); but let those who deride photography as a mechanical art look at the two and own that the impress of the individual is undeniably stamped on each.  Both are excellent, yet how different the treatment!  The two gentlemen named appear to have been following much the same track during the past season.

            Messrs. Ross and Thompson, of Edinburgh, have furnished some of their valuable studies of what we may call roadside plants, as No. 80 Marsh Coltsfoot; No. 95 Hemlock; No. 305 Reeds and Water Plantain.  These are botanical illustrations, artists’ studies, and pictures, all in  one.

            Mr. Henry P. Robinson, of Leamington, is the principal contributor of figure subjects.  We have already mentioned that he is to be the recipient of the Prize Medal of the Photographic Society of Scotland, for his group designated Here they come! (No. 429), a well-posed group of two peasant girls on a moorland, one of them being prone on the heath, the other wearing a sun-bonnet, and shading her eyes with her left hand, while she is looking eagerly for the coming of her expected companions.  There are several groups that we have before noticed in these pages at length, as well as many new ones, amongst which No. 504, Studies, No. 447, the Lady of Shalott, No. 459, A Cottage Home, No. 462, Lavinia, are deserving of attention.

            We mentioned in the earlier part of this notice that there were several lady exhibitors.  On the screen next the door there are four which we judge to be by the same hand, though of very different degrees of merit.  No. 412 is under-exposed, nut No. 413, Village Carpenters, is very good in manipulation, though the pose is a little stiff and formal.  No. 390,  Interior of a Church in Salop, affords evidence of future promise in the operator.

            Mr. F. M. Lyte displays a goodly number of his continental gems—some fifteen or sixteen we reckoned, perhaps there are more—all good, some perfectly beautiful, as, for instance, No. 448, St. Jean-pied de Port, Haute Pyrénées, in which there is a combination of sky, water, and, above all, atmosphere, that cannot fail to delight the eye of an artist.  No. 436, Le Chaos de Gavarnie, No. 96, Le Pas de l’Echelle, and No. 172, Le Pont de Bétharram, are, perhaps, amongst the extra charming ones.

            No. 488, Near Coniston, Lancashire, by James Mudd, of Manchester, is an exquisite landscape, in which the distant hills are beautifully softened by the intervening atmosphere’; the waters leaping from rock to rock are transparent; and the whole subject is well chosen and as well executed.  This is the picture which wins the prize medal at Edinburgh in the landscape competition.  We notice that it is by the collodio-albumen process.  We have several others of Mr. Mudd’s productions to notice, but as they are mostly by a dry process we shall postpone any further mention of them until a future number, as we wish to contrast them with others also by dry processes, and treat of the whole of these together as they do not hold a place one whit inferior to those from moist plates, when considered en masse.  Amongst those to comment on we have reserved some very fine pictures by Mr. Rosling, Mrs. Verschoyle, Mr. Sykes Ward, Mr. Melhuish, Mr. S. Bourne, &c., &c.  With regard to the last-named, we perceive with much satisfaction that he has made wonderful progress since last year in artistic excellence:  his manipulation was then of very high character, and, if we remember rightly, he only missed securing the prize given by the Nottingham Society in consequence of the pictures he sent in for competition being somewhat deficient in this quality.  Should that circumstance have directed his attention to the failing, the apparent loss will have been a positive gain of no slight value.  We have not half exhausted our notes, but the length to which we have already extended this notice warns us for the present to close our observations.

 

1860:  BJP Feb. 15, vol. VII, #112, p. 50:     GET MISSING PORTIONS

            Notices of Recently Published Stereographs.

            The Gibbous Moon – Samuel Fry, Brighton.—It has been observed that the first ocular demonstration of the globular form of the satellite was presented to us by means of the stereoscope.  In the last volume [FIND] we noticed the publication by Mr. Fry of a stereoscopic illustration of the Full Moon:  he has more recently produced one in the phase known as gibbous.  The negatives from which the two pictures are printed were taken at an interval of eleven months apart, and the variation in points of view is equivalent to an angle of 6 ¼ degrees.  The left hand picture was taken at the Hove Observatory (belonging to Mr. Howell), at the latter part of November, 1858, and the right hand one not till the middle of October of last year.  The moon’s age, as represented in the stereograph before us, is about sixty hours after the full, and owing to the obliquity of illumination many very beautiful volcanic craters and cones on the gibbous edge are rendered visible, the shadows produced by the irregularities of the surface tending materially to enhance the brilliancy of the effect.

            Owing to the satellite being in Apogee when one of the negatives was obtained, and in Perigee when the other was taken, the respective sizes of the corresponding pair were materially different just as would happen in fact if an operator were to take a portrait of a sitter for one picture when located at the extremity of  a glass room, and the other when he had moved a third of the distance nearer to the lens:  it will therefore be readily understood that it is requisite to resort to some ingenuity in order to print from them so as to make them combine harmoniously together.  We have no doubt that the present one will be even more popular than the former publication.

            We understand that Mr. Fry is still indefatigably pursuing astro-photographic labours, and tat we may hope ere long to be introduced to some other magnates of the stellar circle.

 

1860:  BJP Feb. 15, vol. VII, #112, pp. 50-51.   

            Notes of a Photographic Tour in the Holy Land. No. XIII

            The next morning the sun broke in the east with all the signs of a storm; the sun came up upon the hills of Lebanon with a red glow, and the clouds that lay in the east were of the same tint so that John, when he came out of the tent, quoted the words of the Saviour, and said, “We shall now know if the weather signs are the same in Holy Land as they were two thousand years ago, for the morning is red and lowering.”

            We were in the saddle early, and rode off before the men had struck the tents.  Following down the sea shore we soon came to a small village, known as Sarfend, which is the ancient Sarepta, or Zarephath.  You recollect it—what child is there in Christian lands that does not recollect it?—as the place of that wonderful barrel of meal and curse of oil which the prophet gave to the widow woman, whom he found at the gate gathering sticks.   There is an exquisite beauty in that story of the woman and her child, which impressed me in boyhood perhaps more than any other of all those Bible stories in which children so much delight.  Hence the peculiar pleasure with which I rode over the hill, and looking at the modern village, recalled the scene when the prophet asked of her water to drink, and she went and fetched it.

            We did not pause here longer than was necessary to enable me to take a view.  Other places of interest were before us, and we wished to have all the afternoon at Cana, if, perchance, we could find any place that would fully satisfy our notions of the locality of that city of the first miracle.  We accordingly put our horses to their best speed where the road would allow it, and hastened to the southward by the same road we had gone the previous day with our friends.  Long before noon a driving storm commenced and we repented our fondness for society that had gotten us into this dull ride, retracing our steps in the face of a tempest.  You wil (sic) observe that our trip to Beyrout rendered necessary a return all the way to Acre, or nearly there, before we should be able to turn off to the eastward towards Nazareth and Cana.

            But we pressed on; and, in spite of the rain and wind and cold, we did resist the temptation to pause at Tyre, and actually reached Acre that afternoon; but here we incontinently gave up our plan, and dashed into the city.  Never was shelter more welcome.  We found such lodgings as we had had in Tyre, and slept soundly in spire of myriads of fleas.

            In the morning I awoke, and found the weather clear and fine.  John was sleeping soundly, but I roused him with a bucket of water.  Capital places these oriental huts, where nothing is harmed by lashing a pail of water over a drowsy friend in bed.  His bed was the corner of the room, its furniture nothing; mine had been as soft and warm,--the next square to John.  He sprang to his feet, shook himself, and was awake—in fine humour; thankful for the bath which we improved on by a plunge in the surf of the Mediterranean, and then we set off in search of our people.

            Perhaps you wou’d (sic) like to know what a night’s lodging cost us in Acre—Akka, as they call it; Ptolemais of old fame.  It cost three piastres, that is, eight-pence each, including a chicken and coffee in the evening, and two chickens and two coffees in the morning, and this we were obliged to force on our host, who was a Mussulman, and had taken us in from pure compassion.  You will say that we might have paid him more liberally.  So we might, but that it was necessary to offer no more than the market price, that our account might be square.  We paid him what was customary, and he could not reproach us with using his hospitality and overpowering his merit by a large payment.  Nevertheless, when we were mounted in our saddles again, John dropped into the hand of our host a piece of silver “for the poor,” which—let us be charitable—probably went to the benefit of at least one poor wretch I could name in Akka.

            It was high noon when we rode over the hills that commanded a view of Cana, the city of the miracle, now a deserted village.  There was nothing whatever here to interest us, except the history which gave such sublime character to the hills and plain around the white houses of the little hamlet.  All Syrian villages are alike:--a mass of low houses, usually built tudely of the white lime-stone of the country; the roofs are chiefly stone in the better houses, but in the poorer are brick and mud; the interiors are plastered walls and mud floors.  Sometimes a partition of mud is built across, not rising to the roof; but usually the hut has but one room.  Hence it is useless for me to describe to you the present appearance of these old places.  They are all modern Syrian villages.

            The tents were not at Cana.  I enquired of the natives, but could learn nothing of Hassan and his people.  So, turning our horses; heads, we crossed the country in the direction of Nazareth.

            Two strangers traveling alone, and without guides and attendants, presented a tempting subject of robbery to the Ishmaelites of the hill country.  Our intention to go to Nazareth was known while we were lingering and making enquiries about Cana, and three or four worthy inhabitants of the place laid a plan to intercept us.

            We had scarcely advanced a mile on the way when we were met by a party suddenly riding down on us from a cross valley.  Their intent, long before they reached us, was sufficiently manifest, and we drew up to meet them. 

            Some half-dozen times I have had encounters with these scoundrels of Syrians, and found them always alike, thorough cowards of the most cowardly sort.

            As they came down on us we drew our revolvers, and covered them.  The demonstration was sufficient.  They pulled up suddenly, and paused in a mass to consider.

            “Who are you?” they demanded.

            “None of your business,” was the cool reply.

            “But it is our business.  These are our lands.  This is our country.”

            “This is God’s land, and by the help of God we are passing through it; for he is the special protector of Englishmen.”

            “What do you wish?” they asked.

            “Only that you go quietly by that road to Cana.  If you go not, in three minutes the vengeance of Allah will descend upon you in the shape of bullets of lead.  See, we carry the weapons of Satan”—and I showed them the barrels of a revolver pointed at their heads.

            The leader fell from his horse to the ground at the sight, and crawled up to John’s side, and began kissing his foot.

            We ordered them home, and home they went, we taking care that they should not see our backs till they were on a hill out of the reach of bullets, and then we went like lightning over to Nazareth.

            As we descended the ravine on the side of which Nazareth is situated, we caught sight of the tents of a party of travelers among the olive trees which are near the Fountain of the Virgin and the Greek Church.  They shone white and pleasantly among the dark green foliage, and in a few moments we could see our own dingy canvas among them, and recognize our servants, who stood in front of the fountain.  They did not shout as we approached.  There was, on the contrary, a profound silence over every thing, which we had difficulty in explaining.  WE rode up at a gallop, calling out to Selim as we approached, to know if all was right.

            All was right with our affairs; but the other tents proved to be those of our late fellow travellers, and the lady was lying very ill—they believe dying.

            The intelligence was a shock.  We had thought of meeting them again; but when we parted at Samaria we were all confident she was so much improved, that all apprehension of danger for her health and life were gone.

            You may think it somewhat strange that our approach to Nazareth, the place of the youth of Christ, should have failed in producing sufficient impression on us even to keep in our minds the idea that it was Nazareth, when we heard this sad story of our fair companion.  But there was something about that young girl—a gentleness, a purity, and withal a glow of enthusiasm, which had endeared her to both of us more than I can tell you.  I had laughed hitherto at John’s delicate attentions to her; but my honest friend, frank and generous in all his dealings, did not love the beautiful American girl any more sincerely than did I and every one else who met her in her sad pilgrimage.

            We found her lying in the tent, on the low iron bedstead, pale, calm , and cheerful, but manifestly very weak, and very near that end of earthly pilgrim-walks to which we are all more or less rapidly traveling.  She welcomed us with a cheerful “Good afternoon,” and spoke with the utmost delight of the few days of pleasure she had had since we parted.  From Samaria they had crossed the southern branch of the plain of Esdraelon, resting at various places, among which was one day at the tower of ancient Jezreel, and another at Nain, and yet another on the summit of Mount Tabor.  “It is glorious,” she said, “on that hill top, to look around on Galilee, and down into the blue depths of the Lake of Gennesaret!”

            We have been resting now one week at Nazareth.  This is the eighth day, and she is to-day stronger and better.  She has had changes—now for the better and now for the worse.  Meantime we could not go and leave her or her friends.  I shall have a busy time while we remain here.  I have already marked out a dozen points of view of Nazareth and the surrounding country.  Every spot is teeming with historical interest, and natural beauty, and I long to set to work with my camera, for a rich harvest awaits me.  But I sign for collodion, wet or dry, “near or preserved.”

            It is a long time since I saw a number of The Photographic Journal, and I look forward to the coming batch with as much interest as a school-boy for his plum-cake.  D.T.

 

1860:   BJP Feb. 15, vol. VII, # 112, p. 55:

            Manchester Photographic Society.

            Meeting of this society was held on the 1^st instant, at the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical Society, 36, George Street; Mr. Parry in the Chair.

            Mr. Marley explained that he had not been able to prepare his paper on the Paper-Printing Process as he had intended, but would have it ready for the next meeting.

            The Hon. Secretary [name not provided] read a letter from Mr. Davies, of Warrington, presenting six photographs for the Society’s portfolio; also suggesting that the Manchester Photographic society might form a Photographic Exchange Club, on a similar plan to the London one, and that he (Mr. Davies) would willingly join such a club.

            The plan of the London Club was stated to be something like the following:--A club is formed of a certain number of members, say fifty, each member contributes as many copies of his own negative as there are members, and receives in exchange a copy of each member’s contribution, including one of his own, bound up in the form of a book.

            The subject was generally discussed and approved of by the members, and it was suggested that those who were willing to join should send in their names to the honorary secretary, and that the subject should be brought before the next meeting for further consideration.

            Mr. Cottam contributed a copy of the landscape photograph taken by the panoramic lens.

            A very animated and interesting discussion took place on various subjects by those present’; and after a vote of thanks to Mr. Parry, for his services in the chair, the proceedings closed at about nine o’clock.

 

1860:   BJP Feb. 15, vol. VII, # 112, p. 55

            Exhibition of the Photographic Society of Scotland.

            Since I last communicated with you I find that your journals and two others reached the address I gave you, to await me in Edinburgh.  Circumstances prevented my writing in time for your last publication, as I purposed doing.  Since then I have been enabled to pay the Society’s rooms several more visits; and I now find that Mr. Brady’s (New York) picture, No. 269, is labeled “touched picture,” perhaps in consequence of the remonstrance in your Journal.  An addition has also been made in the interim of a portrait of John Brown, the noted Harper’s Ferry martyr.  He is a tall, brave, noble-looking fellow, with independence stamped by nature on his manly brow; as physically strong in limb as inflexible in purpose, and worthy the respect of every conscientious man and philanthropist.

            I shall begin my remarks with Mr. H.P. Robinson’s (Leamington) compositions.  They have, no doubt, cost much trouble and great care, yet they are not effective or pleasing to the eye.  There is a vacuity and emptiness, both of subject and detail, in nearly all of them, and often an incongruity in their several parts.  It requires a peculiarly constituted mind to grasp and delineate, in an imposing manner, ideal pictures assimilated to nature, so that the several parts shall be proportionate in degree, and in keeping with the subject designed to be illustrated.  I am, notwithstanding, happy to observe that the Society has awarded its first medal to Mr. Robinson’s picture (No. 470), Here they come! In consideration of his untiring perseverance in this branch of the art, there being no other competitor in the field for pictures of this class.

            Mr. Mudd, of Manchester, takes the other medal for his picture (No. 627), Waterfall near Coniston.  This is a remarkably fine picture, and pleasing in every respect.  It is an excellent composition—grey, time-worn rocks, over which a small cascade of water is falling in the immediate foreground, with glorious far-reaching undulating mountains in the distance, melting into the sky, conveying sublime emotions to the mind of the vast and glorious works of the great Architect of nature.  Mr. Mudd contributes various other excellent pieces—such as No. 5231, Dunham Park, Cheshire,--a study embracing lofty trees, with a winding avenue amongst the stems, bordered on each side by the green shaved sward, cooling to the feet and refreshing to the eye.

            There are several excellent picked copies of Fenton’s works, not sent by himself, but introduced by one of the dealers here.  They are fine, rich landscapes—woodland and river—on the Hodder.  They are clean, well-defined prints, fully equal to anything I have seen from his hand of late.

            Messrs. J. Dixon Piper, Henry White, and Maxwell Lyte, all send good pictures, No. 529, Mr. Piper’s Gainsborough Lane, near Ipswich, is a beautiful specimen, and perhaps the choicest of his contributions in landscape.  But he excels also in architectural subjects.  Nos. 265, Abbey Gate, and 292, Norman Tower, Bury St. Edmund’s, are without exception the finest specimens of architecture on the walls.  There is scarcely any observable aberration proceeding from the curves of the lens; the lines are nearly perpendicular, all in good focus, and the proofs altogether are very choice and effective.—Mr. Lyte’s pictures are mostly mountain scenery in France.  They want breadth and atmosphere:  they are by the metagelatine process, and greatly inferior to Mr. Mudd’s. – Henry White remains steadfastly attached to his Scotch firs and corn-fields.  I should like to see the result of his trying an ash, or silver beck, “The Lady of the woods,” with its quivering leaves.  I have seen an ash and willow tree here, though not in the Exhibition, most perfect in the foliage, and the leaves beautifully distinct.

            Mr. Morgan, of Bristol, sends some artistic specimens, the composition good, with fine aërial effect; but I think they are scarcely up to the mark of those exhibited by him last year.  No.674 is excellent, and has in it the elements of a rich landscape:  a light, lofty Roman arch, overhung with ivy, the water in little streamlets gurgling through amongst large rounded stones, with high, rising, naked, barren rocky cliffs in the distance.  Several other by this artist are very successful studies.

            There are very few albumen proofs.  The most choice specimen is by Mr. M’Pherson of Rome—subject, The Forum, Rome, well known among the dealers.

            Maull and Polybank, as usual, send a large quota of heads, two being office-bearers in the Scotch Society:--sir David Brewster, the President; and William Walker, Esq., a Member of the Council.  Sir David Brewster’s portrait wants life and animation:  it is more like the portrait of a statue than of an active, intelligent mind.  Some are better, but all are indebted to the brush.

            There is a curious selection of Indian subjects by Mr. Williamson, principally rows of figures in the same plane, entirely void of atmosphere and distance—such as Indian Chiefs; a Hindoo on his way to be executed; a Mahomedan Priest; Religious Devotees; a Hedge Schoo, &c.,  They are curious for loungers to look at, but scarcely serve any other purpose.

            The President of the United States—an enlarged portrait by Brady—is on the same screen, and in another frame a considerable number of his senators, combining every variety of countenance.  But the gems are two heliographic pictures by Charles Negre, exhibited by the manager of the Kensington Museum.  They are large plates, representing the gorgeously elaborate architecture of the mediæval age.  The proofs are taken from steel or copper, which is shown by the indentation on the paper.  If these are really untouched specimens, and can be produced by the ordinary methods of steel and copper-plate printing, they indicate a very rapid progress.

            The Messrs. Hay, as I mentioned before, send a large number of portraits, several of which are very creditable productions, by are inferior to those by Rodger.

            Messrs. Brady (New York), Messrs. Cramb Brothers (Glasgow), and Mr. Ramage (Edinburgh), all try their hands at enlarging from smaller pictures.  I would advise any one having a respect for his natural countenance to forbid this experiment.

            Messrs. Kirk, Zeigler, and Walker all exhibit some pretty landscapes.  The former sends the scene of one of the poet’s choicest melodies;; “Sweet fa’s the eve on Craigie burn.”  This is a beautiful specimen of foliage in a deep dell, taken during a profound calm, nature being in perfect repose.  It is the only paper proof exhibited by Mr. Kirk by the wet-collodion process.—the other two gentlemen named above both exhibit views on the Esk, by the waxed-paper process.  In this locality there appear to be some lovely spots well adapted for the panoramic lens.

            Mr. McCraw seems to be devoting his energies to stereotyping public bodies and corporations, such as the Town Council and St. John’s Kirk Session.

            There is an other advantage to be gained by Mr. McCraw’s taking the matter in hand:  he can print by the everlasting positive ink process without silver—as witness No. 130, The Scott Monument, and a very excellent proof it is.

            There are many more pictures deserving to be prominently noticed, especially those of Mr. Rodger, of St. Andrew’s, whose portraits of master and Miss Gordon (No. 87) have been awarded the ten pounds Maconochie Welwood prize.  All his pictures are of the very highest class—“peers in their own right.”  In pose, drapery, light and shade, detail, atmosphere, ease, and gracefulness, they are all that can be desired.  Mr. Rodger is the veritable prince of photographers of all that exhibit in Scotland.  Mr. McLeay paints well; but Rodger’s works are more artistic and beautiful, without and entirely independent of the brush.

            Mr. Moffats keeps his ground, and furnishes portraits of several well-known citizens, in chaste and pleasing attitudes.

            Mr. Tunny is set down by the Edinburgh Scotsman, in a piece of sly sarcasm, as the “Father of Photography;” I presume because a claim was put in for him as the discoverer of collodion in some of the photographic Journals, better than a year since.  Be this as it may, he exhibits a frame princi0pally containing groups, packed with heads like herrings, making one rub his eyes as if he had been reading a double column of small print, for several hours by gas light.  The Grange School must contain somewhere about a hundred faces, nearly all having  very small eyes:  they are by the wet collodion process.

            Mr. Horatio Ross has had assigned to him the office I expected would have devolved upon the secretary—that of awarding the medals.

            I believe a new society is greatly needed in Scotland, both for the purpose of encouraging the beautiful and fascinating art of photography, and for making suitable arrangements for properly exhibiting the productions of professional men (many of whose works are banished from the line to the lobby), since with the exception of three or four, they have all left the society, notwithstanding the secretary’s disclaimer in the late number of a contemporary.                                [signed] Sel D’Or    [continued below with Ed. note]

            (We have received letters of complaint from Mr. Valentine, of Dundee, relative to the hanging of his pictures in the exhibition above noticed, which he asserts are, with one single exception, hung so high as to be almost invisible—the excepted one being the worst of the series.  He also states that he received an uncourteous reply to his remonstrance.

            None but those who have tried it know what an invidious task it is to arrange the works in any exhibition; but when space is limited the difficulty is enormously increased:--the pictures you want to be together wont fit, and those you desire to separate will besides many other perplexities.

            We trust that Mr. Valentine has been the victim of circumstances, rather than, as he supposes, intentionally slighted.—Ed)

 

1860  BJP March 1, vol. VII, #113, p.60-61

            “Egypt and Palestine:”   By Francis Frith—Illustrated with Photographs.  (Second Notice)

            Many of the illustrations in this valuable collection we have already noticed in our columns when criticising the contents of the various photographic exhibitions held during the last two years in the metropolis, and where all are so admirable it is a somewhat embarassing task to make a judicious selection for special comment.  We do not, however, think we should be doing justice to the excellence of this important publication were we to omit altogether such a proceeding.  We shall therefore select for the purpose the following:--

            Temple of Koum Ombo, Upper Egypt.-- This is one of those gigantic ruins that call forth in the spectator as admiration at the beauty of design and picturesqueness of effect.  The figures of two Nile boatmen leaning against one of the enormous stones which formerly constituted a portion of the frieze, indicate the immensity of the proportions of the edifice, which in its turn drawfs the figures to the aspect of Liliputians.  The massive pillars are buried in the shifting sand of the desert almost up to the sculptured capitals, which support an entablature with devices of two winged globes, emblematic of the omnipresence of the deity, and which are plainly visible. 

Beautiful majestic, magnificent even in its degradation—what must it now have been in its glory! 

            Pharaoh’s Bed in the Island of Philoe.—Mr. Frith’s  “The Island of Philoe is the most beautiful thing in Egypt, and the temple absurdly called Pharaoh’s Bed is the most beautiful thing upon the island.”  From the very exquisite photograph with which he has enriched this collection we are by no means disposed to question the correctness of this statement.  The     singular structure of  the temple, built without any roof (none being needed in this splendid climate), forms the apex of  the composition.  Clumps of the date palm trees, with their naked stems and feathery tops, harmonise with the pillars and the leaf-like capitals.  At the foot of the mound on which the building is erected, the waters of the Nile appear, with one of the native vessels, called a “dahibieh,”  moored in a sheltered nook; the whole compositing into a most effective picture, albeit one of a very uncommon character.  The execution of  the specimen is little, if anything, short of perfection.

            Sculptured Gateway, Karnac.—This Pylon, as it is termed consists of a species of triumphal arch—but that no arch exists the opening being rectangular, and the whole structure tapering upwards.   Over the gateway is the winder world, before mentioned, while every part of the exterior surface of the building is covered with hieroglyphics.

            The Great Column and Smaller Temple, Baalbed.—We instantly recognise these columns as the model or type to which a host of imaginary picturesque ruins owe their existence.  That they are beautiful, very beautiful, few will be disposed to deny; but why they are so it is not so easy to point out.  The proportions of the columns and their relative distance apart, perfect as these are at once felt to be, are not enough to explain the charm that undoubtedly exists, for this is materially heightened by the terribly dilapidated state of the crumbling stone.  Perhaps it may be in some measure owing to the beautiful chequereing of light and shade, similar to that we observe in a grove of trees.  We are not at all learned in architectural mysteries, but the capitals of the pillars appear to us to be of the kind which we have been taught to call “Corinthian.”

            We perceive that Mr. Frith indulges in a little piquante pleasantry on the subject of architectural nomenclature.

            Nazareth from the North-West.—This is an illustration in which everybody is sure to be interested, and is perhaps the most effective of all the distant views.  The locality in which Our Saviour spent the greater part of his life on earth is situated in a kind of fertile valley or basin, at a high level amongst a series of rounded undulating hills.  Though a little deficient in vigour, this is an extremely pleasing photograph.  The immediate foreground is occupied by a hedge of “opuntia,” or “prickly pear,” a member of the cactus tribe, beyond which Nazareth, with all the peculiarities of an Eastern city, is displayed to view, whilst the background is composed of the wooded slopes of the distant hills, which assume a more and more rugged aspect as the eye ranges over the higher levels; and across the summits of those hills, forming the natural basin    which the city is built, a dim outline of still more distant ridges is perceptible.

            The Largest of the Cedars – Mount Lebanon.—Apart from the interest attaching to this subject in an historical point of view, it is one which is valuable as an illustration—not only for botanical puposes (sic) but also to the artist—of the    bit and aspect, as well as of the habitat of these celebrated    mber trees.  The proof before us is beautifully executed, and     composition pleasing and artistic.

            The Temple of Wady Kardassy, Nubia, is truly, as Mr. Frith terms it, “a bonnie little ruin.”  It seems to have been constructed on purpose to form the centre of a picture, as it does in the one before us most completely.  Located on the river’s bank, with the calm waters of the stream reflecting the   oded slopes of some low hills on the opposite bank, it coneys a perfect sentiment of repose, no doubt partly owing to     deep but transparent shadows caused by the flood of light from an unclounded sun.  This is a picture that will please all     stes, possessing as it does a charm apart from association.

            The Circular Temple, Baalbec, is an architectural gem;    d, what is more, it is disposed in a picturesque setting, situated in a pleasant locality.  With reference to a “delicious stream,” along the bed of which he rode knee deep in approaching this temple, the artist quotes the following lines:--

                        ‘So bright the pebbles on its shore,

                        That not a maid may thither stray,

                        But counts her stringed necklace o’er,

                        And thinks the pearls have slipped away.”

            Assouan.—a town on the banks of the Nile, situated in the     st romantic spot of the Nile Valley, in the immediate vicinity of the first cataract and the islands of Elephantine and Philoe--    

     no less interesting as a landscape.  The town is, as it were,     bedded in a luxuriant grove of date palms, and is backed by a low range of distant hills, while the windings of the river     m a graceful foreground, prettily broken up by a number of  passenger and merchant vessels moored alongside the beach, which is strewn with such merchandise as ivory, bags of gum, and other similar produce, whilst a crowd of natives occupy a     nt of land near some of the vessels.  It is altogether a very pleasing composition.

            With so many attractive illustrations, it is difficult to know where to stop; but as we have already extended this notice far beyond our usual limits, with one more we shall conclude it.

The Doum Palm and Ruined Mosque, Philoe, is equally worthy of commendation with the last-named, as a picture; thourh the subject is perhaps as markedly in contrrast with it    it is well possible to be.  It is a ruined mosque on the steep    of a rugged, picturesque rock, with the palm tree in the foreground, the fruit of which tree, we are informed, constituted the nut employed for making small articles of turnery ware, and known as vegetable ivory.  We cannot resist the following quotation from the letterpress annexed to this specimen:--

‘It may interest my brethren of the Black Art (as my mother calls it when she overhauls my shirts as they come from the wash) to know something ab out my apparatus and modus operandi.  Know then, that, for the purpose of making large pictures (20 inches by 16), I had constructed in London a wicker-work carriage on wheels, which was in fact both a camera and developing-room, and occasionally sleeping-room; so that the doctor whom I heard at the Photographic Society a year or two ago ridiculing the rage for large pictures, and proposing as the ultima    ule of extravagance which his playful fancy could suggest ‘that men should have their cameras upon wheels, and large enough to sleep in’     remark which raised a hearty laugh through the room), committed anerror common with wits—his remark was much less facetious and imaginative than he supposed.

‘This carriage of mine, then, being entirely overspread with a loose cover of white sailcloth to protect it from the sun, was a most conspicuous and mysterious-looking vehicle, and excited amongst the Egyptian populace a vast amount of ingenious speculation as to its uses.  The idea, however, which seemedd the most reasonable, and therefore obtained the most credit, was, that therein, with right laudable and jealous     re, I transported from place to place my—harem!  It was full of moon-faced beautifues, my wives all!—and great was the respect and consideration which this view of the case procured for me!”

 

            We have already mentioned the handsome manner in which his work is “got up.” 
The printing, both typographic and photographic, is of the highest order.  As regards the former, it is of a most readable size, clear, and not too crowded, and the initial letter of each page is elaborately ornamental; respecting the latter we can truly affirm that it is about as near to perfection as possible.  The whole of the proofs have been executed in the establishment of Messrs. Frith and Hayward, under their personal superintendence, and we have reason to know that there is every probability—not to say almost certainly—of the permanence of these photographic treasure,--the system pursued in their production embracing all the most approved manipulations, and the colouring matter of the pictures consisting of gold.

            Messrs. Frith and Hayward have recently removed their extensive printing establishment to Reigate, where they have erected every appliance for the production, on a large scale, of first-class photographic proofs, for the illustration of this and other important publications, as well as for general photographic printing.  We are of course not at liberty to mention the extent of their resources for the production of a large number of copies in a given time; but we may state that it is astounding, and goes further to convince us of the stability of photography as “an institution” than the concurrence even of many other favourable indications.

            We cannot conclude with out expressing a hearty wish for the commercial success of this publication, of which we have been endeavouring to convey to our readers some adequate idea.

            Those who feel inclined to inspect the views can at present do so at Messrs. Leggatt, Hayward, and Leggatt’s, in Cornhill, London, where the whole series, mounted and framed, is on view.

 

1860  BJP March 1, vol. VII, # 113, p. 69-70

            London Photographic Society’s Exhibition  (Second Notice.)

            Press of matter precluded the possibility of our continuing this notice in our last.

On reference to our catalogue, we perceive  that our next memorandum relates to the contributions of Mr.  Lyndon Smith, of Leeds, a gentleman whose name is well known    

        Ardent photographer, but with whose works we have not hithererto been familiar.  In glancing at Nos. 23, Valley of the  Wharfe, Early Morning, and 47, Study in the Valley of Desolation, it is impossible to be otherwise than struck with the fact, that the  producer must possess a strong appreciation for the beautiful and artistic, and yet, strange to say, we have rarely felt more disappointed than after examining the two specimens we have named.  There is a peculiar spottiness and confusion about them that is very unsatisfactory, and the exaggerated effect of attempted atmosphere is carried to an extent that causes one to tremble on account of the anticipated attack of rheumatism and bronchitis from being exposed to such a dense mass of vapour.  These failings are the more provoking, because they are not only evidently under the artist’s control, but it is manifest that he is capable of better things, as witness for instance his View of Knaresborough (No. 67), which is soft, clear, and verging on the very opposite extreme of manipulative dexterity, being only so far short of failing from over-exposure as to be almost liable to a charge of want of vigour;  while in the two previously mentioned the details in the foreground are unpleasantly hard.  This (No. 67) is, however, a very charming production, and forms a beautiful illustration of our quiet English landscape pictures.  It is a great pity that one who evidently possesses in an eminent degree the artistic element should suffer himself to be led astray by the conventional mannerisms which we have noticed.  We have been told that the aqueous-looking atmosphere does not exist in the negative, but that it is an effect produced in the printing by what has been decried as a “trick”.  We do not perceive, by the way, the justice of such a designation.  If it be a “trick” it is a clever one, though in our opinion in the instances cited carried to an unreasonable and detrimental extreme; with somewhat less of straining after effect, the operation, whatever it be, might be very probably beneficially applied.

            Mr. Dixon Piper contributes many carefully-executed subjects, amongst which we admire No. 479, The Old curiosity Shop at Bury St. Edmonds—an illustration that forcibly calls to mind the work of that name by Mr. Charles Dickens:  we almost expect to see the figure of “Little Nell” emerge from the shop door.  Another very excellent production by this photographer is No. 178, A Cottage, near Ipswich, which is very cleverly treated, though perhaps there is in the cottage itself rather too marked a patch of white in the composition, which would be improved if this part were a trifle deeper in tone.

            Mr. J. Spode has a keen eye for the picturesque, and contributes many very exquisite productions.  No. 435, Lilleshall Abbey, Salop, though a little spotty, is very artistic in treatment.  No. 445, Goodrich Castle, by the same gentleman, and No. 457, Netley Abbey, are perhaps some of his best.

            Mr. Vernon Heath has produced some very nice pictures.  No. 452, the cottage Porch, is especially worthy of commendation.

            Mr. Victor A. Prout has very successfully rendered a number of interiors, many of them subjects in Westminster Abbey, of which Nos. 254, The Cloisters, and 277, The Tomb of Edward III., may be taken as fair samples.

            In noticing Mr. Fenton’s works we omitted to mention one with which we were specially pleased:  No. 304, Altar of the Sodality Chapel, Stonyhurst.

            Mr. A. J. Melhuish, of Blackheath, furnishes many interesting scenes, amongst which there is one that we have often seen portrayed before, but never with anything like success until now:  we allude to No. 330, Black Gang Chine, in the Isle of Wight.  The fact is that it is a very difficult subject to convert into a pleasing picture.

            Messrs. Bisson Frères, in addition to other subjects, exhibit a very effective Panoramic View of Mont Blanc.

            M. Gabriel de Rumine unfortunately sent in his contribution at so late a period that there was not a particle of space left uncovered on the walls or screens when they arrived, and they are consequently hung at the back of the screens, but in so bad a light that we could not properly see them either by night or day.

            A similar observation applies to some American photographs, which, like the last names, are not mentioned in the catalogue; but they have the advantage of not being hung at all, but simply stand upon the seat and rest against the screen, so that visitors with an inquiring turn of mind can examine them by taking them in their hands.  They are well worthy of examination, and represent scenes materially differing with those with which most people on this side of the Atlantic are familiar.

            The screen next the door is devoted principally to stereoscopic subjects, of which there are many by Mr. Russell Sedgfield that have been already noticed in our columns.  Mr. Bedford appears also as a producer of stereographs, but we do not think him nearly so successful in this branch of photography as in his usual work, most of the specimens exhibited being in our opinion far too hard.  There is a frame standing on one of the seats containing stereography by Mr. Woodward, of Nottingham, which, though not nearly so natty and sightly in the mounting as many other that are better displayed, possess intrinsic merits far superior, and will repay examination.

            We now come to a point in which we take peculiar interest—a comparison of the results produced by several of the dry processes, of which we have in the present collection a very fair exposition.  Our friend, Mr. Rosling, his usual shines in his manipulation of collodio-albumen plates by the original process of M. Taupenot; and in several of his frames of four subjects, one or more by the ordinary moist collodion may be noticed, as introduced for comparison.  Nos. 4, 19, and 71 are excellent illustrations in Mr. Rosling’s happiest manner.  The printing of Mr. Rosling’s specimens is also super-excellent.

            Mr. James Mudd, of Manchester, is also a disciple of the collodio-albumen process, and an eminently successful one.  His picture, which gained the prize medal of the Scotch Society, we have already noticed.  His Moat and Bridge, Chorley Hall, Cheshire (No. 10) is scarcely less successful, as also No. 224, View from the Cloister Window, Fountains Abbey, and No. 424, View in Scardale, Lancashire.  Those who talk of the hardness of collodio-albumen productions should examine those we have just cited, and we have no hesitation in declaring that they must n4ecessarily admit that hardness is not a failing that need ever be incurred when working by this process.

            Of Mr. S. Bourne’s specimens (No. 50), by the fothergill process, we have already spoken in favourable terms.

            Mr. Sykes Ward, with his modification of the collodio-albumen, is not so successful, most of his pictures exhibiting the peculiar brain-like marking in the skies of which some operators complain.  One specimen, however, his View on the wharfe (No. 179), is good, and free from the defect alluded to.

            Dr. Hill Norris’s process finds favourable illustrators in the persons of Mr. Melhuish and Mr. A. H. Hamilton (Nos. 113, 329, 347, 385), &c.

            The oxymel process has its advocates in Mr. Penny (Nos. 384 and 420), Mr. Barber  (No. 410), Mr. Melhuish (No. 346), Mr. Baynham Jones (No. 112), &c.

            It is, however, to the exertions of a lady, Mrs. Verschoyle, that we are indebted for illustrations of the largest number of preservative processes by any one operator, as shown in Nos. 72,. 314, 428, &c., which include proofs from negatives by the honey, dry collodion, and collodio-albumen processes, fairly contrasted.

            The conclusion at 3which we arrive relative to the results obtainable by the various preservative processes, is—that when properly worked each one is capable of yielding first-rate productions, and that the choice of any one of them should be rather dependent upon the peculiar convenience of each operator, than upon any fancied superiority as regards excellence inherent in any one of them.

 

1860:  BJP March 15, vol. VII # 114, p. [83]

            Notes of a Photographic Tour in the Holy Land. No. XIV.

            Nazareth lies in a ravine that falls through the hills to the plain of Esdraelon, the level of which is about three miles distant.  This great plain, of which I have before spoken, especially at Haifa, which is on its western coast, runs, in fact, completely across Palestine, from the sea to the Jordan.  The plain is a very uniform level from north to south, with a slight ascent from the Mediterranean eastward to the foot of Tabor.  This is the summit of the watershed, and from this it falls eastward to the Jordan and Sea of Galilee.  The north side of the plain is thoroughly walled up by almost precipitous hills, which are the last falling off of Lebanon, of which the high peaks commence twenty miles to the northward.  One of the bluffs overlooking the plain is the traditionary (sic) Mount of the Precipitation, where Christ was led out to be cast down.  I think there is not much faith to be placed in the tradition, especially as that hill was in the city, and this is three miles distant.

            But from any one of these hills around Nazareth there is a glorious view, and you may well imagine that I have not found eight days too many to drink in the enjoyment of the views of Galilee.  From the hill near the tents I have taken views of Cana, Safěd, Tabor, Endor, Nain, Jezreel, Gilboa, Shunem, the Plain of Esdraelon and its various villages, the river Kishon, and Mount Carmetl beyond, with the peaks of Lebanon towering in the north, and Mount Hermon, white and glorious, standing in the north-east like a sentinel guarding the Land of Promise, and looking down into the depths of Genesareth, which lie to the eastward, but are not visible from here.

            You will scarcely care to hear of the Convent at Nazareth, which was built on the alleged site of the Virgin Mary’s House.  Many of these places pointed out by the monks are worthy of credit, while others are so manifestly without authority, that to place any confidence in them implies a total submission to the statements of tradition, even in the face of reason.  The house of Mary is no longer here.  It departed through the air to Loretto, in Italy, a long while ago, pausing on its way somewhere in Greece for awhile.  But the grotto under the Church of the Annunciation is curious and worth visiting, ornamented as it is with the gifts of royalty through many centuries.  It opens by broad steps up to the floor of the church.  Descending these you are in the shrine, and on the spot where the angel met her with the first “Ave Maria.”  How she came to be in this cavern does not precisely appear; but there is a vaulted passage leading from it to the place which was the kitchen of her house, and it may be that this explains her being in the cellar when the angel came.

            The attendant monk pointed out a broken column, the upper part of the shaft hanging from the wall above, and he seemed to think there was something miraculous in it.

            I hasten to leave this place.  I have nowhere in the Holy Land been more disgusted than I was here with the attempt to locate the events of the life of Christ.

            Was it not enough that on these hills the Boy wandered?  that His young feet learned here those first tottering steps that led Him afterwards up and down the hills of Syria, a houseless wanderer, without place to lay His head, until He bore the cross up the ascent to Calvary, and they laid His head at last on the rocky pillow hewn for Arimethean Joseph?  Was it not enough that this blue vault that overhangs Nazareth once covered the glory of God on earth, and sustained the clouds of countless angels looking down on that sublime mystery, in which they had no part, and of which they had no adequate conception?  Was it not enough that here He learned, in accents of this earth’s language, to speak that word “mother,” hallowed for ever after, a thousandfold, that His lips have spoken it so often, so tenderly, from childhood until His last sad bequest to John the Beloved, at the cross?
            It is an evening of exquisite beauty.  The stars shine gently, lovingly, on Nazareth.  The picture of the valley from my tent door is exceedingly beautiful.  A group of tall and graceful women are filling water-jars at the Virgin’s fountain.  The other tents are silent.  No one moves.  The wind rustles the leaves of the olive trees, but there is a hush in the very sound.  Selim and Benish-dad lie side by side on the ground, profoundly still.  You would think them dead men, such is their perfectly motionless attitude.

            Our invalid has been somewhat stronger this afternoon, but toward evening she seemed to fail a little.  She has expressed a longing desire to see the shore of Genesareth, and we are very anxious to remove her there if she rally sufficiently to bear the motion.  I fear that she will ever hear the “music of Galilee’s waves” on earth.  But there are more musical waters in that country to which she goes.  God help us!  What pilgrims we all are!  D.T.

 

1860:  BJP  March 15, vol. VII # 114, p. [87]

            Birmingham Photographic Society.

            At the monthly meeting of the members of this society, held on the evening of Tuesday, the 28^th ult., Mr. Haines in the chair,  Mr. W. B. Osborn, one of the Vice-Presidents, delivered an address On the Serio-Comic Aspect of Photography. 

[Other names mentioned:  Mr. Brown, Mr. Ball]

 

1860:  BJP  March 15, vol. VII # 114, p. [87]

            City of Glasgow and West of Scotland Photographic Society.

            This newly-formed photographic society held its first ordinary monthly meeting on Thursday, the 1^st instant,--John Kibble, Esq., president of the society, in the chair.

            The Chairman delivered a very beautifully conceived and chastely expressed inaugural address, on the present position and prospects of photography.

            Mr. A. MacTear, one of the Vice-Presidents, read a paper On the History of Photography of  Glasgow.

            A discussion ensued on the conclusion of Mr. Mactear’s paper, in which Professor J. Taylor, Messrs. Kibble, J. Spencer, sen. [sic], J. Stuart, Ewing, Hugh Wilson, J. Cramb, &c., took part.

            The Secretary announced that Messrs. Cramb Brothers had been successful in producing photographs on ivory, not artificial but real ivory, and laid untouched specimens, and others highly finished in colours, on the table for inspection, and which were handed round and much admired.  Mr. Cramb intimated that for the present the manner of producing would not be disclosed.

            The meeting, which was a large one, seemed fully to answer in the affirmative the questions, “Was a photographic society required in Glasgow?”

 

1860  BJP March 15, 1860,  vol. VII, issue #114, p. [87]

            Photographic Exhibition at Liverpool. 

            We beg to remind intending exhibitors at the forthcoming Exhibition of Photographs in connexion [sic] with the Liverpool Society of Fine Arts that contributions should be delivered to the London Agent, Mr. James Bourlet, 10, Foley Street, Portland Place., W., not later than the 10^th instant; or at the Exhibition Rooms, Queen’s Hall, Bold Street, Liverpool, not later than the 24^th instant.  Mr. J. A. Forrest, 58, Lime Street, Liverpool, will gladly supply any further particulars required.

            As no exhibition of photographs has taken place in the “capital of the North” since 1854, the coming display is looked forward to with much interest by all admirers of the “new art,” and also by those who take an interest in art generally.  It is to be hoped that the rapid progress made in the photographic art, during the eventful six years which have elapsed since the first and only exhibition held at Liverpool, will be distinctly marked by the pictures forwarded for the approaching exhibition.

 

1860  BJP March 15, vol. VII, # 114, p [87-88]  

            Architectural Photographic Exhibition.  (By our Special Reporter.)

            A visit to this exhibition confirms an opinion that has been growing upon us for some time, that architecture is the field in which photography displays its greatest strength and power.  In the microscopic detail, in the strength and transparency of the shadows, and in the faithful delineation of every variation in texture, colour, and form of the object represented, we have a combination of artistic qualities denied to the artist of the pencil.  Then the sober hues of the subjects, and their limited range of colour, render architectural photographs more faithful than those of other objects.

            The value, to the professional architect, of such a collection as that now exhibited, must be beyond all calculation; while to the amateur or mere photographic collector, it must possess an interest, arising as much from the subjects as from the fidelity of representation which the mode of producing them secures.  This exhibition displays an advance in excellence upon that of last year.  Manipulation in photography has become, comparatively, so certain in its results, that the photographer has had more leisure to cultivate the artistic element of his art, and he has well improved the opportunity.  At length justice has been done to the architect as well as to his work; and in these views, so intelligent, as a rule, in their recognition of the resources and capabilities in chiaroscuro of the noble originals, we are glad to forget the bald representation by untutored photographers of former years.

            We must not be thought wanting in patriotism if we say that the artistic element is more conspicuous in the productions of our Gallic neighbours.  Messrs. Bisson Frères, in our judgment, bear the palm.  By their long experience in this department of art they have gained great mastery, and their noble views of Strasburgh Cathedral are alone sufficient to make us exclaim enthusiastically, “We, too, are photographers!”  These views forcibly recal (sic) the sensations of delight and surprise we experienced at witnessing the wonders of the diorama painted by the creator of photography, Daguerre.  Pity it is that he did not live to see these triumphs of the art to which he gave birth!  They are truly dioramic; thus distinguishing them from the productions of the artist or the engraver.  Architectural drawing was fast disappearing, when photography flashed upon us with the new power imparted by collodion, and now, we think, few artists would be bold enough to enter the lists in competition with the photographer.

            The photographs in this exhibition are judiciously classed by countries, although the various nations are very unequally represented.  France and England are greatly in the majority, as might have been expected:  next follow Spain, Rome, Venice, Jerusalem and its neighbourhood, Constantinople, Germany,. Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

            We feel impelled first to notice the comparative merits of the various photographers whose works constitute this collection.  And here we are again struck with the strong individuality each photographer can impress upon his works, which is quite as marked and distinguishable as the style and touch of the painter.  Beside the works of the artists already named, those of Messrs. Cundall and Downes stand in close relation, from similarity of subjects and artistic excellence.  Their Views at Rouen are worthy of the subject, displaying true artistic feeling and a full appreciation of the capabilities of the object.  The V iews in France, by the French artists, are interesting from variety in the subjects selected.  The Tower of St. jaques de la Boucherie, Paris, and the Hotel de Cluny, are exceedingly interesting.  Not less so, but from a very different cause, are the Ruins of the Roman Theatre at Arles, the Palace of the Popes at Avignon, and the Walls of that city, a curious specimen of mediaeval fortificaiton, now utterly obsolete.  Rich and rare, as specimens of Gothic architecture

 

1860:  BJP March 15, vol. VII # 114, p. 81

            Notices of recently published stereographs.  The Foreign Stereoscopic Cabinet.  Lovell Reeve, 5, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London. 

            This is a happy idea, which, if well carried out, cannot fail to be popular.  Instead of circulating a collection of stereographs in the book or pamphlet form, Mr. Reeve has commenced publishing a series of foreign views for the stereoscope, mounted in the ordinary way, and having the descriptive letterpress at the back of each subject—a packet of three slides, contained in an envelope, being issued every month.  Of the subjects now before us (those contained in packet No. 1), the assemblage is somewhat heterogeneous, consisting of The Trade Hall at Bruges, by E. Moxham; a pent-roofed shop against the Monument of St. Ronian, in Normandy, by the late R. Howlett, entitled, A Sketch of Character at Rouen; and the Valley of the Flen, Lausanne, Switzerland, by the Rev. J. Lawson Sisson.  We do not know by what process the last-named subject was taken; but, if by the turpentine-waxed paper method introduced by the operator, it testifies to the excellent definition capable of being attained thereby.  The high lights are a little over-developed, producing a slightly chalky effect, but in other respects the specimen is one of a picturesque and pleasing subject, well executed.  Of the other two slides we prefer Mr. Howlett’s, which is artistically graphic and attractive.

            There are two or three points upon which we fancy the publisher might improve.  In the first place we expect that it would be more interesting if, instead of mixing together scenes from various localities, a series illustrative of a continuous tour were issued.  This arrangement would be more instructive, and might be managed so as to give quite as much variety as is at present the case:  architecture, landscape, and local character might all find a place; and, once “in for a journey,” few subscribers would be inclined to discontinue till the close.  Our next hint applies to a point of manipulation.  The specimens under inspection, though otherwise well executed, are somewhat spoilt from not having been printed upon sufficiently glazed paper, which for stereoscopic slides cannot be too highly albumenized, as the offensive grain of the paper when under examination in the stereoscope is to a very considerable extent neutralized.  The third defect to which we would direct attention, though a small one, and not peculiar to the specimens now under notice, is one so easily obviated that we think there are few persons who would not avoid it if their attention were drawn to the objection:  it is that of cutting the proofs in an arched form at the top.  This is a very common practice which many operators, because it give as sort of finish to the slide, but is very detrimental to the effect in the stereoscope, particularly if, as in the best instruments, the subject be viewed through a rectangular diaphragm; but, under any circumstances, the arched form is a mistake for stereographs, for we are not often in the habit of seeing subjects through apertures of that form.

 

1860:  BJP March 15,  vol. VII, # 114,  p. 87-88

            Architectural Photographic Exhibition.  (By our Special Reporter)

            A visit to this exhibition confirms an opinion that has been growing upon us for some time, that architecture is the field in which photography displays its greatest strength and power.  In the microscopic detail, in the strength and transparency of the shadows, and in the faithful delineation of every variation in texture, colour, and form of the object represented, we have a combination of artistic qualities denied to the artist of the pencil.  Then the sober hues of the subjects, and their limited range of colour, render architectural photographs more faithful than those of other objects.

            The value, to the professional architect, of such a collection as that now exhibited, must be beyond all calculation; while to the amateur or mere photographic collector, it must possess an interest, arising as much from the subjects as from the fidelity of representation which the mode of producing them secures.  This exhibition displays an advance in excellence upon that of last year.  Manipulatrion in photography has become, comparatively, so certain in its results, that the photographer has had more leisure to cultivate the artistic element of his art, and he has well improved the opportunity.  AT length justice has been done to the architect as well as to his work; and in these views, so intelligent, as a rule, in their recognition of the resources and capabilities in chiaroscuro of the noble originals, we are glad to forget the bald representations by untutored photographers of former years.

            We must not be thought wanting in patriotism if we say that the artistic element is most conspicuous in the productions of our Gallic neighbours.  Messrs. Bisson Frères, in our judgment, beat the palm.  By their long experience in this department of art they have gained great mastery, and their noble views of Strasburgh Cathedral are alone sufficient to make us exclaim enthusiastically, “We, too, are photographers!”  These views forcibly recal [sic] the sensations of delight and surprise we experienced at witnessing the wonders of the diorama painted by the creator of photography, Daguerre.  Pity it is that he did not live to see these triumphs of the art to which he gave birth!  They are truly dioramic; thus distinguishing them from the productions of the artist or the engraver.  Architectural drawing was fast disappearing, when photography flashed upon us with the new power imparted by collodion, and now, we think, few artists would be bold enough to enter the lists in competition with the photographer.

            The Photographs in this exhibition are judiciously classed by countries, although the various nations are very unequally represented.  France and England are greatly in the majority, as might have been expected:  next follow Spain, Rome, Venice, Jerusalem and its neighbourhood, Constantinople, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

            We fell impelled first to notice the comparative merits of the various photographers whose works constitute this collection.  And here we are again struck with the strong individuality each photographer can impress upon his works, which is quire as marked and distinguishable as the style and touch of the painter.  Beside the works of the artists already named, those of Messrs. Cundall and Downes stand in close relation, from similarity of subjects and artistic excellence.  Their Views at Rouen are worthy of the subject, displaying true artistic feeling and a full appreciation of the capabilities of the object.  The Views in France, by the French artists, are interesting from variety in the subjects selected.  The Tower of St. Jaques de la Boucherie, Paris, and the Hotel de Cluny, are exceedingly interesting.  Not less so, but from a very different cause, are the Ruins of the Roman Theatre at Arles, the Palace of the Popes at Avignon, and the Walls of that city, a curious specimen of mediæval fortification, now utterly obsolete.  Rich and rare, as specimens of Gothic archit4ecture, are the portals of the Cathedral of Rouen, of Chartres, of Notre Dame de Paris, Bourges, Amiens, and the West Front of Saint Ouen at Rouen.  The Staircase of Francis the First at St. Blois is a very striking architectural picture:  the staircase is external, full of bold relief, in shafts, balustrade, and panels.

            Next in order comes the doorway of the Cathedral at Berne, also by M. Bisson; it is an exceedingly interesting subject, exhibiting a combination of French and German styles.

            Jerusalem and its Neighbourhood is depicted by Messrs. Robertson and Beato, forming an exceedingly rich collection.  There is the Village of Bethany, looking very much like a deserted village; the Walls near Akra, the Damascus Gate, the Sion Gate, and the Tower of David—with all of which we seem as familiar as with the public buildings of London, so accurately and picturesquely have they been described by travelers.  As photographs, they are truly excellent.  The points of view are chosen with much tact, and are very suggesting in such views as the Wailing Place of the Jews, part of the old walls of the Temple looking stern and chill, while the narrow street ends in a brief vista, suggestive of a ray of hope.  There is a General View of Mount Scopas, upon which the eye might dwell, actively occupied, for an hour.  The rock tombs of St. James and Zacharias are highly picturesque.  Among the striking pictures of this series is the Mosque of El Aksa and the Mount of Olives, with the two gloomy cypresses standing within the quadrangle.  This is a very remarkable picture.  There are several pictures illustrating the Mohamedan localities of Jerusalem, which possess too much merit to admit of their being passed by unnoticed; in fact, they are deserving our highest meed [sic] of praise.  There is a series of eleven views of Constantinople by the same artists, very interesting with respect to subjects, and very excellent as photographic pictures.  The Fountain of the Sultan Selim seems as if it had grown on the spot at the command of some magician.

            Mr. Macpherson contributes six views of Rome, very charming and interesting, making us wish there were more of them. We must, however, specially single out Ruins of the Baronial Stronghold of Nepi, which is a most exquisite gem of photography—so bright and clear, yet so deep and rich in tone and colour.  The subject possess very great interest, and has had full justice done to it by the artist.

            The most important to many in point of interest, but the worst in execution, are the views in North Italy, by Signor Ponti.  The Signor has either much to learn in manipulation of the art or he has adopted a vicious system of developing, which gives his pictures a cold, dry, opaque aspect.

            Mr. Clifford contributes a few Spanish scenes, but so few as to be quite tantalizing.  A country so rich in archit4ectural beauties should have been more liberally represented at this exhibition.  His Temple of Diana at Merida is the best of his contributions, and very superior to the others, in fact, that we wonder how the same artist could have produced them.

            Among the English scenes the productions of Mr. Melhuish, Mr. Robertson, and Mr. Cade, stand conspicuous.  Mr. Robertson’s fifteen views of Ludlow Castle will form a rich addition to the architect’s portfolio.  Mr. Melhuish’s view of the High Street Oxford, is the best we have seen of that subject.  Mr. Cade’s Hengrave Hall is a very excellent picture; and his series of Lichfield Cathedral, and of Haddon Hall, place him in the first rank of photographers.

 

1860 BJP April 2, vol. VII, # 115, p. 103

            Liverpool Photographic Club.

            The usual meeting for the month was held at the residence of Mr. Forrest, on the 13^th ultimo.

            Mr. Cook exhibited some very highly interesting views, belonging to Mr. Pooley, representing all the horrors of the Arctic seas.  They were the work of Doctor Walker*, who had accompanied the expedition of Captain Sir L. M’Clintock, in the Fox.  Photography in these hyperborean regions must be pursued under difficulties indeed; and the public are much indebted to the spirited operator who so perseveringly prepared for their gaze such faithful presentments of those dreary scenes, regarded with the painfully wrought interest that all felt for everything that relates to the late lamented Sir John Franklin.  As an apt accompaniment to these melancholy evidences of the fearful past,

[*NOTE:  This must be David Walker, M.D., F.R.G.S., F.L.S., who als did “Days & Nights in Greenland,”  Good Words 3 #2 Feb. 1862, p. 69-78 w/ 4 illus.  Woodcuts of the terrain, Eskimos, etc. made from his photos.]

            Mr. Keith exhibited some very well-executed views he had just taken at Moelfra, so celebrated for the fearful wreck of the Royal Charter.  One was a very lively picture of the adjacent village, and another, the present scene of the late frightful calamity.  The recent low tides had revealed, as it was expected they would, more of the remains than had ever before been seen, and thus was shown so accurately by the camera all the terror of the place that the inevitable fate of the doomed ship could be well judged by this view.  A more fatal spot on this iron coast could hardly present itself, and yet a little more than her own length on either side of this tongue of rocks might have presented the dread sacrifice.

            Mr. Corey commented on the omission of all mention of a valuable contribution of Mr. Cauty’s, at the last meeting.  This was a photograph of a patient in one of the infirmaries, who had a very extensive and strongly-marked dislocation of the hip-joint.  The head of the thigh bone was so much displaced as to be firmly imbedded in the hollow of the ossa innominata, so that the heel of the foot was turned directly outward, and the toe, consequently, pointing to the inner malleolus of the other foot.  This was a highly useful and instructive application of the art of photography, as it would enable students, and even adepts, in the healing art to recognise the nature of the injury in future cases at a single glance.

            [Rest of meeting covers technical matters]

            [Other name mentioned:  Mr. Glover]

 

1860 BJP April 2,  vol. VII, # 115, p. 103-104

            Birmingham Photographic Society.  The Wet Process v. The Dry.

            On Tuesday evening, the 27^th ult., the monthly meeting of the above society was held, and the attendance of members and friends was more numerous than usual, owing to the interest taken in the friendly tournament got up between the advocates of the wet and the dry processes.  It originated in a paper communicated to the society by Mr. Shadbolt, the editor of this Journal, in which certain phenomena connected with the use of Dr. Norris’s dry plates were incidentally referred to.  During the conversation which ensued, Mr. Charles Breese, a gentleman whose very fine works have been seen by few besides his friends, dropped an opinion that none of the dry processes were equal to the production of a really good artistic picture.  He admitted that he had never used the dry process, and had seen comparatively few proofs of what it could produce, but he considered that those he had inspected justified the opinion he had expressed.  To use a sporting phrase, Mr. Breese was challenged to “back his fancy,” and Mr. W. B. Oxborn and other “dry” professors undertook to do what they could on behalf of Norris,
Fothergill, and Coy.,

            Mr. Haines occupied the chair on Tuesday evening; and Mr. Osborn, having briefly explained the origin of the friendly “trial of strength,” Mr. Breese produced a collection of his own pictures, as proofs of what could be done with the wet process.  These, thirty or forty in number, embraced views of the sea in some of its most opposite aspects, photographs of cloudland, moonlight scenes, a view of the recent eclipse of the moon, street views taken during the Queen’s visit to Birmingham, architectural photographs, waterfall pictures, &c.  Some of these were included in the view series which Mr. Breese had the honour of sending to the Queen, by Her Majesty’s commands, in the winter of 1858, and which were at the time described in the Journal.  Independently of the combination of skill and scientific knowledge which enable this gentleman to portray clouds of all complexions and sizes, to suspend a wave in mid air, and give us its likeness as its foaming crest is dashed back by the land breeze, to transcribe faultlessly the life and bustle of a town en fete, to work with his camera when the sun is shining on New Zealand, and when even Luna herself is half-extinguished—independently of these rare qualities, the gradation of tone and sense of distance which his pictures possess were admitted to be as nearly perfect as anything the art of photography has yet produced:  all were instantaneous stereoscopic pictures on glass.  While the wet process was thus worthily represented, the merits of the dry process were also supported by a large number of first-class specimens, contributed chiefly by Mr. Osborn and Dr. Hill Norris.  The collection shown by the former included an album of large pictures, taken by the Fothergill process, and kindly sent for the occasion by Mr. S. Bourne, of Nottingham.  Mr. Breese’s objection to the dry process was, that he had never seen any which gave sufficient atmosphere and distance; but some of Mr. Bourne’s pictures seemed all that could be desired in both respects.  As regards distance, the Views of Windermere and View from Lancaster and Tintern Abbey were especially noticeable, the half-tone and fullness of detail in the latter being very satisfactory.  In half-tone effects Audlem Church, Cheshire and Lincoln Cathedral, might be said to be perfect, and Milford Church, Notts., was not far behind, while the Views of Dovedale gave atmosphere in perfection.  Mr. Woodward, of Nottingham, also sent a collection of stereoscopic paper slides, by the collodio-albumen, including some of the finest “dry” works we have ever seen.  For half-tone his Jedburgh Abbey, Fountains Abbey,  and  Cottage at Milford, were much admired, as was also hisi Peterborough cathedral for distance; and a beautiful scene, with water, taken in Burghley Park, was admitted to be perfection itself.  Dr. Hill Norris, contributed some twelve by ten inch pictures, which were very good, and a number of exquisite transparencies, by his process, which were pronounced equal to any wet plates yet produced, except the instantaneous ones—his York Minster being pronounced the best.  Mr. Seymour, Mr. Bright, and Mr. Applewhaite, of Leamington, contributed several very good negatives by the Fothergill process, the latter gentleman showing one taken in sixteen seconds.  Mr. Osborn’s were greatly admired, being all by Dr. Hill Norris’s process.

            The various pictures having been carefully examined by the meeting, Mr. Osborn remarked, that the comparison which had that evening been instituted between “wet” and “dry” was scarcely a fair test, because he did not know any photographer who had ever produced anything equal to what Mr. Breese had shown them.  It was not contended, for instance, that dry photography would produce instantaneous pictures, though he hoped the time was not far distant when this would be done.  But the dry pictures they had been inspecting proved that both distance and atmosphere could be produced by competent men.  The great advantage claimed for dry photography over wet was, that in using it photographers were not obliged to encumber themselves with a great mount of heavy apparatus, and were thereby less liable to suffer inconvenience from forgetting to take with them some trifling but very necessary part of it.  Wet photography, too, often made a toil of what should be a pleasure.  He did not believe that dry photography would ever entirely supersede the wet; but he was prepared to contend that the pictures he had shown, especially those of Mr. Breese, were not only quite equal to any of the ordinary wet collodion photographs, but superior to many from their abundance of half-tone, general pleasing effect, and clearness and freedom from spots.

            Mr. Breese remarked that some of the Nottingham pictures showed that where they got the best distance they had the worse foreground.

            Dr. Hill Norris asked whether Mr. Breese was of opinion that if the dry process were equally rapid with the wet, the results obtained would be equal?

            Mr. Breese:  No; I do not think the dry can copy the atmosphere as delicately and truly as the wet.

            Dr. Norris:  As a chemist I cannot see why there should be any difference, as in both cases the light has the same sensitive material to act upon.  I think that if we can make the dry process as rapid as the wet, we shall certainly succeed in securing the whole effects Mr. Breese has shown us to-night; and I am very sanguine that this will be done.  (Dr. Norris produced some dry pictures which he had taken in from five to twenty seconds.)  He remarked, as to Mr. Breese’s observation about good distances having bad foregrounds, that if the sensitive material to which both were exposed were equal, it followed as a necessity that the more distant object would be the sooner printed, and that the nearer object would require greater exposure to bring it to the same degree of intensity.  If a plate would bear exposure for the most distant objects without being overdone, then certainly that plate, whether it be wet or dry, is capable of rendering all the effects in the foreground.

            Mr. Breese:  The argument may be very good scientifically, but I do not see the result in practice.  In one of the best dry pictures I have seen to-night the foliage in the foreground does not appear.

            Dr. Norris:  That is because the picture is not sufficiently exposed.

            Mr. Breese:  And yet you have the distance.

            Dr. Norris:  It is necessary in all cases, whether wet or dry, that the distance should be over-exposed, in order to bring up the foreground, simply because the light that comes from distant objects is concentrated into smaller space.  What I contend is, that if we had a dry film sufficiently rapid, we should get as good pictures as with the wet.  In comparing dry collodion with wet, you must take the productions of a host of individuals, and I dare say you will find very good and very feeble results on both sides.  I certainly cannot see how the wet process can excel the dry in any other respect than that of rapidity.

            Mr. Breese:  Which is a very important matter.

            Dr. Norris:  But still we are not without hope.

            Mr. Breese:  No; but we are simply talking about how far the process has been carried out.  Is it anywhere near the wet process at the present time?

            Dr. Norris:  The dry process is constantly producing results which are exhibited by old “wet” operators, without its being detected that they have changed their process.

            Mr. Breese:  That will depend a good deal on what the operator can produce with the wet, and would not say much for either process.

            Mr. Osborn:  There you are greatly in error, as the gentlemen alluded to are first-rate wet operators.

            Mr. Johnstone said that, in the matter of distance and foreground, all must know that a great deal depended on the mode of development.  If they tilted up a picture so that the greatest amount of fluid lay on the distance, the foreground would develop in a much greater degree than if they were to get the fluid over it.  Again, in rendering a daguerreotype plate sensitive, certain definite proportions of iodine and bromine produce certain results.  Two of bromine to one of iodine produced a clearly defined picture, but with a tone somewhat unusual:  equal proportions gave a picture that looked as if it had not been well focussed; but if the proportion of bromine were increased to exactly three, a well-defined picture would be the result.  Why should not this principle of coating be attained on dry collodion plates?  Most of the compounds of collodion had bromides in various proportions, but the plates were of much the same degree of sensitiveness.

            Dr. Norris:  Does not Mr. Breese attribute some of the perfectness of his results to the use of bromide of silver with his collodion?

            Mr. Breese answered in the negatives, and, in reply to another question, said that his negatieds did not take more than the tenth part of a second in their production.  None of his pictures took more than five or six minutes to develop.

            On the motion of Mr. Brown, seconded by Dr. Norris, a cordial vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Breese for his kindness in attending the meeting; and in acknowledging the compliment, Mr. Breese admitted that he had that evening acquired an appetite for trying what he could do with the dry process.  He had certainly seen better pictures than had previously come under his notice.

            Mr. Osborn moved a vote of thanks to Dr. Norris, which was seconded by Mr. Ball, and unanimously passed.

            The stereoscopic pictures inspected during the evening were seen to much advantage by the aid of the new patent anchromatic stereoscopes, manufactured by Messrs. Cutts, Sutton, & Co., of Sheffield.  They were acknowledged to be exceedingly perfect instruments, free from the slightest distortion, and of great power.

            The meeting did not break up till half-past ten.

            It is expected that Mr. Sutton, of Jersey, will be present at the next meeting, and read a paper On Panoramic Photography.

 

1860:  BJP April 16, vol. VII, # 116, p. 114

            Notices of Recently Published Stereographs.  American Subjects.  E. Anthony, Broadway, New York.

            We have been favoured with three specimens of much interest, but of unequal merit.  Firstly, there is the Horse Shoe Fall of Niagara:  this, though a subject of unparalleled grandeur, is not executed with anything like the skill evinced by Mr. Wilson, of Aberdeen, in the correct illustration of falling water, which in the specimen under consideration looks far too solid.  Secondly and thirdly, we have Broadway from Stewart’s, Looking South, and Broadway From the American Museum, Looking North.  These are two instantaneous views, and here our Scotch friend is certainly distanced.  They are bright, clear, and sharp as a needle:  even the figures in the immediate foreground, though evidently in active motion, are not blurred in the slightest degree.  Both of these specimens are admirable, but the last-named is truly a wonderful production, and no less pleasing than surprising.  Hundreds of passengers in every variety of attitude are seen traversing the extensive thoroughfare, with numerous omnibuses, cabs, and other vehicles, in the full blaze of a cloudless sun:  the very gait of the pedestrians is distinguishable, and were the individuals depicted personally known to the observer, we have little doubt that they would be perfectly recognisable in the photographs.  The whole of the street on the sunny side is lined with sun blinds over the shops, and on the right hand a grove of leafless trees adds to the effect, both by contrast and by the pleasing chequered light caused by the shadows of the branches.  This is not a “bit of a picture,” but a nearly perfect living reality.  Few persons with this slide before them could resist the temptation to purchase, and we feel pretty safe in predicting an extensive demand for it.

 

1860:  BJP April 16, vol. VII, # 116, p. 114-115

            Notes of a Photographic Tour in the Holy Land. No. XV. [by D.T.]

            We left Nazareth on Thursday morning.  Our invalid had revived so much during the early part of the week that it became practicable to effect the removal she so much desired, and we arranged it as well as the rude means at our command would permit.  We had to convey an invalid lady about twenty miles across a country in which roads are unknown, and a wheeled vehicle has not been seen since the days of the chariots of Herod.

            The conveyance we contrived was a camel litter; but, as we had no camel, we placed it between a couple of donkeys.  They are small and hardy, but have an easy gait; and their little feet scarcely rising two inches from the ground, made no jar of the vehicle, but it went even more smoothly than a railway car4riage.

            We formed a mournful procession too—all on horse back except our invalid.  I say our.  Alas! She is ours now; she belongs to all of us, as all the sainted dead belong to us—dust of our dust, and sharers of our immortality.  We rode slowly across the valley, followed by the dark and tender eyes of the Nazareth women who had learned to love the beautiful Christian girl from far lands as they had often gazed in on her white face as she lay with the tent curtain thrown back.

            Over the wild rocky hills easy of Nazareth, covered with a growth of genuine oak, apparently a fine variety of timber, though not large—through wastes on which lilies grow in splendid profusion, down by the western base of Tabor, which is in fact a spur of the last decline of Lebanon, rising into a segment of a circle on the plain of Esdraelon—then slowly crossing the magnificent upland plain of Galilee, where once the fields of corn grew luxuriant, in which the disciples of the Lord made their Sabbath morning meal, we advanced slowly till sunset, resting frequently.  Once a large party of Bedouins met us, but passed on respectfully and in silence when they learned our sad burden.  So the evening came upon us, and with it that view which blesses human eyes as no other view of all the scenes this side heaven can bless.  The sea of Galilee lay before us, in calm and glorious beauty, far down in its basin of emerald hills.

            That night we slept in peace, for the voice of Him who spoke peace to those waters was still sounding over them.  Believe me, there is no spot on earth where that voice lingers with such sublime calm as here.  All things remember it.  The skies re-echo it; the murmur of the waves repeats it; the crumbling walls of old Tiberias seem to hear it.  And when the stars are on the sea, and the voice of the winds is hushed, and the low murmur of the ripple forever whispering “Peace! Peace!” is the only earthly sound on land or in the air.  At such a moment, I say, believe me, there is no other spot on earth so near heaven; no place so fit to die in—so fit to go from into the green fields of the upper country—to pass over to the banks of the still waters.

            On Saturday night our invalid began to fail rapidly.  None of us slept.  It was a warm night—not hot; but a delicious air stole over the sea.  The tent door was throng open, and the side curtains turned back, so that the entire eastern side of her tent was open to the sea.  The water of the lake rippled within twenty feet of the canvas, and the old moon, some days past the full, rose at midnight over the hills of Bethulia, shedding a new luster on the surface of the sea.

            To stand on the shores of Genesareth and see one like her depart from the land of His weary footprints into the land of His glory; to witness the accomplishment of the blessing on the pure in heart, uttered by His lips on one of those hill sides, as we saw one of the pure go forth to see God; to see an angel winning at last her wings of light—a seraph gaining at last the perfect tones of the songs of seraphim; to hear again, in tones of melody hitherto but imagined, the voice that sounded of old on the sea of Galilee, “Come unto me and I will give you rest;”  to see the sea of life, troubled and sorrowfully clouded, grow calm, as the “Peace, be still!” of His command was audible again above it:  all this was ours, but it cannot be yours who read these lines.

            When she heard that voice at length bidding her come, there was a radiance on her countenance that made it tenfold more holy than it had always been.  She looked out on the sea, and spoke in a few words of her delight at reaching this place to die; and then whispering in her mother’s ear words that were meant for no other—words that hum immortal music and comfort to a mother’s heart—she turned to all of us and said, “Good bye,” as quietly as if she were but going across the water for a day.  Then she folded her hands and prayed; and then her lips uttered, in low notes, the words of a hymn we had sung a few days ago:  and then she was silent a brief space—and then—and then—

            What was it then, oh doubtful, faithless man! who neither in thought nor in the flesh hast followed the footsteps of the Lord—when then?  Think you it was a dream, a fancy, a phantasy, that, as we stood there silent and breathless around her couch—father, mother, friends, and servants—we heard a voice from heaven saying, “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord,” and yet another voice, “Blesses are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

            She lies in the tent yonder, a statue of exceeding beauty.  Tomorrow we will bury her.  The people of the town of Tiberias—Jews, Christians, and Turks—have been very kind, and have offered all the attention their poverty enables them to do.  The Jewish Rabbi-in-chief proffered a burial-place among the dead of his kindred; and the Greek priest came after him to say that his people would not object that this our beautiful clay [sic] should lie among dust that rested in their faith.  But we have chosen a on the hill side above the sea, where she can lie and moulder in the dust, for she expressly forbade her parents to move her from holy soil; and here, in the resurrection, among the dead of ancient days, who heard not the voice of the Master when He spoke in earthly tone, reproaching with her holy face the men of Bethsaida and Capernaum, our child sill stand up an angel.

            I close this my last letter from the East in the saddest yet the holiest evening I ever experienced.  I have no heart to pursue my pilgrimage any farther.  Bowed down with the weight of grief, I feel the solemn truth of the words of the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities:  all is vanity.”  To-morrow for England and home!  D.T.

 

1860:  BJP May 1,  vol. VII, # 117, p. 133

            Notices of Recently Published Stereographs.  Fountains Abbey.  W. Woodward, Nottingham.

            There are but few people who do not feel some sort of interest in connexion [sic] with the ruined edifices of former days, even if they are nothing more than mere heaps of rubbish.  To what speculations do they not give rise!  What an array of pleasant associations do they not leave in our memories!  But if instead of mere shapeless heaps we have arches and towers, buttresses and mullions, sculpture and tracery in sufficient abundance just to indicate the glories that have been, without too clearly defining what may possibly have been wanting, while the rugged features, traced by the destroying hand of time, are clothed with a graceful veil of verdant ivy and modest creepers, then indeed we fairly slacken the reins of imagination, and let it revel in unshackled freedom.

            Perhaps one of the peculiar charms attendant on a visit to some celebrated monument of antiquity may be found in noticing its affect upon our companions—how one is engrossed by the archæological features, another ha san eye solely to the picturesque, a third poetises [sic] and peoples the now vacant tenement with phantoms of its fancied former occupants; then there are the pleasant ramble and scramble, with the thousand little surprises, the bright sunshine and murmuring breeze – (who would visit a ruin in bad weather?) – the high spirits, and, perchance, the ringing laughter of musical voices.  To how many such “green spots in memory’s waste” may not a visit to Fountains Abbey have given rise!  We have never been fortunate enough to tread the mossy turf of that charming spot, yet we have wandered there in spirit by the aid of those twin-sister fairies, named respectively Camera and Stereoscope, and perhaps we have been enabled to carry away a more vivid recollection of the local beauties than some who have visited them in the body:  who knows!  But, be that so or not, of this we are quite sure, that those who have been visitors will certainly be delighted to possess the pleasing series of transcripts before us to brighten up their impressions, while those who have not been so favoured will be equally glad to have a chance of becoming acquainted with the charms of this renowned spot.

            Mr. Woodward has laid before us Fountains Abbey in many aspects—views from east, west, north, and south, near and distant, in sunshine and in shade, nave, choir, gateway, aisle, turret—all are here, and all are charming, though as photographs some are certainly better than others.—In the Nave and Choir (No. 118), the effect is marred, to some extent, by the distortion arising from the lens employed; but in No. 116, the Gateway of the Eleemosynary chapel, [Illus. Yorkshire 03500] and No. 122, The Bridge leading to the same, no such defect is apparent, and both are highly pleasing subjects, apart even from any association, and are treated in an artistic manner.—The Bridge over the Skell (No. 121), which forms a part of the series, is also a beautifully-executed production.—Of the remainder we will mention No. 111, South-East View from De Grey’s Walk, as presenting perhaps the most pleasing general view of the ruin, and No. 110, A South View [Illus..  Yorkshire 01339] from the same spot.  Of this last we have two specimens, the point of view in each differing but a few yards from the other, yet the aspect is wonderfully different.  The fact is, that by a little careful inspection we perceive that one copy must have been taken in the morning and the other in the afternoon, and consequently the shadows are thrown totally in opposite directions.  Both specimens are good, but that taken in the afternoon is decidedly the most pleasing, not only on account of the direction of the shadows, but the slight variation in the point of delineation has introduced the trunk of an old tree, which materially heightens the effect.

            Mr. Woodward is an industrious and skilful operator, and his works deserve an extended circulation.

 

1860:  BJP  May 1, vol. VII # 117,  p. 136

            City of Glasgow and West of Scotland Photographic Society.

            The monthly meeting of the above Society was held on Thursday evening the 12^th ult.  A. Mactear, Esq., Vice-President, occupied the chair.  Mr. J. Spencer, jun., acted as Secretary, in the absence of Mr. John Cramb, who had gone to Syria on a photographic tour.  The Treasurer, Mr. Robertson, requested Mr. Stuart  to inform the Society by what method he had succeeded in producing photographs on ivory.   [Discussion followed.  Other names listed:  Mr. Nacnab and Mr. Macfarlane]

 

1860:  BJP  May 1, vol. VII, # 117, p. 136

            Birmingham Photographic Society. 

            The monthly meeting of this Society was held on Tuesday evening last, the 25^th ult.  Mr. Haines, one of the Vice-Presidents, occupied the chair.  The usual paper was one On the Fothergill Process, and was read by Mr. Alfred Keene, of Leamington. 

            The specimens referred to in Mr. Keene’s paper were many of them very fine, and afforded the Society much pleasure.

            On the motion of Mr. Brown, seconded by Mr. Morris, a motion of thanks was passed to Mr. Keene for his kindness in furnishing the ­­­ paper  and his friend, Mr. Robinson, of Leamington (the well-known “composition” photographer), being present, promised to contribute something from his experience and skill at a future meeting of the Society.

 

1860:  BJP  May 1, vol. VII, # 117,  p. 136-137

            Liverpool society of Fine Arts.  Exhibition of Paintings, Engravings, and Photographs, at the Queen’s Hall, Liverpool.

            For the first time, we believe, paintings and photographs are being exhibited together, the council of the Society of Fine Arts having devoted a compartment of its rooms to photographs. This department of the exhibition is purely photographic, coloured and touched pictures having been declared inadmissible, as well as copies of pictures.  With the first resolution we cordially a      but at the Manchester exhibition copies of paintings formed one of the most interesting portions, and it is, in our opinion, a  legitimate application of science to art.

            The specimens exhibited number about 250-300, but as they are not numbered or catalogued we are sometimes unable to ascertain either the subject or name of the artist.  Altogether it is a very satisfactory exposition of the present state of the art in this country.  The printing of nearly all the pictures shows marked improvement, and their circulation may tend to disabuse the public mind as to the instability of photographs.

            The collodion process, wet and dry, with its various modifications, is well represented—indeed almost to the exclusion of  all others; for we believe Mr. Helsby’s daguerreotypes and Mr. Duckworth’s calotype and waxed-paper pictures are the only exceptions.

            Rejlander’s and Robinson’s pictures attract much attention, being almost the only representatives of artistic photography in the collection.

            Mr. Rejlander has sent three new subjects, prepared expressly for this exhibition, two of which are named Do it Again! and  Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star!   The expression of innocent child-like glee in the one, and of calm placid wonderment in the other, are rendered in a manner which we had thought almost beyond the power of photography.  We can only compare them to the beautiful pictures by Sant, the pre-eminent painter of children.  We do not remember to have seen anything more calculated to impress upon us the capabilities of photography in the hands of a real artist that these two pictures.  –Shell [sic] your Coat, Sir?  Is a piece of  broad humour leveled at the Volunteer movement.—The exhibition of pictures such as the above is calculated to raise both photography and photographers; and the public generally, and photographers in particular, owe a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. Rejlander for his labours in this direction.

            F. Frith’s pictures of Egypt and Palestine, including the Panorama of Cairo, about ten feel long, occupy a prominent position but as they have been so recently noticed in our pages, they will not need further comment.

            Mr. Mudd has sent his prize picture, Coniston Falls, and we think three others, but they are not numbered or named.

            R. Fenton exhibits a few choice specimens.  His Mill at Hurst Green, and Salmon Leap on the Ribble, are two of the most exquisite pictures we have seen.  His Interiors of the Refectory and Sodality Chapel, Stoneyhurst, are also remarkably fine as specimens of manipulation.

            A series of Views of Furness Abbey, by William Keith, are very good, clean, sharp, and well defined, although some have a slight tendency to hardness.  We have hitherto only known Mr. Keith as a positive operator, but his pictures show that he need not confine himself to that branch of the art.  The Arch in the Cloisters we consider the best of his productions.

            F. Bedford exhibits a series of Views of Chester and Wales, fully equal to his former works.  It is interesting to notice the individuality which attaches itself even to the works of different photographers, as well marked as the touch and style of an artist.  Bedford’s Miner’s Bridge is a striking contrast to Fenton’s.

            The pictures by J. H. Morgan, of Bristol, are already well known.  The best exhibited here are The Salmon Trap, The Water Mill, and The Well on the Beach.

            Mr. Duckworth has contributed nine waxed-paper and calotype pictures of temples and scenery in India, and Mr. W. G. Helsby over fifty large daguerreotypes illustrative of the scenery, architecture, and ethnology of Tahiti, Copiapo, Chili, and Bolivia.

            The fair sex is not entirely unrepresented.  Four Views of Conway and Carnarvon, by a Liverpool lady, are quite up to the mark.  They are by the Fothergill process, and are very finely printed.

            Mr. Rosling has sent two frames, which have already been noticed.

            The portraits exhibited are below the average of what we have been accustomed to see in London and elsewhere.

            Coming so close upon the London exhibition we cannot expect such novelty; but for a                                                                                                                                                                        provincial exhibition, or rather part of an exhibition, it will sell repay a brief inspection.

 

1860:  BJP May 1, vol. VII, # 117,  p. 137

            Obituary.—Photography has sustained a loss by the death of Mr. M. Sparling, late assistant to R. Fenton, Esq., in the Crimea.  He died at Liverpool, on the 20^th ult., of inflammation of the liver and pelvic abscess.

 

1860:   BJP June 1, vol. VII # 119,  p. 165-6

            Photographic Exhibition at Salford.  (From our Special Correspondent).

            We are glad to find here another instance of the gradual way in which our favourite science is taking its place among the arts called fine.  The Committee of the Peel park Museum, in making arrangements for their annual summer exhibition, to which Her Majesty is a contributor, determined to devote the wall space of one room to the display of photographs, the produce of local photographers—all pictures to be untouched.  This is a move in the right direction, and an exposition is secured of pure photography, without instituting undue comparison with the works of continental or other distant artists, a comparison which, however, many of the works exhibited would well sustain.  But the committee have gone further and done still better than this, they have secured the willing services of the Manchester Society, whose exhibition committee have undertaken the superintendence of this part of the exhibition, and have discharged their duties in a way which we are sure will give general satisfaction.

            The centre of a room in the new wing of the Museum is occupied by a bedstead of silver, of valuable but barbarous workmanship,, which, from being the chattel of some eastern potentate, has become the property of her Majesty, who lends it to this exhibition.  Its cumbrous velvet canopy deprives us of some light, but not to any serious extent.  There is also beneath its canopy the cradle made in 1814 for the expected deliverer of Israel, of whom the credulous followers of Mrs. Southcote were in eager expectation.

            We feel ourselves in some difficulty in treating of this exhibition:  the display is so uniformly good, so neatly arranged, and the subjects so varied, as to preclude our using almost any other than words of admiration.

            There is as yet no catalogue printed, and we have taken the trouble to make one for ourselves; and when we find in it some thirteen pictures by Mr. Mudd, the same number each by Mr. Wardley, Mr. Mabley, and Mr. Higgins, and a dozen from Mr. Mann, the zealous Secretary of the Manchester society; when we find Messrs. Sidebotham, Compton, and Thorpe sending more than a score, and mention that our friend Mr. Young has contributed a frame containing twenty exquisite stereoscopic subjects, we have almost said sufficient to convince our readers of the excellence of the exhibition, though some of them may think the number (about 200) rather small.  Nevertheless we would wish to remark upon some of them.

            Mr. Wardley’s West Door of Manchester Cathedral is a fine bit of work, and his view of that smoky city from Blackfriars’ Bridge positively recalls {sic] many pleasant memories of more sunny climes.

            Mr. Arches should confine himself to one branch to ensure success:  he shows three pictures, each by a different process, of which the Fothergill (Hopwood Mill) is the best.

            Mr. Petschler seems to be a persevering operator:  his Worsley Hall deserves commendation; it is much superior to that by J. W. Thompson, who falls short in the arrangement of his subject and exposure of his plates.

            Mr. Sidebotham sends some beautiful specimens:  one would be surprised if it were otherwise.  His Wheat Field and Ancient Bridge at Strines are highly suggestive pictures, and show careful development and printing.

            Mr. Compton and Mr. Thorp seem to have been labouring at pretty nearly the same subjects, and Kenilworth is the best with both of them.

            Mr. Mudd’s pictures are all gems in their way.  There is a capital print of his prize picture, Coniston Falls (the medal itself ought to be suspended from it); and, as a complete contrast, take his Lincoln Cathedral from the West, a perfect piece of architectural photography, not, we think, to be beaten by anything we have seen.  Mr. Mudd’s Bridge at Yewdale, and Yard at Messrs. Rothwell’s Works at Bolton, and his Old Mill at Dunham, show how artistically very diverse themes may be treated by the same operator.

            The Society’s Secretary [Mr. Mann] contributes some small but interesting pictures, collodio-albumen, as are all we have named.  His Shipping at Runcorn, with pure untouched skies, are very neat, and he spends one copy of an engraving, Crossing the Ford, which is a capital one, and the only representative of the oxymel process.

            Mr. Bennett Lowe sends two good Fothergill pictures, one of which is admired much—A Farm in Shropshire.  The hard outlines of the distant hill is objectionable, but perhaps unavoidable.

            Mr. Higgins has been very successful with Fountains Abbey and Lincoln Cathedral, and one of his pictureswould be really to be coveted but for an over-exposure, which makes it more curious than correct.  It represents a copse, with an old bridge, the distant foliage being singularly blanched.

            A number of pictures shown by W.D.C., show a great variety of subjects, chiefly Scottish, but are all very indifferently printed.

            Mr. Marbley of course is a large contributor, in both collodio-albumen and wet collodion.  We must especially mention his diagram of machinery, drawn as well as photographed by himself:  his Glastonbury Abbey, Barrington Court, and Llandudno, the one showing a general view of the town and bay.  We fear, however, that Mr. Mabley has not quite done himself justice in his choice of prints:  most likely the short time allowed prevented this.

            Mr. Young should really try larger pictures now:  his stereoscopics are complete, well chosen, neatly executed, and altogether desirable acquisitions to a dealer in such matters.  He seems to have considerable rambling propensities, for he shows views of Chester, North Wales, Dovedale, Scotland, Yorkshire, and, nearer home, Hoar Frost at Cheetham Hill.  We wonder if his fellow-worker, Mr. Parry, was with him much in these; if so, why he does not exhibit 3we cannot imagine, as anything from him must certainly be good.

            We miss contributions from many others who we know produce good pictures in this branch, both on glass and paper, and we regret their shortcomings very much.  The  windows of this room would have afforded ample and fit space for the exhibition of transparencies.

            I. Davies, of St. Ann’s Square, sends some good pictures in collodio-albumen.  We believe we must take Rostherne Church to be a type of his style, and it might certainly be improved on; accordingly in Dead Game and the View in Yewdale we trace a following of the master hand of  Mr. Mudd.

            One picture, A View on the Irwell, by A. F. Smith, makes us long for a sight of other productions by him.

            Mr. Brothers is a large contributor, chiefly of portraits and copies of engravings.  He has, however, a picture of Manchester Exchange, which is very good, and may go along with Mudd’s Royal Infirmary.  The lines in this plate will bear accurate testing for correct drawing we were going to say, but that can hardly be said, though it expresses what we mean.  We recommend the use of paper more highly albumenized for untouched portraits than this gentleman uses; it throws up the half-tone much better.  He has succeeded well with ivory miniatures, as two excellent specimens attest.  His copies of engravings and pictures are generally good.  He exhibits portraits in water colours and oil:  these are on a screen in another room, not to infringe the rule so rigidly exacted as to the subjects being untouched.

            The London School of Photography, who have a branch in Manchester, send eighteen small vignettes and portraits, which for cheap work are as good as any which have come under our notice.

            There are no glass pictures or negatives in the exhibition.

            We come now to notice the contributions of some members of the Chorlton Society.  This society is but a young one, but some of its members are old amateurs:  if they all produced pictures like those of Agecroft Bridge, by Mr. Hooper, by the turpentine waxed-paper process, we would not complain at all.  Mr. Chadwick’s copy of Sir T. Lauder’s picture of Christ Teaching Humility is not badly executed as regards the negative, but we think a better print might have been shown.  We cannot say much in favour of Messrs. Adin and Davies’ (of Warrington) productions, under exposure marks the former, and very defective composition the latter, as well as very indifferent toning.  Mr. Davies works with collodio-albumen.  One of his pictures, being a View of Great Ormshead, should be called “Topsey Turvey;” for we are told, and it is really not a bad joke, that it puzzled all the Committee as to which was “this side up,” and it was settled by finding a corner some persons reclining; but the man who has framed the plate since (and the frames are nearly all provided by the Museum committee) has actually placed it on its side, and the aforesaid persons may now be seen reposing comfortably (?) heads downwards,--at least it was so when we saw it.  But we are sadly exceeding our present limits, and must wind up by saying that we are informed that the opening soirée, on the 23^rd, given by the Mayou, was quite a success:  we were not, however, honoured with an invitation, nor with tickets to the private view, which extended over the rest of the week, at which we are rather disappointed.  No doubt during the current week, the date of the Manchester ludi circenses, which take place within rifle range of this exhibition, will be visited by thousands.  Without wishing to disparage our national sports we cannot help saying they will here find a more rational, a more instructive exhibition, even if they confine themselves, as we are compelled to do, to this particular department; but we are sure they will not venture to gainsay our opinion on this subject when they ramble through the other galleries of the building where so many valuable specimens of paintings, of art, and manufactures, modern and ancient, European and Asiatic, and such fine examples of natural history in its various branches, are deposited.

 

1860  BJP June 1,  vol. VII, # 119, p. 166-7     CHECK PAGE 167 and beyond if needed

            Meetings of Societies.  South London Photographic Society. 

            The usual monthly meeting of the above Society was held at the Lecture Hall, Walworth, on Friday, the 18^th ult.,--W. Ackland, Esq., Vice-President, in the chair.

            The minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, donations to the folio were acknowledged from Mr. Wall and Mr. Ackland, for which the usual votes of thanks were awarded.

            Mr. Ackland, Mr. W. Clarke, and Mr. Hannaford, desired their names to be inserted in the list of members forming the Exchange Club.

            The Rev. F. F. Statham, B.A., F.G.S., President, then read his promised paper On the Application of Photography to Scientific Pursuits.

            [There follows comments on the paper by the same persons named above as well as those of Mr. Leake     ANY OTHERS MENTIONED?

 

1860  BJP June 15, vol. VII, #120, p. 178-179:

            On Photography and Its Application to Military Purposes*, By Captain Donelly, R.E.

(*A lecture delivered at the United Service Institution, London, on Friday, June 8, 1860)

            Captain Donelly wished to guard against the supposition that might arise from the title of his paper, that he proposed to being forward any new or remarkable application of photography to military purposes.  He did not come forward as an inventor.  It was not his intention to propose to defeat armies, destroy fleets, or take fortresses by the aid of nitrate of silver and the camera obscura.  But he would endeavour to explain, as clearly as he could, the general principles of photography—an art which was everyday rapidly extending, and the aid of which might, he believed, be usefully enlisted in many secondary military operations.

            Captain Donelly then went into a lucid detail of the scientific principles upon which the art of photography rests, occasionally illustrating his theories by experiments.  One of his experiments was strikingly beautiful.  In exemplifying the action of light in effecting chemical changes and combinations in certain substances, the lecturer placed a mixture of hydrogen and chlorine, contained in a glass bulb about half an inch in diameter, before the intense white light produced by burning phosphorous in oxygen gas.  With this kind of light no perceptible action upon the mixture  in the bulb was produced, although, as the lecturer stated, the action of the sun’s rays would have instantly caused the gases to combine with explosive violence.  The bulb was then exposed to the influence of the intensely bright blue flame produced by the combustion of a mixture of the vapour of bisulphide of  carbon in binoxide of nitrogen, which, though only burning for a fraction of a second, caused the mixture of hydrogen and chlorine instantly to combine chemic ally with such energy as to burst the bulb with a sharp report, in consequence of its containing a larger portion of the violet rays of the spectrum than the light previously employed.

            We have seen this experiment performed in other ways, but never more successfully.  Professor Roscoe lately, at the Royal Institution, procured the combination of the mixture of hydrogen and chlorine, by burning phosphorous in oxygen, contained in a blue glass globe; and we mention this as conclusive evidence that the union is effected by the chemical or violet rays, as the Professor could not succeed in exploding a bulb when he employed a white or red glass globe.  We have not space for Captain Donelly’s very clear enunciation of the principles of the art, as they have been frequently explained in the pages of this Journal, and as they may be studied in the published handbooks upon photography, such as Hardwich’s, to which Captain Donelly especially referred his audience.

            The lecturer then said, with reference to the application of photography to military purposes, the first necessary was portability in the apparatus.  Captain Fowke, of the Royal Engineers, who had fitted out most of the parties of engineers who had taken photographic apparatus with them, invented a form of camera which was extremely portable, and could be carried in a knapsack.  Captain Donelly exhibited the camera, and explained its folding arrangements; that, with the chemical boxes, was carried on pack saddles.  Numerous photographs had been taken by parties of sappers, many of which Captain Donelly  exhibited.  Among them were some by Corporal Lawson, who was with Captains Gordon and James, on the Asiatic boundary, surveying in Asia Minor, between Russia and Turkey.  Others by Sergeant Church, who accompanied Colonel Stanton, when he went to verify the reports on the projected line of railway across the Isthmus of Panama—the Honduras line.  Some were taken in India, at Singapore, and others, executed in China, furnished Mr. Burford with the materials for his panorama.  Some were taken by Sergeant Mack, at Moscow, when he accompanied Lord Granville.  Two were taken at Varna, and, unfortunately, the photographers who went out to the Crimea were lost on board the “Prince.”   One photograph exhibited the plan of the ships in the order of landing the troops.  Hence they saw that photography could be applied under very difficult circumstances, such as on long and rapid journeys.

            The men of the Engineer’s corps were taught the art, and specimens of their productions were on the table.  Many of the photographs, Captain Donelly remarked, were not such as Mr. Fenton or Mr. Thurston Thompson would care to exhibit at the photographic exhibition; still some of them were very good, and all of them very creditable, when the circumstances were considered under which they were taken.  Photographs of a country gave a most truthful and accurate idea of it.  They would do more to give an accurate idea of any particular position than yards of description on foolscap.  They might be found of great service in illustrating a report on a country—and, indeed, they had been so employed by Colonel Stanton—and in that way they might be of great service to the general commanding an army in the field, as also in copying and multiplying plans, as in the case of the plan of the position of the ships for landing the troops in the Crimea.  Captain Donelly also exhibited a number of photographs taken at Chatham, showing the admirable means which they afforded of conveying descriptions of various military operations, such as bridge making, &c., so giving a perfect idea of place.  Photographs were of great service in supplying engineers with ready and rapid means of showing the state of works on any particular day.  Captain Donelly exhibited a progress plan of the works at Aldershott which was done by the War Department, by which it could be seen at once how far the works had proceeded, which could only otherwise be done by expensive lithographs, and then not so well or so rapidly.  They were enabled to obtain a picture of any size they wished; and Captain Donelly said that he could not give a better example of that than by referring to five photographs of one of the Cartoons in Hampton Court (Elymas the Sorcerer Struck with Blindness), the photographs being of the respective sizes of 8 by 5, 15 by 11, 31 by 21, and 48 by 30 inches.  It might be said that these had little to do with the application of photography to military purposes.  Captain Donelly exhibited them as admirable specimens of photography executed, with the assistance of men of the Royal Engineers, by Mr. Thurston Thompson, who had instructed most of the men at the South Kensington Museum.  Captain Donelly called attention to some specimens of photographic reductions of the maps of the Ordnance Survey from one scale to another for engraving.  By employing photography for these reductions the Survey Office at Southampton saved £1600 per annum, and the whole saving of the survey would be about £32,000, this saving being accompanied by increased rapidity and accuracy in the reductions.  Formerly the reductions were made by the pentagraph, the operation being long and tedious, in which, as the hand and the eyes were employed, the accuracy was dependant, to a great extent, on the skill of the operator.  Now, by merely fixing the camera at different distances from the plan to be copied, it could be reduced to any scale desired by an operation in a few minutes, and with the greatest accuracy.

            The scales of the maps were for—

            Towns….. 1/500 or 10.56 feet to 1 mile.

            Parishes…1/1000 or 25/344 inches to 1 mile.

            Counties… 6 inches to 1 mile

            Kingdom…1 inch to 1 mile

            The ten feet scale was reduced to the twenty-five inches, and the twenty-five inches to the six inches.  But by further reduction the perfect truthfulness of photography rather militated against it.  In reducing from the six to the one inch scale the photographs was too crowded with details, so that at present in a portion of that operation the pentagraph had still to be employed.

            The photographs were at once transferred to the copperplates for the engraver, or the zinc plate for the zincograph process, by the following means:--Printer’s tracing paper was employed, the paper being sensitized by being washed over with a saturated solution of bichromate of potash and gum water.  That prepared paper was exposed to light under an ordinary glass negative, and the portion of bichromate of potash acted on become insoluble in water (that being a peculiar property of bichromate of potash).  The print was then placed, face downwards, on a metal plate, covered with the greasy lithographic ink, and passed through a press until it became almost black in appearance.  It was then washed with a solution of gum Arabic and hot water, and brushed with a camel’s hair brush, which removed the portions not acted upon, thus leaving a print in light brown colour in lithographic ink.  That could be either transferred to the copperplate, as a guide to the engraver, by burnishing, or it might in the same way be transferred to the zinc plate, and printed from immediately, without any further process, by simply being inked.

 

1860  BJP July 2,  vol. VII, # 121, p. 194:

            Stereographs.  Picturesque Scenery in the Vales of Tweed, Ettrick, and Yarrow, photographed by  W. Rodger, Montrose.

            We wonder whether it would be possible for any photographer, armed with camera, tripod, and “ammunition,” to pass within a moderate distance of the home of the great novelist without making a capture of the counterfeit presentment of it.  Certainly we have seen as many different illustrations of Abbotsford as there are months in the year at the least; and no wonder, for apart from its associations, which would be enough to redeem a bare brick wall from the charge of want of interest, it is well worthy the attention of photographers and other artists for its own intrinsic merits as regards the picturesque.

            In the series before us we have three to notice, viz., No. 14, a view taken from the Galashiels Road, which gives a better idea of its exact position than any other we have seen.  Located on the banks of the Tweed, and therefore in a valley, we perceive by the illustration before us that it is at the base of a fine, wooded slope, across which are seen the tops of the distant mountains, while the river stretches and winds far away on our left.  In the immediate foreground is a stubble field, in which is a group of about a dozen farm labourers, male and female, some seated, some standing, but all apparently interested in something in the far distance.  Although the foliage in this slide is perhaps a little too dark, it is unquestionably an admirable study for the landscape painter, as well as a welcome addition to the stereoscopic collection.  In No. 15, a view of Abbotsford from the Tweed, the natural clouds add very much to the effect, being more heaped in rolling masses than in the preceding instance; but, through these indicate that the exposure must have been very short, yet it is evident, from the appearance of a silver birch tree in the centre, that a stiff breeze must have been blowing at the time, its ever restless foliage being somewhat indistinct, while that of some sturdier members of the vegetable kingdom on the left is tolerably well defined, though they distinctly show from their aspect the influence of the wind.  In another specimen, No. 15B, taken from the same spot, the masses of clouds are absent, but a bare-legged urchin is seen wading in the stream not far from the spectator.

            Haining House, near Selkirk, No. 10A, is a very pleasing study, being a pretty combination of wood, water, and figures.  On a point of land, around which the stream sweeps in a graceful curve, the house, shaded and backed by many stately trees, is situated.  The near bank of the stream, seen across some low bushes, is fringed with pliant rushes, from amongst which a boat is being pushed off by a gentleman standing in the bows, assisted by another seated amidships, using an oar, while a third, standing on the bank, is waving an adieu.

            Yair House, No. 19, is an old fashioned though not picturesque structure, surrounded on three sides by a mass of magnificent forest trees, one splendid specimen of which is seen on the right, close against the river’s bank.  Good, substantial, pleasant comfort is the idea suggested by this specimen.

            Nedar Newark Castle, on the banks of the Yarrow, is a slide of a totally different stamp; flat and poor it looks out of the stereoscope, but in it—“what a change comes o’er the spirit of the scene.”  No longer flat, no longer poor!—but rich in half-tone, richer still in beauty; the eye ranges down a picturesque grove of trees in full leaf, the branches of which interlace and chequer the vista through which the tranquil waters of the river and the wooded slope of the opposite bank are discerned.  IN the immediate foreground are the trunks of a couple of gnarled oaks, the bark of which is seamed and clothed with patches of lichen; farther on is the stem of a noble fir tree, then more oaks, while the long grass, cut by the pathway, brushwood, and stream, combine to make up a truly charming tout ensemble.

            Evening.—View taken from Selkirk Bridge, No. 13, is an effective study for the artist—the casual observer will not appreciate it.  Near the spectator is a solitary figure, probably a gamekeeper, with a fun, standing in a turnip field, by the roadside.  Across another extensive field are seen a few houses and farm buildings, with a plantation on the left, the background, consisting of a long slope of moorland hills.  But, oh that sky!  What a charm it has!  How it lights up the outline of the hills!  What a calm, soft light it sheds upon the landscape, which, though next to nothing in itself is glorified by the lingering smile of departing day!

            Mill of Faireylee, on the Tweed (No. 16), though a capital subject, and full of all that goes to make up the picturesque, is a trifle under-exposed and over-developed.  The tree is too dark and the water too white; but the rocks are sharp and bold, and the waterwheel just where it should be.

            Fouloshiels, the birthplace of Mungo Park (No. 5), though only a cluster of thatched cottages against the hill side, neverthe4less composes into a beautiful subject.  Located at the bend of the high road, with a by-road passing round the cottages—plantations on the right and left—a field in full crop in front and one quite fallow behind—the base of one extensive hill on the right, and the summit of another in the distance—a very pretty effect is produced with very moderate means.

            With this we must close our notice of the series; but amongst a few miscellaneous slides we must mention one, called The Game at Marbles, where in a back garden, two boys are busy over what in our school days we knew as “shoot in the ring,” while a disconsolate-looking little lassie is seated on the window-step, appearing very much as if she would like to join in the fun, but felt doubtful of her reception.

            We cannot close without intimating that, judging from the specimens before us, Mr. Roger is a skilful operator, a capital printer, and has the happy knack of selecting judiciously his “point of view.”

 

1860:  BJP  July 16, vol. VII, #122, p. 209

On a Reflecting Telescope for Celestial Photography, erecting at Hastings, near New York.  By Henry Draper, M.D.

In the summer of 1857, after the Dublin meeting of the British Association, a party visited Lord Rosse’s telescope, at Parsonstown.  We were shown the machinery employed in its construction, and, as far as the weather permitted, its performance.

            That visit first led me to attempt constructing an instrument which should be specially adapted for celestial photography, for which purpose the reflector possesses such conspicuous advantages over any refractor.

            Those who are familiar with photographic operations know well how important it is for the ensuring of uniform success that the sensitive surfaces should always be placed in similar circumstances as to position, and that position must afford every facility for carrying on the necessary manipulations.

            It appeared to me that a modification of a form of mounting proposed some time ago by Mr. Nasymth could be made to answer these requirement perfectly, and that a Newtonian reflector, sustained on hollow trunnions, through one of which the rays from the small mirror could come, would permit of operations being carried on upon a horizonal [sic] table at the end of the trunnion with great ease.  Whatever might be the altitude or position of the object the photographic table would always be horizontal.

            As I proposed that the telescope should not be less than twelve feet in focal length, an advantage would obviously arise from making the vertical axis of the framework beneath its centre of gravity.  The observatory in which it should be placed would then require to be only one-half the diameter that would otherwise be demanded.  A twelve-foot tube could b e worked with its frame in a cylindrical space, thirteen feet in diameter and thirteen feet in height.

            I therefore cast a speculum of fifteen inches in diameter and two inches in thickness.  The materials employed were Minnesota copper—regarded in America as the purest commercial form of that metal—and Banca tin.  Their proportions were those recommended by Lord Rosse.  The case was made in sand, four inches in thickness in every direction from the speculum, which was permitted to remain for two days unopened, to insure slow cooling.  It proved to be perfectly successful.  The machine used for grinding and polishing it was that of Lord Rosse.

            The tube of the telescope is of black walnut, bound externally by brass rings, and strengthened interiorly by iron ones.  The trunnions at the little mirror are of bun-metal:  they work on friction rollers of the same substance, supported on polished steel axles.

            The telescope is moved in altitude, with the utmost facility, by the aid of counterpoising levers, which act perfectly, whatever the position of the tube may be.  The pulleys through which these counterposing levers work are also of gun-metal, supported on friction rollers, with polished steel axles.  The motion, upon a vertical axis, is accomplished by a cast-iron shaft, two and a half feet in length, and three inches in thickness, working at one end on a hemispherical termination in gun-metal, and the other sustained in a strong and ground cast-iron collar.

            The observatory in which this instrument is being placed is situated on a hill, four hundred feet above the level of the sea, at Hastings, about twenty miles north of New York.

            The edifice consists of a sunken chamber, excavated out of the solid rock.  The walls of this chamber are substantially built of stone, laid in hydraulic cement.  They are nine feet high.  On the top of these walls a lighter wooden edifice is raised sufficient to make the building of the required height.  The revolving roof is metallic.  The ground plan is square, and seventeen feet in the clear interiorly.  As the frame of the telescope only requires a cylindrical space of thirteen feet, the corners of the building are very available for the necessary photographic preparations.

            On the top of the stone wall is placed a circular gallery running entirely around the interior of the room, and enabling the operator to have access with great facility to the photographic table and the eye-piece trunnion of the instrument.  The interior of the observatory is sheathed throughout with wood.

            This partly underground construction has been adopted for the purpose of ensuring a more complete invariability of the temperature of the mirror.  A thorough ventilation is, however, secured whenever desirable, the local position of the edifice being such that the door of entrance is on the side of the hill at the level of the floor.  The wooden sheathing is for the purpose of avoiding deposition of moisture.

            At the moment of writing this paper the building is unfinished, though rapidly approaching completion.  The various parts of the instrument and the photographic arrangement are provided, and no difficulty is anticipated.

            This is the first observatory that has been erected in America expressly for celestial photography, and it is hoped that, considering the purity of the skies, it will yield good results.

            I expect also to derive considerable advantage from the method of darkening collodion negatives by the aid of protochloride of palladium, described by me in a paper read before the American Photographical Society, and which I think in this application will permit of good proofs being taken by unprecedentedly short exposures.

 

 

1860:  BJP  July 16, vol. VII, #122, p. 209

            Stereographs.  St. Mary Magdalen’s Church, Tetbury.

            This is an interior taken by Messrs. Dutton, which, though deficient of any but a local interest, is well executed both as regards the printing and the production of the negative.  There is a slight curvature in the columns, but this disappears in the stereoscope:  the detail and half-tone are both highly commendable, and the proof is of an agreeable tone.  The subject, such as it is, has been made the most of.

 

1860:  BJP July 16, vol. VII, #122, p. 209

            South London Photographic Society.

            The following officers have been elected or re-elected for the ensuing year:--

President—Rev. Francis F. Statham, B.A., F.G.S.

Vice-President—W. Ackland, Esq.

Hon. Secretary—Mr. Alfred H. Wall, 90, Cannon Street West, City.

Hon. Treasurer—Mr. Frank Howared, 12, Whittingham Villas, Studley Road, Stockwell

Committee—  Mr. M. Hannaford                Mr. N. E. Fitch

                        T. Martin                               G. W. Simpson

                        A. Herve                                 J.A. Cotton

                        J. C. Leake                             W. Clarke

            The Secretary hopes that their next meeting—the first in the open air—will be well attended.  The usual committee meeting will be held at the Secretary’s, in Cannon Street, on the second Wednesday of the month, at Half-past Seven in the evening.

 

1860:  BJP July 16, vol. VII, #122, p.209-210

            Letters to a Photographic Friend.  No. I.

My Dear Thompson,

            According to promise I sit down to let you know what is doing in the great metropolis in the way of Novelties at the various photographic warehouses; and although I hear bitter complaints of the wet season putting a damper on this branch of trade, and the rifle movement entrenching on cash that would otherwise have been offered up as a sacrifice at the Temple of Sol, still I find ample material to occupy both time and paper in description.

            On leaving my friends at Brighton, I made my way to London.  [There follows a long, poetic rambling about photography in general, generic but widely-ranging locations for studios,

etc. finally ending up his train trip in London where he continues his letter]….The day after my arrival I bent my steps towards “the Land of the West,” that being the first district I intended making a foray on the novelties photographic.  The result of my inquiries at the various establishments I will report to you in subsequent communications.  In the meantime,  I remain, dear Thompson, Yours photographically Simeon Headsman

 

1860:  BJP July 16, vol. VII, #122, p. 210

            Coloured Daguerreotype Plates.—M. Touissant, of Rouen, has announced that he succeeds in fixing the colours of images on daguerreotype plates.  He does not give the formula, because he cannot at present specify the precise quantities of the substances employed.  The process consists in pouring a mixture of lucine and alloxane upon well polished plates.

                       

1860:  BJP July 16, vol. VII, #122, p. 210

            Manchester Photographic Society. 

            The usual monthly meeting of this Society was held on Wednesday, the 4^th inst., at the Literary and Philosophical Society’s Rooms, 36, George Street,--Joseph Sidebotham, Esq., presiding.  Mr. John Persehouse and Mr. John Mason were elected members of the Society. 

[Discussion was on potential future photographic exhibitions and the unauthorized rearrangement of photographs possibly by Mr. Davies at the Salford Exhibition.  Members contributing to the discussions were Mr. Mabley, Mr. J. Parry, and Mr. Heywood]

 

1860:  BJP Aug. 1, vol. VII, #123, p. 223-224

            Stereographs.  Illustration of East Indian Scenery, by Capt. A.N. Scott, Madras Artillery.

            Three or four months back we were favoured by Captain Scott with a few specimens of his photographic labour in the form of half-a-dozen stereographs of some of the more remarkable native Indian Tombs:  since that period this gentleman has determined to publish as series, and we have recently received through Mr. Bolton, of Holborn Bars, London, whom we are given to understand has been selected to act as agent for their publication, a further instalment.

            Every experienced photographer is well aware of the difficulties arising from having to operate in very hot weather—not only from the physical causes entailing an unusual degree of lassitude and fatigue in the artist, but also from the usual unruly behaviour of the chemicals employed, which, under such circumstances, often appear to cast off all control.  If we add to these the annoyances arising from materials of doubtful quality, and the necessity, not unfrequently entailed, of having to substitute one substance for another (such as citric for acetic acid, for instance, or even lemon juice for either), in consequence of the ordinary supply having been exhausted with no means of replenishing the stock without a fatal delay, it will be readily understood how an unusual amount of energy and skill is requisite to the production of even mediocre results; and no small credit is due to the perseverance to which we are indebted for the specimens now before us.  For the reasons assigned, it would be absurd to criticise results obtained under such circumstances as we have been describing by the same rules that we should apply to ordinary photographs; but we may remark that, even under this aspect, they are as creditable as the general run of those published, while as regards the interest and instructive character of the subjects depicted, they are immeasurably superior.  Of these we notice especially a group of three of the native princes, with their attendants, via., Nawaub Shumsh-ool-Oomra, of Hydeerabad, an old man, supporting his now listless frame by his arm over the shoulders of his son, the Nawaub Iktidar-ool-Moolk, seated on his right hand; the Nawaub Tegh-Jung, the grandson, a larger and taller man than either of his progenitors, being seate4d bolt upright in a constrained and rigid attitude, forming a marked contrast to that of the other two.  The oriental costume, with jewels and flowing robes, it must be confessed, gives a very effeminate aspect to the wearers; and this is not a little enhanced by the display of certain gossamer-like muslin under-garments protruding from beneath the robes, and which bear a marvellous resemblance to ladies’ petticoats.  It is, however, a truly interesting and characteristic group.

            Another similar group to the last named, but not quite so well executed, partly owing to a slight movement of the sitters, consists of the Nawaub Salar Jung, minister at Hyderabad, with a nephew on his left, and the Rajah Narrindhur on his right hand.

            A very highly interesting specimen of the series is one representing the Interior of the Summer Residence of the Nawaub Shumsh-ool-Oomra, whose portrait we noticed above.  This consists of an extensive quadrangle, open above to the sky, and surrounded on all sides by a colonnade, with the peculiar crenated arches prevalent in eastern edeifices.  A large reservoir of water nearly fills the open part of the quadrangle, and the ecentre is occupied by an elegantly-constructed fountain, which bears, however, strong evidence of being of European manufacture.  The leaves of numerous aquatic plants are seen floating on the surface of the water; and around the reservoir are placed pots containing plants, and the curiously quaint seats, all of China, and with the appearance of which we have of late become pretty familiar.  Under the colonnades are dependent numerous small chandeliers; and in front of them are blinds which can be lowered so as to protect any part exposed to the sun, the whole appearance being somewhat similar to that presented by the Alhambra Court in the Crystal Palace.

            The Tomb of a Mohomedan Lady at Booran Sahib’s Durga, near Hyderabad, looks far more like a palatial residence than a tomb, and gives an excellent idea of the style of these extraordinary edifices.

            The Hill Fort of Golconda, as seen from the tombs through one of the arches, is excellent as a stereoscopic subject.

            The Tomb of Abdoola Shah presents more the aspect of a temple, while, as a contrast, the Mahomedan Tomb, near Hyderabad, is altogether different and simpler, being composed chiefly of a light kind of trellis-work, and is picturesquely overshadowed by a fine specimen of the banian tree.

            Although far inferior to the others in a photographic point of view, the Elephants with Heavy Ordnance will no doubt attract much attention, as, to European eyes, the sight of two of these huge animals harnessed, tandem-fashion, to a heary fun, presents a decided novelty.

            We have little doubt that this series will become a highly popular one.

 

1860:  BJP Aug. 1,  vol. VII, # 123, p. 224-226

            Letters to a Photographic Friend.  No. II.

My Dear Frank,

            The first name I had upon my list was that of Melhuish; for as this well-known photographer has lately entered into partnership with McLean, the print publisher, of the Haymarket, this was the first establishment that presented itself in progressing westward.  I found that Mr. Melhuish had as yet found no occasion to alter the plan of his metal camera.  [There follows a long technical discussion including  Melhuish’s Universal Objective lens] …

            On leaving Melhuish’s, I bent my steps to Thomas’s, in Pall Mall; but, finding that he had nothing absolutely novel to introduce to my notice, I made my way to Murray and Heath’s, in Piccadilly.  (Here I may state, en passant, that if, in journeying from west to east, I apparently overlook any well-known photographic house, you may take it for granted that the proprietors have not called my attention to apparatus that comes under the head of Novelties, but are satisfied as to the efficiency of their existing models).  [Another long series of technical descriptions ensues including a stereoscopic camera constructed on the principle of one made for Prince Alfred by Messrs. Murray and Heath; and a photographic tent by Mr. Smartt (sic) invented in 1858 and used by  Fenton, Bedford, Raven, Negretti & Zambra who sent 2 or 3 of them with their operators in China & Japan; and the Astronomical Expedition to Spain also took one]

            From Piccadilly I turned into New Bond Street, and called at Callaghan’s, Voigtlaender’s London agent, to examine the orthoscopic lenses made expressly for taking stereographs [technical discussion] …

            At this point I thought it time to bring my first day’s jaunt to a close, so I turned my steps hotelwards, and, after refreshing the inner man, I devoted my evening to this letter, that your inquisitive mind might have its ravening satisfied with the scraps of photographic fodder I had been able to pick up.  So believe me,  Yours faithfully, Simeon Headsman. [P.S. in re typo in Letter I in connection with a poem]

 

1860  BJP Aug. 15, vol. VII, # 124, p. 233-235.  FINISH TRANSCRIPTION

            The Recent Solar Eclipse.  The British Astronomical Expedition:  A Personal Narrative of the Phenomena Observed.  By Walter Beck.

            I venture, as one who had the honour of accompanying the recent astronomical expedition to the north of Spain, to intrude upon your columns, in the anticipation that a slight sketch of our proceedings and of the phenomena we observed may not be wholly uninteresting to your readers.  Unfortunately I am necessitated to confine myself almost entirely to the movements of the party of which I was a member, since the observers were scattered over an extensive range of country, and means of intercommunication were limited.  For the photographic phase of the observations I must refer your readers to Mr. De la Rue’s letter in The Times of the 9^th inst., and for the strictly scientific portion to the volume which it is intended shortly to publish.

            Probably not even the express train on the morning of March 15^th, 1858, conveyed so many astronomers to Swindon as did the 9h.15m. from Paddington to Plymouth on July 6^th, 1860.  The luggage denoted the character of the passengers.  Long boxes, evidently containing telescopes, barometer cases, &c., &c., marked with the words “Instruments for observation of the eclipse,” abounded on the platform, and were piled in the luggage van.

            It was late in the evening when we reached the magnificent troop ship Himalaya, which had been placed at the disposal of the Astronomer Royal by the Government.  Glad enough were we after eight hours’ rail to turn into our berths.

            It was arranged that we should sail at ten o’clock next morning (Saturday), but before that hour arrived a boat came alongside from the Hero, inviting those who chose to visit that vessel—the one selected to convey the Prince of Wales on his transatlantic voyage.  A considerable number availed themselves of this polite offer, and barely returned before the Himalaya slipped from the buoy and stood out to sea round the eastern end of the celebrated Plymouth Breakwater.

            It was a lovely day, with a cloudless sky, and just sufficient wind to keep the heat from being oppressive.  We passed about half a mile from the Eddystone, and not many hours elapsed before the land had sunk below the horizon.

            The fact of our having left Plymouth had been communicated to Bilbao by telegraph, and lest we should arrive too early the engines were ordered to go at only half speed.  Owing to the calmness of the sea the motion of the vessel was so slight as to interfere but little with photography, and several groups were taken by Mr. Downes with reasonable success.

            Towards the afternoon the Astronomer Royal called a meeting of the members forming the expedition, received from the principals an account of what they and their assistants proposed to do, and delivered an able speech, commenting upon the information given, and point out the particularly interesting features which might be expected during the eclipse.  Through the kindness of Mr. Vignolles every observer on board was furnished with a copy of his valuable work on the subject, accompanied by a beautifully executed map of the north of Spain, showing, by means of lines, the track of the shadow, with the calculated duration of totality at various places.

            After dinner, as we approached the dreaded Bay of Biscay, many were the speculations as to what sort of weather we should encounter; some affirming that the tempestuous character ascribed to that part of the Atlantic was a myth, whilst others held the contrary.  The evening wore pleasantly on, being beguiled by the excellent vocal and instrumental performances of the ladies who accompanied us; and when, after sighting Ushant Light, we were told that we were fairly in the Bay, and when we found ourselves sailing on a placid moonlit sea with but little motion, we retired to rest in a comfortable state of mind as regarded the future.

            On awaking in the early dawn, however, it was evident that the ocean still maintained its character for “faithlessness.”  The bulkheads were creaking loudly, all swinging lamps, &c., in oscillation, and to us landsmen it was difficult to stand still in the cabin.  Fortunately, on going above, we found it was an easterly breeze that had raised this commotion, otherwise if it had been from the west the matter would have been far worse.  It was not long ere the effects of the sea became apparent.  The breakfast table was but thinly attended, many were in their berths, and others were to be seen in various stages, from that of utter despair to semijoviality.  The day passed by, and towards afternoon it became much calmer, and “with the sun the gale died down.”  Dinner was more patronized, and the indisposed took heart and refreshment.  On the vessel went, “gliding through liquid leagues, sliding from horizon to horizon;” and when we came on deck on Monday morning we found ourselves in full view of the Spanish coast, with its bold cliffs and distant mountains.  Along this we steamed, the signal for a pilot at the fore, and were not long ere we took one on board.  An hour had not elapsed before another boat came alongside which had been waiting for us all night, and in a short time we dropped anchor in the roads of Portugalete, the entrance to the river Nervion, on which the city of Bilbao is situated.  An excursion steamer crowded with people came out, which sailed round us several times with the hope that they would be admitted on board.  This was felt to be impossible, owing to the necessity which existed for getting the instruments and luggage safely on shore.

            Not long after Mr. Vignolles, and a number of English gentlemen employed on the railway, arrived in a steamer which he had kindly chartered to take us up the river to Bilbao, and bidding a temporary farewell to the Himalaya, and those of the expedition who were going with her to Santander, we found ourselves on the way to the city.  We could not but admire the beauty of the scenery on either side of the Nervion—fine lofty hills interspersed with vineyards and corn-fields.  Many were the anxious enquiries as to customs, and other ordeals through which we expected to pass; but we were agreeably disappointed, for the Government, true to its promise of affording us every facility, admitted us without even requiring our passports.

            We now separated considerably, some accepting the hospitality of Mr. Vignolles and the members of the staff, others putting up at different hotels.  We found ourselves amongst friends whom we seemed to have known for years, who did everything that lay in their power to make us comfortable, and laid us under obligations that I am sure none will ever forget.  Conducted by these gentlemen we “did” the town in parties.  In fact, we could almost fancy ourselves in a new England, and, as if to render the illusion complete, a cricket match came off at Portugalete nexst day, at which the astronomers were represented.

            On the same morning Professor Airey held a meeting to dedcide on the different stations to be taken by the observers.  The party to which I belonged consisted of Mr. Joseph Beck, Mr. Joseph Bonomi, and myself [Walter Beck]; and it was arranged that we should start the same evening by diligence with Mr. De la Rue’s party for Miranda de Ebro.  Night traveling is never the most agreeable thing in the world, even in a first-class carriage, but in a diligence it borders on the disagreeable.  We were not sorry, therefore, when, after ten hours; intolerably dusty ride, we reached our destination, Mr. De la Rue having left us about two miles from Miranda in order to proceed to his station of Rivabellosa.

            Here we again met with a most cordial reception from the staff of the Ebro line, an d the engineers of the adjacent sections of the Bilbao and Tudela railway, and were quickly comfortably “located” in the parador of Don Cirilo Guines.

            It being Wednesday we had a week to pass before the eclipse, and this flew by rapidly, being employed in choosing our station and in walking about the country, whilst Mr. Bonomi made a series of valuable sketches, embracing all the objects of interest in the immediate vicinity, the curiosities of the place, &c.  Occasionally also we saw gentlemen from the stations nearest Miranda, who came to the inn as a halting-place on the way to Rivabellosa or elsewhere.  Being a sort of half-way house between Burgos and Vitoria, and on the high road to Madrid, there was also a constant bustle and continual arrivals and departures.

            The weather was very ominous, and on the morning of the eventful day we mounted the little hill which formed our observatory with heavy masses of cloud rolling over our heads and but faint glimpses of blue sky.  We were accompanied by Messrs. Preston, Weedon, and Roberts, of the staff, the others having proceeded to a lofty mountain near Haro, in order to make sure of a good view.

            Mr. Joseph Beck was provided with a 5” telescope, by Cook, to which an extremely ingenious apparatus had been applied, by the use of which he hoped to be enabled to detect the smallest symptom of polarization in the corona.  As his assistant he had appointed me to observe the polarization of the atmosphere during the passage of the shadow—an intention which circumstances forced him to relinquish, and to direct me to observe the general effects.  I therefore viewed the eclipse through an opera-glass, furnished with a slide in the eye-pieces containing three different shades of glass.  Mr. Preston used a small telescope, mounted on a temporary stand, which afforded great facilities for looking at the sun at its high elevation.  Messrs. Weedon and Roberts brought their theodolites, and by a few simple contrivances managed to make good use of them.  Mr. Bonomi had been engaged for some days in preparing a panoramic view of the surrounding country, and had also kindly provided us with circles, divided by intersecting lines for facility in marking down the positions of the prominences; and had placed a series of tints at the side in order that their colour might be easily noted down at the time.  We also possessed a chart showing what would be the positions of the principal planets and stars during totality.  This was affixed to a board for easy reference.  Greenwich time was brought up from Rivabellosa, but being destitute of chronometers we were unable to take any reliable time observations:  this must be borne in mind.  A cock, hen, and chickens, had been procured from Miranda, in order that we might observe the effects of the darkness upon them.

            The eminence upon which we had taken our station was about 150 feet above the plain, and therefore about 1600 feet above mean sea level.  It was clad with vines to the summit on the south side, and commanded a fine prospect, bounded on all sides by spurs from the Cantabrian Pyrenees; whilst, at our feet, the Ebro, with its poplar-lined banks, wound past the town of Miranda.  We could plainly see Mr. De la Rue’s observatory, and the people flocking neat it; whilst the old Castle of Miranda was crowded—a circumstance which sadly annoyed the two French astronomers who had chosen that as their position.

            About an hour before the commencement of the eclipse, the clouds broke in the direction of Pancorbo, where Professor Chevallier and Messrs. Wilson and Hammond had taken their station.  The proportion of blue rapidly increased, and at the beginning of obscuration, on looking to windward, we appeared to be situated beneath a vast semicircle of clear sky, which augured well for a favourable result.  Beautiful masses of cloud skirted the horizon, and, though some very considerable ones passed near the sun during the eclipse, not one interfered in the least with our uninterrupted view; and the few fleecy vapours that did cross his disc before totality served only as shades to the eye.

            After first contact, we watched the moon slowly creeping over the sun’s face, on which we had noticed a large spot.  Within about thirteen minutes of totality Venus shone very distinctly, and was easily found by covering the sun with the hand.

            A feeling of solemnity and quiet gathered over all things:  we felt that an indefinable something was brooding around, and this was, doubtless, owing to the strange and unnatural effects produced by the peculiar amber-coloured light shed down by the rapidly decreasing sun.  We seemed instinctively to wait for the approaching storm.  The mountains were slightly veiled in misty blue, and in those on which the waning daylight fell we could apparently see every rift.  The vines and patches of upland among the hills assumed a yellow-green hue; the corn-fields appeared brighter in tone; the blue of the sky diminished in intensity, until it shaded down to the same tint as the distant country seen through a ravine.  Nor did the smart wind which was blowing interfere with the weird and aerie effect upon the mind.  Everything seemed hushed, somber, and gloomy.  Steadily the darkness increased:  the minuteness of detail in the distant landscape was lost.  All at once the clouds and sky to the N.W. grew very black, as if stored with wind and rain:  the gloom swept on, the last bright spot of sun went out, and the total phase had commenced.

            I had been inclined to regard the accounts of former eclipses as rather enthusiastic, but I now found how far they fell short of reality.  Description must always fail in such matters, and the effects so continually varied that it is impossible to embrace more than the leading features.

            The dark body of the moon appeared as a puce-coloured space surrounded by the corona, whose streams of light, varying in intensity, and thus giving it a radiating appearance, stretched away for a distance which I shall not attempt to estimate, since we were unprovided with apparatus for making accurate measurements.  Beyond its general limit extended different remarkable beams, one of which was conspicuous from its curved and filamentary appearance.  The light was far greater than we had anticipated, but the wind rendered it very difficult to form any estimation of its brilliancy by comparison with the light of a candle.  We observed no flickering motion, and almost the whole phenomenon came into view some seconds before totality, that portion being first visible which was farthest from the disappearing sun.  Around the body of the moon there was a faint reddish tinge, and I remarked a peculiarly bright prominence of the S.W. edge, which shone with a pale red, resembling in colour a piece of phosphorus.  It possessed a cap of white light of far greater intensity than the corona.

            Intending more especially to devote my time to the general effect upon the landscape, I did not particularly seek for prominences.  Others of our party noted four, and marked down their positions; and Mt. De la Rue’s photoheliographic pictures have indelibly fixed the places, and perpetuated the forms of many others.

            We observed but three planets, which were doubtless Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury, the clouds hiding the principal stars of the first magnitude which were expected to be visible.  I was, however, informed that Professor Mädler at his station perceived stars of even the third magnitude.  The gentlemen at Pancorbo were also favoured with glimpses of Sirius, Procyon, Castor, &c.

            After gazing about half a minute at the glorious spectacle which the sun and heavens presented, I looked around on the earth.  In the N.W. and S.E., the direction of the shadow’s length, the distant mountains and horizon were shrouded in the deepest gloom, not could I per4ceive the faintest traces of their outline.  To the N.E. and S.W., where we looked almost at right angles to the path of the shadow, the sky was of a brassy, lurid red, owing to the refraction of the light from places exterior to the line of totality.  This shaded rapidly off into the deepest indigo, which was the colour of the zenith.  Against the fiery glow the serrated mountain ridges stood up in intense blackness, whilst dark clouds sailed across, or rather up, from the horizon.

            For some short time after totality the light clouds overhead assumed an orange tint, whilst in the S. they floated across a sky of the most wonderful blue—a blue which gave the idea that the observer was gazing upon it through a transparent yellow medium.  The beauty of the southern sky was vastly increased by the depth of colour in the zenith, and by contrast with the orange of the clouds.  This, however, quickly faded, and the heavens in that direction became similar in hue to those in the N., N.E., E., and S.W., only that the mountains, being much nearer to us, the glow over their summits was the more striking.  Below, the valley and town were enveloped in a sickly gloom, save where, at the foot of a little hill, similar to the one on which we were stationed, the Ebro sent up a very remarkable reflexion.  The vines, and indeed every thing green, were peculiarly brilliant, and we could faintly hear the shouts from the people in the plain.

            Throughout the whole time of totality the few persons who had climbed the hill to watch us observed a dead silence, and we were not subjected to the least annoyance.

            The tout ensemble at this moment will never be forgotten—the grand yet dreary prospect, the impression of awe and quiet, will never be effaced from the memory.  The larks, which had been singing as in the falling evening, had ceased a little before the total phase, and as the last spark of solar light died out the hen covered her chickens and the cock composed himself to sleep.

            Suddenly the N.W. became illuminated:  on the daylight came, with its blue light:  it shot across the heavens:  a bright spot on the moon’s dark edge told that totality was over, and the shadow flew with inconceivable rapidity across the mountains.  In a moment the distant country lighted up, and, forgetting to take any time observations, we ran together to congratulate each other on our success.  Mr. Joseph Beck had observed polarisation in the corona, and we, who had not devoted ourselves to any special object, were anxious to compare notes, and know what had been seen.  The transition from darkness to light was very rapid; but we quite forgot to make any observations on change in colours, or anything else.

            After doing justice to a collation, spread in a rude tent which had been erected by the men who accompanied us, some of our party went down to Rivabellosa, and were delighted to find how successful Mr. De la Rue had been.

            Next morning, news kept coming in of the favourable views which seemed to have been almost universally obtained.  We were, however, sorry to find that Mr. Vignolles had been disappointed at the station he had chosen—the more so as we felt that his exertions had most materially contributed to our success.  The party of the staff who had been to Haro returned after a capital time for observations.

            The observers now began to turn their thoughts homeward, and to return to the sea-coast.  A division of our party started on Saturday, and spent the Sunday at Vitoria, proceeding on the Monday to Bilbao.  The road is remarkable for beautiful scenery, and one pass beyond Villareal is magnificent.  Portions of our was reminded me of the New Forest, but the hills were grander and the country wilder.

            At Bilbao the expedition reunited, and awaited the arrival of the Himalaya from Santander.  On Thursday morning she came into Portugalete Roads, and lay there till the afternoon in order to afford the inhabitants of Bilbao an opportunity of going over her.

            In the latter part of the day we bade farewell to our hospitable friends, steamed down the Nervion, and by half-past six were under weight for England.  Before nightfall we had sunk the high land of Spain.  Next day the Astronomer Royal called a meeting, in which various resolutions were carried, the report of which has already appeared in The Times.  It was the birthday of Professor Airey—a pleasing circumstance, to which due honour was done at dinner.

            We experienced but little annoyance from the sea, as the whole passage home was very calm; and on Saturday morning we sighted Start Point, the landmark of homeward-bound vessels. The bows were occupied with members of the expedition, anxious to catch each feature of the coast.  Portland Bell was passed, St. Alban’s Head left behind, the Isle of Wight rose above the horizon, and we ran by the Needles and Hurst Castle.  As we entered the Solent, Her Majesty the Queen steamed by in the Victoria and Albert, with the Fairy in company, and at four o’clock we dropped anchor in Spithead.  The Astronomer Royal, accompanied by the expedition, met Capt. Seccombe on deck, and communicated to him their united thanks for his extremely polite attentions, and those of the officers, during the passage out and in.  To this Capt. Seccombe responded in an appropriate speech, and the astronomers then gave three hearty cheers, and every one shook him by the hand.

            The time now came for parting.  Some went on shore in boats, while others landed in the Pigmy, which the Admiral had dispatched to the Himalaya.  Our delight at once more treading on English ground was modified by regret that the conclusion of an expedition so fraught with pleasure and important scientific results.  Ineffaceable records of the “Himalaya expedition” have been left on every mind—remembrances which will endure to the last.

            Such is a brief sketch of our travels.  Doubtless the more perfect knowledge of many will correct me in different points, but I must ask their indulgence.

            [Editorial addenda to above:]

            Having given above the personal and original narrative of a gentleman who took part in the astronomical observations, we now append Mr. Warren De la Rue’s very interesting account of the proceedings of the Expedition, which, as embodying a report on the photographic phases of the Eclipse, will have a special interest for our readers.

            In the belief that an account of the proceedings of the several parties composing the Himalaya Expedition to Spain may have some interest for the general reader, I venture to address to you the following summary of the observations made at Rivabellosa, a village near Miranda del Ebro. 

            The station selected was a threshing-floor, situated in latitude 42 deg. 42 min. north, and longitude 11 min. 38 secs. West, at the height of 1,572 feet above the mean level of the sea.  The magnetic variation was found to be 20 deg. 20 min. west.  The locality, being bounded by a beautiful panorama formed by the distant Pyrenean range, was well situated for observing the effect of the eclipse on the landscape.

            My party consisted, beside myself, of Mr. R. Beckley, the mechanical assistant of Kew, Mr. Downes, Mr. E. Beck, and Mr. Reynolds.  Mr. Clark, who, at Mr. Vignolles’s suggestion, had acted  as our interpreter, also volunteered his services, which proved most valuable during the eclipse.  Each of my assistants had allotted to him a separate duty, and to their cheerful concurrence in carrying out my wishes must be attributed the successful result obtained.

            My more important object was to endeavour to obtain photographs of the various phases of the eclipse by means of the Kew photoheliograph, an instrument I designed, at the suggestion of Sir John Herschel, for the special object of delineating the sun’s image by means of photography.  Although this was the primary object, I had also provided myself with ample means of observing the eclipse optically.

            Our instruments and portable observatory, weighing very little short of two tons, were by previous arrangement conveyed in two days to my station by the kindness of Mr. Vignolles, to whom my thanks are especially due, and that of Mr. Bartlett, of the firm of Messrs. Brassey & Co., contractors of the Bilboa and Tudela Railway.

            By the 12^th of July we had erected the observatory, and by the 14th had obtained the first solar photograph in Spain.  During these preliminary observations photographs were made of the surrounding panorama by Mr. Downes, and the geographical position of the station ascertained by myself.

            The climate proved to be most uncertain, and much serious interruption was experienced by the clouds, which frequently completely obscured the sun for the whole day.  Much inconvenience was also experienced from the dust, which rendered it necessary to obtain large supplies of water, in addition to that required for actual use, in order to keep the station moistened; otherwise this enemy to photography would have prevented any good result from being obtained.

            The Kew photoheliograph consists of a tube having the form of a truncated pyramid, at the smaller (upper) end of which is fixed the object-glass, 3 4-10 inches in diameter, and 50 inches focal length.  The focal image of the sun formed by the object-glass is 47-100ths of an inch in diameter, but, before it is allowed to fall on the sensitive plate, it is enlarged, by means of a secondary combination of lenses, to four inches in diameter.

            The sensitive plates, six inches square, are placed at the large end of the pyramidal tube of the telescope.  The tube is what is termed equatorially mounted, and is made to follow the diurnal motion of the sun by means of clockwork.

            In taking pictures of the sun the aperture of  the object-glass is usually reduced by means of stops to two inches.

            Even with this small aperture the duration of the exposure of the sensitive plate to the action of the sun is a very small fraction of a second of time.  The exposure of the plate to the sun’s action is effected by means of a sliding plate, having a very narrow slit in it.  The plate, which moves in the plane of the primary focus of the telescope, is drawn downwards by means of an opening, and previous to taking photographs is held up by a loop of thread fastened to a hook.

            When a picture is required to be taken the thread is set on fire, and the plate flashes instantly across the axis of the telescope, and allows the image of the sun to pass momentarily

Through the slit on to the sensitive plate.

            The clockwork driving apparatus, although convenient, might actually be dispenses with in taking sun pictures apparatus, although convenient, might actually be dispensed with in taking sun pictures under ordinary circumstances, but at the period of totality in a solar eclipse it is necessary to expose the sensitive plate for some time to the more feeble light of the luminous prominences and corona, and then a clockwork driving apparatus becomes essential; and it is also necessary to employ the full aperture of the telescope.

            The photoheliograph is provided with position wires, which may be removed at will; when left in the tube they become depicted as dark lines crossing the sun’s disc whenever a sun picture is taken, and serve to determine which great accuracy the position of any markings on the sun or of the cusps with reference to a normal line, for instance, with a circle of declination.

            The day previous tgo the eclipse was completely overcast, and the barometer was steadily falling.  Nevertheless four dozen plates were cleaned, so as to be in readiness for the morrow; but the 18^th proved in the morning to be as cloudy as its predecessor, and it was with very faint hopes that we went to our station.  At twelve o’clock the sky began to clear, and we obtained a faint picture of the sun through the clouds; about half past twelve the clouds melted away as if by magic, and we had a clear blue sky (without a cloud visible), except on the distant mountains.

            About 200 persons, who seemed to think that the eclipse was only to be seen from our station, rather interfered with our operations by their conversation, which completely prevented our hearing the beats of the chronometer; but the majority were persuaded, after a little while, to go on a neighbouring height, and the Alcalde Cirilo Guinea, to whom I wish publicly to tender my thanks, and the Civic Guards induced the remainder to speak in a lower tone.

            Just before and after the eclipse sun pictures were made, and during the progress of the eclipse thirty-one photographs were obtained, the times of which are carefully registered.

            These will serve hereafter to determine the path of the moon across the sun’s disc and other data with considerable accuracy.
            The serrated edge of the moon is perfectly depicted in all the photographs, and in some of them one cusp of the sun may be seen blunted by the projections of a lunar mountain; while the other remains perfectly sharp.  I continued during the eclipse to observe the sun by means of a telescope of three inches’ aperture, by Dallmeyer, and I am enabled to confirm the results obtained photographically.  As I observed the progress of the eclipse, I gave the signal from time to time for the taking of a photograph, so that some have been procured just as the moon passed across any conspicuous solar spot.

            When the sun as reduced to a small crescent, the shadows of all objects were depicted with wonderful sharpness and blackness, and as I cast my eyes on the now silent crowd they and the landscape appeared as if illuminated by the electric light, so brilliant were the lights, so sharp and black were the shadows.

            The sky began to assume an indigo tint, and the landscape to be tinged with a bronze hue.  But a few moments, however, could be spared for these observations, and when I placed my eye again to the telescope, and removed the dark glass, some minutes before the totality, I distinctly saw the whole of the lunar disc, and perceived a luminous prominence on the east of the zenith.  This was quite visible, while the sun’s image was reflected by a glass surface fixed at an angle of 45 deg., in then eye-piece, and its intensity therefore much diminished.  The upper surface of the glass diagonal reflector I had, however, silvered to the extent of one-half, and as I brought into action the silvered half just previous to totality, I perceived a large sheet of prominences on the east.  A little to the east of the zenith a brilliant cloud, quite detached from the sun, and at some distance from the moon, came into view.  A few degrees to the west of the zenith a minute point was perceived at the commencement of the totality.  South of the vertical only one small prominence was perceived.

            The brilliancy of these prominences far exceeded that of the corona.  Much detail was visible in the protuberances both of light and shadow and configuration.  No appearance of Baily’s beads were perceived.

            Casting the eye for a few seconds away from the telescope to behold the corona and the surrounding landscape, I was much surprised to find that the darkness was not so intense as I had anticipated.

            The deep indigo of the upper part of the sky shading through a sepia tint into red and orange as it approached the horizon, the deep blue of the mountains as contrasted with the orange sky, and the peculiar light cast on the spectator, impressed me with a feeling of solemnity never to be effaced, and which was enhanced by the ear catching the sound of the village bells, which it appears had been tolled during the eclipse.  I saw two stars to the east of the sun, which I believe to have been Jupiter and Venus, and observed that the corona did not extend generally more than about eight-tenths of the diameter of the moon beyond her limb, but that there were outlying rays of greater extent.  A thought of my other duties recalled me, after a few seconds’ gaze, from this enchanting scene, and I did not attempt any exact observations of the corona.

            To return to photography, when the disc of the sun had diminished to a small crescent I gave the signal to discontinue the ordinary pictures, and to take away the stop of the object-glass in order to have the full aperture ready for the totality; and the instantaneous apparatus was also disconnected.  The signal to prepare plates for the totality was also made, and three plates, by a preconcerted arrangement, were coated and then sensitized in an extremely sensitive neutral bath, which I had prepared expressly for the purpose.  As I could collect no reliable data as to the intensity of the light of the luminous prominences and corona previous to the expedition, I was working under great disadvantages, and I confess from all that I could learn previously I had very faint hopes of depicting the corona at all, and I was led to think, from the colour of the prominences, that if I did get a picture of the corona, my only hope was to get the prominences as dark markings on the supposed more brilliant corona.  Although my own observations during the totality gave me greater hopes of success, it was with a thrill of pleasure that, in answer to my questions, I learnt from Mr. Reynolds that the picture was coming out under the influence of the developing fluid

            This first plate had been exposed by previous arrangement just one minute, and only time enough remained for a second plate to be placed in the telescope.

            Just at this period the wind rose and shook the observatory and telescope violently.  Had it been possible for me to have known beforehand how intense the light of the prominences really was, there would have been no difficulty in obtaining the photographs in much less time, and I do not doubt that four might have been procured with an exposure of from 20 to 30 seconds each.

            Previously to leaving London, trials had been made to obtain photographs of the moon with the Kew instrument, merely, however, for the purpose of judging of the time that might be necessary for the pictures of the corona, supposing it to be as bright as the moon, but not the slightest impression could be obtained by an exposure of one minute, whereas the pictures we have obtained of the luminous protuberances are all over-exposed, and the corona has clearly shown itself, so that the latter must be brighter than the light of the full moon.

            The plates being only 6 inches square, while the sun’s image is 4 inches in diameter, it will be seen that only a small extent of the corona could be depicted.  I mention this in order that there may be no misconception on this point; had I desired to make photographs of the whole of the corona, I should have adopted a totally different arrangement.

            My hand drawing were made by the aid of a series of lines ruled on glass, and placed in the focus of the eye-piece.  This could be rotated through an arc of 90 deg., and I had two diagrams with similar lines set out on my drawing paper.  With these aids I was able rapidly to make some measurements of position and extent of the prominences, and to complete two drawings.  On comparing my sketches with the photographs, I was pleased to find that each completely confirmed the accuracy of the other.

            My drawings were made in reference to the vertex, but it will be better to describe the markings as they were shown in the photographs in relation to a circle of declination.  If the reader will suppose a circle to be divided into four quadrants by drawing two diameters across its centre at right angles, and that one of these diameters is made to coincide with a line drawn through the centre of the sun and the pole, calling the quadrants north-east, south-east, south-west, and north-west respectively, then the edge of the moon, both in the north-east and south-east quadrants, was at the commencement of totality nearly covered with the luminous prominences which extended over an arc of 130 deg. Beyond her dark limb.  These prominences were extremely brilliant, and for more so than the corona; they were not uniform in tint, and, with few exceptions, they did not present any colour approaching to red or rose; two had, however, a decided but faint rose tint.  The surface of the luminous prominences next to the moon, was when first seen, very irregular, and far more so than was attributable to mountains as seen in profile on the moon’s edge.  This irregular outline may, however, be explained by supposing the prominences to have been first seen floating like clouds in a transparent atmosphere at some distance from the sun’s surface, and consequently from the moon’s edge—a supposition which is supported by the fact that one such prominence or luminous cloud was seen distinctly detached, and at some distance from the dark moon.

            At the commencement of the eclipse only one small mountain-like peak was to be seen in the north-west quadrant, and a curved one in the south-west quadrant.  As the moon glided over the sun’s disc, the inner outline of the prominences in the eastern hemisphere became less and less indented, and at last they were bounded by the nearly even outline of the moon’s limb.  As the eastern prominences became gradually covered, the mountain-like peak, seen at first as a mere point in the north-west quadrant, gradually grew in dimensions, then presented several points, and at last resembled somewhat a colossal ship in full sail; and extending from this through an arc of 60 deg., there came into view, in the north-west quadrant, a long streak of luminous prominences, varying in breadth and with a few points projecting outwards.  This streak became very jagged in its inner outline as the moon glided off from it, just previous to the sun’s reappearance—these luminous prominences presenting the same phenomena as those on the eastern edge; that is, appearing like clouds floating in a transparent atmosphere, a little distance from the sun.

            It will render the detailed description I now propose to give of the several luminous protuberances, as measured in the photographs, more clear if the reader will provide himself with a circle divided into 360 deg., and number the degrees in the reverse order of the figures on a watch—namely, from right to left.

            Placing 360, which represents the north point (not the vertex) uppermost, the east point, or 90 deg., will be at the left; 180 deg., or the south point, at the bottom; and 270 deg., the west point, at the right hand.  Eastward from the north point there was conspicuously visible a brilliant prominence, the summit of which, as the moon glided along, was seen to curve in two opposite directions from a radial line, the curved portions being far less brilliant than the stem, which touched the moon’[;s limb throughout the totality.  The centre of the stem was 28 deg. From the north point, and it was about 1 minute of arc broad (28,000 miles nearly).  It extended fully 1 ½ minute, or 42,000 miles beyond the moon’s limb.  This protuberance was so brilliant that I perceived it several minutes before that totality, and it must, without doubt, have been seen by all observers provided with good telescopes.  It may, therefore, be conveniently made a starting point to which all protuberances of which I shall speak may be referred by those astronomers who observed the prominences in regard to the vertex, by taking into account the angular distances of the several prominences from this one.

            At 57 deg. Was situated the northern  extremity of a remarkable detached curved cloud, which, when first seen, was about half a minute (14,000 miles) beyond the position occupied by the moon’s dark limb.  It presented a double curvature on its northern side, both curvatures being convex towards the north.  It inclined in a curved direction at about an angle of 60 deg. From a radius towards the east, and was a minute and a half (42,000 miles) long.  As the moon glided onwards in her course she approached it gradually, and at last touched the extreme point of this floating cloud, which glowed with all the brilliancy of one of our own terrestrial clouds at sunset.  It presented a decided rose tine.

            At 72 deg. From the north a protuberance, in shape reminding one of a boomerang, imprinted itself on the sensitive plate, although it was not visible to me in the telescope.  The stem was 2 min. long (56,000 miles), the point was bent towards the north, inclining downwards over towards the extremity of the detached cloud.  Midway down the stem was a branch curving upwards, so that, on close scrutiny, the boomerang protuberance was not unlike the capital letter G in ordinary writing.  It is al very curious circumstance that this protuberance imprinted itself distinctly, although it did not attract the eye directed especially to that locality.  This may be accounted for on the supposition that it emitted a feeble purple light.

            Between the last named protuberances (the floating cloud and the boomerang) there was a low and long luminous streak, not more than a quarter of a minute broad, and extending in length about 8 deg. Along the moon’s limb.

            From the stem of the boomerang, extending from 72 to 135 deg., there was a long streak of luminous cloud, commencing with the thinnest possible streak near the boomerang, and then becoming broader, but in no part exceeding a quarter of a minute in breadth, until it reached the position of 111 deg., when a skittle-like thickening took place, half a minute broad in the broadest part.  Projecting from the commencement of this skittle were some faint projections, which imprinted themselves on the sensitive plate, but I did not see them in the telescope.  From 129 deg. To 135 deg. There was a considerable enlargement of the streak, which widened out to fully one minute in breadth (28,000 miles).  This was bounded by curved lines, and was extremely brilliant.  Just in the neighbourhood of this thickening—namely, between 115 deg. and 140 deg.—the corona was very bright, and one of the long streamers was to be seen curving towards the north.

            At 154 deg. A protuberance, curving northwards, and not unlike a bishop’s mitre, existed, which extended from the moon’s limb a distance of 15 min. (42,000 miles); it was very much fainter towards the point than near the stem.  A very faint streak of light connected the mitre-like protuberance with the long streak.

            The long streak and nearly all the mitre-shaped protuberance were covered by the moon before the totality ended, but the floating cloud and the first-named northern protuberance were visible during the whole time.

            At the commencement of the totality only two protuberances were visible in the western half of the moon-s disc—namely, following the order of the preceding description, one, the centre of which was situated at 194 deg., consisted of a thin streak less than a quarter of a minute broad, and extended over an arc of 5 ½ deg. On the moon’s limb at 197 deg., a point curving towards the south, projected about ½ min.  This projection was completely covered as the moon advanced.  The other projection was the mountain-like peak, the centre of which was situated at 348 deg.  This peak, at first not more than ¼ min., grew to considerable dimensions as the moon glided away from it, and assumed, as was before said, the appearance of a ship in full sail, the summit, or mainmast, extending more than 1 ½ min., and the case or hull of the vessel measuring 10 deg. on the moon’s limb.

            As the moon glided on there came into view a long streak extending from 280 deg. To 340 deg., where it just touched the hull of the ship.  This streak was in some parts a mere line, and bounded by curved lines both on the under and upper side.  It thickened to about ½ min. between 300 deg. And 310 deg., at both of which places two short horn-like projections were to be seen.

            At 263 deg. and 278 deg. There came into view two small projections, one extending ½ min., and the second ¼ min., from the moon’s disc.

                        I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

The Observatory, Cranford, Middlesex.                                Warren De La Rue

 

1860  BJP Aug. 15, vol. VII, # 124, p. 238-239:

            Celestial and Instantaneous Photography. 

By Warren De La Rue, Esq., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., &c.

It will be in the recollection of our readers that, in the month of October of lat year, we gave a copious abstract of Mr. De La Rue’s Report on Celestial Photography in England, read at the Aberdeen meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.  But in an abstract which is intended to embrace a general view of the ideas propounded by the author, it is impossible to include any of the minute details so requisite to those who wish to apply photography to astronomical purposes; and as this application is daily increasing in interest we purpose extracting largely from the practical parts of the “Report,” especially as the instructions given are also available for those wishing to follow out the production of Instantaneous Photography.  We therefore commence with—

Actual Process employed at the Cranford Observatory.

With the view of facilitating the labours of others desirous of entering the field of photography, I will now describe, with all necessary minuteness, the process finally adopted after many trials and failures; I would remark at the same time that it is quite impossible to give such directions as will enable another operator to ensure perfect results, as this can only be attained by perseverance, long practice, and a strong determination to overcome obstacle after obstacle as it arises,--therefore, no one need hope for even moderate success if he dabbles in celestial photography in a desultory manner, as with an amusement to be taken up and laid aside.

            [There follows very detailed technical descriptions under the headings, “Glass used,” “Mode of Cleaning the Plate,” and “The Bath.”  The article is continued Sept. 1, p. 251-252]

 

1860  BJP Aug. 15, vol. VII, # 124, p. 240-241

            Stereographs.  Reminiscences of Scottish Scenes, by W. Woodward, of Nottingham.

It is not long back that, in criticizing a series of stereographs by Mr. Rodger, we remarked upon the irresistible desire evinced by every photographer to whom the occasion might offer of possessing himself of a record of the local features presented by the residence of the far-famed novelist, Sir Walter Scott.  In this respect Mr. Woodward forms no exception; and first among the series now before us we notice—

            Abbotsford (No. 151), from the South-East – of which, by the way, there are two slides, and both bearing the same name and number.  Mr. Rodger presented us with the front of the edifice, as seen from across the

Tweed; Mr. Woodward treats us to a peep “behind the scenes,” so that from an elevated terrace of mossy turf we overlook the grounds and inspect the beauties through the spring-clad branches of a few tastefully-disposed trees which half conceal them like the veil on the head of a blushing bride.  As a background to the edifice itself (which is somewhat of a castellated structure), the undulating outline of a ridge of hills beyond the opposite bank of the river forms an appropriate contrast to the geometrical lines of the building, while in the immediate foreground in one of the slides the graceful form of a fine silver birch-tree is particularly noticeable, a feature that of itself will render this slide a favourite.  But as an illustration of the aspect of Abbotsford itself we prefer the other specimen, taken from a somewhat different point of view—that one in which the scaly stem of a Scotch fir-tree is seen on the right hand, and a sapling sycamore in the centre.  In this one the spectator overlooks the garden and outbuilding, and being a trifle more distant, obtains a better general view of the whole place.  It is a particularly pleasing and well-executed specimen of the artist’s skill.

            From his residence while living to his resting-place in the tome is a natural transition; and in the Dryburgh Abbey series we find The Tome of Sir Walter Scott (No. 152), which, beyond the association, has no feature of special interest; for, though perfectly executed, it would be next to impossible to invest a very plain angular tomb, seen through a pair of ordinary iron gates, with any approach to the picturesque.  In No. 153, however, (St. Mary’s Aisle, Dryburgh Abbey), the angle of the building in which the tomb is located, the case is somewhat different;’ and the contrast of the deep shadows under the arches with the dilapidated stonework of the pillars illuminated by the blaze of bright sunshine, relieved by the half-tones produced by the various mouldings, is very effective. 

            For picturesqueness and stereoscopic excellence, however, No. 157 far surpasses the preceding.  It is the same subject (St. Mary’s Aisle Seen Through the Door of the Cloister Court), the doorway being a mere ruin, partly overgrown with ivy, and choked with thistles, foxgloves, and other vegetable “vagabonds.”  This would form an admirable study for a large painting.

            No. 154, East End (Interior), seems to be labeled rather jocosely.  It is a low wall, on which a couple of monumental inscriptions can be discerned, and a mere fragment of some elaborate piece of sculpture.  Rank grass forms the flooring, and trees and shrubs more than half of the background of this interior!

            An avenue of trees looking towards the nave would have been better if the exposure had been more prolonged; and No. 158 (The Refectory Window, Dryburgh Abbey), an admirable subject, has been to some extent spoilt by over-development, the foliage of the trees in the foreground being spotty and snowy.  This is a great pity, for in other respects the slid is an excellent and pleasing one.

            Kelso Abbey, from the east, is another of the time-honoured ruins of which there are so many of the class in Scotland.  The point of view from which the specimen before us is taken is a happy one, and the circumstances under which the exposure took place must have been favourable, for the perfect definition of the foliage of some trees in the foreground indicates a state of repose only possible under a total absence of that enemy of the landscape photographer—a breeze.

            Melrose Abbey, like Abbotsford, finds much favour amongst the whole band of photographers; and deservedly so, for a more picturesque ruin it would be difficult to meet with.  We consequently find it under many different aspects, from several points of the compass, interiors and exteriors.  Perhaps, by the way, this is one reason why we find it so frequently taken’; it affords so many different pictures, and all more or less good.  In the slide now before us, taken from the south-east, a good general view of the whole edifice is included, and in which the south window and east window (both favourite subjects for interiors) are well seen.

            No. 144 (South Aisle and West Window of Melrose Abbey) appears to us named upon the lucus a non lucendo principle, for there is neither an aisle or a window, properly so called, to be seen.  The mere extremity of a window is rather indicated than seen in the distance, and the extreme corner of the aisle is all that represents it; but the slide is a very nice one for all that, and likely to be a favourite.  (To be continued.)

 

1860:   BJP Aug. 15, vol. VII, # 124, p. 241-243

            Letters to a Photographic Friend, No. III.

My Dear Frank,

            On resuming my photographic pilgrimage, on the second day, I turned my steps towards Mr. Skaife’s Pistolgraph Depot, at 47, Baker Street, where he has opened classes for instruction in Instantaneous Photography, and an operating-room for taking instantaneous portraits.  His method is particularly applicable for taking portraits of children, aged persons, and animals, as, by means of his spring shutters, the time of exposure is completely under control, which is not the case with any other instantaneous arrangement I am acquainted with:  all others are entirely dependent upon the action of springs, released by a trigger, and the shutters carrying the apertures must pass through a certain regular course of mechanical motion of greater or less rapidity, governed in amount by the strength of  the spring employed, and the amount of exposure given must, in these instruments, be preconcerted.  This is not the case with Mr. Shaife’s invention; for though he can employ a mechanical trigger to act upon the arrangements that open and close the shutters, the tip of the finger can be substituted, and any amount of exposure given, instantaneous or prolonged, according to the judgment of the operator:  thus, in taking the photograph of a child or animal, on the slightest indication of motion being about to affect the subject, the tip of the finger is raised, and the plate is simultaneously protected from the action of light.  In this case the will of the operator governs the amount of exposure, and not simply a mechanical power.

            This invention is quire independent of the instrument which Mr. Skaife calls a pistolgraph, for which it was originally contrived, and may be arranged for a single or twin lens camera for taking instantaneous or other stereographs.  If you wish to refresh your memory as to the construction of these shutters, you will find a description of them, given by Mr. Shadbolt, in the number for October 1^st, 1858, of The Liverpool and Manchester Photographic Journal.  What Mr. Skaife calls his chromo-crystal portraits are positive collodion photographs, taken by his Lilliputian Camera, and then backed up with deep blue or ruby-coloured glass.  As the collodion film is cemented or fused between these glasses, they may be regarded as indestructible as far as the action of the air or rubbing is concerned.  They vary in size from one and a-half inches to three-eights of an inch in diameter after they are trimmed by the lapidary.  They are the neatest and best-executed portraits I have been suitable for mounting in bracelets, brooches, pins, or rings.  An instantaneous view, taken on the day of my visit, delineated a vista of houses down Baker Street, a Hansom cab, progressing onwards, with a boy and man in the act of running out of its way.  The uplifted legs of these figures were sharply defined, without the slightest trace of any blur, so common in such subjects.

            I spent some time in examining Mr. Skaife’s interesting collection of portraits of well-known persons, equestrian groups in the Parks, boating scenes on the Thames, animals, c., together with some enlarged views on paper produced from some of these.

            From Baker Street to Duke Street, Manchester Square, is but a step, and here Mr. Hockin’s warehouse naturally fell within my route.  Mr. Hockin introduced to my notice a handy little camera for dry plates, fitted with twin lenses, in situ, and six double slides in the belly of the instrument.  Hinged doors shut in both ends under lock and key, and thus the framework forms the packing case for all things necessary on a tour; in fact, it is just the kind of thing one could send down to any intelligent country friend unacquainted with the mysteries of photography, and with a few simple instructions he might bag some of the tit-bits of his district, and send them up by rail for you to develop at your leisure.  In this way many an otherwise unattainable view might be secured for the stereographic scrapbook; and, as with some collodions and dry processes over-exposure is hardly attainable—at any rate within the limits of reasonable attention to instructions—failures in this way need hardly be anticipated.  Mr. Hockin’s travelling cases are very compact in their arrangement, and contain cameras, slides, legs, printing frames, and all the materials an amateur is likely to require, whether en route or resident in country or town.  To accompany these cases a dark tent has been recently perfected, to be used at home or abroad.  It consists of a tray into which the bath packs; in front of it a portion is divisioned off for a series of square bottles that contain all chemicals required in the field; an aperture at the left hand side, with a pocket attached, receives the nitrate bath when at work; to the two sides are hinged open-railed frames both of the same size as the bottom tray; and on the third side, facing the operator, is hinged a solid board containing a yellow glass window, guarded by a shutter and a light-tight door which can be opened either to admit light or air, as occasion may require:  these three slides mutually support each other when in use, as well as the black cloth that forms the tent.  This frame-work is fixed on a tripod stand.  When done with, first on frame is shut down, then the opposite one over it, and lastly the solid back closes down on all and protects everything.  The tent then occupies the space of a moderate-sized carpet-bag.—An ingenious invention next claimed my attention, in the shape of a slide for instantaneous exposures, and applicable to single or twin lens cameras.  For stereoscopic cameras two oblong brass plates, with two diamond-shaped apertures in each, overlap each other in such a manner that when in a state of rest both apertures in each plate are closed.  The two plates glide over each other in a groove common to both, and lie on a base-board, pierced at one end with two circular openings, corresponding with two caps that fit over the lenses.  At the other end of the base-board a small wheel works on a pinion; three spokes divide it into three parts.  On rotating the wheel, by means of a projecting handle, two pins, placed diagonally at the circumference, begin to act upon slots in the end of each shutter, so that as the wheel is rotated the pins force the shutters apart in opposite directions, till at a certain point the apertures in each shutter coincide; but on continuing the rotation of the wheel till the handle has passed over one-third of the circumference, the two apertures are again closed, and a trigger falling into a notch retains the wheel in position till the operator is ready to expose the plate.  To the left-hand side of the base-board one end of a vulcanised india-rubber spring band is fixed in a clamp screw or small vice; the other end is just drawn tight and fixed in another miniature vice attached to the circumference of the wheel when at rest.  On rotating the wheel the spring cord is extended, carried round with the wheel, and then lies in a groove in its circumference.  On the operator wishing to expose the plate he releases the trigger, the india-rubber spring re-acts [sic] and pulls the wheel back to its original position; of course the action of the shutters are then reversed, and at a certain point the two diamond-shaped apertures again correspond, and admit the ways of light emanating from the object to the two halves of the stereographic plate; but instantaneously passing over each other the light is cut off and the exposure completed.  By clamping the spring cord at various points of tension a greater or less amount of rapidity of action is obtained.  I obtained a copy of Mr. Hockin’s recently-published Practical Hints on Photography; and from subsequent examination of its contents I can safely say it is worthy of its title, in face of the ex-cathedra (Dissenting!) objection of the “Weekly Annihilator” to its opening passage, and the attempt (literally) to “shutup” this useful little volume, wherein the reviewer might have opened up untold treasures if he had been photographer enough to recognise them when they came under his eye.  But the critique looks very like a modern edition of the fox turning up his nose at grapes that were not within his power to digest.

            After leaving Hockin’s I called at Messrs. Hopkin & Williams’s the manufacturing chemists, of New Cavendish Street, to obtain a supply of some pure chemicals I required, but I certainly did not expect to come across any photographic novelties; however I stumbled upon a fact which, “as found,” according to Captain Cuttle’s advice, I “make a note on.”  On expressing my surprise that they, as wholesale dealers, were charging a higher price for re-crystallised nitrate of silver than that at which this article had been offered to me by a retail house, it called forth the following explanation:  --Whilst there was only an unimportant demand for the re-crystallised article they obtained their supply from other quarters; but lately they had reason for re-crystallising this salt in their own laboratory, and they were rather astonished at the result of their first and subsequent experiments, for, on re-crystallising 200 ounces of commercial nitrate of silver, they could only obtain 150 ounces suitable for photographic purposes, and the remaining fifty ounces, when obtained from the mother liquor, proved to be an almost unsaleable article.  The mode of procedure and the results were as follows:--200 ounces of ordinary crystallised nitrate of silver, white and pure in aspect, were fused in a porcelain vessel at the lowest possible temperature, to avoid decomposition of the salt; the fused mass was then dissolved in distilled water, filtered, and two drachms of pure nitric acid added; for the solution, as first obtained, is alkaline, and would yield crystals quite dark in colour when dry, which, from their  aspect, would be perfectly unsaleable.  The amount of acid stated is the smallest quantity that will correct this defect.  The solution is then gently evaporated, and, on cooling, yields crystals rather small in size, very white, but both in tint and pearliness of aspect decidedly different in character from the re-crystallised nitrate of silver we ordinarily obtain, as I can testify to from personal examination.  After about 150 ounces of these pure crystals have been obtained a change occurs, the mother liquor begins to assume a greenish aspect, and to yield crystals of a tawny colour when dry; if it be then evaporated down to dryness the residue is distinctly green, and in parts impregnated with brown patches, and presents such an appearance that no photographer and few chemists or manufacturers would feel disposed to purchase it.  On making a solution of this residue in distilled water, and adding excess of ammonia, the oxide was not precipitated and then re-dissolved, leaving a colourless solution (as would be the case with pure nitrate of silver), but the solution remained permanently dark coloured.  It is thus evident that the commercial crystallised nitrate of silver is anything but the pure article it has been asserted to be; and the impurities it contains (thought difficult to detect when  testing on the small scale) are sufficient to account for many of the imperfections that have assailed the sensitised collodion film in the shape of marbling, fogging, &c.

            If, in preparing re-crystallised nitrate of silver, it is necessary to sacrifice one-fourth of the ordinary crystallised salt employed in the operation, one can readily understand why it should be rather a costly product; but considering the moderate price at which it has been offered to the public, and the great difference in aspect between the assumed and the known genuine article, a strong suspicion arises that much of the “re-crystallised” salt sent into the market has been obtained by the simple operation of picking out the whiter, larger, and better-formed crystals from ordinary nitrate of silver.  I am inclined to agree with a statement made one evening at the Society of Arts by a lecturer On the Microscope, that “there are few manufacturers who are not guilty of adultery,” although the speaker immediately modified this assertion.  I question whether the class thus stigmatised have modified their improper practices since that evening.

            At Shew’s in Oxford Street, I was amused with the ingenuity displayed in the “getting up” of some French stereographs entitled “Satanic Slides,” which represent ideal scenes of “high life below stairs;” such, for instance, as the arrival of a railway train [illus ?? does it have “gamin” with newspaper?] from the realms above, filled with skeletons, who, from the expression of their fleshless visages, are evidently taking (shall I say) a lively interest in the point de vue of their destination, whilst a demon, of huge stature, in a green uniform of hair, acts as guard, un diable rouge as stoker, and un gamin perambulates the platform with La Gazette d’Enfer under his arm, and cries the latest news of these tropical regions.  Then, again, there are such scenes as “Les Vendages en Enfer,”[illus], “Bal chez Satan”[illus]—with a ghastly band in skeleton-suits playing an accompaniment to the dancers, but where the wind necessary for the proper performance of their instruments comes from is a question as difficult to solve as is that whether cherubims, as figured on ancient gravestones, are accustomed to sit on their heads or their tails—“Marriage de Satan,”[illus] &c.  In contract with such agreeable views of this subject, there are renderings of “Enfer”[illus], “Purgatoire,” [illus] together with The Temptation of Saint Anthony, &c.  This series of stereographs is thoroughly French in conception, and will amuse those who delight in the diablerie of such scenes as are delineated by Retsch, of The Witches Meeting on the Brocken, The Place of Execution, &c., in his outline illustrations to “Faust.”  Their peculiarity, apart from the subjects selected, is the vigour and perfect ease that pervades the figures, and the expression thrown into the features of such unyielding models; whilst the composition of most of the groups is thoroughly artistic, and contrasts wonderfully with the namby-pamby figure-subjects that occupy too much space in our shop windows, and that carry on their face painful evidence of the models being thoroughly aware that they were going to be executed—stereographically.

            Burke and Carter, the photographic mounters, Oxford Street, near Dean Street, have brought out a very neat form of passe-partout, made up with shagreen paper of various tints, and covered in with a very white glass that is supplied to them by Messrs. Chance, of Birmingham.  If you want any of your photographs mounted in this style, I can recommend this pattern to your consideration, as I can also the portfolios constructed especially for photographs by Mr. Harvey, of 16, Rathbone Place.  These have the flaps so made that they not only effectually keep out dust, but also completely protect the corners of the mounting boards from injury. 
Any photograph within may be placed under the guardianship of a good lock, the tongue of which forms a rest when the portfolio is open, so that the collection may be placed before the inspector as if inclined upon an easel, and the flaps are then folded back quite out of the way.  This is not only a useful but an elegant contrivance, and durable withal, and is deserving of being more thoroughly known amongst photographers and artists.

            Whilst in Rathbone Place I ordered an inclinable rack of Messrs. Winsor and Newton, which they brought out as a rest whereon to support glasses whilst being painted for magic-lantern views.  I intend, however, to use mine as an easel for negatives that require “touching;” so I have had it made to take a plate twelve by ten.  As the instrument takes less time to figure than describe, I give you a sketch of it [shown in the article], from which you will readily understand its construction, if I state that the frame B is filled up with a sheet of glass C, on which the negative A rests, and may be viewed as a transparency, whilst pin holes, &c., are being touched out; that the frame is adjusted higher or lower by means of a rack and pinion D; and that the instrument folds up flat when out of use.   

            As I cannot find time to tell you what came under my notice aqt the other houses I visited on this day, I must wait till I next write to you. [Describes his evening and night at the Inn].  … I remain, Yours sincerely,  Simeon Headsman

 

1860:  BJP Aug. 15, vol. VII, # 124, p. 243-244   CHECK/ ADD NAMES ON P. 244

            Manchester Photographic Society.

            A meeting of the above Society was held on the 1^st instant, at the Rooms of the Literary and Philosophical Society, 36, George Street, Manchester, --Joseph Sidebotham, Esq., presiding.

            Mr. Michael Noton was unanimously elected a member of the Society.

            Mr. Samuel Cottam presented to the Society’s portfolio six stereoscopic views in Oxford, mounted on one sheet, taken by himself on Dr. Hill Norris’s dry collodion plates.  He said he thought it might be interesting to the members to know that two of the plates had been in his possession about twelve months, and the results were equal to the others, which had only been recently purchased.  He could not say the same of all the lot which were a year old; but that was probably owing to faults in exposure and development on his part.  He was glad, then, to bear testimony to the keeping qualities of these plates.

            Mr. A. Brothers exhibited a portrait on ivory, printed without nitrate of silver, and fixed without hypo.  He said the process was at present a secret, and would remain so for three yeasrs, excepting to those who would pay £10.

            Mr. Rogerson exhibited several very large pictures—23 by 18 in.—taken by the turpentine waxed-paper process, which were very much admired, being remarkably sharp, and full of half-tone and force.

            Mr. Hooper presented four very beautiful waved-paper pictures to the Society’s portfolio, which were also greatly admired.

            The Chairman said that the attention of the members would now be called to a correspondence which had taken place in reference to the alleged interference of Mr. J. OL. Davies with the exhibition pictures in Peel Park.  The Secretary would read that correspondence, and would also lay before the meeting a report on the subject, drawn up by a committee appointed by the council.  He much regretted tghat so unpleasant a business should have occupied the attention of the members; but the question was really so important, and the charge it involved against one of their body so serious, that it was impossible to avoid the discussion.  He trusted, however, that that evening would end it.

            The Secretary then read the corresondence, which was very lengthy.

            (Mr. Davies’s letters, in which he denies the charge, appear in another column, as communicated by him, and do not, therefore, require insertion in this place.) (sic)

            A communication from Mr. Plant, the Curator of the Museum, stasted that Mr. Davies applied to him to have certain pictures removed and his own substituted; and that, in deference to his father’s position, he had agreed to it, not thinking it a matter of any importance.

            The following is an abstract of the report presented by the committee:--

“That Mr. J. L. Davies used undue influence, in the first instance, to enter his pictures for exhibition without submitting them to the committee appointed by this Society, under whose sole responsibility aqnd control the Exhibition room was placed by Mr. Plant.

That the committee having hung the pictures, Mr. Davies caused several of them to be taken down and replaced by his own.

That Mr. Davies has, in the hearing of members of this Society, boasted that he did so.  Upon such conduct this committee would have advised the severest censure; but as Mr. Davies has tendered his resignation, its acceptance is recommended.”

 

            The report was then put and carried unanimously, and the Secretary instructed to strike Mr. Davies’s name from the list of members.

            The Chairman then called upon Mr. Mann to read the paper which he had promised. (See page 232).

            Numerous negatives and prints, by the process, were shown to the members, and were much admired.

            [Rest of meeting covers technical details]

            [Other names mentioned:  Mr. Mabley, Mr. Wardley, Mr. Petschler

 

1860:  BJP Sept. 1, vol. VII, #125, p.251:

            The Solar Eclipse of 18^th July.  By Charles Heisch , F.C.S.  Professor of Chemistry at the Middlesex Hospital.

            I send heresith some photographs of the eclipse of July 18^th, as seen at Greenwich, which may be interesting to your readers. [Here follows 5 line drawings based on photographs and carrying time captions of 2 h. 3 m. 37s., 2 h. 31m. 37s., 2h. 48 m. 7s., 3h. 7m. 37s., and 3h. 47m. 57s.]

            I should be very glad if any one can offer an explanation of the curious moonlike reflection visible in three of them, most vivid at the moment of greatest eclipse.  I at first thought it might be due to some reflection in the camera, but became convinced that it was not so on observing the manner in which the image shifted its position with regard to the sun as the moon’s shadow passed over it.  I have since found that the appearance in question was seen  by several independent observers, who describe it as “like a faint moon,”  somewhat to the left of the eclipsed sun as you look at it.

            So many objections present themselves to every explanation which I have yet thought of that I prefer attempting none, hoping to get a better from some one else.

            I should mention that the camera was mounted on the stand of an astronomical telescope; the image of the sun brought to the centre of the ground glass.  The exposure was, I should think, about one-eighth of a second, but I cannot say very exactly.  Blackheath, August, 1860.

           

1860:  BJP Sept. 1, vol. VII, #125, p.251:

            Celestial and Instantaneous Photography. 

            By Warren De La Rue, Esq., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., &c., (cont. from page 239 [Aug. 15,])

[De La Rue continues with his exact description of  technical details.  Subjects covered, “Collodion,” “Exposure of the Plate in the Telescope,” “Regulation of the Time of Exposure,” “Development of the Picture,” “Fixing the Picture,” and “Varnishing.”  The article is continued in another issue]

 

1860:  BJP Sept. 1, vol. VII, # 125, p. 256-257

            Stereographs.  Reminiscences of Scottish Scenery, by W. Woodward, of Nottingham.  (Concluded from page 241.)

            In Jedburgh Abbey series we have some highly interesting specimens, including, as it does, not only the Abbey itself, but several picturesque views on the Jed.  No. 161 is a view of Jedburgh Abbey from the south-east, and exhibits the entire building as seen from the road.  It is a structure of dresswed stone, and has similar characteristics to others in Scotland which we have already noticed; in fact, it would almost seem s if they were built expressly for the purpose of ultimately forming picturesque ruins.

            In No. 164 we have The Nave, looking west, and in No. 165 The North Aisle. [illus]  The latter being an exceedingly “telling”: sub ject in the stereoscope, it will no doubt be a favourite.

            No. 168, On the Jed, is a pretty little picturesque view across a bend of the river, with the Abbey in the distance, seen between the trees on either side, and two or three fitgures reclining on the grassy bank; but the effect is a little marred by over-development of the negative.

            No. 169, Bridge over the Jed, would be described by our French brethren as “leaving nothing to be desired.”  The execution is equal to the subject depicted, and that is not according any moderate amount of commendation, for it is truly an exquisite, “bit.”  The water ocdcupies the foreground of the picture, with a surface as smooth as that of a mirror, in which the trees, bank, bridge, and distant hills are beautifully reflected—not as a duplicate turned upside down, but in a charmingly suggestive manner, being broken up and obscured by masses of rock protruding from the bed of the river, clothed with the humble vegetation so prevalent in similar localities.  The bridge is a mere wooden structure for the accommodation of foot-passengers.  On the right is a precipitous bank, “with verdure clad;” on the left bank are some lofty oaks, and the river in the extreme distance loses itself in one of those charming ravines which are so numerous in the Scottish Highlands—another specimen of which we have in the next that we shall notice, No. 166, Glen-Burn, which is a delightful conglomeration of winding paths on rocky banks, with specimens of the oak, ash, beech, wild-brier, and bramble, in charming and picturesque confusion.

            Kirkstall Abbey contributes four illustrations: --No. 125, as seen from the west, where a good idea of the general design is gained; No. 129, from the hospitium, where mere fragments of the foundation are nearly deposed from their position by the encroachments of their active opponents of the vegetable kingdom; No. 127, The Nave, looking east, an “interior out of doors,” as Pat would call it; and No. 123, The West Door, which, more Hibernice, consists of an arched entrance partially closed by a gate.

            Although not properly belonging to the series, we find a few amongst them are no doubt associated by the artist in his mind with the others, inasmuch as he probably took them on his way home from the far north.  Of these we shall notice two as worthy of mention, viz.: -- No. 134, the east window of St. Mary’s Abbey, York, and No. 130, York Cathedral from the south.  The latter especially deserves commendation, it being a capital view of all the most important features of York Minster.

            We feat that, unless Mr. Woodward is more favoured than his brother photos, [sic] he will scarcely return from his present year’s trip, should he have made one, with his bag so richly stored as after his last expedition.

 

1860:  BJP Sept. 1, vol. VII, #125, p. 257

            Government in Competition with Professional Photographers.

            We have to call the attention of professional photographers to a question in which their interests are involved, viz., the propriety of a Government Department undertaking the production of photographs of national property at rates below that at which they could possibly be published through private enterprise.  This arises through a parliamentary inquiry that has lately been instituted as to the general management of the South Kensington Museum, during which certain facts were elicited as to the system on which the photographic department of that institution is conducted.  As, however, a decision of the House of Commons on the subject shelves the question for a season, we can only ventilate the matter meanwhile, in the hope of eliciting such a discussion of the points involved as may lead to an unanimity of opinion and a defined course of action amongst those interested when the time arrives again to open up the subject.  On the present occasion we shall give verbatim that part of the “Report from the Select Committee on the South Kensington Museum” that relates to the photographic department—viz., Section 12—and analyse in detail the evidence laid before that committee on future occasions.

“12.  The collections of reproductions by photography and casting have been made primarily to furnish models for the use of the eighty art-schools in connexion with the department of science and art:  they are obtained from public collections at home and abroad.  After providing for the art-schools, it has been thought right to give the public at large the benefit of the photographs at cost price, for the promotion of general art education.  The science and art department express a desire to avoid any competition with professional photographers by limiting their sales to photographs taken from Government collections, to which, except in rare and special cases, the trade is not admitted; but it has been objected by one commercial firm, enjoying peculiar privileges of admission to collections, and by Mr. Fenton, a photographer of eminence, that even such a limited sale by the department is an improper interference with private enterprise.

            “There is an obvious distinction between copying and photographing pictures and works of art belonging to the public.  Copying is attended by no very serious inconveniences, while photography almost invariably requires the removal of the object, deprives the public of the exhibition of it, exposes it in the light, to the risks of breakage, rain, &c., which can only be guarded against by great vigilance, requires a special apparatus of considerable bulk, and uses chemicals which are always unpleasant, and often dangerous.  Mr. Panizzi shows that the only fire ever known at the British Museum was caused by the negligence of a photographer.  Under such circumstances all the witnesses agree that a general right to photograph cannot be conceded to all like the right to copy.  Mr. Fairbairn stated, that at the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition the photographic professors were pests, and that it was found absolutely necessary to limit the privilege to one person.  In order to execute photographs in public collections there must be a monopoly somewhere.  If it be proposed to grant this privilege to a limited number of competent persons, as was at one time the practice at the British Museum, the difficulty arises, which was felt by the trustees, of deciding who is competent.  Mr. Painzzi considers it a very difficult thing to determine who is competent,’ and the trustees were forced to say,  ‘We will only admit our own photographer.’  For a public department to attempt to determine this question in the case of every application would lead to constant difficulties and heartburnings.  Moreover, the favoured persons having the monopoly among them might league among themselves to make the public pay an unfair toll for the use of their own property.  These objections would apply all the more strongly to the appointment of a single private individual or firm, as the monopoly would be all the closer.  The experience obtained at the British Museum, as well as at the South Kensington Museum, ahs led to the conclusion that the only feasible course for public interests is to employ one responsible public officer; and by harmonious co-operation between these two departments, one photographer is employed for both.  A tariff of moderate prices is published, at which the public may obtain negatives, and print positives for themselves.  Any publisher may thus produce and publish, at his own prices, any object in the British Museum or the South Kensington Museum.

“As respects ‘positives’ of public objects, the sale of them by the department to the public is limited to objects in public collections which it is not permitted to private enterprise to photograph, and to a price only covering the cost of production.  Your committee consider that there is no other course so free from objections or so good for the public at large as the present system of the department.  The printing of photographs stands on the same footing as the printing of parliamentary papers, and the publishers might, as well as the photographers, complain of the low price at which they are sold.  If the price were increased, there is no doubt that the sales would be greatly diminished, and the spread of knowledge of parliamentary proceedings arrested.  The trustees of the Museum, at the same time allowing their photographer the privilege of publishing, but they abandoned the system after considerable losses.

“Your committee have investigated fully a complaint of Mr. Scott, in respect of the photographs taken by him from Raffaelle’s Cartoons.  Mr. Scott complains that Mr. Caldesi was obstructed by the officer of the department of science and art in taking his photographs, and that he has been undersold by the department; but Mr. Redgrave proved that Messrs. Caldesi would have been unable to have produced any satisfactory photographs unless the department had permitted them to have the benefit of the removal of the Cartoons by their officer, and that as the sale of the Cartoons by the department cannot yet be said to be in operation, the apprehension of being undersold is at least premature.  At any rate, the public have no reason to regret that Mr. Scott’s suggestion of vesting in his firm an absolute monopoly of the photographs of the Cartoons has not been complied with.  The arrangement by which a private was joined to an official photographer, was almost sure to lead to disputes, and should not be repeated.”

 

1860:  BJP Sept. 1, vol. VII, #125, p. 258-259

            Letters to a Photographic Friend. No. IV.

My Dear Frank,

            They say that short reckonings make long friendships; but I calculate that, in summing up my accounts with you, I run the risk of being cut for a bore, from the lentgh to which they run; howedver, like a man of my word, at all hazards, I proceed to keep the promise contained in my last letter.

            The next that I visited, after leaving Shew’s, was Mr. Francis, of Great russell Street, Bloomsbury.  After examining the many ingenious and practical contrivances for which he is famed, including sliding cameras, bellows cameras, and stereoscopic cameras, [continues long list of equipment]…

            Mr. Francis has so arranged a very neat little stereoscope that it folds up into a little box 1 ¾ inches thick, to hold thirty slides.

            Another arrangement, for holding a series of stereoscopic slides, consisted of a set of thirty frames, hinged on a central cylinder that rotated on an axle mounted in the centre of a drum-like case, into the upper part of which the two lenses were fitted obliquely, and in front of these a door opened to admit and reflect light upon the swtereograph under examination.  This contrivance is admirably suited for exhibiting stereographs in public places, or in classrooms, where stereographs are used for educational purposes, and it is desirable to protect the slides from the handling of many inspectors.   [Description of frame for taking cartes de visite].

            Next in turn came Mr. Dallmeyer’s new Establishment, in Bloomsbury Street.  [discussion of lenses and more technical discussions] …

            Having heard of the neatness, compactness, and economy of the metal-plate boxes manufactured by Mr. Miers, I called at his workshop, at 15, Lamb’s Conduit Passage, Red Lion Square. [discussion of his boxes]

            The next on my visiting list was Mr. Thomas Ross, of Featherstone Buildings. [discussion of lenses]

            As I was near to Bourne and Taylor’s  glass warehouse, in Castle Street, Holborn, I calsled to examine a new form of collodion pourer [technical discussion].

            At this point I turned hotelwaqrds, but on my way I looked in at Mr. Ladd’s, the optician’s, in Chancery Lane, who, however, is more known to microscopists than to photographers; but, as I expedcted, I found a goodly collection of micro-photographs of the best execution.  If you require a cheap form of microscope for viewing such objects I do not think you could procure a better one for the purpose than that he supplies at fifteen shillings.  Of course, if you wish to indluge in a more expensive instrument he will be happy tomeet your views; and one model, got up for students after the suggestions of  Mr. Brooke and Professor Busk, vastly took my fancy as a practical instrument.  I am off again to-morrow in prosecution of my exploring expedition.  So believe me, Yours, “:Eastward ho!”  Simeon Headsman.

 

1860:  BJP, Sept. 1, vol. VII, issue # 125, p. 259-        GET REST & check page #s

            Foreign Correspondence.  Paris, August 27, 1860

            I have lived enough in England to know the unfavourable opinion which is there generally professed for honorary distinctions in the form of stars and ribands [long intro]  ….From such twofold point of view the honours of this kind accorded to photographers have a welcome meaning for all those in this country who interest themselves in the new art.  For several years past no list of nominations has appeared in the Moniteur on New-year’s day or the Emperor’s fête without containing the name of a photographer.  First, there was M. Nièpce de Saint Victor, whose labours you well know; Blanquart Evrard, the author of the earliest manuals and the first photographic printer; then Maxime du Camp, an amateur, already knighted as a literary man, who was namead officer for his Egyptian and Syrian views; then Salzmann, author of a collection of views from Palestine; Martens, one of the first who practised the albumen method, and whose pictures still bear comparison with the most perfect productions of the present day; M. E. Delessert, a distinguished writer and able photographer; Braun, the photographer of flowers; finally, on the 15^th of August last, Baldus, who reproduced the new Louvre, during its construction, piece by piece, and stone by stone.  Besides this immense and successful labour, the most important that photography has been officially called upon to execute, Baldus is the author of a considerable number of works, remarkable alike for their beauty of execution, the artistic feeling which marks them, and for their colossal dimensions.  You will, doubtless, be surprised at not finding in the list certain names which should hold the first places:  the name of Claudet, for instance, who, since the origin of our art, has so perseveringly contributed to its progress, whose studies have been so useful, and who has obtained so many triumphs; that of Ferrier, the first who spread a taste for the stereoscope in France, with his beautiful views on glass, hitherto unexcelled, and who thus created one of the most fruitful applications of photography.  We deeply regret such delay in the accomplishment of an act of simple justice; but we are confident that reparation will not be long retarded.

[continues with technical discussions]

 

1860:  BJP Sept. 15, vol. VII, #126, p.271-272:

            Celestial and Instantaneous Photography.

            By Warren De la Rue, Esq., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., &c.,

            (Continued from page 252.)

            Desiderata in the Machinery for Driving the Telescope.

            As in the production of celestial photographs some seconds of exposure are requisite, it is essential to have a clock-work driver to the telescope, which works uniformly and smoothly, and which is also capable, when lunar pictures are to be taken, of ready adjustment to the ever-varying lunar time.  Lunar time, it will be recollected, differs from sidereal time, in consequence of the moon’s variable motion in her orbit in a direction opposite to that of the apparent diurnal movement of the stars.  A driving clock, if adjusted to follow a star, must be retarded therefore, more or less, in order to follow the moon. In my own telescope, this is at present effected by altering the length of the conical pendulum or friction governor, thus altering the time of its rotation (or double beat), and this plan, or some modification of it, is universal.  My experience, however, has pointed out several inconveniences in thus changing the speed of the governor or pendulum, and it is my intention to make such alterations in the construction of the clock as will enable me to alter the going of the telescope without changing the rate of the pendulum.  This I propose to do by substituting an arrangement, similar to that known in mechanism as the disc and plate, for the wheel-work now connecting the machinery of the clock with the pendulum; the disc and plate being capable of producing a variable motion, according as the disc is nearer to or farther from the centre of the plate.  The pendulum will, by the proposed plan, be driven by frictional contact, and, having employed this system in other machinery, I feel persuaded that its application to the clock-driver will not be attended with difficulty or inconvenience.

            The moon, besides her motion in right ascension, ahs also a motion in declination, which is greatest when she is situated in one of the nodes formed by the intersection of the plane of the moon’s orbit and the plane of the earth’s equator, and is least when situated 90° from these nodes, where it vanishes.  As this motion is at times very considerable, it is evident that, with a telescope made only to rotate round the polar axis, the best results will be obtained, all other circumstances being alike, when the motion in declination is at zero.  Assuming that, on the average, 15 seconds are necessary for taking a lunar photograph, the moon may have shifted upwards of 4 seconds of arc in declination during that period; and evidently many details would be lost and the others considerably distorted.  In order to ensure the most perfect results under all circumstances, it is desirable to give a movement to the declination axis of the telescope simultaneously with the movement of the polar axis.  Hitherto, so far as I am aware, no means have been devised to effect this, but the requisite adjustable motion might be transmitted by means of the disc and plate above described, from the driving-clock, although its pendulum moves with a uniform velocity.

            Lord Rosse’s Method.—In my original method of taking the pictures by means of the sliding eye-piece before spoken of, both motions in right ascension and declination were provided for by adjusting the slide in the diagonal parallel with the moon’s apparent path.  Lord Rosse, at a subsequent period, applied a clock-movement to such a slide, and made some experiments in celestial photography; * (*Monthly Notices of the Roy. Ast. Soc. Vol. xiv.,p.199) but, the telescope being required for other special purposes, it appears that they were not long continued.  This motion of the plate-holder does not meet all the exigencies of the case, but if one of his magnificent reflectors were arranged to move bodily along a guide adjustable in the direction of the moon’s path, by means of some such mechanism as I have alluded to, I believe that lunar pictures might be produced of exquisite beauty, because defects in the collodion film and the glass plate would be of less consequence than with telescopes of shorter focal length, the image being larger in the ratio of focal length; for example, even with the three-foot instrument it would be 3 inches in diameter.  (To be continued.) [Oct.. 1, p. 283-284]

 

1860:  BJP Oct. 1, vol. VII,  #127, p. 279

[Introductory essay to issue #127]

            We verily believe that it would be quite worth the while of some of the larger enterprising railway companies, which endeavour to coax the money out of the pockets of a certain section of the public by offering what are designated as tourists’ tickets at reduced rates, to establish in the waiting rooms some of those cleverly-constructed pedestal stereoscopes that are furnished with an almost unlimited number of stereoscopic slides, which can each be brought into view in succession by turning a small knob, the mechanism acting upon a similar principle to that of the Jacquard loom.  Of course the object would be to exhibit stereoscopic views of the various interesting localities accessible by the line.  This is a scheme which we have little doubt might be readily made to pay; for the probability is, that the railway companies might obtain the stereographs without charge for the consideration of the perpetual advertisement thus afforded to the photographer producing the stereographs, who would of course stipulate for the privilege of appending conspicuously his own name and address.  As there are few people now in such an uncivilised state as not to possess a stereoscope, while nearly all like to take away some record of the places associated in their memories with holiday trips and all sorts of pleasant reminiscences, the photographers would find their account, not only in bringing people to their own localities, but also in putting their goods before them in a prominent and memorable manner.  We certainly started the idea half in joke; but, in sober seriousness, we do think it is one that might very profitably be carried out.

            Of course it is to be expected that, in viewing a stereograph of a locality that has been visited by the spectator, he will most probably recognise it with readiness; and this is a pleasure that we have on many occasions experienced when criticising specimens that have been forwarded to us for the purpose.  But we have recently also experienced the converse of this in a visit to Dovedale, in Derbyshire, where, through unaccompanied by any one acquainted with the spot, we were enabled to recognise with facility most of the remarkable points of interest along that very beautiful valley, simply from being familiar with Mr. Woodward’s illustrations of them—a detailed notice of which appeared in these columns some time since.  There are also many other places with which, not having visited, we are yet intimately acquainted, and have no moral doubt that we should be quite at home in; for have we not been introduced to them by Wilson, Rodger, Sedgfield, Ogle, and many others?  Truly this same stereoscopic rendering of the many favourite haunts of pleasure seekers is one of the institutions of the present day, and a very pleasant one it is.

 

1860:  BJP Oct 1, vol. VII, issue #127, p. 280

            It is with sincere regret that we have to record the decease of one of our veteran photographers, in the person of  Mr. Peter W. Fry, until very lately a member of the Council of the Photographic Society, and one of its original promoters.  He was formerly a member of the Photographic Club, and one of the earliest followers of the calotype process; and we have, on several occasions, listened to his amusing account of the very primitive and awkward kind of camera with which the earlier photographers had to be content.  He was very active in introducing Mr. Archer’s discovery of the collodion process, and materially assisted that gentleman in bringing it to the needful state of perfection.  We cannot forbear relating an anecdeote, which we had from his own lips, of an incident that happened to him, and which caused him no little feeling of embarrassment.  Being in Italy, with some members of his family, he had taken a photographic copy of a work of art with which he was struck, and subsequently noticed a student (a foreigner) who was employed for several consecutive days in copying the same subject by hand.  Thinking that a copy of the photograph might be of service to the poor student, he, with his usual kindness of heart, printed one for him, and made the offering to him while he was at work on the following morning.  The student received the gift with many thanks, inspected it carefully, comparing it with the original:  he looked at his own work with e4vidcent disgust afterwards, and, snatching it from the easel, he dashed it violently across his knee, thus rending it into tatters, and destroying in one instant a week’s work.  Mr. Fry used to declare that he never remembered to have felt more awkward than upon that occasion.

            Mr. Fry’s loss will be deployed by a large circle of friends, including many both in the artistic and scientific coteries.  He was a pleasant companion, a kind-hearted friend, and a most enthusiastic photographer.

 

1860:  BJP Oct. 1, vol. VII,  #127, p. 283-284:

            Celestial and Instantaneous Photograph.  By Warren De la Rue, Esq., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., &c.  (Continued from page 272.)

            Degree of Perfection hitherto attained in Lunar Photography.

            In my own telescope, the picture of the moon is only about 1 1/10 in. in diameter; it might be suggested that the image could be enlarged by means of a combination of lenses before reaching the sensitised plate, but this would have the effect of prolonging the time of exposure, and moreover introduce the disadvantages of the refracting telescope, and the result would not be so good; for even if the moon’s motion in declination were followed automatically, still the outstanding atmospheric disturbances before alluded to would remain.* (*Monthly Notices of the Roy. Ast. Soc., vol. xviii., p.17)  Indeed, if the aperture of the telescope could be, considerably increased in relation to its focal length, much finer pictures would be procured, because the time of exposure would be shortened.  In practice it has been found preferable not to magnify the focal image, but to take enlarged positive copies on glass direct from the original negative, by means of an enlarging camera, and in this way the impressions, 8 inches in diameter, exhibited at the meeting were produced.

            In making positive copies, some of the more minute details are, unfortunately, always lost, for no means exist by which enlarged positive copies can be produced showing all the treasures of the original negative; a perfect enlarging lens being still a desideratum† (†Since the above was written, the author ahs been informed by Mr. Dallmeyer (son-in-law of the late Mr. Andrew Ross) that he has brought his investigations on this subject to a successful rumination, and that he has just produced enlarging and diminishing lenses which copy without any sensible distortion or dispersion.)  As an instance may be cited the streak in the lunar disc which Mr. James Nasmyth has called “the railroad,” indicated in Beer and Mädler’s map as a straight line to the east of the cratur [sic] Thebit, between latitude 19° and 23° south, and between longitude 7° and 9° east.  In the photograph it is shown to be a crack in the lunar crust with an irregular outline, and the eastern edge is perceived to be depressed below the western, which forms a perpendicular cliff.  This, although sharply defined in the negative, is frequently lost in positive copies.  For the examination and micrometrical measurement of the minuter [sic] details which celestial photography is capable of furnishing, recourse must still be had to the original negatives.

            Notwithstanding the disturbances which arise from the atmosphere, minute irregularities in the driving-clock, and the want of means for following the moon’s motion in declination, I have obtained pictures of the moon that bear examination with the three-inch object-glass of a compound microscope magnifying about 16 ¾ times, and which show with good definition details occupying a space less than two seconds in each dimension.  Two seconds are equal to about [-]/860^th of an inch on the collodion plate in the focus of my telescope, and in the finest photographs, details occupying less than 1/1000^th of an inch are discernible with the three-inch object-glass; hence much valuable work ahs already been accomplished.  A second on the lunar surface at the moon’s mean distance being about one mile (1·149 mile), it will be evident that selenological disturbances, extending over two or three miles, would not escape detection, if such occur, provided photographs continue to be taken for a sufficiently long period.

            Lunar Phenomena recorded by Photography.

            Full Moon.—Variations of Apparent Diameter.—By the delineation of our satellite, photography brings out palpably several phenomena which, although well known, are not always present to the mind; for example, about every 29 days it is stated that there is a full moon, but we see by the photographic picture that there never is a full moon visible to us, except just before or just after a lunar eclipse, or at all events except when the sun, earth, and moon are very nearly in the same plane; at all other periods of the full moon we are unfavourably situated for seeing the whole of the illuminated hemisphere.  Moreover, the different apparent diameter of the moon at various times, dependent on her distance from the earth, comes out in unmistakeable prominence in a collection of photographs; for the pictures taken with my reflector vary in diameter from one inch to one inch and nearly two-tenths (1·0053 inch to 1·1718 inch, being at the moon’s mean distance 1·0137 inch).

            When positive enlarged copies are made, it is easy to obtain all the pictures of exactly the same dimensions by the adjustment of the distance of the negative to be copied from the lens of the camera; and my enlarging camera is furnished with screws to facilitate the adjustment of the distance of the object to be copied, and also that of the focusing screen.

            Libration.—We are familiar with the terms “diurnal libration,” and libration in “latitude” and “longitude,” yet it is difficult to realise the great amount of disturbance in the aspect of the moon’s disc, and the direction of the displacement from the mean position which these several causes produce unless aided by photography, when we see them palpably before us.

            The diurnal or parallactic libration never exceeds 1°1’·5; the direction of the displacement in the markings on the lunar disc which it produces is variable, and is dependent partly on the position of the observer.

            The poles of the moon at the epoch of mean libration are situated in the periphery, and the equator and all parallels of latitude are straight lines; the circles of longitude being more or less open ellipses, varying from a straight line in the centre to a circle at the periphery.  This occurs when our satellite is either in perigee or apogee (when the libration in longitude is at a minimum), and she is also situated in one of the nodes of her orbit (when the libration in latitude vanishes):  the nodes, apsides, and moon would, under these circumstances, be in the same line.

            Libration in longitude merely causes a change of place in the various circles of longitude, which still continue to be more or less open ellipses; the parallels of latitude straight lines.

            Those lunar craters, however, situated on the central meridian at the epoch of mean libration, would be on a straight line, but, at the periods of maximum eastern or western libration, they would be seen arranged on a semi-ellipse, whose conjugate diameter is 0·1377, the moon’s equator becomes shifted by the sum of the librations to the east and to the west to the extent of more than 1/8^th of the moon’s diameter, namely, o·0688 to the east, and the same quantity to the west of the mean position.  On account of perspective, the effect of libration in longitude is much less apparent on the eastern and western peripheral meridians, which shift towards the centre by a quantity equal only to 1/229^th of the moon’s diameter (0·0048).

            The equator and its parallels, which at the period of mean libration in latitude were straight lines, become more or less open ellipses under other circumstances; the ratio between the conjugate and transverse axes of all the parallels being constant for a given inclination of the lunar axis.  At a maximum libration in latitude the equator becomes an ellipse, whose conjugate axis is 0·1181; the traverse axis being equal to the diameter of the moon considered as unity:  so that a point in the centre of the equator is shifted 0·059 of the diameter to the north or to the south by a maximum northern or southern libration, and will move by the sum of these librations to an apparent extent of 1/9^th of the diameter of the lunar disc.  The apparent motion of the north and south poles towards the centre is on account of perspective only 1/286^th of the diameter (0·0035).

            Libration in latitude also causes a change in the ellipses which delineate the meridians, causing an inclination of their axes to the line joining the poles, and also a change in the ratios of their transverse to their conjugate axes.  For example, the meridian distant 7° 55’ from the centre (this being the position of central meridian at a maximum libration in longitude) would have its transverse axis inclined 0°56’·3 to the pole, the conjugate axis being no longer 0·1377 but 0·1368 of the transverse.  The peripheral meridians would no longer be semi-circles, but semi-ellipses, whose conjugate diameter is equal to 0·9965, and which transverse diameter is inclined 90° to the pole. (To be continued.)

 

1860:  BJP Oct. 1, vol. VII, issue # 127, p. 285-286

            Stereographs.  English Lake and other Scenery, by Thomas Ogle, Preston.

            There has been no season in our recollection so unfavourable to the tourist as that which we have experienced during the present year; and it appears to us little less than a miracle that photographers should have been able to obtain any presentable results at all under such very adverse circumstances as have been almost universally and uninterruptedly prevalent throughout what we presume must by courtesy be called the spring, summer, and autumn of 1860.  Photographers as a class are, however, of a patient and hopeful disposition:  hence, when such persevering adepts as Mr. Ogle make up their minds to “carry off” a certain object, why it becomes merely a question of when—the how having been already settled and provided for.  Accordingly we find that while tourists have been waiting for the fine weather to set in, and expecting in vain, Mr. Ogle has taken advantage of a few smiling moments, few and far between though they have been, and as the tourists could not go to “the lakes,” he has brought the lakes to them; and, so well had he laid his plans, it is no lame apology that he offers to our notice, but the veritable pleasant spots in all their summer beauty.  He has not only performed the task which he set out to do, but, need we say, when we have already mentioned Mr. Ogle’s name, that he has done it well.  Let us tell our fireside travellers what a treat is in store for them during (we had almost said the rest of) winter.

Head of Windermere.—There are three distinct and separate views from this spot, all with natural clouds, and each one having a separate beauty of its own.  No. 139 will be that preferred b y the artist, on account of the atmospheric effects and aërial perspective, which are truly charming when this somewhat sombre-looking slide is viewed in the stereoscope.  Langdale Pikes, which out of the instrument are so blended with the clouds as to be almost indistinguishable from them, when viewed by its aid instantly attract the observer’s attention, distant as they are, and robed in a gauzy garment of moisture.  With No. 137—the view taken from above Bowness, with Loughrigg Fell and Langdale Pikes in the distance—the ordinary photographer will be most charmed, the picture being sharp, clear, and distinct; while No. 108 would probably obtain most suffrages from a constituency of the general public, as it possesses artistic merit in a considerable degree, and is altogether a very pleasing subject.  In the immediate foreground, on a grassy knoll, a black and white cow is quietly reposing, and her figure stands out in strong relief against a mass of large trees in the middle distance, which skirt the edge of the lake, serving by the gracefully undulating outline of their tops to break the monotony of the water line.  Along the right hand margin of the lake various creeks and miniature bays, with here and there a long reaching promontory clad with a verdant fringe of shrubs and little trees, may be noticed; while beyond the further shore Loughrigg Fell, dashed with a gleam of light, is backed up by the grotesque outline of Langdale Pikes, forming a pleasing contrast to the beautifully-rounded forms of the masses of soft clouds above.

            No. 127.  Bow Fell and Loughrigg Tarn.—In this slide we have the same Pikes in the distance, but seen from a different point of view—this time bounding the vista of a long valley shut in on either side by lofty hills.

            No. 109 [illus] will, without doubt, be a favourite; and deservedly so, for a happier specimen of charming English lake scenery it would be difficult to obtain.  The subject is Windermere Lake, Looking Towards Low Wood. The view is taken from above a huge mass of rock, and the spectator looks down upon a substantial residence with farm buildings hemmed in by a dense wood.  Two or three reaches of a small river are seen to the left, embracing in its sinuosities another small plantation of trees, behind which it unites its waters with those of the lake, on the further side of which gently sloping hills, clad with abundance of verdure, interspersed with houses here and there, make up one of those views which cause the lover of natural scenery to linger long and gaze with ever-increasing pleasure.

            We now come to some delightful subjects, which though of a kindred, are still of a different, class, [sic] and remind us very much of Mr. Wilson’s favourite studies.

            No. 103.  Bobbin Mill, near Stock Ghyll Force, Ambleside.—This does not sound very attractive as a description of a most exquisite composition, which it is, the said bobbin mill really forming only a very insignificant incident therein—the ugly chimney-shaft being judiciously obscured by the projecting branches of a tree, under the boughs of which the water-wheel is to be seen, and from which the little fussy, foamy stream dashes and tumbles over the stony bed, half smothered by the brambles and other lowly vegetation on the bank.  The mill itself is nearly hidden by some tall fir trees, which, in their formal regularity, contrast well with the somewhat straggling and dissipated-looking trees on the opposite bank.

            Hawes Bridge on the Kent, near Kendall, No. 87, makes an admirable picture, though in an architectural point of view it would be held but in very small esteem.  It consists of nothing more than a couple of rough stone arches—one of them only spanning the tranquil waters of the Kent—which are given with all the truth of nature.  But who shall describe the mass of natural masonry from which these arches spring? or tell how the ivy and rushes and equiseta adorn the unpretending structure?  On a projecting mass of the near bank is a boy fishing, and through the arch the river is seen to wind and lose itself to view behind the leafy screen of its own wooded banks.

            The Wild Brook, Babbling Down the Mountain Side, No. 93, is truly a photographic gem, and would form an admirable subject for a large painting.  The spectator is looking up the stream, which comes dancing down the ravine in a soft mass of foam over the huge boulders, which are smoothed and rounded by its continual play.  Both edges of the ravine are clothed with shrubs in wild luxuriance, and the whole is seen through a vista formed by the overarching boughs of a birch tree and a holly on opposite sides of the stream. [NOTE:  This is not the same scene as OE 93, Near Chorley, Lancashire]

            As a contrast to the preceding we must notice No. 76 which presents to us a phase of nature in calm repose—a stream of water, smooth as the surface of a mirror, reflecting the low bushes on the wall, and the tall elms behind.  It is thus described:-- “Here could I stand and muse and muse, And dream fresh fancies as the stream glides on.”

            From Westmoreland we get some very beautiful illustrations.  Two taken from Near Rydal Mount, Nos. 91 [illus] and 92, are very similar in character, and both perfect in manipulation.  The subjects are very difficult to render truthfully by photography, in consequence of the dense mass of foliage contrasted against the light-reflecting surface of the stream; yet we can with truth affirm that the execution of these two specimens leaves nothing to be desired, the foliage is not too dark, nor is the water too white.  The more they are examined the more they are appreciated.  We have already stated that both are beautiful, but in No. 91 especially there is a whole volume of poetic fancy embodied.  As an art composition this would command universal attention and admiration.  The subject is a wild ravine, along which a mountain stream rushes over the rocks which, at irregular intervals, stand out in bold relief, draped with soft mosses kept in constant luxuriance by the ever-moistening spray.  In the immediate foreground are some unusually large masses, and these are hemmed in by very tall trees which join overhead throwing three-fourths of the whole subject into deep shade; but, deep as the shade is, every detail of branch and leaf is just as visible as in nature.  A small portion of sky only is to be seen, and that through the upper branches of the trees.  The stream, soft and pearly in tint, occupies but a small portion of the entire area; but in the more distant part of the ravine, where the upper foliage is less dense, a glorious burst of light comes in which gives vigour and fresh value to the whole.  This is one of the finest specimens of its class that we have ever had the pleasure of examining.

            The Upper Fall, No. 96, [illus] and The Lower Fall, Rydal Park, No. 95, are also exquisite in subject.  The former, though very good, is a little over-developed, and consequently spotty.  Mr. Ogle’s general high standard may have made us somewhat hyper-critical.  But the “Lower Fall” is peculiarly charming, the water streaming in soft foam down a steep declivity, and the magnificent fronds of graceful ferns projecting from the perpendicular rocks on the left.

            In addition to the Lake Series, we have also before us several admirable views of Raglan Castle, Kenilworth Castle, and Tintern Abbey, all executed with the same skill that we have been as pleased to recognise in those already noticed.  Amongst those of Raglan Castle we prefer No. 3,  The Vestibule Leading to the Banquetting Hall; but where all are so good it is difficult to select.  Of the Tintern Abbey collection, two, which we may designate as semi-interiors, are especially pleasing, being Nos. 23[illus]  and 24, representing the principal aisle—one from the east the other from the west, the former containing the picturesque west window.  With regard to the printing and toning of these stereographs, we can only say that they are unusually fine, being of a rich, warm, brownish-black tone, and without flaw of any kind.

            We could well have given a more detailed account of these last-mentioned productions, but space will not permit us to do so on the present occasion.  We are highly gratified to find that, in spite of the unfavourable season, the practice of stereoscopic photography at least has progressed at a far more rapid pace towards perfection than we could possibly have anticipated.  We are indeed surprised as well as delighted with what has been achieved.  We have already described some of the beauties that are to be had:  we have others of a different character yet to lay before our readers, which we hope to be able to do in our next.

 

1860:   BJP Oct. 1,  vol. VII, #127, p 286-288

Dear Frank,

            I proceed to tell you of the things that interested me at the other houses I visited in the city.

            At Negretti and Zambra’s I had brought under my notice a series of transparent stereoscopic views of the scenery and natives of Japan, executed by the photographer sent out there by this firm.  These were of great interest, and the groups of Palms that predominate in nearly every view are exquisitely rendered.  How long will it be before we have the characteristic Flora of the various phytogeographic regions of the world brought home to our firesides by means of camera and stereoscope?  May this instalment be quickly followed by similar ones!  One slide gives a capital idea of the external and internal aspect of the fruits of the country, others of the physiognomy of the male and female natives of Japan, or of their habitations and surroundings.

            I next turned my steps towards Mr. Cox’s, of Skinner Street, Snowhill.  Here I had an opportunity of examining Mr. Sutton’s new form of stereoscope.  The form of this instrument I will convey to you by means of the annexed sketch [not copied here].  The framework placed at an angle on each side of the lenses is for the support of the two pictures, and the angular portion opposite the lenses consists of two plane mirrors, that reflect each picture into the axis of each lens.  The lenses are p0lano-convex, of six inches focus, placed two inches and a half from centre to centre:  they are entire, and may be achromatic if desired.  The pictures are four inches square, the negatives of which are taken in a twin-lens camera, on a plate eight and a half by four and a half inches, placed in “a non-reversible slide”—that is to say, with the film on the back instead of the front of the plate, so that the two views are taken right through the glass.  The lenses of  the camera must be of the same focal length as those in the stereoscope, viz., six inches, and placed four and a quarter inches from centre to centre.  This arrangement is necessary that the objects may not appear reversed where inspected in the stereoscope, and that they may produce an idea of magnitude.

            Mr. Sutton thus describes the geometry of this instrument by aid of the annexed diagram [technical descriptions]…

            I also examined a negative on curved glass, taken by the panoramic camera, which included the two views rendered on the two 10-inch by 10 negatives I have just referred to.  This specimen of what the panoramic lens is capable of is decidedly superior to the negative exhibited before the meeting of the London Photographic Society, which is still in Mr. Cox’s shop; but whilst the middle and left-hand sides are in parts well defined, the right-hand portion is very weak.  Whether to attribute this to an unsymmeterical fault in the lens, or to the curve of the glass plate, or careless manipulation of the film, I know not; but I do not think this perceptible inequality in the character of the negative is attributable to inequality of illumination of the subject.  The objects delineated in the negative are nearly all in the same plane, therefore it does not afford an opportunity of judging of the “depth of focus” said to be a characteristic of this lens.  The angle of view is extraordinary; and if this form of lens and camera were brought to perfection, I think it would be the instrument for military and naval purposes.  If for the latter service, the camera should be mounted on Professor Piazzi Smyth’s “free revolving stand” or gyrating apparatus, described in his work on Teneriffe, so as to render the instrument independent of a ship’s motion.

            Finding that I could not “do” the entire City to-day, I retraced my weary steps to the “Garden.”  In my next I hope to describe what I saw in my visits to the remainder of the City establishments.  And so remain, Yours for ever, Simeon Headsman.

 

1860:  BJP Oct. 1, vol. VII, #127, p. 288

            Meetings of Societies.  North London Photographic Association.

            The first ordinary monthly meeting for the season of this association was held at Myddelton hall, Islington, on Wednesday, the 26^th ultimo., George Shadbolt, Esq., V.P., in the chair.

            Mr. John Barnett, the honorary secretary, having read the minutes of the last meeting, which were confirmed, the ballot for new members took place, when Mr. J. T. Bell was unanimously elected a member of the society.

            The chairman then introduced to the meeting some fine stereographs, the production of Mr. Ogle, of Preston, representing Tintern Abbey, Raglan Castle, and English lake scenery.  (for a notice of these, see page 285 [-286]).

            A Member observed that the specimens appeared to be a little overprinted, to which

            The Chairman replied that the objection made would not be observable in the stereoscope.

            G. Wharton Simpson, Esq., exhibited some specimens of waxed albumenised paper  negatives, possessing great sharpness, produced by a new process not yet published.  The inventor is Mr. H. Hooper, of Manchester.  [Meeting then discusses technical topics including making photographs on ivory.  Other names mentioned:  G. Wharton Simpson, Mr. Hill, Mr. Bingham, Messers. Dawson and Hughes, Mr. Mayall, Mr. Cramb, Mr. Wall] …

            Mr. Mainwaring then exhibited some beautiful coloured photographs, illustrative of our most favourite flowers, representing gloxineas, dahlias, and bigonias.

            The thanks of the meeting having been given to the Chairman, the Society adjourned till October 31^st. 

 

1860:  BJP Oct. 1, vol. VII, # 127, p. 288                CHECK  - CONT. ON P. 289?

            The South London Photographic Society.  Last out-door meeting.

            The Committee, which had only met on the previous Wednesday selected for this meeting of Saturday, September 15^th, Epping Forest.  The rendezvous being appointed ast “The Eagle,” Snaresbrook at 2:15 p.m.  [Messrs. Tear, Borchert, and Ackland tested Messrs. Petschler and Mann’s new process]. 

 

1860:  BJP Oct. 15, vol. VII, #128, p. 302-3

            Letters to a Photographic Friend, No. VII.

Dear Frank,

            On returning to the attack at Messrs. Horne and Thornthwaite’s, in Newgate Street, I found that they also had been giving their attention to the perfection of the bellows form of camera. [technical discussion]…

            I next made my way to the London Stereoscopic Company, in Cheapside, and examined an extensive series of photographs of American scenery lately introduced into this country.  These comprise not merely stereoscopic subjects, but large views of the most interesting spots in Canada and the United States.  Of course Niagara figures largely in the series; and one is easily able to form a very good idea of the grandeur of those mightly Falls by examining such stereographs as The Rapids, No. 115; The General view of the Falls from Prospect Point, NO. 140; The Horse-Shoe Fall and the Terrapin Tower (instantaneous) No. 153; and the Table Rock, from the base of the Horse-shoe Fall.  Among the large photographs there is a capital panoramic view of the entire scene.  Most persons in England have been in doubt as to whether Blondin was not an apocryphal personage, but a stereograph in this series depicts a gentleman in the usual “India-rubber—incredible-brother” costume, poised on a rope over the rushing waters of Niagara.  This is something like an authentic proof that Blondin had an existence otherwise than in the fertile brains of a Yankee editors or in the veracious and voracious columns of American newspapers.  Slide 136 gives an exquisite rendering of the stalactite-like icicles in one of the ice caverns of the White Mountains, Anew Hampshire; The Chaudier Falls, No. 113; The Cataracts on the Genessee, near Portage,, No. 125; whilst many other of these stereographs present objects of great interest.  Moreover they are as well executed as the points of view are well selected.

            From “Under Bow Bells” I went away to Mr. Squire’s,  of King William Street, to inspect Leake’s Dark Tent.  [technical discussion] …

            Having got to the photographic end of the City, I have got to the end of this letter.  In my next I purpose recording the results of my wanderings in many an unknown nook of London.  But if you should not hear from me again, apply to the Dead-Letter Office or the Found Dead Department of Bow Street; for I have a vague idea that I am going to spots where rampant cattle do congregate and pitfalls abound, through the projectors of new streets keeping open house—as far as their cellars are concerned.

            So believe me, Yours, bound for the back settlements, Simeon Headsman.

 

1860:  BJP, Oct. 15, vol. VII, # 128, p. 303-304

            Stereographs.  Instantaneous Marine and Street Views, by George Wilson, Aberdeen.

            Perhaps one of the most striking and really valuable steps in advance that have been made during the past twelve months in the practice of photography is that of the excellence to which the production of “instantaneous” photographs has been brought in the hands of some of our more highly-skilled operators.  One of the first of this class of subjects, which took the fancy of the photographic world by storm, was the well-known Brig, by Le Gray; but this, beautiful and artistic as it undoubtedly was, possessed those merits in spite of its defects.  The reality was a glorious blaze of sunshine flashing from out the rolling masses of clouds, and flooding the rippling waters of the ocean, which even in their quietude may b e with truth described as ever restless:  the semblance was of that same ocean partly veiled by night’s soft mantle, and which the tender moonbeams touched with liquid silver.  It was not exactly the truth, though perhaps as beautiful as if it had been.

            In stereography we have, upon several occasions, had to draw attention to some well-designed attempts “to fix the fleeting shadows as they passed,” and these have generally been nearer to the truth, though perhaps not more artistic than Le Gray’s Brig.  If the whole truth must be told, also, we have still more frequently had to be silent and make no sign when specimens of “instantaneous” views have been received for criticism, for there is no need to tell the world when such an one has failed in a well-meant aim; and we only allude to the subject at present in order to point out the fact that now many of the earlier difficulties have been overcome.  We no longer get mere black and white in these productions, but a considerable share of half-tone.  Moreover, we now have not only marine subjects, but busy street scenes, with all the active bustle of daily life portrayed therein.  It might be thought by the novice that if it be possib le to catch the form of the breaking wave, it is no great feat to obtain also the view of the crowded thoroughfare; but this is quite a mistake.  There is something in the atmosphere at the seaside which gives the operator in that kind of locality a decided advantage over his more inland situated brethren, especially in the point of time of exposure.  In the slides by Mr. Wilson, now before us, however, we have to deal with both the kinds of localities mentioned.—And first we have three of

            Princes Street, Edinburgh, looking towards the Calton Hill.  –These are all excellent as photographs, being quite free from anything approaching to under-exposure, and are full of half-tone.  Numerous vehicles and pedestrians are to be seen, some in rapid motion.  Though all three slides are good, No. 190 is, in our opinion, decidedly the best.  It not only contains the greatest number of figures, but they are also well-defined and sharp, even those nearest to the camera.  This slide, as regards manipulation, is decidedly superior to the views in Broadway, New York, that we noticed some short time back.  The very gait and aspect of the passers-by would, of necessity, be recognised by their acquaintances.—As companions to the preceding, we have two of

            The Quadrant, and one of the upper part of Regent Street, London.—In No. 206 there are several Hansom cabs advancing at a rapid pace towards the spectators that are exceedingly characteristic of the style of progress peculiar to that kind of vehicle, and which are capitally defined; but, strange to say, a foot passenger running after an omnibus, whose figure occupies one corner of the picture, is sufficiently blurred to show that, quick as the exposure must have been, yet still it occupied an appreciable space of time.  It also demonstrates the optical difficulty in correcting the oblique pencil of ray.—No. 205, representing the upper part of the street, with a goodly array of pedestrians on the fashionable side, albeit not at the fashionable hour, is a very attractive subject, and will no doubt be in great demand.

            We now turn to the marine subjects.  Are here we would remark that, with one or two exceptions out of about twenty before us, there is nothing of the moonlight effect to which we referred in connexion with Le Gray’s picture; but neither is there in most of them sunshine displayed—most probably for the reason that, when the negatives were taken, no sunshine was visible  “O’er the glad waters of the dark blue sea.”

            There are some half dozen views taken From Ryde Pier, Isle of Wight, in which various pleasure yachts may be seen, bending to the breeze.  As Byron says, “How gloriously her gallant course she goes!  Her white wings flying—never from her foes; She walks the waters like a thing of life, And seems to dare the elements to strife.”

           
These slides are admirable, portraying all the varied beauties of clouds and waves, and are to the marine artist invaluable.—Nos. 243 and 244 are particularly pleasing:  in the latter the cloud of steam issuing from the funnel of a steam-packet in the distance is very effective.

            The Stranded Collier (No. 238) is a perfect marine picture—stranded on the soft wet sand, and heeled over a little on the larboard side, with sails all furled and trim.  Two carts are alongside, to ease her of a portion of her burden of black diamonds.  ne of the carts is “backed” close to the vessel’s gangway, and is in the act of receiving a load—the horse in the attitude that reminds one so strongly of the soldier at the word “attention!”  Some of the crew are visible on the deck; and the broken reflection of the whole is seen in the sloppy sand of the foreground, while a low sandbank is seen behind, and beyond that a brigantine at anchor.  This slide will certainly be highly popular.—There are half-a-dozen slides of

            The Great Eastern in the Southampton Water, which, irrespective of the interest attached to the vessel itself, are beautiful as studies of clouds and waves.  Where all are so good it is difficult to make a selection; but we cannot forbear particularising Nos. 219 and 220, in which the breaking wave on the shore is rendered with peculiarly happy effect.—No. 223 is one that presents a little of the moonlight effect, but is especially beautiful from the fleecy clouds that are portrayed.  The waves are here much smaller than in the other pictures, and that on the sand displays the white foam to advantage.

            With some seven or eight illustrations of the Frith of Forth we shall close the present notice.  There are two of the Channel Fleet, in which the frigates are to be seen decked in gala attire of countless flags; while steamers and sailing vessels are scudding about in various directions, like dogs gambolling about the footsteps of their masters.—The remainder are representations of

            H.M. Ship ”Edgar” and  H.M. Ship “Royal Albert,” under various aspects.  These are at anchor, and the numerous portholes for their many tiers of guns can be counted with precision.--  “Far on the horizon’s verge appears a speck, A spot!—a mast!—a sail!—an armed deck!”

            Nos. 224A and 224B are truly exquisite productions.  In the former numerous yachts, with their snow-white sails, are coursing around the vessel of war like lambs round a fortress. In the latter a steamer, towing a line of sailing barges or some such craft, deeply laden, is crossing in front of the frigate, and the long trail of white steam testifies to the speed of her progress.—No. 225 is also an admirable study of shipping.

            We cannot conclude without congratulating the art-loving portion of our readers on the rich treat in store for them in studying these admirable productions.

 

1860:  BJP, Oct. 15, vol. VII, issue #128, p. 304    CHECK TO SEE IF there is more

            Bath and its Environs, by H[oration] N[elson] King

            The ancient city of Bath, the existence of which dates back as far as the time of the Roman occupation of this island, and is celebrated for its natural hot springs, has found an able illustrator, photographically, in Mr. King, a resident in that attractive spot.  Who has not heard of its once famous Assembly-rooms—immortalised also in “Pickwick?”  Who has ever passed it when progressing along the Great Western Railway without feeling a desire to stay there, if only for a day or two?  And if such desire be the effect of a passing glimpse of that renowned city, an inspection of the stereographs now before us is not at all likely to lessen it.  We have neither time or space to notice the whole of them, but must devote a few lines to some that strike us more prominently than the remainder.  And, firstly, we must call attention to Widcome Old Church and Manor House, No. 2, both being quaint and ancient structures, picturesquely situated—the former having a square tower literally enveloped in ivy, and pierced by several gothic windows.  On one of the pinnacles is seen the symbol of the “cock,” the emblem of St. Peter’s weakness, and the origin of the “weather-cock,” now but rarely seen in the form which makes the appellation an appropriate one.  This is an exceedingly pleasing slide, as is also another which gives a different view of the church, disclosing somewhat more of the basement portion.

            The Mansion in Prior Park, No. 20, is an excellent specimen of the architectural series, and gives a good idea of the edifice which it is intended to illustrate.

            Prior Bird’s Priory, No. 17, is one of those quaint, snug, old-fashioned domiciles with red-tiled roof and pointed windows in which some of the church dignitaries of old mad themselves very comfortable.  It makes a capital picture, ,with its broken outline and numerous creepers lovingly entwined about the various casements; while, as a background, a group of trees, in which the elm, fir, and yew are readily recognisable, acts as a foil to throw up the building prominently; and the thin wreath of smoke from one of the chimneys gives evidence of human habitation.  The garden is on a slope; and in the centre of a lawn in the immediate foreground is an extensive circular pond, with a fountain in full play, which only ripples the water sufficiently to veil the sharpness of outline of the soft, reflected image of the house.  This will certainly be a favourite with purchasers.

            The Palladian Bridge, Prior Park, No. 29.—Of this subject there are two illustrations from different points of view; but that numbered as above indicated is far the best, and is in every way an excellent photograph.

            View at the Park Pond, Victoria Park, Bath, is a good illustration of variety of foliage, and the aspect presented by different kinds of trees picturesquely grouped.

            The difficulty of properly rendering foliage together with other objects, each with its due amount of relative light, and shade, is acknowledged by every practised photographer, and it is a problem the solution of which deserves the best energies of all scientific operators.  The details of Mr. Heisch’s labours towards this end should be carefully examined by all who work in this direction.

            Bath, from Beechen Cliff.—Under this title there are four different views, comprising an extensive range of the chief parts of the city:  these must be regarded as fairly successful, for we are informed that it is but rarely that a clear view of Bath can be obtained from the spot, which is between two and three miles distant, but when clear the view is a particularly pleasing one.

            We are infomred by Mr. King that he develops solely with iron, using no after intensifying process, and simply washes off the developer without fixing the negative until he reaches home, when he can fix properly, and afford the requisite amount of washing without stint of water.

 

1860:  BJP Nov. 1, vol. VII, #129, p. 317

            Stereographs.  Canterbury, Rochester, and the Watering Places on the South and South-east Coasts, by W. Russell Sedgefield [sic]  (A.W. Bennett, Bishopsgate Street, London)

            The stereoscope is an instrument that, like the horseleech, continually cries, “Give! give!” and, according to the status of its proprietor, so must its food be.  The geologist, mineralogist, botanist, conchologist, artist, &c., have each a class of slides which they most affect; nay, let a man’s hobby be in almost any direction, it would be difficult to point out one in which food for his own particular stereoscope could not be found.  It is a commercial axiom that “where there is a demand a supply is sure to follow;” but it is equally true that a supply not unfrequently creates a demand, which would perhaps scarcely have existed but for the pre-e3xistence of the means of satisfying it.

            It is of course easily enough seen that, in producing stereographs for those who have a pursuit, it is only necessary to depict subjects in which they take an interest, and the sale of them is already half accomplished; but what is to be done in order to catch the fancy of those who have not any special hobby—the οι πολλοι, the great mass of purchasers in expectation?  Truly to do as Mr. Sedgefield has very recently been doing, in reproducing those haunts “where men and women most do congregate;” and the best of all possible times to bring them out is just the present time, when most of those who have been fortunate enough to get a short sea-side holiday have returned home, bringing with them a vivid remembrance of the scenes they have so lately visited.  “Strike while the iron is hot” is an old proverb.  Let the slides now before us come across the late sojourners in any of the localities depicted, while the scenes are fresh in the memory, and they are nearly sure to become possessors of them; and, having visited one place—Hastings FOR instance, and not Dover—a few of the latter must accompany the more familiar scenes just by way of contrast and for comparison.

            In preparing a series to meet the requirements above indicated, there is scarcely that amount of room for artistic selection that would be satisfactory to such an operator as Mr. Sedgefield.  It is not always the most health-restoring spots that abound in the picturesque; and the photographer must perforce take the places just as he finds them, or leave them alone all together.  There is no putting in a tree here, or leaving out a dead wall there, to improve the subjects; but they must be had in all their native beauty or ugliness, just as it may happen.  It would, therefore, be unfair to criticise the series before us by the ordinary standards of artistic merit.  But this quality has not been overlooked by the operator, for where the subject has admitted any choice the most has been made of it; and in all an endeavour is apparent to introduce as much of art as nature would permit.

            From Canterbury we have the Cathedral from the east, and also a well-executed illustration of Dean Lyall’s Monument; but that which exhibits the best effect is No. 622, being a view of The Cloisters of St. Augustine’s College, in which the chiaqroscura is highly pleasing, although the subject is extremely simple.  The patches of sunlight falling through the mullioned embrasures of the corridor upon the chequered floor, contrast admirably with the softened shadows, which, though deep, are beautifully transparent.

            From Rochester we have the Cathedral, and from Rye the Shipyards.  Each is full of incident, both in the distance and foreground.

            A portion of the quay of Ramsgate Harbour, with some vessels alongside, may be taken as a sample of that resort; and a singular chasm in the cliff, through which the pier is seen in the distance, serves as a record of a Margate scene.  It is evident from this last that Mr. Sedgefield employs a single lens camera; for three vessels out at sea, visible in both pictures of the pair, have slightly shifted their positions between the times of the two exposures—which is a pity, for they would greatly have added to the value of the effect had this not been the case.

            Hastings is taken from the beach, on which a small brig and a dense crowd of fishing smacks are drawn up above high-water mark.  The east cliff, with the pathway leading towards Fairlight Glen, are seen in the distance, and a gentleman is standing close to the water’s edge.

            Of Dover we have the Harbour. the Heights, and Barracks, Shakespeare’s Cliff, with a portion of the railway along the sea shore; and on one of the cliffs near at hand a figure is very effectively posed, pointing out to sea.

            The best of this locality is, however, that entitled the Bathing Machines, whether as regards execution, illustration, or composition.  A crescent of houses, of the orthodox sea-side style, with the pleasant verandahs, form the back-ground; one machine, with its ugly canvas hood, is in the water, and another just drawn up on the ridge of shingles (mem. canvas hood considerably patched), while the rest are high and dry, almost on the shore.  Midway is a “groyne,” [sic] which as usual seems to have special attractions for the loiterers on the beach (we always notice three times as many people there as anywhere else); for here are ladies, gentlemen, and children, in various attitudes, intently observing the solitary machine or the towels spread out to dry.  Close to the spectators is a group of little girls sitting on the beach with their wooden spades, while the transparent spray from the waves on the shore is beautifully given; and the wet portion of the shingle exposed to its influence contrasts well with the dry crispness of heaped-up water-worn pebbles under the blazing sunshine.

            We have only to remark, in conclusion, that the whole are executed with Mr. Russell Sedgefield’s usual skill.

 

1860:  BJP Nov. 1, vol. VII, #129, p. 317-318

            Letters to a Photographic Friend, No. VIII.

Dear Frank,

            I have now to tell you of what came under my notice at the photographic apparatus makers’ who have establishments out of the main thoroughfares of “this wonderful metropolis;” and the first that fell in my way was Routledge’s, whose workshops, I may tell you, are situated at 14, John’s Mews, Bedford Row, as he has moved from Devonshire Street, where in the first instance I bent my steps.  [technical information]…

            I then went off to Ottewill’s, at Charlotte Terrace, Islington… [technical information]

            Curiously enough, on going to Hare’s, at 140, Pentonville-road, I saw a camera  

[technical]…

Thus, you will see that this form of camera is claimed by Ramsden, Rouch, Kinnear, and others, and, curiously, I myself can put in a claim for inventing this principle of construction as early as the commencement of the Russian war, when I designed a camera specially for war purposes to be used in the Crimea, portability being an essential element…. [technical] The drawings were examined at the Society of Art’s rooms by Mr. P. Le Neve Foster, Mr. Fenton, and an officer of engineers, afterwards lost in his ship during the memorable storm off the Crimean coast.[technical]…

I must not forget to draw your attention to Moginie’s tent, which takes the fancy of many; but, as this is fully described and figured at page 177 of The British Journal of Photography, I need not re-describe it to you.  It may be obtained from the inventor, at 14, Albert Street, Camden Road, if you should think it suitable to your purposes.

I must now, my dear Frank, bring this letter to a close; and in my next will give you the results of my last look round London before I betake myself to my country fire-side.

            So believe me, Yours, faithfully, Simeon Headsman.

 

1860:  BJP Nov. 1, vol. VII, #129, p. 321

            Foreign Correspondence.  Paris, October 26, 1860.

            The French Photographic Society’s opening meeting of this session, which was to have taken place on the 19^th of October, and upon which I had counted for a host of novelties to be communicated to you, has been postponed because of the absence of the majority of the members.  It certainly cannot be the beauty of the end of the season which keeps the photographers away from Paris, for October is as ill-humoured as any one of its elder brothers, the months of Spring or of Autumn, and it is much to be feared that the whole family from January to December will have the same character.  Doubtless the absent artists may be found in storied cities, amidst agrestic scenes, or on the mountain slope, lingering to the last to catch the sunbeam which has so long refused to smile upon them.  And yet I know some—and more than one—of these laborious travelers who are returning laden with a plentiful harvest.  How they have managed I know not, but the results are there to prove my assertion.  Thus, M. Braun (of Dornach) has just published a collection of stereoscopic views of the banks of the Rhine.  This artist operates with collodion, and nearly always in full sunlight, which gives a very vigorous effect to his productions, and permits him to animate them with groups of persons, so that they become real little pictures; but this time he has been forced to content himself with that diffuse light which falls with uniformity upon the edifice or the landscape.  His views certainly lose much by this, but they are not the less interesting.  M. M. Bisson, Brothers, who had for this season the most marvelous projects—among others, that of setting up their operating-room on Mont Blanc—have been obliged to limit themselves to completing as far as possible their collection of glaciers, and to reproducing the most curious sites in the new French departments formed of Savoy.  At the time that they intended to go and pitch their tent on the top of the giant of the Alps, several English tourists perished with their guides in a tempest, and that upon the very road that they would have been obliged to take.  The event was not encouraging to amateurs of super-alpine portraits, so. M. M. Bisson have had to postpone the execution of their photographic feat to a more auspicious year.  Another of our great masters, M. Baldus, has also executed a series of views taken in Savoy, thinking that the recent annexation of that beautiful country, and the journey of the Emperor and Empress, would, in the eyes of the public, give an additional interest to those eminently picturesque sites.  And lastly, M. Soulier, the associate of M.M. Ferrier (father and son) has returned within the last few days from his sojourn of several months in England and Scotland.  He had obtained authority to penetrate into the different palaces of the Queen, and to take interior and exterior views of them.  His mission would have been greatly facilitated by the kind orders which had preceded him in all royal dwellings, if the weather had not made a point of persecuting him.  Imagine what must have been the disappointment of the poor photographer, and the obstacles he had to struggle against, when installed with arms and baggage in a gallery at the far end of a chapel, or in a spacious chamber, into which there penetrated but a feeble ray of light through murky air or falling shower!  He had prepared his glasses before leaving Paris, not thinking he should be absent more than a month, and the same glasses served him till his return—a fact which constitutes the greatest eulogy of Taupenot’s process that can be offered.  In spite of all difficulties, M. Soulier has brought back a large number of stereoscopic clichés, which have perfectly succeeded.  In addition to fifty views, offering the monography of Buckingham Palace—the royal residences at Windsor, Osborne, and Balmoral—a numerous series of views of London, of the Isle of Wight, of Windsor Park and its environs—he has given us a few subjects from old poetic Scotland.  These, as well as all the others, are executed on glass.  Among the latter are the ruins of Melrose Abbey, a panorama of Edinburgh, a corner of Loch Lomond, and, lastly, a ravishing view of Loch Katrine.  Examined in the stereoscope, this little picture makes a vivid impression upon the mind of the spectator.

            “One burnished sheet of living gold

            Loch Katrine lay beneath him rolled

            In all her length far-winding lay,

            With promontory, creek, and bay,

            And islands that empurpled bright,

            Floated amid the livelier light;

            And mountains that like giants stand

            To sentinel enchanted land.”

Nought is wanting but the mild face of Ellen Douglas, listening to the melancholy songs of Old Allen, or rowing to the shore to offer   GET REST

 

1860:  BJP Dec. 1, vol. VII, #131, p. 344-345

            Palestine in 1860; or, A Photographer’s Journal of a Visit to Jerusalem.  No. I.  By John Cramb.

            Walking into the office of a friend one day towards the end of last March, I was accosted with the interrogation:--“How would you like to go to Jerusalem?”  Who would not?  No wonder that, without further thought, I replied:--“Few things would please me better; but, “I immediately inquired, “why do you ask that question?”  “Because,” said my friend, “a gentleman of my acquaintance has been for some time hunting up and down for some one to go out to Syria and Palestine, to take photographs of the places of scriptural interest in those countries, and I rold him last night I knew the right man for the place, if he would go.  “Now,” said Mr. B., “will you go?”  But, without waiting for my reply, he continued, --“Go home, and consult over it.  My friend and I will call on you to-morrow:  make up your mind, for there is no time to lose.”

            Sitting comfortably round the tea-table after sipping out “Lapsang Souchong,” the reader may suppose how I astonished our home circle by the announcement—“I am thinking of going to Jerusalem!”  Explanation followed, and we were soon deep in Murray’s Handbook, The Tent and the Khan, The Land and the Book, &c.

            Next day brought the searcher after Syrian landscapes to my domicile.  I soon learned what he wanted; and, among other conditions, found he had made up his mind that no one would answer his purpose who had not been accustomed to working a dry process.  We will see afterwards how far this was a wise or necessary requirement.  I had for several years successfully practised the old, simple albumen process on glass, which was at once deemed dry enough for any purpose; and it seemed my partial friend had not over-estimated my photographic suitability for the journey.  Though I would not probably have been willing to confess I was at all ignorant of the geography, history, and, above all, the present social and political position of the Holy Land, yet I fear it was so; and, to make up, books of travel had to be gone through at an express-train rate their authors never contemplated, and in two or three cases the information so obtained had to be confirmed and supplemented by an interview with the authors themselves.  An immense amount of information was wanted in the shortest possible time, and in the fewest words.  I wanted to learn, if I could, all that I now know, and mean to tell in this series of papers.  All that I could not.  On two or three points satisfactory information had to be got before the enterprise could be entered on.  The climate, I understood, from the position of the country, would approach the tropical; but on that point I found little distinct or reliable information in the journals of travellers, or by viva voce interrogations of those who had been throughout the country.  Few of those who write on Palestine have lived in the country, and only a very small number attempt to indicate its temperature, even at the time they were there.  And, again, I could find no one who had been there during the months I would likely have to spend in the Holy Land, if I went this season.  English travellers are recommended to visit Syria and Palestine in spring, or late in autumn.  Spring was already begun, “in name at least,” and before I could be there, though I left immediately, it would be far advanced:  to delay till autumn the publisher thought would b e out of the question for his purpose.  And yet why be so anxious for knowing the heat in figures?  How much information does it convey to us of how we would feel to be told the temperature at such a place is 56 degrees or 106 degrees?  There is so much to modify our feeling under such circumstances,--the amount of moisture in the air, &c.  But suppose the proposition be accepted, that whatever heat the people of the country were able to beat I could, --would the chemicals be as accommodating?  There was no denying I had to leap over this preliminary difficulty by the desire to visit scenes of such transcendent interest; but that could scarcely be expected to extend to iodised albumen. Photographs had been done before, but at what season?  A sentence in one of Mr. Frith’s descriptions was not very hopeful.  He speaks of the collodion boiling in the bottle; but adds, he got over that difficulty:  he does not, however, say how?  I was not proposing to use collodion, and perhaps I would get along, operating at a temperature that boiled ordinary collodion.  There was still a “lion in the way.”  Is the country safe for Europeans, and, above all, is it likely to be so for one travelling alone, as I would have to do?  Friends interested in my safety and welfare are alarmed by accounts of plundering Bedouins and equally unscrupulous Fellahs, and visions of a solitary Scotchman enacting the part of a “certain man who went down to Jericho, and fell among thieves,” without the prospect of any Good Samaritan to pour oil and wine into his wounds, and the certainty that there was now no inn to which he could be taken.

            Not to tire my readers, all objections were overcome, or overridden I should say; and having resolved to go to Palestine, how could I get there?  Jaffa, the port for Jerusalem, can be reached in three or four different ways.  A French company, the Messageries Imperiales, have a line of steamers, which sail each alternate Sunday morning from Marseilles, viâ Malta and Alexandria, to Jaffa.  Marseilles is easily and quickly reached by rail through France.  This route I chose, to avoid the Bay of Biscay, being a very poor sailor.  The cheapest and most direct way of going to the Holy Land is by the excellent screw-steamers plying between Liverpool and Beyrout; and many English travellers, who prefer going by an English ship as far as they can, go by the Peninsular and Oriental Company’s steamers from Southampton to Alexandria, and from thence take a passage in either the French, Austrian, or Russian steamers, which call at Alexandria, and land passengers at Jaffa or Beyrout.  The Peninsular and Oriental Company also take passengers from Marseilles to Alexandria.  Another course may be followed:--go to Trieste by rail, and from thence to Jaffa or Beyrout, by the Austrian Lloyd’s steamers.

            Presuming it will be interesting to the readers of the Journal, I will now briefly state what I purposed doing, photographically, in the Holy Land; what preparation I made before leaving; what instruments I took with me, and what chemicals; and how all was packed.

            It was intended I should take a series of 8 x 10 in. views of all the places and objects of interest I should visit, and as many pairs of stereoscopic negatives.  I resolved to albumenise all the glass I should take before leaving.  It was considered desirable, in order to reduce the weight as much as possible, that not more than twice the number of glasses should be taken that we wanted of good negatives to be brought home—a rather narrow margin I thought then, and still think.  It was resolved I should leave on the 9^th April, or in less than a fortnight from the time I decided on going.  About 600 glasses had to be coated within that period.

            I do not know that it would be interesting to tell exactly the quantity of each of the various “chemicals” I took,--or the number of dishes, funnels, measures, &c., as a different number and kind would be required for another process, or a different manner of working even the same one.  I found it somewhat difficult to estimate the quantity of each substance; and in one case the quantity taken fell far below the actual requirement—namely, of acetic acid.  I would have required at least three or four times the quantity, or about 124 ounces.  The modern photographer’s main requisite, collodion, I did not expect to require.  I, however, took a little to try a wet plate perhaps, or a collodio-albumen, or a Fothergill one, and as much as anything to see how it behaved in the transit, and under the expected high temperature of the country.

            In the apparatus department I took scarcely any duplicates, and would not recommend any to be taken.  I had long been accustomed to take my stereos with a camera which, I suppose, I may call of my own invention, though really the principle of its construction is described in an early number of the Journal of the Photographic Society.  There are no slides, and the plates pass from the boxes into the camera, and are again returned after exposure into the same grooves in the plate-box.  I use two cameras on one stand, a considerable distance apart, but adjustable.  As the cameras are but the thickness of the wood larger than the plates used, they are very small.  I resolved to have my camera for 10 by 8 in. size placed on the same stand, in the middle, between the two stereo. [sic] ones.  This arrangement I found answered admirably.  By it I was enabled to take the large and stereo. pictures at the same time with one stand.  I had no 8 x 10 in. camera suited for the journey, and had to have one made.  Though made, I presume, as carefully as possible, it stood the climate very indifferently.  Its twisting and cracking cost me several plates, and more than once risked the loss of a subject altogether.  My old well-seasoned stereos never gave me any trouble more than working at home would, and they were no gems of cabinet work:   their superiority mainly lay in being old and well-seasoned, and something in the plan not requiring so exact fitting as slides do.  No photographer should risk going with newly-made instruments on such a journey.  My lenses were by Ross, and had not their character to gain; and I need not say they were quite as reliable in photographing the Mosque of Omar as they had before been in doing the same thing for Glasgow Cathedral and the Arc de Triomphe.

            Having got the apparatus and materials, we had to have them suitably and safely packed.  I may premise that there is no wheeled conveyance in Palestine.  Everything is carried on the back of mules, camels, or donkeys.  The ordinary behaviour of the first and last in this country did not seem to promise much security for the safety of the glass and the other fragile materials of a photographic outfit.  We were, however, assured that Syrian donkeys had more respect for the property of their owners or hirers than their British-born brethren generally manifested.  The stock of albumenised glass I packed in the following manner:-- Pieces of card-board were cut of the size of the glasses, and their centres taken out, so as to leave about a quarter of an inch all round the margins.  These card-board slips are then placed between each pair of glasses, albumen sides to each other, and placed in paper.  These are again tied up in packets of twelve, or of six pair rather, and put in paper.  The packets so tied up are put in a box, with deal partitions between each parcel.  This box, when filled, and having sufficient soft material in each compartment, is again placed inside of another and larger box, having a space of at least two inches all round, filled with soft material.  By this arrangement I was able to send home my negatives from Syria without so much as a scratch—not one broken or otherwise damaged.  The plan of slinging the boxes over the mule’s back require that both sides be equal.  It is, therefore, desirable that each box have as near as possible a counterpart in weight, and size, too, in fact.

            I had some difficulty in ascertaining how much a mule could carry.  I now know that any mule will carry easily, over any Syrian road, bad as they are, about two hundred weight, and a good one nearly double that amount.  What a deep sea of terrors this same carrying of glasses and porcelain dishes on donkeys’ backs was to me before leaving this country!  The reality, I found, with ordinary care, to be as safe as any mode of conveyance  I can think of, and incomparably more so than by rail, as ordinarily done.  I can as easily suppose a traveller returning from an Oriental country with quite an opposite tale, if he had been accustomed to handing over himself and baggage to the railway or steam-boat company for safe transport to his destination.  He would find the ever-imperturbable, large-promising, but scant-performing, Syrian Mukhari no very safe custodiers or either valuable or fragile property, if treated in the manner he had acwuired in his Western travels.  The muleteers are only reliable when very sharply and continuously looked after; and the ordinary practice of the country is to do everything with the largest possible amount of bullying and scolding.  A carefully-loaded mule will travel a day over the most hazardous roads without stumbling; while if the load be improperly put on, it will be a continual source of delay, and may risk the safety of breakable materials, even with the most careful supervision while travelling.  As I had always been accustomed to “look after my luggage,” to use the language of the railway bills, I had no difficulty in acquiring the habit of being always near my traps while loading and unloading, and never far from them on the road either.

            My readers may not be interested in knowing the contents of my portmanteau; and yet I wished the authors of the books I had access to had given more information on common things.  The dress required in Palestine during all but the coldest day of winter is as light outer-clothing as we ever wear in this country.  Calico or linen suits are best, and most worn in summer.  The less one can think of doing with the better during the warm weather.  The head is the only part of the body requiring consideration; and European travellers should learn of the natives, of whom it is humorously remarked that they carry their whole wardrobe on their heads.  On a Syrian summer day, the stalwart son of Ishmael may be seen clambering the steep sides of the dreary mountains, or scampering over the fertile plains of his ill-goverened country, with less than the most liberal modesty would require as a covering for his person, but with as much as a pair of English blankets wrapped round his head!  The purpose of this is to keep the head cool by protecting it from the direct rays of the sun; to save the wearer from sun-stroke—that most terrible and too-frequent consummation of a residence in eastern countries.  A very light kind of hat, made of pith, is the most perfect protection for the head I can conceive; and I would take the opportunity of recommending them to all intending travellers in warm climates.  As usually made, they are helmet-shaped, and not over-sightly to our eyes; but that’s soon got over when the time for their use arrives.  I use[l]essly loaded myself with under-clothing, as I had been informed the washer-woman was not one of the institutions of Syria.  To the lover of spotless linen I can now, however, say:--“Fear not; you can have your ‘eureka’ done up to the satisfaction of the most fastidious in Jerusalem and the larger cities of the Holy Land.”

            I must skip much of my preparations, as time presses.  In my next I will give the first part of my journal proper.

 

1860:  BJP Dec. 1, vol. VII, #131, p. 347   (Illustrated – copy?  Do we have photo?)

            Photographic Engraving of Blocks, to be Printed with Ordinary Letterpress.  The Invention of Mr. Paul Pretsch.

            We have had the pleasure of presenting our readers, in the last number of this Journal, with one of the first blocks produced by the above-named process.  It was printed by steam with ordinary letterpress.  However, for the sake of making the advantageous application of this process more striking to the public, we have now inserted one of these blocks amongst the types themselves.

            The process consists, as already stated, in a combination of photography with electrotype.  Photography furnishes the engraving of the picture in the proper and desired effect.  It appears wonderful how Nature can be used and guided (it can never be compelled) to meet the requirements of technicalities—to produce the engraving just in the very same style as it is wanted.  An experienced engraver, examining some of these blocks, may be misled in his judgment, and believe that some portions of them have been executed by the graver, or by some other assistance of the human hand.

            The engraving produced by photography is not solid, but is transient; consequently it must be transformed into something solid, to print from.  This is done by the means of moulding and electrotyping, resulting in a solid block—the face of copper, backed with type metal, and mounted on wood in the usual manner.  Our readers will easily perceive that all originals which are serviceable to photography can be used for reproduction by this process; consequently almost every subject of art or nature can be transformed into a block for ordinary letterpress, without the interference of a draughtsman or engraver.  Therefore, the real touch of the artist, or the true finger of nature, will be preserved and reproduced.  Science and art, the faithful followers of nature, will receive authentic illustrations, and the influence of the press, already in active power for general distribution of knowledge, will be increased.  Experience and time will very soon bring to light the results, to be seen in our books, periodicals, and newspapers.

            Printing from blocks by ordinary letterpress cannot be surpassed in cheapness and rapidity by another mode of printing; it is, therefore, literally the art for the million.  However, for high works in the fine arts, where a few thousands of copies only are required, there is still Mr. Paul Pretsch’s first process available, in which are used similar means, and results in the production of an engraved copperplate, which can be coated with iron, and printed with the usual printers’ ink on the ordinary copperplate printing-press.  This is called Intaglio Printing, contrary to the explained process of printing from blocks, or Surface Printing.  We hope and wish that both processes may be cultivated and applied in the most extensive manner.

[Illustration follows –  with caption: ]  Dover Castle.  Photographed from nature by Francis Bedford.  Printed with ordinary Letterpress from a Block produced by Photography and Electrotype, absolutely untouched by the graver.  The invention of Herr Paul Pretsch.

 

1860:  BJP Dec. 1, vol. VII, #131, p. 348

            Stereographs.  Picturesque Scenery of the Highlands of Perthshire, by William Rodger, Montrose.  “Then slowly climb the many winding way, And frequent turn to linger as you go; From loftier rocks new loveliness survey.”  Byron.

            There are perhaps few localities that have been more frequently explored by the disciples of the camera than the Highlands of Scotland; and we may add that there are few that have had more justice done to the enchanting spots with which they abound.  Some of our best operators are natives of the northern section of our island, and the proverbial amor patriœ may possibly have had something to do with the extra, we had almost said filial, care with which the more charming lineaments of their beloved land have been delineated by them.  In July last we noticed some of Mr. Rodger’s Tweedside views:  we now come to some of his Perthshire studies.  Along most of the valleys traversed by the numerous mountain streams in Scotland, the otherwise stern and rugged rock is generally clothed with a mass of fir-trees and other gymnospermous specimens of vegetation; and it is no doubt owing to the constant humidity of the atmosphere, produced by the spray from the numerous “falls” with which these streams abound, that vegetation flourishes in places where the soil would appear to be but scanty.

            There is a peculiar character about most of the Scotch valleys that stamps them with an impress almost unmistakeable, although there is no more sameness than we notice in the various members of one family; and while each one possesses an individuality it is not the less distinguished by a distinct nationality.

            The Upper and Lower Falls of Bruar (Nos. 23 and 25) exhibit this nationality in a marked degree.  In the former the deep ravine, with its steep rocky sides, is almost entirely concealed aby the thick plantation of fir-trees, across the feathery tops of which the sunlight glances, gilding each with an artist’s touch, while the little stream leaps from step to step of its rocky bed like a child just loosed from school.  In the latter the waters have worn a deep chasm in the hard rock, in a zig-zag form, while here and there it has fairly forced away the softer subsoil, leaving a natural arch, through which it pours its ever-ceaseless stream.

            The Upper Falls of Moness, Birks, Aberfeldy (No. 15) is one of those scenes which once visited can never b e forgotten; nor have we forgotten this; albeit we have never visited it but by Mr. Wilson’s aid on a former occasion.  From beneath a rustic footbridge, on which a couple of spectators are to be seen, the stream shoots out over the dark stratified rocks, breaking quickly into a light veil of foam.  Here, besides the pines, we have beech and birch trees, and other frequenters of more sheltered haunts than are to be found amongst most of the Scottish hills.  This is as very beautiful slide.

            Of The Second Falls of Moness we have two illustrations (Nos. 16 and 17), each gems in their way, the former being conspicuous for the gracefully drooping branches of some gigantic fir-trees, between which the waters of the “fall” are seen in the distance, the latter for the elegant broken curve of the stream as it foams along its step-like bed.

            The Hermitage Bridge on the Braun.—This is a spot which we well remember having spent some hours at; and, although we were not fortunate enough to see it in its summer luxuriance as here depicted, yet the loss was not all uncompensated, for the rush of waters from the melting of the winter’s snow was unusually fine.  This is a spot which the following lines from Childe Harold well describe:-- [long poetic quote]

            The views from below (No. 3) and from above (No. 7) are both equally beautiful, though in neither of them is the “fall” itself, which recalled the preceding lines to our memory, seen; so vividly, however, did these stereographs remind us of the spot, that instantly the recollection of the surging waters rushed upon us in all its original freshness.  The best view of the waterfall is from the window of a small building called the Hermitage, which confers the designation on this “fall” to distinguish it from another about a mile and a half higher up the stream, near to what is known as The Rumbling Bridge, of which also we have two illustrations (Nos. 9 and 10); and in viewing these we are again delighted with a flood of pleasant memories.  A very ordinary-looking bridge of one small arch spans the chasm like an awful “gash” in the black rock, through which, deep down, the water hisses and boils, a small portion of it being visible in No. 10.  In our opinion the best view of this spot is obtainable from the other side of the bridge; but to take it involves a rather “ticklish” bit of climbing, and the “perch,” when reached, is none of the safest, being covered with a treacherous, slippery kind of moss, as we know from experience, having planted our camera thereon, somewhat to the dismay of our Scotch friend, who thought our lowland legs unfitted for the work, and felt responsible for our safety.

            The best view of the “waterfall” is from a spot which we reached, also, in our friend’s absence, but where it would be in vain to expect to plant a camera—being a rock in the middle of the stream, and which is only to be reached by some dexterous gymnastics, and when there, one is very speedily soaked to the skin by the copious spray which is thrown up.  When at this spot we witnessed the magnificient effect of a brilliant rainbow, which appeared to form a nearly perfect ellipse from where we stood.  It must not be forgotten that we are on classic ground, being in the immediate neighbourhood of “Birnam Wood,” alluded to in Macbeth.

            No. 2 is a view of Dunkeld from the old trees of Birnam.  The bridge across the Tay, the old Cathedral, the principal part of the town, the finely wooded hills belonging to the Duke, are all included in the picture.

            Dunkeld Cathedral is a ruin possessing no particular architectural beauty; but, overgrown as it is with ivy, and taken with its picturesque surroundings, it is a very attractive subject for the photographer.  We scarcely think Mr. Rodger has been as judicious as usual in his selection of a point of view with regard to this slide—not, however, that we have aught to object to what is before us, but we remember to have found a better one, close to a summer-house on the further side of the bowling-green, in the Duke’s ground, from which not only the whole of the cathedral is included, but in addition a couple of magnificent trees, which add much to the artistic value of the subject.

            Bishop Cardney’s Tomb, in Dunkeld Cathedral, is admirably rendered, in a style to give satisfaction to the artist as well as to the antiquary.  Being unaquainted with the correct antiquarian “slang” in which to describe this particular kind of tomb, we can only state that it consists of a slab, on which reposes the time-worn remains of a recumbent sculptured figure, in an arched recess in the wall of the edifice.  On the left is a gothic window, destitute of glass, through which the stem of the ivy has found an entrance from the outside, the branches of which serve to adorn the mouldering walls.  The floor consists of a few flat stones recording spots sacred to some memories, now, alas! no longer remembered, between which the rank grass and a few small tree-shoots find their way towards the light.  On the left is a stone pillar possessing no beauty of its own, but glorified by the chequered sunshine streaming in from the opposite window.

            Such are a few of the beauties of Bonnie Scotland—a most appropriate designation by the way—to which Mr. Rodger introduces us; and, whether regarded as records or as works of art, they are equally interesting.

 

1860:  BJP, Dec. 1, vol. VII, #131, p. 349-350

            A Photographer’s Holiday in Derbyshire.  By D. W. Hill.

(Read at the Meeting of the North London Photographic Association, October 31, 1860)

It has more than once been remarked, that in the absence of any definite instruction in matters photographic, a mere detail of the failures, successes, and experiences generally, of almost any photographer, will always furnish material for profitable discussion at our meetings; and, understanding that there is no more important subject to engage your attention this evening, I have been induced, at the suggestion of one of our members, to lay before you a short account of my own fortunes while seeking a renewal of health and recreation in Derbyshire, during the month of July, in the present year—a selection of time which I cannot but regard as fortunate, seeing that the almost uninterrupted wet weather of necessity almost put a stop to photographic operations, out of doors at least, while the first fortnight of the month in which I took my holiday proved as fine as could possibly be desired.

            I started on the 5^th, taking with me my stereoscopic apparatus, and Burfield and Rouch’s dark box, with a good supply of chemicals for the wet process.  Just before arriving at Matlock it began to rain, but cleared up in the evening, and remained fine for ten successive days.  In order not to lose any time I commenced operations the next morning after my arrival; and as I had not previously used the dark box, I had to familiarise myself with the method of working in it.

            The weather being warm, I found much difficulty in developing when employing Ponting’s collodion, as I could not cover the plates evenly before the action commenced, although I increased the amount of acetic acid.  But Bolton’s collodion I found worked admirably; it developed slowly, evenly, and without fogging—a quality which accounts for its being so much esteemed in Natal and India.  In cold weather I prefer Ponting’s, or a mixture of that with Bolton’s.

            I found the dust very troublesome, and was obliged to keep the inside of the box damp.  After the first day’s experience I rarely failed in getting clean negatives; and I can strongly recommend those who very naturally object to being suffocated in a tent to try one of the boxes introduced by Messrs. Burfield and Rouch.

            Matlock and its neighbourhood contain, within a small compass, more good subjects for the camera than any place with which I am acquainted:  you cannot go a dozen yards without seeing something worth taking.  It consists of three portions—Matlock Village, Matlock Bank, and Matlock Bath.  The village has no particular object of interest but the church, which is decorated (!) with a very grotesquely-painted ceiling.

            The Bank is identified with Mr. Smedley’s hydropathic establishment, which is decidedly not ornamental, resembling outwardly a workhouse or factory.  The walk from the “Bank” to the “Bath” is, however, most lovely.  After crossing the bridge, some bold masses of rock, called “The Church Rocks,” first attract your attention.  Following the course of the river Derwent you come to the railway bridge, from which there is one of the finest views of Matlock Dale.  Leaving the Boat House Inn on the right you come to some quarries, one of which requires some caution in passing, as, from the careless mode of blasting adopted by the workmen, large blocks of stone are frequently blown across the road into the river.  At the back of the Boat House the rock is almost entirely composed of fossils (some of which are very fine), and is used for making mantelpieces and the other fire-place appendages.  Close to this spot I took a picture, including quarries, boat-house, bridge, &c., with Matlock Bank for the background.

            A little beyond this is a tollbar, from which a splendid view of the High Tor, the most striking object in the immediate neighbourhood, is to be obtained.  It is a stupendous rock, 400 feet high, rising almost perpendicularly from the water’s edge, and covered for two-thirds its height with trees and underwood in picturesque confusion.  I took several views of it from different spots.  Nearly opposite is another hill, called Masson Low, which, I believe, the highest ground about Matlock, and is nearly thrice the height of the High Tor, being 1160 feet above high-water level.

            About half a mile farther on from this spot the road takes a sudden turn to the right, and brings you to Matlock Bath, with its villas studding the side of the hill—the caverns, obelisks, church, lovers’ walks with their rich masses of foliage—affording subjects enough to satisfy the most enthusiastic follower of our art.  The scenery between this and Cromford is very fine, but, in my opinion, not equal to the other side.  Near Cromford is Willersly Castle, the residence of Mr. Arkwright, which is  very beautifully situated.  Going through Cromford, I took a steep footpath which led to a miners’ village, called Bonsall.  On a fine day many very pretty pictures of the “hollow” might be taken’ but on the day when I was there a mist obscured the distance; so I only tried two, which would have been much better but for that cause.

            From the unusual curiosity shown by the people at Bonsall, I should think it had not often been visited by a photographer.  I was quite mobbed, and prevented taking many pretty spots which I had selected.  I succeeded, however, in securing the old Market Cross—a pillar, dated 1678, resting on a base formed by an ascent of ten steps.

            When the children saw what I was about, they crowded up the steps, and I made an attempt to take them in that position, but just as I had uncovered the lenses, an unfortuante rat running across the road caused the whole of them to start in pursuit.  While I was occupied in taking the Cross, a lad, who accompanied me to assist in carrying my apparatus, amused himself by inducing some of the boys to dip their fingers in the waste developing solution and then rub them on their noses, which under the influence of the light soon assumed a piebald appearance, decidedly more comical than elegant, and no doubt astonishing to their affectionate relatives, for I rather imagine they were puzzled to get the stains off.  On another occasion, as I was fixing a plate, my factotum informed some people that I was “taking the scum off,”  fancying, of course, that in his “distinguished” position it would not do to appear ignorant of the object of any of my operations.

            Having become tolerably accustomed to my box, I one morning took the train to Rowsley, and from thence proceeded to Haddon Hall, which is considered one of the finest and most perfect specimens of an ancient baronial mansion in existence, and forms a marked contrast to Chatsworth, which represents the modern style.  Both places are generally visited on the same day.

            Haddon Hall is situated on an eminence, on the banks of the Wye, and is seen best when approached from Rowsley; it belongs to the Duke of  Rutland, and, though not inhabited, is kept in good repair.

            Having secured six or seven negatives, I made way for a gentleman who had a small cistern about four feet square, mounted on wheels, for a dark room.  He also was taking stereoscopic pictures.

            I then proceeded to Bakewell to take the ancient Saxon Cross in the churchyard.  In the church, which is a magnificent structure, are some very curious Druidical and Saxon remains, large numbers of which were found when the church was renovated.  There are also some very handsome monuments to the memory of members of the Vernon and Manners family, which I should have attempted but for the circumstance that Divine Service was being performed.

While looking for the best point of view, I stumbled on two epitaphs, which I will venture to repeat.  The first was a defunct parish clerk, and had the following lines: [poem, not transcribed]  The other was as follows:-- “Know posterity, that on the 8^th April, in the year of grace 1757, the rambling remains of the above said John Dale were laid on his two wives. [long epitaph follows; not transcribed]

On the following day I went to Chatsworth, the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, which I shall not attempt to describe, as to form an idea of the magnificence of this Palace of the Peak, its contents and grounds, it must be seen.  I was not so fortunate as on the previous day.  A thick fog came on and increased till I could see nothing on the ground glass.  I had, however, taken a view of the bridge, with a portion of the mansion beyond, and one of the entrance gateways, when I was obliged to give up, and went to see the model village of Edensor, which consists of an old Gothic church, handsome fountain, and cottages built in the Elizabethan, Swiss, and almost every style of architecture but the one usually adopted by villagers.

My last trip was to Wingfield Manor.  The morning was dull, but not sufficiently so to deter me from going.  When I arrived at Ambergate, it rained heavily, and only held up while I walked from Wingfield Station to the Manor, when it poured in torrents, and continued to do so till I left.  This was not exactly what I wanted; but having come a long distance, and it not being likely I should have another opportunity, I determined not to go away without some reminiscence of the place.  So I borrowed a tarpaulin from the farmer who resides there to cover my box, and set to work, and succeeded in taking seven negatives of objects near, the exposure varying from four to six minutes.

The manor was built in the reign of Henry VI.  During the civil war it was twice taken, first by the Royalists, and afterwards by the Parliamentary forces, when it was dismantled.  Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here for some time; and at the village inn they show a piece of the bedstead supposed to have been used by her.  There is a fine old crypt in very good condition, and said to be only equalled by the one at Fountains Abbey, and from the principal tower on the south side there is a very beautiful and extensive view.  In fact, I consider it one of the most lovely ruins I ever saw, and, notwithstanding the rain, I was not dissatisfied with my day’s excursion.

During the latter portion of my stay it rained almost incessantly, preventing my going to Dove Dale, Lea Hurst (the residence of Miss Nightingale), and various other places I wished to visit.  However, if every one has had as pleasant a trip this summer as I have enjoyed, they will not have much reason to complain.

I usually took with me two three-ounce bottles of collodion, six ounces developer, four ounces cyanide solution, a gutta-perch (sic) bottle holding a quart of water, a smaller one for rinsing the plate before fixing, two pneumatic holders, one dozen plates in light box with wide grooves, and gutta-percha bath, which was always annoying me by the covers sticking and having to be torn off.  I used up three of them.  I had a fluted glass dipper, which I like very much, as the plate cannot slip off.

In conclusion, I have only to request your indulgence for any shortcomings of which I may have been guilty in detailing what you may possibly regard as a very commonplace account of my photographic wanderings; my desire being to communicate to you some portion of the pleasure that I myself experienced in the trip, and, if possible, to open up a vein of profitable discussion, whether as regards the respective merits of tents, boxes, dry or wet plates, or anything by which amusement or information may be found.  Should I have entirely failed in my attempt, I can only beg you to excuse me, and to “take the will for the deed.”

 

 

1860:  BJP, Dec. 1, vol. VII, #131, p. 351

            Notes of a Photographic Yacht Voyage in the Mediterranean.  By W.J.C. Moens.  (Read at the North London Photographic Association, 28^th November, 1860.)

            Having recently returned from a voyage of nearly a year in the Mediterranean, during which time my friend (who had kindly asked me to accompany him in his yacht) and I took photographs in most of the places we visited, and fell in with numerous followers of the “black art,” both professional and amateur, I feel it my duty, as a member of this Society, to give you my experience of the enjoyment, difficulties, and troubles, all of which are encountered in turn by the photographer when he leaves his dark room at home—the light and temperature of the country in which he has gained all his knowledge—and goes to wander from place to place abroad, in each of which difficulties arise which must be overcome before he can get satisfactorily to work.  This is one reason why, out of the number of travellers who take photographic apparatus with them, so few return with good pictures.  Professionals, on the other hand, from residing some time in a place, and nearly always using some dry process, get results which the amateur, in his hurried visit, finds a difficulty in obtaining.

            I think it will be interesting to you to know what apparatus we took out with us to work the wet process.  Tents I always considered an abomination.  Burfield and Rouch’s box for the sized plates we proposed using, viz., nine by seven, was so large, and when stowed with bottles, plate boxes, &c., inside, would not bear being shaken up on the top of a Spanish diligence, or slung on the side of a mule or horse, without the breakage of half its contents.  What I wanted was a box which, when shut up, would hold my large and stereoscopic cameras, nitrate of silver bath, two dozen glasses, the necessary bottles, &c., and a little box of spare chemicals, and which would be sufficiently strong to bear any description of transport, and not large enough to allow all the contents to be shaken into a jelly.

            The box which I have here is one which I contrived after much thought:  it was made for me by Messrs. Bolton and Barnitt, of Holborn, who have the pattern.  I can strongly recommend it as most convenient for working with wet collodion.  It contains all the apparatus required, can be easily carried, and very quickly put up and taken to pieces.

            I must now go back to the subject of my paper.  We made our departure from the Start at 10 o’clock, p.m., on the 5^th October, last year, and steered W.S.W., with a fine breeze, straight for the coast of Portugal.  On the 11^th, after enjoying all the delights of strong winds and calms, with a heavy sea in the Bay of Biscay, we sighted the Burling Islands, distant about fifty miles from the Rock of Lisbon, for which port we were bound.  Fate had ordained that we should suffer all the miseries of a gale of wind before reaching land.  We were hove-to for the whole of two days, the wind blowing right into the mouth of the Tagus, which is full of the most dangerous sandbanks, with only two channels sufficiently deep for the entrance of vessels.  The clouds and rain rendered it too obscure for us to see the various landmarks necessary for steering our way between the sands, and the sea was so high that no pilots could come off to us. On the morning of the 13^th, after two trials, we followed the P. and O. steamer, and were soon flying before the wind, in smooth water, up the river Tagus, which is about the same width as the Thames below Gravesend.  We soon passed Belem Castle, the forts of which the French once knocked to pieces, when they paid a visit to Lisbon.  We saw a magnificent church a little  farther on, and promised ourselves a photographic visit to it as soon as possible.  At about two o’clock we arrived at Lisbon, which is a very large city, built on high land, rising from the water.  The houses are painted red, green, blue, and white.  It has a very noble appearance from a distance; but, when you close, the houses look mean and poor.

            On Saturday, 15^th October, the weather appeared more satisfactory, and we looked out our cameras, boxes, &c., and made new nitrate baths.  The following Monday it rained all day, so we amused ourselves by cleaning glasses, and getting everything ready to pass the Customhouse.  To do this we had to procure about twenty-five signatures to various special permissions, and, besides this, to pay a deposit of about £6 duty, and find security for £50, to ensure of our not disposing of our apparatus in Portugal.  A friend in the customs’ department kindly assisted us; but even with his aid it was late in the afternoon before we deposited our boxes in the Hotel Central.  On Wednesday, the 19^th, we rose at half-past five o’clock, with a violent photographic fever on us; got two Galligos (Spaniards from Gallicia, who act as water-carriers and porters to the Portuguese, who are too proud to carry the smallest parcel for themselves), and climbed with our things to the top of the castle St. George, which is the highest point in the town, and commands magnificent views all round.  After hard work we arrived at the top at severl o’clock  To our great dismay we found that the Governor would not be up before ten; ;but, by continually sending up to him, we got permission to take possession of a battery at about half-past eight.  We soon got to work:  my friend with one of Horne and Thornthwaite’s tents, and I with my box—each having one of the yacht’s men to assist us.  We found the light so intense that it gave us a great deal of trouble, and we were not very well satisfied with our morning’s work.

            I commenced with forty seconds’ exposure, and found that twenty was sufficient, the focal length of my lens being about fifteen inches.  We obtained water from a Calligo, who delivered over a barrel and contents for the sum of three pence, engaging to fetch the barrel when we had done with it.  I found the “legs” of the dark box rather too long; so, on returning on board, I shortened them with the assistance of our carpenter.

            On the 23^rd we started for Cingtra in a carriage—a drive of about fifteen miles.  The first part of the way was very uninteresting:  the fields were quite bare, the only vegetation being hedges of aloes and prickly pears, and a few dusty olive trees.  The leaf of this twisted, ragged tree is very like that of a willow, but rather shorter and darker.  The mountains on which Cintra is situated look very imposing as you approach them, covered to the top with firs and cork trees, and crowned with castles.  We put up at the Victoria Hotel, which is kept by an English woman; and the next morning got up early, procured a donkey with a large pannier on each side, in which we packed our paraphernalia, and began to ascend the mountain.  Half way up we took pictures of the Moorish Castle and La Peña Palace, which bear evidence of the Mahomedan rule in this country.  We then went to the top, and took sundry other views, whose only recommendation was their beauty; but this was the first and last time we took pictures unless they had something special to recommend them.  The light was much more manageable to-day, and we got on pretty well, the exposure being from a minute to a minute and a-half, or about three times as long as at Lisbon:  there was some amount of moisture in the air here, which I always found made a great difference, so much so, that I frequently used to consult the barometer before starting.  The view from the tower of the Palace was exceedingly beautiful.  All round the mountains in the foreground are covered with fir and cork trees, with enormous boulders of stone scattered everywhere about.  The country below is spread out like a map:  in the north, mountains in the distance bound a fertile plain;  in the west you see Fort St. Julian, the mouth of the Tagus, with the waves rolling in from the Atlantic, breaking on the bar, and farther on the coast line, terminating with Cape Espicial; and to the east the vast city of Lisbon, and beyond that the mountains of St. Bues.

            The next day we telegraphed for a carriage, and got back to Lisbon at eight in the evening, delighted with our trip.  On Wednesday morning we printed the pictures we had taken, and in the afternoon  rowed down the river to Belem, in order to take the church we had noticed when sailing up the Tagus.  It was that of St. Geronimo, built in honour of the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, by Vasco de Gama:  the sacristy and cloisters are particularly beautiful.  We soon found out that buildings are far easier to take than distant views.  It was a fine clear day, and the exposure at half-past three was one and a quarter to one and a half minutes.

            On Friday, the 28^th October, having got tired of Lisbon, we paid farewell visits to our friends, and sailed for Cadiz.  We passed the bar at half-past three—a very different scene to what it was when we entered—the water quite smooth, and a fleet of thirty or forty little fishing-boats, looking very quaint, with their outrigged sails of every size and shape sticking out all round them; some had even square sails at the end of their bowsprits.  We soon got out into the long north-west swell, which we did not lose till we rounded Cape St. Vincent, when the Atlantic, nearly always in a high state of commotion, became as smooth as a duckpond, with hardly a ripple on it.  On Monday, the 31^st, we cleaned glasses, which was always a source of amusement when wearied by the monotony of a calm.  We sighted Cadiz in the evening, and the next morning brought up off the town.  There was nothing very particular to photograph there; and, not being able to find an interpreter, we sailed the next day for Gibraltar.  As soon as we had passed th ever-memorable Bay of Trafalgar, we stood over to Tangiers, which the Spaniards were blockading:  the Vulture and a French steamer were in the Bay, and the Spanish gunboats were firing at the Moorish forts.  The mountains on each side of the Straits looked magnificent.  The rock of Gibraltar is not visible till you have passed Tarifa Point.  The wind was very light, which prevented our getting in till the next morning, when, having been woke early by the captain, a splendid sight was presented to our eyes.  On coming on deck we found ourselves in the middle of the English fleet, consisting of eleven ships of the line, besides corvettes and gunboats:  their boats were rowing about in all directions, with pretty little midshipmen in charge.  We found we were allowed all the privileges of a man-of-war, and moored close under the new mole.  But to our great horror we discovered that photography was strictly for bidden at Gibraltar, Sir William Codrington telling us, on our applying for leave, that if he allowed us, the French and Spanish consuls would immediately have particular private friends for whom they would wish to get leave, so that he felt obliged to refuse us.

            We went over the galleries with Mr. Lee, R.S., who was also a photographer and a friend of the Governor’s; but he too had to forego his pictures.  The town was full of refugee Jews from Tetuan, to the number of some thousands:  the greater number were encamped on the natural ground, and had rations of meat and bread found them by our government.  They were tall, fine man, not like the members of their race here, but with fine regular features, and the women very good-looking, with very picturesque costumes, many wearing the burnous.  We spent a pleasant fortnight here, meeting with all the hospitality for which our military and naval stations are so renowned.  During this time we rigged up another dark box for my friends, who found his tent too inconvenient from the heat and wind.  (To be continued.)

 

1860:P  BJP Dec. 1, vol. VII, #131, p. 352-353

            Letters to a Photographic Friend, No. IX.

My Dear Frank,

            I have now to tell you of the novelties that came under my notice on the day that I took my last glance at matters photographic in and about London, and also to answer the questions you conveyed to me in your last communication.

            When I called on Mr. Hughes, of Oxford Street, on a former occasion, he had “something” in embryo, but that something was not hatched.  So to him I went on my last day, and then found that he had brought forth a numerous and flourishing progeny of carte de visite cameras, with a slight cross of the stereo. palpably (sic) marked on their physiognomy.

            In Lake Price’s book you will recollect that there is the figure of a camera with four lenses, so that four portraits may b e taken simultaneously in one plate.  Mr. Hughes has modified this form, so that a “repeat” arrangement eight card portraits are taken on a plate ten and a-half and a-half inches.  [technical discussions] …[illustration of stereo camera with four lenses; one with three lenses]

            Mr. Hughes has lately made a peculiar form of stereoscopic camera for Russell Sedgefield, to be used either with view or portrait combinations.  This consists of a camera with a pair of lenses, one being placed over the other if views are to be taken, the plate frame being double the size of the back of the camera. …

[technical descriptions] [illustration of diagram showing method of mounting lenses]

            On leaving Mr. Hughes’s I stepped across the road to M. Bourquin’s, in Newman Street, to look at some very nice camera stands … [technical]

            Having got thus far in the description of my last day’s photographic sight-seeing in London, and having much more yet to say, I must defer its completion till tomorrow, when you shall have a few more “last words” from

            Dear Frank, [sic]Yours, sincerely, Simeon Headsman

 

1860:  BJP Dec. 1,  vol. VII, #131 p 353

            The ordinary monthly meeting was held on Thursday, the 15^th ult., at St. Peter’s School Rooms, Walworth,--the Rev. F.F. Statham in the chair.

            The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed.

            Mr. Wall exhibited specimens of photographs  by Mr. Wilson, Aberdeen.

            The Chairman said the proceedings for the evening were to have been commenced by a discussion upon Mr. Clark’s paper read at the last meeting, On the Photogenic Action of Colour; but he regretted to say that Mr. Clark was unable to attend, although he had sent a letter, which would be read by Mr. Wall.

            [technical discussions.  Other names mentioned Mr. Hannaford, Mr. Shadbolt, Mr. Ackland and Mr. Hughes]

 

[Dec. 6, 1860 letter from J. Wingrave in re his photos – see BJP Jan. 1, 1861, vol. VIII, #133 p.22]

 

1860:  BJP Dec. 15, vol. VII, # 132, p. 368-9:

            Stereographs.  Chester and North Wales Illustrated, by Francis Bedford  (Chester:   Chaterall and Prichard, Eastgate Row.)

            There is, perhaps, no more perfect specimen of a walled city now extant in this country than the ancient city of Chester; and there are few persons who have any pleasure in contemplating the records of a by-gone age but must experience a thrill of pleasure on wandering for the first time surrounded by the numerous tokens which it contains of the firmer existence of customs and habits long since passed away.  The wall, which, in ancient times, was erected for the defence of the city, entirely surrounds it, and is still in a state of very good, if not perfect, preservation.  It is about two miles in circumference, and is sufficiently broad to admit of two or three persons walking abreast on the top of it.  At the present day its chief use is to form a promenade; and a very pleasant one it is, affording agreeable prospects of the surrounding country, including the famous race-course and the river Dee, on the banks of which it is situated.  When we say the wall surrounds the city entirely, we do not mean to assert that there are no extramural dwellings.  On the contrary, there are many of them; but these are chiefly of modern date, the oldest of them bearing no comparison in age to those within the walls, though perhaps noneof the edifices now standing were so as far back as the time at which we have records of the existence of the city itself, which date as early as A.D. 607.

            The most striking features of all to a stranger are, however, the “rows,” or terraces, evidently designed with a view to affording additional shop accommodation in a contracted space, necessarily limited when the walls served their original purpose of defence.  In the streets where these rows are found the front rooms of the storeys immediately above the ground floors of the houses are absent, the back rooms being, as a rule, converted into shops, and the third stories project overhead as far as the basement storeys; so that a sort of covered terrace pathway is formed over the tops of the shops which stand in the ordinary level of the streets.  To these terraces access is obtained by means of flights of steps at irregular intervals from the main thoroughfares; and, as the houses were originally built in the most independent fashion—scarcely any two contiguous ones being of the same height or style as regards any of the several storeys—the effect produced is highly picturesque, if not convenient.  But for the narrowness of the streets, Chester would be a photographer’s paradise in affording subjects.  As it is, however, there is rather too much of the cup of Tantalus as an unavoidable ingredient to allow of unmixed gratification.

            Amongst the series now before us, No. 61, Bishop Lloyd’s House in Watergate Street, gives an excellent idea of the appearance presented by some of the more ancient edifices which we have been endeavouring to describe, and in which slide one of the flights of steps leading to the rows is discernible, as also the variation in the level of the adjoining houses.  The quaint old carving on the wood-work forming the entablature, and on the front of the topmost storey, under the high-pitched gables, is of itself a complete study, and would, for this feature alone, render this slide valuable.

            No. 38, Eastgate Street, containing a view of the publishers’ establishment, illustrates the method in which the characteristic arrangement of the rows has been retained, even with the modern erections, which are almost exclusively to be seen now in this street.

            No. 45, Watergate Row (South), must have been a very trying subject for the camera, in consequence of the marked absence of light—indeed, more trying than many interiors.  Here the spectator is located on the footway of the row itself, and looking along it.  The ups and downs of the pavement are readily perceived, arising from the varying heights of the shops below; and the low ceiling formed by the floors above recal [sic] vividly to the memory the strange impressions produced on first beholding the place itself.

            Amongst the illustrations of North Wales, some Cottages at Aberglaslyn, Beddgelert, No. 188, form the subject of one of the most excellent slides of the series.  With low thatched roofs, and windows “pitched” in anywhere, built in a hollow at the base of a towering hill of slate rock, and backed by a clump of trees, which are seen through a partial veil of transparent smoke issuing from the cottage chimneys, while the road winds in a graceful curve towards the left hand, fenced off by low walls of loose stones, these cottages, which are ostensibly the subject of the picture, really form but an insignificant element therein.  In the foreground, a fine fir tree stands out boldly; and on the extreme right the windings of the valley, backed by many distant hills, are rendered with a truth of atmospheric effect that is highly to be esteemed.  This is in our estimationone of the gems of the series, whether as regards composition (if we may apply this term to happiness of selection) or execution.  It is in every way satisfactory.

            Stone Depot at Penmaenmawr [illus? # 85?] does not sound very attractive as a title; but the slide to which it is applied is an exceedingly good one as a photograph, and by no means unpicturesque.  The gentle curve of the bay on the left, repeated by that of the railway just clear of the beach, together contrast admirably with the rugged outlines of the rocky mountains in the far and middle distance; while on the right hand is a precipitous slope, down which huge masses of stone from the depot above have rolled in admired disorder, while numerous cottages seem to be disposed in various parts of the view much upon the same plan.

            For breadth of effect, No. 118, Llanberis Pass, from Pont-y-Cromlech, [illus] can scarcely be surpassed.  As a study of light and shade, it is truly magnificent.  The somewhat insignificant stream in the centre, which reflects an intensely white glare from the unveiled sky, stumbles, as it were, amongst the huge boulders which have rolled from the massive ranges of rocky hills on either hand, which form the far-stretching valley:--those on the right o’er shadowed by a frown; while the distant parts of the opposite range smile with a reflected gleam of sunshine, melting into shadow with the most delicate gradation of half-tone, as the eye is turned towards the nearer portions of the valley.  In this slide there is next to nothing of “incident.”  The whole value consists in the chiaroscuro; but then what a value it is!

            No. 150, Bettws-Y-Coed, Pont-y-Pair, from below Bridge, [illus] is about as complete a contrast to the preceding as could well be conceived.  In this, hill and rock and the very stream itself are almost smothered in a wealth of verdure.  In that, all is stern severity—perfect in its very sterness, it is true: in this, there is a lavish indulgence in graceful foliage.  In the foreground a huge mass of rugged and grotesquely-formed rock juts, promontory-wise, out into the stream, and upon which, in a naturally-formed hollow, sits a youth.  In the middle, the stream dashing from side to side in a zig-zag direction, courses along in the deeply-worn rock channel, and across which a bridge is thrown; but so densely is this bridge covered with the luxuriant ivy, that little more than its outline is suggested, not seen, while behind it the graceful feathery tops of a clump of fir trees are themselves backed by high hills, with fir-crowned summits and wooded base.  On either side the stream numerous forest trees revel in wild luxuriance—the ash, sycamore, and holly being plainly discernible.  Beautiful as this slide is, the effect is a little marred by a trifle of over-development of the negative.  The same observation applies also to one or two others; and, though it may savour of hyper-criticism to point it out, we have no fear of being misunderstood by the clever artist who produced these charming pictures, whose aim is always to advance still further towards perfection.  Mr.  Bedford’s larger works are too well known to need commendation from us.  We have on many occasions before the present expressed our deep admiration of his style—artistic, neat, compact, clear, and brilliant; but it is in all probability the latter quality—excellent in larger single pictures—that, in a trifling degree, takes from the effect of a few of his stereographs:  for it may b e regarded as a very general rule that even dull and heavy-looking stereographs, when viewed in the instrument for which they are designed, not unfrequently surpass in beauty the more brilliant and striking specimens when viewed without its aid.  And the reason why this is so is not difficult to discover on consideration of the subject; because the single eye, which of itself does not readily appreciate distance, requires the aid of high lights and deep shadows in an exaggerated degree in order to arrest the attention at particular prominent features in the subject.  But when both eyes of the spectator are employed to view a single picture, the fact of its being delineated upon a plane surface becomes unmistakeably evident, and the artistic exaggeration of the high lights becomes doubly a necessity in order to give effect to the subject; but when each eye has presented to it its own proper picture, then there is no need to indicate by extraneous artifice the prominent features.  It is for this reason that we constantly recommend the use of an iron developer for stereographic negatives; because there is less danger of exaggerating the effects of light and shade:  a softer negative is generally produced than when an organic developer is employed, more especially when the exposure has been a trifle too short; and this does not preclude the possibility of after-intensification with pyrogallic acid, if found desirable.

            No person who is making a collection from this series should omit including A Group of Welsh Peasants [no. 125, illus.], eminently characteristic as it is of the costume and general appearance of the poorer class of Welsh women.  An old woman is seated in a chair at the cottage door, knitting; a younger one is just starting on some errand, with mild-can on her left arm, and poising a huge brown pitcher on her head; while another, dressed in the broad-brimmed beaver hat and singularly ugly full-frilled muslin cap, with boat shaped market-basket on her arm, appears to be conversing with her.  The middle figure of the group is evidently constrained; but the other two are posed easily and naturally, and the verity of the nationality is unquestionable.

            We have marked many more of this admirable series for comment; but we have already extended the present notice to so great a length that we must defer till a future time further mention of them.  We propose, however, returning to them in due course.

 

1860:  BJP  Dec. 15, vol. VII  #132 p. 369-370

            Notes of a Photographic Yacht Voyage in the Mediterranean.  By W.J.C. Moens  (Continued from page 351.) [Concluded 1861 Feb. 1., vol. VIII, #135, p. 47-48.]

            We sailed from Malaga on the 14^th November, arrived at seven the next morning, and immediately made preparations to go up to Grenada in order to pay a visit to the Alhambra.  We got leave to pass our photographic apparatus through the Custom-house, which we did in the morning, and left our portmanteaus on board till it was time for the diligence to start; but, to our great disgust, when we landed in the evening we found it was too late for the Douane.  We made a frightful disturbance, but it was of no avail; so we returned on board, tied up some few necessaries in a pocket handkerchief, and, putting a box with a dozen 9 x 7 glasses (which are highly contraband) in my pocket, landed again, leaving our portmanteaus to come up the next day.  We started at nine in an old-fashioned diligence drawn by twelve mules, two and two, with a number of bells on the collars of each, the jingle of which during the whole journey was deafening.  At half-past one Malaga was still in sight, we having been ascending slowly, but steadily, for four hours and a half.  We arrived at Grenada at half-past two on  the 17^th, after a most lovely ride through magnificent mountain scenery.

            As soon as possible we presented a letter of introduction that Mr. Mark, our Consul at Malaga, had kindly given us to Mr. Contreras, who is engaged in restoring the Alhambra.  He gave us the use of one of his rooms, and got us permission from the Governor to do what we liked in the picture way.  We feasted our eyes on the glories of the ancient possessors of Grenada, and then returned to a less etherial but equally satisfactory repast at the Victoria Hotel.  The next morning we got a guide and packed our impedimenta on a mule, with whose owner we had a most violent altercation in the street, opposite to the hotel, with a crowd of spectators round us, as to the possibility of putting our things the right way on the mule’s back; he was persisting in slinging everything upside down, particularly my friend’s nitrate bath, which was in a case by itself.  At last it was packed all right, and everything was landed in safety in the Alhambra, which is on the top of a hill, with the river Darro running at its base.  After having another look at the beauties of the place, we ascended and took a panoramic view from the top of the tower of the Vela.  It was so late in the afternoon before we began to photograph that the third picture of the series proved a failure from the rapid diminution of light, which here takes place much more rapidly than in our northern climes.  We spent a week at this charming place, taking several views, both interiors and landscapes, the exposure varying from twenty seconds with my large, to ten minutes with my stereoscopic lenses.  One cloudy morning bothered my frightfully:  I spoilt two plates before getting a satisfactory picture.  The light was so very actinic, I could not account for it in any way.

            We made friends with some compatriots here.  The ladies of the party were sketching and painting; and they greatly envied us our facility of knocking off pictures in as many minutes as it took then hours, particularly that of the Court of Lions—the perspective of the columns and fretwork of  the courts driving them to distraction.

            We returned to Malagas in the corrieo, or light mail cart, and on arriving at midnight were deposited at the post-office, with all our luggage, which the officials would netiher take to the harbour (except at an exorbitant charge) or allow to be left in the office.  About twenty ruffians were yelling at us in an unintelligible lingo:  the only thing we could make out being that whatever we wished done was impossible.  So we thought the best thing under the circumstances was to sit down on our luggage and go to sleep, for we were very tired after a long ride of seventy miles.  This staggered them; and after a few minutes an official came out of the interior office, and told us that we could leave them till the morning, which was all we wanted.  The next day I tried a  view of Malaga, but found that the shaking during the journey had deranged my bath—pinholes and small spots appearing all over the plate.  I was using Ponting’s collodion, which seems to make the bath very acid after using it for some time, but a little acetate of soda always brought it right again.  At Malaga we met Mr. M.-----, a brother photographer::  he was stopping there, for the benefit of his health, during the winter months.  He had been using some of Hill Norris’s dry plates:  some had turned out very well, but he found them rather uncertain.  he was much pleased with the new (to him) method of printing with alkaline chloride of gold.

            On the evening of the 25^th November we sailed for Algiers, which we reached on the 29^th, after a long passage on account of the light winds.  The town is situated on the east side of Cape Caxine, on a hill so steep that from nearly every house the sea can be viewed.  The houses are all white-washed outside, so that from a little distance the town looks like a chalk cliff:  the streets in the Moorish part are very narrow, but the French have built a wide street and a very fine square.  On landing, a strange scene presented itself to our European eyes—Negroes, Moors, Arabs, and all those indescribable beings you only see in an Eastern city, wearing garments of every colour and cut.  The native women looked more like ghosts than anything else, being clothed entirely in white; their faces covered, and wearing large loose trousers in lieu of petticoats.  We called on our consul, Mr. Bell, who lives in a street six feet wide, in a very nice Moorish house, which, though only bare whitewashed walls outside, within is a little alhambra, with fountain in the centre court, all the arches of the horse-shoe shape peculiar to the Moors, and the ceilings of the splendid lace work they are so famous for.  On the 7^th December, the day before leaving Algiers, we got permission from the authorities to photograph, which is quite necessary to obtain in a foreign country; for without it you are sure to get into trouble, and run the risk of getting your apparatus damaged by some little petty official.  We took a panoramic view of the town and pier from the battery at its extremity.  On the pier are a number of blocks of concrete, about 10 feet square, which are built up, and, when hardened, are upset into the sea to strengthen the breakwater.  The exposure here was very short, about seven seconds for our 9 x 7 pictures, and almost instantaneous for stereoscopics.

            On the morning of the 10^th of December we entered the bay of Boujeiah, which is situated between  Cape Carbon on the west and Cape Cavalo on the east.  This bay is one of the safest in Algeria, being only open to about three points, and will prove a most important naval station to the French in the event of a war with this country.

            Boujeiah was the prettiest town we saw in Algeria—Beni Tchondju (4730 feet high) and Babor (7087 feet high), rising close behind it.  On one of these is an ancient Saracenic castle:  the highest peaks of the North Atlas range stretch away eastward.  The rocks of Cape carbon are magnificent, rising perpendicularly from the water, of a deep red colour, from the quantity of iron ore contained in them.  Boujeiah was founded by the Carthagenians under the name of Saldoe:  a number of ruins a little way from the town show the site of the ancient city.  The old walls still exist:  part of them, between the Castle adb-el-Kader and the Saracenic Gate, were  overthrown by an earthquake in 1857..  The town is still supplied with water by the ancient aqueduct.  We landed early in the morning with the photographic apparatus, the Douan authorities having told us that we might do what we liked:  so we sent up our cards to the Commandant, who had gone out shooting, and commenced taking pictures—two gendarmes, in rather an excited state, watching us in order to prevent our taking the fortifications.  My friend went up to see the major, who wanted to know what we were doing.

            I had just finished when two officers and some soldiers came up, ordered us to rub out all our pictures, and told us that we, with our men who were helping us, and our apparatus, were all to go up to the bureau of the Commandant.  Here we found the second in command in a very savage state, insisting on all the pictures being rubbed out immediately; and that we were not to be allowed to go on board till the Commandant returned, which might be in a day or two.  We remonstrated, and refused to destroy the pictures till his superior had seen them, and got leave for the two sailors we had with us to go on board; but we had to remain.  So we amused ourselves to taking a walk, and looking for the fortifications that they seemed so jealous about.  Besides the old castles that had guns on them, we found several new earthwork batteries, to mount heavy guns, thrown up a little to the north of Fort Abd-el-Kader, having a complete command of the bay.  This struck us as being very significant of the intentions of the French Emperor; for the English is the only power likely to be of any danger to him on his sea-board, particularly on the coast of Algeria.   We continued our walk to the lighthouse, and on returning were met by an officer who told us that the Commandant had come back, and that we were at liberty to do what we liked; so we revisited the bureau and found our former persecutors turned into friends.  They gave us oranges and brandy and water, and went on board the yacht with us; and now they wished to detain us as visitors, offering to get up hunting parties, lend us horses, and do what we wanted.  But our dignity had been touched, so at four o’clock we set sail for Cagliari, and when we turned in for the night were doing ten knots.  I forgot to mention the great variation of actinism at Boujeiah—in a quarter of an hour the exposure altering from twenty seconds to two minutes, and this in cloudy weather.  (To be continued)

 

1860:  BJP Dec. 15, vol. VII # 132, p. 371-372

            Letters to a Photographic Friend.  No.X

 

My Dear Frank,

            I now resume the record of my last day’s photographic “experiences” in the Modern Babylon, which I was obliged to break off abruptly in my last letter.

            From M. Bourquin’s away I posted to Horne and Thornthwaite’s to overhaul a piece of apparatus that, though not an ordinary article of trade, Mr. Ackland kindly gave me the opportunity of examining….[technical text with illustration]

            On leaving Horne and Thornthwaite’s I made my way to Meagher’s in Coppice Row, Clerkenwell, and here I had an opportunity of examining the form of camera that I reported to you in my last as “shaky.”  [technical text].

            [Letter continues dealing with tinting photographs]
            And now, my dear Frank, in bringing to a close my engagement with you (to tell you of all that came under my notice in the London photographic market, and give you my candid opinion on all I saw), I have endeavoured to the best of my judgment to do justice to all things and persons, and that in a way totally unbiased by any motives that can in any way be called interested, or notions that can be classed among the preconceived.  As my review was voluntary and unsolicited, I have not, in my letters to you, noticed those things put before the public that for one reason or another I have not thought worthy of their attention; but I may say that I have met with inventions, good in principle, but carried out in such an ultra economical manner, that they have counteracted the good idea by the inferiority of their workmanship.  And here I would protest against the fatal economy of those who seek after things TOO CHEAP; for it should never be forgotten that “every labourer is worthy of his hire,” and that the very cheap article is not always cheap in the long run.

            I must now conclude these conmmunications, for in a few hours I shall be whirling back to my native home; and ere many weeks are passed I shall be closed in by piled-up snow-heaps that will shut out the noise and din of the far-off but ever busy London.  So adieu till we meet again; and believe me,

                        Dear Frank,

                                    Yours sincerely,

                                                Simeon Headsman.