1869 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS
Vol. XIII
TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS:
--Italics have been retained from publications, which uses 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.
--Photographer’s (or potential photographer’s) names have been bolded – see also below under “Names”
--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.
--Spelling and typos: Nineteenth-century spellings occasionally differs from currently accepted norms. In addition, British spellings also differ from American usage. Common examples are: “colour” vs. “color”; “centre” vs. “center” and the use of “s” for “z” as in “recognise” vs. “recognize. While great care has been exercised in transcribing the 19th-century journals exactly as printed, “spell check” automatically corrects many of these differences. An attempt has been made to recorrect these automatic changes, but no doubt some have slipped through. As for typographical errors, these have been checked although no doubt some have managed to slip through the editorial process. For matters of consequence, I will be happy to recheck the original sources if need be for specific references.
-- Technical articles: For the most part, articles discussing technical aspects of photography, products, etc. were not transcribed unless they are part of a larger article covering photographs. When technical descriptions are too lengthy to include, that has been noted. Exceptions have been made as the transcriber saw fit.
--Meetings of Societies: Names of officers, members attending or referenced, dates and locations of meetings have been given. The first and/or earliest meetings recorded have been transcribed in full. Beyond those early years, only if the reports are very short or discuss photographs, have the articles been copied in full; if administrative or technical in nature. Although not always possible due to time constraints on borrowed materials, when possible, I have included at least the dates of society meetings and any photographer’s names listed.
-- Related, contemporary journals: e.g., The Art-Journal, cover both photographer as well as painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.. 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, these articles have been included and the names bolded, but the individuals may, in fact, not be photographers.
NAMES:
--All photographer’s names have been bolded for easy location. EXCEPTIONS: While it is likely that people working with photographic equipment and techniques are also photographers some discretion has been used and not all such names have been bolded. Names of honorary members of a photographic society are assumed to be photographers and thus bolded, when in fact, that may not be the case. Names mentioned in connection with meetings of non-photographic societies have not been bolded unless there is a known or suspected photographic association. A computer word search, however, will still enable the researcher to locate any references to specific names.
--Names: Given abbreviations for titles such as “M” for “Monsieur”, etc., it is not always possible to tell if an individual’s first name or title is being abbreviated. Thus, especially with non-English photographers, too much credence should not be put into an initial that could also serve as an abbreviated title.
--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.
NUMBERS:
--Numbers referenced in the various journals can refer to either the photographer’s image number, or an entry number in an exhibition catalog. When the number is obviously is obviously that of the photographer, it is included in the index under the photographer’s name, whereas exhibition numbers are not.
1869: PNews, Oct. 1, vol. XIII, #578, p. 469:
“Bi-coloured Stereoscopic Views.
Col. Sir Henry James has addressed the following letter to the Athenaeum:--
If the following method of colouring stereoscopic views is new, which, as far as I know, it is, I think it will interest your readers to be made acquainted with it. In the stereoscopic views, one image of the view is superposed on the other, and produces the effect of relief; and it occurred to me that the colours of the views might be made to combine. If we tinted one of the views with a transparent colour, such as a tint of cobalt blue, and the other with a tint of carmine or lake, we should have the combination of these colours in the stereoscope, viz., a purple tint; and so with regard to the colours to produce the various shades of green, brown, &c. The colours thus employed produce remarkable effects by their transparency; and to see a view first with one eye in one set of tints, and then with the other in a different set of tints, and then with both eyes to see a third and a differently-coloured picture, is an optical effect as instructive as it is amusing. We, in fact, combine the colours in the eyes instead of the colour-cups. This is so very obvious a method of colouring stereoscopic views that I can hardly imagine it has not been tried before, and yet I can scarcely fancy that it has been, and that I should not have heard of it and seen some specimens of it.
[editorial reply, likely by G. Wharton Simpson, the ed. of the P. News; JPS reference not yet located]
The method in question has been tried before, and described, and patented. Thirteen years ago it was patented by Mr. Harmer, and at that time we stated, in the Journal of the Photographic Society, that we had coloured stereographs in that manner for years. AS Col. James remarks, the effect is very pretty and interesting, and it is somewhat surprising that it has not been more frequently practised. But the records of a purely technical operation relating to photographs would scarcely have been found in a literary journal like that to which Col. James now communicates the method which is to him a novelty. To give due publicity to a fact relating to photography, Col. James would have done well in communicating it to a photographic journal.”
1869: PNews, Oct. 8, vol. XIII, #579, p. 489:
Bi-coloured Stereographs.—Col. Sir H. James’s recent letter in the Athenaeum has called forth the following letters to that journal:--
“Mr William Pink, writing from Wimbledon, says, ‘In reply to a letter which appeared in your journal of Saturday last, respecting coloured slides for the stereoscope, I beg to say that I have one in my possession, a representation of shells coloured in the manner there described, i.e., the two halves of different hues, and which in the stereoscope blend together; which slide has been mine for the last seven years. The process mentioned by your correspondent is, therefore, no novelty.’ Dr. Phipson, of the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Putney, referring to Col. James’s inquiry whether this idea is new, writes thus:-- ‘About twelve years ago I saw, in Paris, stereoscopic slides (card slides) the images of which were vividly coloured in the various complementary colours. For instance, one proof, which represented a marble statue, had one of its images red and the other green. In the stereoscope these two colours disappear, and the image appears white.’ Mr. Stroud L. Cocks, writing on the same subject, says, ‘Charming sunset and moonlight effects may be produced by simply interposing between the light and the transparent view slips of crimson or pale blue glass; fresh beauties are always apparent, especially in the views of Alpine scenery. I have also applied this mode of tinting to photographs, when exhibited in the oxy-calcium lantern, and with excellent effects.’ ”