Daguerreotype Cameras

Daguerreian Apparatus in the

Spira Collection

Illustration of a daguerreotype outfit from an early manual of photography

The following other categories of items directly relating to the Daguerreian period are also represented in the Spira Collection and are being or will be catalogued in detail in other inventory publications. Photographs, including daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, showing photographers with daguerreotype cameras. Literature in the form of manuals (from 1839), handbooks, illustrated catalogues by manufacturers of daguerreotype equipment, general publications containing chapters or articles on the daguerreotype. Examples of early photomechanical methods of printing directly from daguerreotypes as well as books illustrated with engravings based on daguerreotypes. Broadsides, posters, advertisements, displays and other means used to promote and sell daguerreotype equipment and materials, and the work done by daguerreotypists. Documentation of daguerreotype equipment manufacturers and users in the form of invoices, shipping documents, account books, business cards, autograph communications with their suppliers and customers, as well as with their competitors. Autograph letters pertaining to the use of daguerreotype equipment and the making of daguerreotypes by scientists, inventors, well known personages of the period. Daguerreotypes, both individually and as part of multiple displays, in sizes ranging from ½ x e in. to the rare mammoth size; of a great variety of subjects, including some "first" and/or very early or unusual subjects; as well as technologically interesting and/or rare images. Stereo daguerreotypes, including examples of those supplied in "custom" viewing cases, from the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France and Austria. Daguerreotype cases, from the earliest to the most unusual and ornate; daguerreian jewelry, other items featuring daguerreotypes as decoration. Framed daguerreotypes, many with unusual inscriptions or labels. Daguerreotypes of graduating classes, individual exposures, montages and displays of individual members of classes. Newspapers, 1839 through the 1850's, with advertisements by manufacturers of daguerreian equipment and by daguerreotypists; with reports on developments in daguerreian photography and "open" exchanges of letters by early pioneers, making claims and counter claims. Daguerreian furniture and studio accessories.

Cover Illustration The illustration on the front cover represents a “complete” daguerreotype outfit. To practice the art of daguerreotypy, photographers required most if not necessarily all of the items shown. The following list identifies each item by letter. Examples of every component shown in the outfit are in the Spira Collection, either as parts of the Daguerreotype Outfits or as Accessories. In fact, the Collection includes numerous components and accessories which are not included in the cover illustration. a. Sliding-box camera b. Plate-holder c. Iodizing box

d. Mercury fuming box e. Plate vise f. Plate box

g. Gilding stand h. Washing tray i. Buffing stick

Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . European Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Replica Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daguerreian Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daguerreian Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selected Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 2 9 12 13 14 18 19

Introduction Cameras designed for exposing sensitized daguerreotype plates were manufactured from 1839 until the early 1860's. While this process was for many years the most popular, it had, from its earliest days, competition from the calotype (paper negative) process and, from 1852 on, from the wet collodion process as well. The daguerreotype's dominance peaked just before the mid 1850's, declining rapidly thereafter. As the wet collodion process took over, many daguerreotype cameras were equipped with plate-holders for it. In fact, from 1852 on, many manufacturers, mostly in Great Britain, offered their cameras with a choice of holder—for daguerreotype, calotype or wet collodion—so that photographers could experiment and use different processes with the same camera. For the purpose of this compilation, only those cameras which were either exclusively made for the daguerreotype process or for which manufacturers offered daguerreotype plate-holders, are listed. Since the Collection includes numerous other cameras from the 1850's and early 1860's, it is likely that some of these could also be used with the proper plate-holders for taking daguerreotypes. However, unless such information could be confirmed by us, they are not included in this listing. Articles from the Daguerreian Apparatus category in the Spira Collection have been on exhibit in numerous museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, Rochester; the National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia; the Queens Museum, Flushing, New York; the Barnum Museum, Bridgeport, Connecticut and the Crédit Communal de Belgique, Brussels.

© 1993 S.F. Spira, Whitestone, New York 11357, U.S.A. Research by Nigel H. Russell

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Label from Richebourg daguerreotype in the Collection listing the company's broad selection of “philosophical” instruments. The Collection also includes several albumen prints by Richebourg.

European Cameras RICHEBOURG DAGUERREOTYPE OUTFIT, for exposures on plates up to 6½ x 8½ in., French, c. 1842, the walnut rear sliding box body with tailboard which folds down under the camera body, the back with removable 6½ x 8½ in. ground-glass screen focusing by screw running in slot in tailboard; three reproduction 3½ in. wide spacer extensions for the inner sliding box, which are held in place by two latches on each spacer; the plate-holder with two hinged doors that open by two levers on the top of the plateholder, with one interchangeable back for the holder to hold a 6½ x 8½ in. plate, another back with holder for 3¼ x 4¼ in. plate, a reducing insert and holder for plates 2¼ x 2¾ in. an extra reducing insert, another reducing insert for 3 Daguerreian Apparatus Page 2

x 3½ in.; three removable lensboards with three lenses, the first lens, a 42cm ƒ/16 achromatic meniscus, engraved Le Daguerréotype, Richebourg, Elève de Vincent Chevalier, Ingr. Optn., Breveté, Quai de l'Horloge 69, Paris, with doublet lens in sliding tube, fixed stop on front plate stamped in an oval Richebourg, 69 Quai de L'Horloge, pivoted cap shutter, and reproduction reversing mirror with sliding cover, attached by thumb screw, the second a small Petzval-type lens in rack-and-pinion mount, engraved No.820, Voigtländer & Sohn, in Wien, the third a large Petzval-type lens with rack-and-pinion mount, engraved No.892, Voigtländer & Sohn, in Wien with lens cap; a plate vise for 6½ x 8½ in. plates; walnut mercury fuming box with extendable legs, removable draw with tin tray and thermometer with scale from 20 to 130°, hinged front panel opening to

Richebourg outfit, from left to right: sensitizing box, developing box, plate box, small and large Voigtländer lenses, plate vise, camera with Richebourg lens and reversing mirror, plate-holder with reducing back and three frames

large clear glass window, small orange glass widow at side, hinged top opening to black painted interior with angled stops to hold 6½ x 8½ in. plate-holder back, reducing frame to hold 4¾ x 6½ in. back, and another reducing frame to hold 3¼ x 4¼ in. back; and reproduction walnut glass-lined 6½ x 8½ in. iodine sensitizing box. Pierre-Ambrose Richebourg was Vincent Chevalier's apprentice and took over the business at No.69 Quai de l'Horloge, when Vincent Chevalier died in 1841. In 1832 Vincent's son Charles quarrelled with his father because he felt that he was being inadequately compensated for his services and his valuable inventions, setting up his own shop at the PalaisRoyal. After Vincent's death, Richebourg advertised himself as the “Student of Daguerre and Vincent Chevalier at the Maison Chevalier” while Charles advertised himself as the “Son and only successor to Vincent Chevalier”. While Richebourg continued to make apparatus for a few more years, by the 1850's he was known primarily as a photographer.

in Wien (Vienna); numbers in the 800's probably date from 1842 or 1843. This Richebourg camera outfit was in the exhibition “La photographie des orignines à nos jours” at the Crédit Communal de Belgique, Brussels, from April 30, 1982 to June 20, 1982. The Richebourg lens from this camera was illustrated in “A Daguerreotypist's Self-portrait” by S.F. Spira, HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY, Vol.12 No.3, 1988.

A c.1844 photographer's daguerreotype self-portrait, in the Collection, was taken with a camera equipped with a reversing mirror (like that on the Richebourg). As a result, the 1844 book in the picture, MÉLANGES PHOTOGRAPHIQUES, by Charles Chevalier, on the table next to the photographer, is not reversed.

The Richebourg lens is very similar to the Chevalier lens on the Giroux cameras. Fewer than 4000 Voigtländer lenses were made Daguerreian Apparatus Page 3

Molteni Outfit, clockwise starting from the left: camera, plate-holder, developing box, two plate boxes, chemical box, outfit storage box, sensitizing box, three chemical bottles, plate vise with three holders, and gilding stand

MOLTENI ET FILS DAGUERREOTYPE CAMERA OUTFIT, four exposures up to 9 x 12cm on 10 x 12.5cm plates, Paris, France, mid 1840's, the light colored birch wood, rear sliding-box camera, with a Petzval-type lens, each group signed by the maker in pen around the edge, in brass mount with rack-and-pinon focusing, metal stop in front and lens cap, the camera body with slot cut in baseboard and screw to hold back in position, the top with hinged flap to access grooved back, signed in pen on the bottom M:A:P:. The outfit includes: a 9 x 12cm ground-glass back; one 9 x 12cm plate-holder; one plate-holder with a 10 x 12.5cm opening with a back with clips to hold a 2 x 3 in. plate, two backs with clips to hold 2¾ x 3¼ in. plates, and a back with clips for a 3¼ x 4¼ in. plate (without top section); a storage box for seven 3¼ x 4¼ in. plates; a storage box for seven 2¾ x 3¼ in. plates; chemical storage box with eight compartments containing a glass bottle with muslin top and paper label Molteni et Fils Ainé, a Paris, Tripoli, two glass bottles of rouge with muslin tops, glass bottle with muslin top filled with yellow powder, glass bottle with cork filled with a white crystal, glass bottle with Daguerreian Apparatus Page 4

stopper and paper label Molteni et Fils Ainé, a Paris, small glass bottle with stopper; tin alcohol lamp; developing box, with tin bottom molded with a mercury reservoir, thermometer at front with scale calibrated 25 to 75°, orange window at side, clear window at front; ten unused daguerreotype plates, various sizes, two hallmarked 40 Garantie; four plate polishing holders, for 2 x 3 in., 2¾ x 3¼ in, and two for 3¼ x 4¼ in. for use with wooden vise; brass grid with leveling screws to hold a 2½ x 3 in. or larger plate during gilding; iodine sensitizing box, lined with pieces of glass; all fitting into pine storage box with handle. By the 1890's, Molteni was still in business, primarily as a maker of magic lanterns and enlargers.

Ross Daguerreotype Outfit, from left to right: storage box, camera, four plate-holders, gilding stand with alcohol lamp, open plate-holder, plate polishing vise, buffing stick, developing box with sliding cover, and four plates

ROSS DAGUERREOTYPE OUTFIT, for exposures 2¼ x 2¼ in. on 2½ x 2½ in plates, English, late 1840's, the mahogany, front sliding-box body with brass fittings, ivory maker's plaque Ross, London, a brass bound rack-and-pinion focusing meniscus lens with pivoted cap shutter, six numbered single plate-holders, one marked in pencil J. Gibbons, Singapore, a chamois leather-covered buffing stick, an adjustable plate vise with handle, a matching mahogany mercury fuming box with extendable legs, peep-hole with sliding cover, removable back with door and cast-iron bottom with circular well, six 2 x 2½ in. unused daguerreotype plates, brass gilding stand and glass alcohol burner, all in mahogany carrying box with hole in lid and brass screw to mount camera body onto, to use case as camera support.

Since most British camera manufacturers offered their cameras with a choice of “dark frames adapted for the daguerreotype, calotype, and glass processes”, English cameras made specifically for the daguerreotype process, and particularly daguerreotype outfits consisting of matching components, are very rare. The small size of the camera and the accessories, all fitting into a sturdy carrying case, make it appear likely that this outfit was primarily designed for travel.

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Appareil Universel camera with storage box for lens set

CHEVALIER “APPAREIL UNIVERSEL NO.1” TAILBOARD CAMERA, 4¾ x 6½ in. on daguerreotype plates, calotype paper and collodion wet-plates, Paris, France, c. 1860, the walnut rear sliding box body with folding tailboard stamped in the wood Maison Charles Chevalier Ingénieur, Palais Royal 158, Fondée 1760, Deux Medailles d'Or en 1834, Arthur Chevalier & Fils Succ., and brass carrying handle on top, lens-board with small oval paper label written in ink No.1, fitted walnut storage box with fragments of original paper label, containing a brass bound convertible lens set, the rear conical section engraved Photographe à Verres Combines, Inventé par Charles Chevalier, Palais Royal 158, Paris, the rear lens group with 14 Avril 56 Charles Chevalier written in pencil on the edges, the front lens group with 28 Janvier 1852(?) written in pencil on the edges in brass mount engraved Paysages, a second front group in brass mount engraved Portraits, two 22mm spacers, one 2mm spacer, and five blackened brass stops, the largest engraved Portraits, then two of the same size engraved Portraits et Paysages, then one engraved Paysages et Gravures, and the smallest engraved Paysages. The two gold medals referred to in the maker's mark stamped on the camera body and on the two front sections of the lens are those Charles Chevalier won for a type of double objective used for either a telescope or a microscope and for improvements in the microscope. Chevalier introduced Niépce to Daguerre and also supplied the original lens for the Giroux camera. In 1840, he made the “Photographe à Verres Combinés à Foyer Variable” which could be used as a landscape lens, with the rear section only and an aperture Daguerreian Apparatus Page 6

of ƒ/10 or, together with the front section, as an ƒ/5.2 lens of shorter focal length (535mm) or with the “Portraits” front section for an even shorter focal length (425mm) and an aperture of ƒ/4.9. Charles Chevalier died in 1859 and was succeeded by his son Arthur; however, only a few of these lenses were made after Charles' death. In 1842, the Société d'encouragement awarded Chevalier a platinum medal for his convertible lens. The Eastman house has six of these lenses in which the dates of the front and rear sections differ by 6 months, but none of these are complete sets. As the lens was hand-made over a period of about 20 years, it is possible that the two dated lens sections in the Collection were made some 4 years apart.

Illustration of the Appareil Universel from the 1856 Charles Chevalier catalogue

The camera in the Collection is identical to that described and illustrated in the 1856 Charles Chevalier and 1860 Arthur Chevalier catalogues, both of which indicate that it is suitable for the daguerreotype, paper, and wet-plate processes. This camera was in the exhibition “La photographie des orignines à nos jours” at the Crédit Communal de Belgique, Brussels, from April 30, 1982 to June 20, 1982.

that could be shifted easily from one position to another for a predetermined distance, this being achieved by means of a parallel bar linkage system .

Latimer Clark single-lens stereoscopic camera on parallelogram

LATIMER CLARK STEREOSCOPIC WETPLATE CAMERA, for 2¾ x 3¼ in. pairs on 3¼ x 6¾ in. collodion wet-plates, English, mid 1850's, the mahogany back sliding box, with brass bound James F. Shew Petzval-type lens engraved J.F.S. 6628, mounted on parallelogram which allows the camera to slide from one side to the other for the desired separation, with one wet-plate sliding back and another back with track for 3½ x 3¾ in. ground-glass or wet-plate holder. 12 x 11½ x 9½ in.

Woodcut showing the back of the Latimer Clark camera, from an 1855 Horne & Thornthwaite catalogue

The significance of this camera lies in the fact that it was the first one-lens stereoscopic model

Illustration of the parallelogram system from the 1854 JOURNAL OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

When announcing his parallelogram system in 1853, Clark stated that the camera could be used with different backs for daguerreotypes or wet-plates, illustrating these in the 1854 JOURNAL OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY. The Collection also includes a Negretti & Zambra Stereoscopic camera of similar design, which is part of a traveling wet-plate outfit. According to a report in the 1874 BRITISH JOURNAL PHOTOGRAPHIC ALMANAC, this camera type was still popular in the 1870's. Interestingly enough, designer Latimer Clark owed his fame to the invention of the pneumatic tube for conveying letters and parcels and to improving the insulation for submarine cables, rather than to his contribution to photography. This camera was exhibited at the George Eastman House Sept. 6, 1980 to Jan. 1, 1981 Daguerreian Apparatus Page 7

be carried separately, thus somewhat reducing the effective compactness of the “package”. Almost all cameras of this type were listed as available for use with daguerreotypes, calotypes or wet-plates. The Collection also includes an Ottewill Double Folding Camera from the mid 1850's, but while the concept of the camera is the same as that of the Horne & Thornthwaite, it was never advertised for the daguerreotype process.

Horne & Thornthwaite Collapsible Camera

HORNE & THORNTHWAITE COLLAPSIBLE CAMERA, 7 x 9 in. with adapter for 4 x 5 in. plates, English, c. 1858, the mahogany folding body with two brass-bound lenses, the first engraved Horne & Thornthwaite, 121,122,&123 Newgate Street, London, 1853, the other engraved Derogys' Patent V R, rising front, slots for plateholder at 10½ and 16½ in. from the front. 9 x 11 x 18 in. without lens.

Woodcut from 1852 Horne, Thornthwaite & Wood catalogue

Since early photographers had to carry with them so much equipment which could not be reduced in size, several manufacturers designed their cameras to fold up or “collapse” when not in use or made folding versions of their rigid models at a slight additional cost. While this example was made in the late 1850's it is of the same construction as the first folding cameras offered by Horne, Thornthwaite, & Wood in 1848. The Company was known as Horne, Thornthwaite, and Wood until E.G. Wood left in 1854 to start his own company.

Woodcut showing “collapsing” sides

The box, when folded, is only 1¼ in. thick. The plate-holders and the bulky lens-board must

This camera was exhibited at the George Eastman House Sept. 6, 1980 to Jan. 1, 1981

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The engraving on the French lens refers to the 1858 patent granted Eugene Derogy for a convertible lens.

American Cameras

incorporates several features similar to those found in some of the Roberts cameras from the late 1840's, while the lens is similar to that in Plumbe's cameras from the early 1840's.

DAGUERREOTYPE CAMERA, for exposures 2½ x 3 in. on 2¾ x 3¼ in. plates, American, Boston, early 1840's, the mahogany box-within-box sliding body with large lens consisting of two plano-convex elements separated by annular wooden spacers, symmetrically mounted in a brass barrel, behind round opening in camera front acting as an aperture, coarse focus adjustment by sliding lens on track inside, the back fine focusing by large brass knob at the front of the camera onto ground glass 3½ x 4 in., reflecting onto removable mirror, and visible through hinged lid at top. With three plate-holders, two 2½ x 3 in., one 1¾ x 2¼, three pieces stamped VIII, and a plate vise for 3¼ x 4¼ in. plates. 6 x 6¾ x 12 in.

This camera was owned by a Dentist, Dr. R.B. Baynes, who practiced in Boston in the early 1840's and, by 1850, was living in Belfast, Maine. It was exhibited at the George Eastman House Sept. 6, 1980 to Jan. 1, 1981

Woodcut of an “American-Style” camera from THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY, 1849

Early American Daguerreotype Camera

This camera is beautifully finished in a mahogany similar to that used for elegant furniture of the period. Focusing is by a rack-and-pinion mechanism operated by a knob on the camera's front which varies the distance between the inner box (which accommodates the plate-holder) and the outer box on which the lens is permanently mounted. A mirror at the focal plane reflects the image upwards. This system, used on several early daguerreotype cameras, might be considered a very crude form of reflex focusing. While unique in appearance and design, the camera body

DAGUERREOTYPE CAMERA, for exposures on 4¼ x 5½ in. plates, American, 1850's, the rosewood “American-Style” body with chamfered front and back, brass bound rack-and-pinion focusing lens, engraved No.190, C.C. Harrison, New York, lens cap, rear sliding box with two grooves with brass clips for holding ground glass or plate-holder, recessed to shade focusing screen when viewed through square cut hole at back, tightening in place with wooden screw, accessible through two hinged doors at top, both opening towards the front. 7½ x 8¼ x 15 in. With a 4¼ x 5½ in. wet-plate holder, a 2¾ x 3¼ in. adapter stamped W. & W.H. Lewis, New York, Patent Oct.7, 1856, & Feb. 2, 1858, a similar 2 x 2½ in. adapter, and a ground-glass screen. It is not clear why cameras with chamfered edges became so popular in the United States; in fact they became known Daguerreian Apparatus Page 9

as “American” or ”of typical American construction”. Henry H. Snelling in his 1849 book THE HISTORY OF THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY suggests that this style was copied from Voigtländer cameras that were being imported at that time, but we have been unable to confirm that Voigtländer actually made cameras in this style.

preservers. Their business was located from 1853 to 1861 at 37 Maiden Lane, New York City.

Charles C. Harrison, daguerreotypist, camera maker and inventor, began manufacturing high-quality cameras in New York about 1849 and is known to have made daguerreotype apparatus in 1854-1855 at White & Elm Sts.. Several of Harrison's “extreme” 90° wideangle lenses which Harrison produced from 1860 and which made him internationally famous, are also in the Collection. “American-Style” chamfered box daguerreotype camera

DAGUERREOTYPE CAMERA, for exposures on 5½ x 6½ in. plates, American, 1850's, the rosewood “American-Style” body with chamfered front and back, large brass-bound rack-and-pinion focusing lens, engraved No.3881, Holmes, Booth & Haydens, New York, internal sliding box with tin channel at back end with brass clips for holding ground glass or single plate-holder, recessed to shade focusing screen when viewed through 5¼ in. square cut hole at back, tightening in place with wooden screw (not included), accessible through hinged doors at top with ivory knobs, ivory sighting knob, and tripod hole at bottom, with 4¼ x 5½ in. ground glass in black painted wooden frame with light wood strips at sides to fit camera. 8½ x 8½ x 20¾ in. Daguerreotype cameras for plate sizes larger than half-plate (4¼ x 5½ in.) were quite uncommon; the 2/3 plate size (5½ x 6½ in.) this camera used was one of the rarest. The Collection also contains a 2/3 plate size daguerreotype of a graduating class which is likely to have been taken with this type of camera. Israel Holmes, John C. Booth and Henry Hayden, all from Waterbury, Conn., were manufacturers of plates, cameras, thermoplastic miniature cases, brass mats and

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DAGUERREOTYPE CAMERA, for exposures 4 x 5¼ in. on 4¼ x 5½ in. plates, American, late 1840's, the rosewood “American-Style” body with chamfered front and back, brass bound rack-and-pinion focusing lens barrel, internal sliding box with brass clips for holding ground glass or single plate-holder, recessed to shade focusing screen when viewed through square cut hole at back, tightening in place with wooden screw, accessible through two hinged doors at

top with ivory knobs, one opening towards the front the other towards the back, ground glass in black painted wooden frame, and plate-holder with dark slide and pressure back. 7½ x 7½ x 16 in. A 4¼ x 5½ in. ambrotype showing a photographer with a camera almost identical to the above, also in the Collection, is illustrated on page 18. This camera was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art “The Camera and The Photograph: Images in Light”, Nov. 17, 1984 to Summer 1985.

DAGUERREOTYPE CAMERA, for exposures on plates 3¼ x 4¼ in., American, mid 1850's, the rosewood Lewis-type body with chamfered front and back edges, black pleated leather bellows, the back sliding in cut-out track in baseboard and tightening in place by knurled screw, groove for plate-holder recessed to shade focusing screen when viewed through square cut hole at back, and accessible through hinged door at top with ivory knob, brass bound rack-and-pinion focusing lens, engraved No.997, Holmes, Booth, & Haydens, New York, and a daguerreotype plate-holder.

The first bellows cameras to come into general use were patented by W. & W.H. Lewis, on November 11, 1851. The camera was exhibited at the National Museum of American Jewish History from Feb. 11, 1990 to Apr. 30, 1990.

PALMER & LONGKING DAGUERREOTYPE CAMERA, for exposures on 4¼ x 5½ in. plates, American, c. 1855, the rosewood Lewis-type body with chamfered front and back edges, maroon pleated leather bellows, the back sliding in cut-out track in baseboard and tightening in place by screw, groove for plate-holder recessed to shade focusing screen when viewed through square cut hole at back, the baseboard stamped Palmer & Longking, Manufacturers of Daguerreotype Apparatus, Newburg & New York, brass bound rack-and-pinion focusing lens, engraved Palmer & Longking, New York, hinged door at top. In 1853, the Lewis Company business passed on to Palmer & Longking who continued to manufacture the Lewis-type camera until 1857. A wet-plate Lewis-type camera, virtually identical to the daguerreotype camera except for the lack of chamfered edges, was subsequently made. An example of such a camera is in the Collection.

Palmer & Longking Daguerreotype (left) and a similar “Lewis-type” camera

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Replica Cameras

replica cameras made in 1939 by Voigtländer to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of photography. A second run of 200 replicas was made in 1956 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Voigtländer company. The Collection includes a circular daguerreotype taken with an original Voigtländer camera and an original 1844 price list. STEINHEIL REPLICA MINIATURE DAGUERREOTYPE CAMERA, for circular exposures on 8.5 x 11mm plates, German, c. 1964, the brass tubular body with a Steinheil 20mm ƒ/2.5 achromatic lens, the rear with tube with telescoping eye-piece, a screw at bottom permits attaching to a wood surface.

Section of original 1844 Voigtländer und Sohn price list

VOIGTLÄNDER REPLICA DAGUERREOTYPE CAMERA, for circular pictures 3¾ in. dia., oxidized brass conical body engraved No.81, Voigtländer & Sohn in Wien, Germany, 1939, with Prof. Petzval's 149mm ƒ/3.7 doublet lens, lens cap acting as shutter, with removable rear conical section with ground-glass focusing screen and built-in focusing magnifier, the camera resting on two U-shaped arms above two section telescoping column, on circular base with three leveling screws. With one reproduction circular plate-holder. The camera was designed by F.W. Voigtländer in 1840; its Petzval lens allowed exposures 20 times faster than the Chevalier lens on Daguerre's camera. This was one of 25 Daguerreian Apparatus Page 12

The original Steinheil “subminiature” camera used copper coins for the plates. It is known that 12 cameras were manufactured, and that six were exported to England. While the original drawings with some optical notes made by Steinheil himself still exist, none of the cameras or images were ever found. The replica was made on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the camera, from original drawings found in 1937.

Daguerreian Lenses The lenses described below, as well as those included with the cameras described on the previous pages, were manufactured during the Daguerreian period and were

also used on calotype and early wet-plate cameras. LEREBOURS ET SECRETAN LENS, Paris, France, early 1850's, the brass bound Petzval-type lens with rack-and-pinon focusing engraved No.5685, Lerebours et Secretan, à Paris, lens hood, slot for Waterhouse stops, the front group etched in the glass Secretan, 5685. N.P. Lerebours formed a partnership with Secretan, an officer in the Engineers Corps., in 1845 which continued until Secretan died in 1867. LEREBOURS ET SECRETAN LENS, Paris, France, early 1850's, the brass bound Petzval-type lens with rack-and-pinon focusing, engraved No.4675, Lerebours et Secretan, à Paris, lens hood with press-fit stop, the rear group etched in the glass Secretan, 4668, with lens cap, on mahogany lensboard.

HOLMES, BOOTH & HAYDENS LENS, No.10.285, New York, 1850's, the brass bound Petzval-type lens with rack-and-pinion focusing, lens hood and one Waterhouse stop made of whalebone. ANDREW ROSS LENS, No.3392, London, England, 1850's, the large meniscus lens mounted behind a conical brass barrel with press-fit stop at front. ANDREW ROSS LENS, No.3286, London, England, 1850's, the brass bound Petzval-type lens with rack-and-pinion focusing and lens hood. ANDREW ROSS ORTHOGRAPHIC LENS, No.6710, London, England, 1850's, the brass bound lens with one Waterhouse stop and lens hood. J. DUBOSCQ LENS, Paris, France, 1850's, the brass bound lens with rack-and-pinion focusing and pivoting brass cover/shutter. VOIGTLÄNDER & SOHN LENS, No.270, Wien, Austria, the brass bound Petzval-type lens with rack-and-pinion focusing and lens hood. The early serial number of this lens dates it from about 1841.

Section of Holmes, Booth & Haydens advertisement in the Collection

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Daguerreian Accessories, from left to right: buffing stick, iodine sensitizing box with clamp cover and sliding carrier removed, box of Scovill plates, plate vise and iodine sensitizing box assembled

Daguerreian Accessories DAGUERREIAN TRIPOD, American, early 1850's, the three turned beech-wood legs with brown-painted cast-iron collars screwing into a blackpainted cast-iron center piece with hole for sliding beechwood center column, the threaded column screwing into a black painted wooden platform with hinged tray for daguerreotype camera. The angle of the tray is adjusted by turned wood screw at back. Height adjustable from 31 to 52 in.. Because cameras and tripods were custom-made for each other at that time, this tripod accepted and could be used only with the ¼ plate Lewis-type cameras. This tripod was exhibited at the National Museum of American Jewish History from Feb. 11, 1990 to Apr. 30, 1990.

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DAGUERREIAN TRIPOD, American, 1850's, the tripod made entirely of mahogany with three turned legs screwing into a bell-shaped collar with hole for sliding center column, the threaded column screwing into a 6½ x 10 in. platform with hinged tray for daguerreotype camera. The angle of the tray is adjusted by turning screw at back. Height adjustable from 33 to 59 in.. BOX OF SCOVILL DAGUERREOTYPE PLATES, American, 1850's, the beech wood box with green paper label showing the sun painting the earth, and printed Scovill Mf'g, Company, Waterbury, Conn., 57 Maiden-Lane, New York, Daguerreotype Plates, SS. 2 Doz. -Extra.- 3¼ x 4¼, with six unused plates, two hallmarked (Anthony 1848-1850) and two hallmarked (Anthony c. 1850).

glass bowl, the top with sliding carrier for 3¼ x 4¼ in. plates, with ground glass, held in place by pressure on a board applied by cross brace and screw; on the top of which is written in pencil the word Iodine. To sensitize the polished daguerreotype plate for the exposure, it had to be placed, face down, above a dish containing iodine crystals, inside a box with a tight lid.

Label from the box of Scovill daguerreotype plates in the Collection

This item was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art “The Camera and The Photograph: Images in Light”, Nov. 17, 1984 to Summer 1985 and at the National Museum of American Jewish History from Feb. 11, 1990 to Apr. 30, 1990.

The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Conn. was one of the largest makers of daguerreotype plates from 1839 to 1860. This item was exhibited at the National Museum of American Jewish History from Feb. 11, 1990 to Apr. 30, 1990.

BUFFING STICK, American, 1850's, the pine polishing board 24 in. long, with handle at one end, covered in white velvet, stained red by rouge, for polishing daguerreotype plates. The silvered plates used in the daguerreotype process had to be given a high polish before they were sensitized. This was done with a soft cloth-covered stick and a red powder called rouge. This item was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art “The Camera and The Photograph: Images in Light”, Nov. 17, 1984 to Summer 1985 and at the National Museum of American Jewish History from Feb. 11, 1990 to Apr. 30, 1990.

BUFFING STICK, American, 1850's, the pine polishing board 27½ in. long, with handle at one end, covered in chamois leather, stained red by rouge, for polishing daguerreotype plates.

Woodcut of iodine sensitizing box from Snelling's THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY

IODINE SENSITIZING BOX, American, 1850's, the cherry wood box stamped 99, containing thick glass bowl, the top with sliding carrier for 3¼ x 4¼ in. plates, held in place by pressure on a board with brass spring, applied by cross brace and screw. CAST-IRON MERCURY FUMING STAND, American, 1850's, the circular pierced cast-iron base with metal rod attaching to pyramid-shaped cast-iron body for use with 3¼ x 4¼ in. plates, with metal insert for 2 x 2½ in. plates.

SENSITIZING BOX, American, 1850's, the cherry wood box stamped 87, containing a thick Daguerreian Apparatus Page 15

Four Developing boxes, from left to right: Giroux, another French fuming box, early American box and cast-iron fuming stand

MERCURY FUMING BOX, probably American, 1840's, the rosewood veneered mahogany box 11¼ in. high, standing on four turned brass legs, cast-iron base with tray at bottom, thermometer at front with scale from 10 to 120°, clear glass half-circle window, and slanted top with brass rest. The exposed daguerreotype plate was placed, face down, at a 45° angle above a dish containing mercury, the dish being warmed by an alcohol lamp. The temperature of the mercury is read from the thermometer at front and the progress of development viewed through the window.

other side stamped Alph. Giroux, Centigrade with scale from 0 to 110°, sliding door with clear glass half-circle window, and hinged top, opening to black painted interior with stops to hold up to a 9½ x 11 in. plate; with a tin alcohol burner. In 1839, Alphonse Giroux et Cie, made the first commercially produced camera outfits under the direction of Daguerre. This fuming box was supplied for use with a Giroux daguerreotype camera.

This item was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art “The Camera and The Photograph: Images in Light”, Nov. 17, 1984 to Summer 1985 and at the National Museum of American Jewish History from Feb. 11, 1990 to Apr. 30, 1990.

MERCURY FUMING BOX, French, 1840's, the walnut box with extendable legs, removable draw with tin tray and thermometer with scale from 20 to 110°, hinged door with clear glass window and hinged top, opening to black painted interior with stops to hold up to a 6½ x 7 in. plate.

GIROUX MERCURY FUMING BOX, Paris, France, 1839-1840, the beech-wood box 21in. high, standing on four legs, tin tray at bottom, draining by stop-cock at side, thermometer at

PLATE VISE, French, 1850's, the walnut vise tightening on the corners of the plate by wing nuts, with handle on top, to hold plates up to 3½ x 6 in. for polishing.

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PLATE VISE, French, 1850's, the walnut vise with turned walnut handle and screw, the vise tightening on the plate as the handle is turned, to hold plates up to 10 x 12 in. for polishing. PLATE VISE, American, 1850's, the pine body with turned beech wood handle and screw, the vise tightening on the plate as the handle is turned, to hold plates up to 4½ in. wide and any length, for polishing. DAGUERREOTYPE PLATE BOX, French, 1839-1840, the oak box with hinged lid, opening to slots for storing 14 whole-plate daguerreotype plates lengthwise. Together with five unused 6d x 8½ in. daguerreotype plates. The plates and plate box are of the type used

in the earliest French cameras and would have originally been part of a 'Giroux'-type camera outfit similar to the Richebourg camera outfit in the Collection. WALZL DAGUERREIAN RETOUCHING AND COLORING SET, American, late 1850's, the cherry wood veneered box, opening to paperlined lid with printed green paper label depicting on one side a prosperous studio, receiving a delivery of Walzl Photo Salts, and on the other, a despairing photographer in an empty studio; with eight cork-stoppered glass vials of different colored chemical crystals, four porcelain mixing dishes attached to a removable lid which opens to reveal a larger glass bottle; a vial of oil with a paper label of a cherub with a camera and three small brushes with bone handles. In 1854 John Henry Walzl set up a daguerreotype studio in Baltimore, MD, and became a principal supplier of daguerreotype and later of photographic supplies to the South.

Label from Walzl daguerreotype retouching and coloring set

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Index of Names Anthony, Edward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Booth, John C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Chevalier, Arthur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Chevalier, Charles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 6 Chevalier, Vincent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3 Clark, Latimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Daguerre, Louis J.M. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 16 Derogy, Eugene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Duboscq, J. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Giroux, Alphonse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 6, 16 Harrison, Charles C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Hayden, Henry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Holmes, Booth & Haydens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 11, 13 Holmes, Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Horne & Thornthwaite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Lerebours, N.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Lewis, W. & W.H. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 11

Molteni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Negretti & Zambra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Niépce, Joseph Nicéphore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Ottewill, Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Palmer & Longking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Plumbe, John, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Richebourg, Pierre-Ambrose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3 Roberts, John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Ross, Andrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 13 Scovill Mf'g, Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Secretan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Shew, James F. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Snelling, Henry H. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Steinheil, Carl August . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Voigtländer & Sohn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 10, 12, 13 Walzl, John Henry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Wood, E.G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

4¼ x 5½ in. ambrotype in the Collection showing a camera very similar to the one described on pages 10-11

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Selected Bibliography Among the many books, manuals and other publications which we referred to in preparing this Catalogue Brochure on Daguerreian Apparatus, we found the following particularly helpful: FRENCH DAGUERREOTYPES, by Janet E. Buerger, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1989 PHOTOGRAPHICA, A GUIDE TO THE VALUE OF HISTORIC CAMERAS AND IMAGES, by Charles Klamkin with Matthew R. Isenburg. New York, U.S.A., Funk & Wagnalls, 1978. PIONIERE DER PHOTOGRAPHIE IM DEUTSCHSPRACHIGEN RAUM, by Klaus Storsberg, PHOTO ANTIQUARIA, No.2, 1989, Club Daguerre CHARLES CHEVALIER AND THE "PHOTOGRAPHE A VERRES COMBINES", by R. Kingslake, IMAGE, Vol. 10, No.5, 1961. SELECTIONS FROM THE SPIRA COLLECTION, exhibition catalogue, International Museum of Photography, 1981 CATALOGUE OF PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, sold by John Joseph Griffin, 10 Finsbury Square, London and by Richard Griffin and Company, Glasgow. Glasgow, Scotland, May 1854. APPAREILS, OBJECTIFS POUR LA PHOTOGRAPHIE DE CHARLES CHEVALIER, Arthur Chevalier, 158 Palais-Royal, Paris, France, 1862. NOUVEAUX RENSEIGNEMENS SUR L'USAGE DU DAGUERRÉOTYPE, by Charles Chevalier, son and successor to Vincent Chevalier. 163 Palais-Royal, Paris, France, Charles Chevalier, 1846. TRAITÉ ENCYCLOPÉDIQUE DE PHOTOGRAPHIE, Premier Supplément A, by Charles Fabre. Paris, France, Gauthier-Villars & Fils, 1892. THE HISTORY AND PRACTICE OF THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY; or the production of pictures, through the agency of light, Part I & II, by Henry H. Snelling. New York, NY, U.S.A., G.P. Putnam & Co., 1853. SUBMINIATURE PHOTOGRAPHY, by William White. Boston, U.S.A., Focal Press, 1990. Butterworth Publishers. NINETEENTH-CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY, AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY, 1839-1879, by William S. Johnson. London, England, Mansell Publishing Ltd., 1990. THE AMERICAN DAGUERREOTYPE, by Floyd Rinhart and Marion Rinhart. Athens, GA, U.S.A., The University of Georgia Press, 1981.

We would be grateful for any corrections of our copy as well as additional information on any of our listed items which might be suitable within the scope of catalogue descriptions.

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Prof. Samuel F.B. Morse and the “...first Daguerreotype apparatus made in this country...”

In his Sept. 21, 1871 letter, Prof. Samuel F.B. Morse advised Abraham Bogardus, a noted New York photographer and President of the National Photographic Association of America, that he was sending him “the remains of the first Daguerreotype apparatus made in this country in the autumn of 1839”. Three months earlier, Bogardus had announced at the annual convention of the National Photographic Association meeting in Philadelphia his intention of persuading Morse to donate the camera to the Association's historical collection, and to obtain a portrait of Morse with his camera. Morse's letter was later reprinted in the June 1872 issues of Anthony's Photographic Bulletin and of The Philadelphia Photographer. A few weeks after he wrote the Sept. 21st letter, Morse obliged Bogardus by having his photograph taken, posed next to a table with the daguerreotype camera. For some reason the camera had been placed on its side so that its bottom focusing track is visible to the viewer. A daguerreian plate holder was leaning against the camera's front. This photograph was not only used as the frontispiece in the January 1872 Philadelphia Photographer, but was also distributed to all members of the Association and produced by the Woodburytype process as a lantern slide. Three months later, in April of 1872, at the age of 81, Morse passed away. In 1888, Morse's camera was donated by Albert Moore, last treasurer of the National Photographic Association of America, to the U.S. National Museum and is now part of the Smithsonian's Photographic History Division's holdings. Morse's original letter, several albumen prints and a lantern slide copy of Bogardus' photograph are in the Spira Collection.

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