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Record Details

Photograph (Experimental Photogenic Drawing), by Sir John Herschel, February 13, 1839

Inventory Number: 63865
Object Type:
Persons: Sir John Frederick William Herschel (Photographer)
Date Created: 1839
Accession Number: 1928-71
Brief Description: Experimental photogenic drawing by Sir John Herschel, February 13, 1839, made as a fixing experiment during the earliest phase of his photographic researches. Herschel has inspected it after two months and noted the image 'totally oblit[erate]d'.

Subject: engraving, no image
Technique: ?contact copy
Format: inscription horizontal
Polarity: ???
Orientation: not apparent
Quality: no visible image
Colour: yellow, blue stains, brown at one edge, back similar
Chemistry: silver based, fixed with potassium ferrocyanide
Coating: none
Inscription: inspection note. signature, date, chemical note
Paper: xxx, larger than usual
Condition: good
Purpose: a fixing experiment using potassium ferrocyanide.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary see narratives.
Primary Inscriptions: 'April 12. totally oblitd J.F.W.H. Feb. 13/39. - Fixed. F.C. Pot.' [ferrocyanate of potash; in Herschel's hand].
Provenance: Presented by Miss Herschel and Lady Lubbock in 1928. They were the two surviving and youngest children of Sir John Herschel (Francisca and Constance).
Collection Group: Herschel's Photographic Experiments
Material(s): Paper
Dimensions:
Height Width Depth Diameter Unit
115 155 mm

Narratives

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