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Record Details

Photograph (Experimental Photogenic Drawing), by Sir John Herschel, July 16, 1839

Inventory Number: 89020
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, July 16, 1839. A not very successful positive printing experiment, annotated with a procedural rather than the more usual chemical note. The note presumably means the positive was made from a negative on thick paper that had been varnished on one side.

Subject: engraving 33179, group in bed chamber including man with stick
Technique: contact copy (print) from a negative
Format: horizontal
Polarity: positive
Orientation: correct
Quality: barely discernible
Colour: pale fawn to greyish, also on back
Chemistry: silver based, probably hypo fixed
Coating: none
Inscription: number, date, procedural note
Paper: normal
Condition: good
Purpose: a positive printing experiment.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary see narratives.
Primary Inscriptions: '540 --[long dash] July 16 --[long dash] from thick paper. [?]Single. ½ Vard.' [probably varnished; 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
94 120 mm

Narratives

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