TALBOT5714

Convent of S^t Nicolo – Etna
23th Aug^t 1846

My dear M^r Talbot,

I venture to address you from hence – whither I came some weeks ago, by permission of my friend the Abbot of the Benedictine Convent at Catania, to recruit after the insufferable heats & glare of a Malta summer ¹. Perhaps you know the spot – the last habitation in ascending Etna – under M^t Rosso – two miles above Nicolosi, & 3200 above the sea level. – The good Abbot gives me his rooms, for the monks come here only during winter, & I have my Camera, & paper with me – I need not say that I have profited thereby – have taken about 2 score of very good negatives – passed a week close to the crater, of which I took advantage, & am now going to visit the stupendous scenery of the Val de Bove: – afterwards to take the Amphitheatre at Taormina; – Catania; & Messina – All worth taking at Syracuse – I have – My boy now cruising in the “Hibernia” with the Experimental Squadron,² winters with me in Malta – but I rather hope to get leave for him, & then we shall accompany to Jerusalem its new Bishop ³ – & I trust extend our tour thro’ Syria & Egypt – I got 300 sheets of iodised paper ⁴ from Cowderoy at Reading ⁵ before starting: – many are specky – & many I have stupidly failed with – so that I beg for more by first opportunity addressed by Oriental Steamer to me at Malta – care of W^m England Esq^re – with the necessary chemicals & blotting ⁶ & copying papers that is paper fit for preparing for possitives – if you will permit me to try your interest in having the best – which will be paid for by my brother, J. W. Bridges Esq^r, Warnford Court Throgmorton S^t London. – May I entreat of you also my new discoveries, or facilities, which your science & industry have added to the art. – I copied M^r Jones ⁷’ private memoranda – I work by it – invariably succeeding with the negative – but for the copying paper often failing – & always in setting, or fixing, the possitives: – which, in the process of hot water, & the hyp. suplh. ⁸, go out, get faint, & red or change colour, or become specky – I use the salted paper with one coat of nit. silv. ⁹ 80 grs to 1 oz. & the impressions, immediately from the copying press are good – but fail in fixing: – which the negatives do not – I take two camera impressions of each view – fix them with brom. ¹⁰ & intend to forward to you one of each: – as soon as I arrive in Malta: – what I suppose will be in about 6 weeks – I find 5' in Camera, in this bright sky, not too much to preserve the whites clear & clean – The only faults I see in M^r Jones views of Malta – the Crater of Etna, ¹¹the Casa Inglese, & the Convent I am in, beneath M^t Rosso, are fine subjects – but I fail in the distant view of the summit of Etna, which assimilates too much with the sky to become distinct in the Camera picture – still less so is the copy. Can that be rendered? The splendid scenery below me of the distant sea plain of Catania, & coast of Calabria I also fail in – for the same reason. But in near views of rocks or architecture I am quite successful, with the negatives – using cotton, instead of brushes – a great improvement which M^r Talbot ¹² kindly informed me of – I rather hope to have a further [illegible] between Palermo & Pompeii before I return to Malta – which will greatly enrich my portfolio – The people here & every where, are in exticies with the product of your wonderful art – of course I make a mystery of its working – referring all to you: in fact I am quite overburdened with enquiries, & with preparing invitations to my houses – for it has really made a sensation.

I am greatly indebted to you for the 24 views of Malta ¹³ which came in the last paper in May – half I left in Malta, on the table of the public Library, with references to Cowderoy – the rest I have here with me as specimens – I think they would sell very well every where: but I want the particulars of price or subscription –

Again let me entreat your pardon for my troublesome intrusions – & your kindness for further aid & advice – may I beg you to present my grateful regards to M^rs Talbot ¹⁴, & you lovely children, & to believe me, my dear Sir,

most truly Yours
Geo W Bridges

Do tell me whether it be best to wax the negative – If they wear faint they cannot then be renovated. –

Fox Talbot Esq^re
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
Wilts
England