TALBOT6941

April 1 1854

Sir

The Napoleon and the domed building are decided advances & also the roughest ground of the other building

I think a coarser kind of ground would produce a great effect, that is you would have a darker print for the same amount of biting, & you must not be afraid that the finer lines will thereby be left out for suppose I wanted to bite the ink line with a ground as rough as the pencil line (by any process) the result when would be a representation of a line [line drawn across page]

true not a mathematical line but a pictorial one

You must also bear in mind that you are producing very small plates but by the lines depicting the flutings of the columns on the building with the statue in front I conclude that if it were a coarser ground you would be easier able to get the relative tints for distance than you can in ground where it all bites so solid. I also think the inscription on the cornice of the domed building would come out

In fact it seems to me only to want an open ground to be successful

You have in the Napoleon a variety of tint on the back ground is that obtained by stopping out

Most Respectfully Y^r obliged & Ob^t St
Geo Barclay

Would you oblige me by signing these two tickets for next Friday ¹