Mr Maskelyne
Friday Dec. 8
Dr Sir
Today I tried carefully Reade’s process 1 – gallonitrate on common paper, used moist. Compared with iodised paper, similarly circumstanced, the advantage in favor of the latter was much more than 100 to 1, nearer 1000 to 1. Two seconds sufficed for the iodised. My counsel 2 say it is most important to show the great superiority of my invention – I should therefore be glad if you or your assistant 3 would try the above expt and the following.
Paper brushed with gallonitrate and used dry.
To my surprize I found this totally insensible to light tho’ exposed one hour
Yours Truly
H. F. Talbot
Please cite as “TALBOT7087,” in Ɛpsilon: accessed on