TALBOT7367

22 Gerrard S^t Soho. W. ¹
Feb^y 26 1857

Sir

At a lecture lately given by M^r Malone ² at the Royal Institution I had in my hand the glass from which one of the plates of the Photogalvanographic Company ³ was made and the plate itself or rather one of them for as I now hear some plates only work of 150 impressions & none more than 500. They must have many plates of each before any satisfactory mercantile result can follow

I was astonished to find your gelatine & Potass ground really breaks up in the same way as an aquatint ground into granulation and this it is that prints on the glass the subject is most perfect and beautiful not a blemish or fault throughout and no doubt a close or coarse grain may be the result as a strong or weak solution is used not so perfect is the copper whether form the want of care in manipulation or from want of capacity in the material they use to electrotype from the copper was far less perfect

I now much regret not having tried my hand at your process as this granulation must have attracted my attention though it has somehow escaped Yours.

However my motive in writing is to say that I think you are yet nearer the thing wanted than they are on account of the durability of your productions in which it is singular I cannot detect a trace of that granulation bit so superficial that it does not penetrate to the steel, or does it sop and dissolve into the liquid you use to bite in with. if the former cant a mere film be laid on if the latter would not a thin coat some kind of Varnish protect it from an acid that would bile the steel quicker

Interested as I have been in Your progress I cannot but feel a little, dismay at seeing others step in and win, where all was gained, for had you placed Yourself in the hands of any engraver to witness your own manipulation it seems to me impossible to have escaped perfection three Years since

Then look at their delay. after it is produced on the glass, an impression must be got, an electrotype must be made, say 2 or 3 days – with you an hour – and in steel!

If the ground is granular, why not the biting?

Most Respectfully Y^rs
Geo Barclay