[The original of this letter has not been located - the following transcription was published in The Index, A Weekly Repertory of the Results of Modern Progress, v. 1 no. 5, 20 January 1849, p. 68. The three asterisks at the end indicate that it was a partial transcription. The letter was in response to Malone's article on photography.1]
Lacock, 17th January, 1849.
Dear Sir, - I am obliged to you for the two numbers of The Index, containing a portion of your lecture, which is very well done. Although Daguerre's original process was more sensitive than my original process, yet I discovered the improvement which I called the calotype, before Mr. Goddard discoved the means of accelerating the Daguerreotype; 2 the consequence was, that I obtained a good portrait from the life, in October, 1840,3 while no Daguerreotype portrait is of earlier date than 1841.4 I sent a portrait which I took in February, 1841, to the French Academy, and I received a letter from M. Biot, saying that it was received with astonishment and admiration, and with "applause from the public in the galleries;"5 which shows that at that date the French could not produce any example of the kind.
* * *
Yours,
H. F. Talbot."
Please cite as “TALBOT8434,” in Ɛpsilon: accessed on