TALBOT8807

ROYAL OBSERVATORY
EDINBURGH

March 9 1864

My dear Sir,

I am very glad to hear by yours of the 7^th, of your being again in the neighbourhood, & in active development of your important inventions.

I shall be very glad to see the result of your Moon when prepared.

I have a few positive Moons on glass, the Moons about 3 inches square magnified I copied by myself from M^r Harkness’s negatives at Liverpool Observatory, – which I shall be happy to lend you for photoglyphing, if you are wanting more Moon originals, and if these should prove good enough.¹ But they are not very perfect, because the negatives had been varnished before they came here with a dusky varnish, & the collodion [missing text] reticulated. Still however they are Moons, siezed [sic] from the sky by photographic art, and if not as neat & clean as they should be, it might be an opportunity for you to shew if more colour might be producible in the engraving by using a larger and a longer shaped aquatint grain, than you would care to employ [illegible] when as usual seeking your most inimitable definition.

I hoped you rec^d a packet of our Obs^y pamphlets with your important contributions, sent to Millburn Tower² in the summer. We have not yet got the mass of our volumes sent off, so that your fine photoglyphic plate there has not yet been presented to all the eyes, destined we hope to admire it.

& I remain dear Sir, Yours truly
C. Piazzi Smyth

[envelope:]

H. Fox Talbot Esqre
&c &c &c
8 Rutland Square

[on back flap:]

ROYAL OBSERVATORY
EDINBURGH