TALBOT8968

My Dear M^r Talbot,

I thank you very much for your kind Note of the 22^d April, ¹ and the sketch of the Browning Herschel Spectroscope. ²

I have received from Paris a specimen of Riffaults process called Heliography ³, or Sun-etching, upon Steel. It is a Copy of a very beautiful drawing by Guignet, ⁴ and it is impossible to distinguish it from a crayon drawing. It is 13 inches long and 8 broad, and is sold at M. Rapilly's 3 Quai Malaquais.

My friend says that the specimens sell at a fabulous price, in consequence of the secret being kept by Madam Riffault the Artists Widow. Riffault is said to have spent his fortune, and lost his life on perfecting the Invention. It is applied to copying drawings by the old Masters.

I should like much to see how your process ⁵ deals with a photographic copy of a crayon drawing. I presume it would be exactly the same as the one I have described.

I am, Ever Most Truly yrs
D Brewster

Allerly Melrose
May 4^th 1865

P.S. I hope to be in London about the Middle of this month