William Havell to Faraday   19 April 18391

To Michael Faraday Esq

April 19th 1839. | 24 Montague Street | Portman Square

Dear Sir,

I have much pleasure in presenting you, in the names of Mr. Cooper and self an improved impression of the Photographic plate of "Faust raising a spirit in the form of a bright star"2 for which I am much indebted to the perfection of Mr. Cooper's sensitive paper3; in addition to other improvements in the process. If we can arrive at an equal perfection in a permanent fixation, there can be no doubt of its becoming a most interesting Art, for multiplying original designs by a most simple process. We shall feel obliged by your permitting the specimen to be placed on the Library Table this Evening4. I beg to add the plate is yet unfinished, and I shall venture to obtrude a more perfect copy on your notice when finished.

I am dear Sir | Yours truly | W. Havell


Address: Michael Faraday Esq | &c &c

1
William Havell (1782-1857, DNB). Landscape painter.
2
By Rembrandt Harmensz van Rhyn (1607-1669, NBU, Dutch painter). See letter 1154.
3
Cooper had been intersted in photography from an early stage. On 1 March 1839 he had exhibited to the Botanic Society, photographs of ferns. See Ann.Nat.Hist., 1839, 4: 212.
4
As indeed it was. See RI MS F4E, p.54.

Please cite as “Faraday1163,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday1163