February 11, 2010 <Back to Index>
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Talbot
was known by his second name Henry, rather than William. Fox came from
his mother's maiden name and was not passed on to his children. Although
he signed his name as H.F. Talbot as well as H. Fox Talbot, he was most
often referred to by his contemporaries as 'Mr Fox Talbot' or 'Mr H Fox
Talbot', including by his mother. 'H Fox Talbot' was also the style he
chose for his most important publications, including The Pencil of Nature. In February 1841, Talbot obtained a patent for the calotype process. At first, he was selling individual patent licences for
£20 each, but later he lowered the fee to £4 and waived the
payment for those who wished to use the process only as amateurs.
Professional photographers, however, had to pay up to £300
annually. In a business climate where many patent holders were attacked
for enforcing their rights, Talbot's behaviour was widely criticized,
especially after 1851 when Frederick Scott Archer publicized the collodion process he
had invented. Talbot declared that anyone using Archer's process would
still be liable to get a license from Talbot for calotype (Archer
himself never obtained a patent for collodion). One reason Talbot
patented the calotype was that he had spent many thousands of pounds
(then a fortune) on the development of the calotype process over
several years. It is also significant that, although the daguerreotype process
was supposed to be free to the world, Daguerre secured a British patent
on his own process making it illegal for people in Britain to practice
his process without a license. The purpose behind this patenting in
Britain is not clear, but perhaps it was to stop Talbot from claiming
priority or developing his system against Daguerre. Talbot's
negative/positive process eventually succeeded as the basis for almost
all 19th and 20th century photography. The daguerreotype, although
stunningly beautiful, was rarely used by photographers after 1860, and
had died as a commercial process by 1865. One person who tried to use
the daguerreotype as a method of reproduction without Talbot's process
was the English soldier, geologist, inventor and photographer Levett Landon Boscawen Ibbetson. But
as good as Ibbetson's attempts were at producing something like a
lithograph from the original daguerrotype, the end result could not
compete with Talbot's process. They were simply too expensive. Ibbetson
began experimenting with Talbot's calotype, and in 1842 wrote to Talbot
"I have been going on with experiments in the Callotype & have had
some very good results as to depth of Colour." By
1852, Capt. Ibbetson was showing his book using the Talbot calotype
process, called "Le Premier Livre Imprimè par le Soleil" at a
London Society of Arts exhibition. The
calotype was a refinement of his earlier photogenic drawing process in
the use of a developing agent (gallic acid and silver nitrate) to bring
out a latent negative image on the exposed paper. The negative meant
that the print could be reproduced as many times as was required. The daguerreotype was
a direct positive process and not reproducible, just as a Polaroid
colour photograph where a copy has to be made. On the other hand, the
calotype, despite waxing of the negative paper to make the image
clearer, still was not pin sharp like the metallic daguerreotype as the
paper fibres degraded the image produced. The problem was
resolved in 1851 (the year of Daguerre's death) when the wet collodion
process enabled glass to be used as a support, the lack of detail often
found in calotype negatives was removed and pin sharp images, similar
in detail to the daguerreotype were created. The wet collodion negative
not only brought about the end of the calotype in commercial use, but
also spelled the end of the daguerreotype as a common process for
portraiture. In August 1852, The Times published an open letter by Lord Rosse, the President of the Royal Society, and Charles Lock Eastlake, the president of the Royal Academy,
who called on Talbot to relieve his patent pressure that was perceived
as stifling the development of photography. In his response, Talbot
agreed to waive licensing fees for amateurs, but he continued to pursue
professional portrait photographers, having filed several lawsuits. The
cost of the license for anyone wishing to make portraits for sale was
£100 for the first year and £150 each subsequent year.
In 1854, Talbot applied for an extension of the 14-year patent, to be
expired in 1855. At that time one of his lawsuits, against a
photographer Martin Laroche, was heard by the court. The Talbot v. Laroche case
was the pivotal point of the story. Laroche's side argued that the
patent was invalid, as a similar process was invented earlier by Joseph Reade,
and that using the collodion process does not infringe the calotype
patent anyway because of significant differences between the two
processes. In the verdict, the jury upheld the calotype patent but
agreed that Laroche was not infringing upon it by using the collodion
process. Disappointed by the outcome, Talbot chose not to extend his
patent. Talbot was active in politics, being a moderate Reformer who generally supported the Whig Ministers. He served as Member of Parliament for Chippenham between 1832 and 1835 when he retired from Parliament. He also held the office of High Sheriff of Wiltshirein 1840. Whilst engaged in his scientific researches, he devoted much time to archaeology. He published Hermes, or Classical and Antiquarian Researches (1838-39), and Illustrations of the Antiquity of the Book of Genesis (1839). With Sir Henry Rawlinson and Dr Edward Hincks he shares the honour of having been one of the first decipherers of the cuneiform inscriptions of Nineveh. He was also the author of English Etymologies (1846). In 1843-44, he set up an establishment in Baker Street, Reading,
for the purpose of mass producing salted paper prints from his calotype
negatives. The Reading Establishment (as it was known) also produced
prints from other calotypist’s negatives and even produced portraits
and copy prints at the studio. He died in Lacock Abbey village and is buried along with his wife and children in the churchyard there. |