Science Museum - The Original Daguerreotype Whole-Plate Camera 1839

            The Postcard

A postally unused postcard that was printed in England for HMSO by W.S. Cowell Ltd. of 8, Butter Market, Ipswich.

The Daguerreotype Process

The daguerreotype process was the first publicly available photographic process, and for nearly twenty years it was the one most commonly used.

The process was invented by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, and introduced worldwide in 1839. 

To make the image, a daguerrotypist would polish a sheet of silver-plated copper to a mirror finish, treat it with fumes that made its surface light sensitive, and expose it in a camera for as long as was judged to be necessary.  This could be as little as a few seconds for brightly sunlit subjects, or much longer with less intense lighting.

They would then make the resulting latent image on it visible by fuming it with mercury vapor, then remove its sensitivity to light by liquid chemical treatment, rinse and dry it, then seal the easily scuffed result behind glass in a protective enclosure.

The image is on a mirror-like silver surface, and will appear either positive or negative, depending on the angle at which it is viewed, how it is lit and whether a light or dark background is being reflected in the metal. 

The darkest areas of the image are simply bare silver; lighter areas have a microscopically fine light-scattering texture. The surface is very delicate, and even the lightest wiping can permanently scuff it. Some tarnish around the edges is normal.

By 1860, daguerreotype had been almost completely superseded by new, less expensive processes yielding more readily viewable images.

Taken on: April 22, 2019

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