books

Boos quoted in “only images” site and also others that I recommend as of general interest

Daguerréotype | several authors

Contemporary print of the main texts that marked the announcement of the Daguerreotype in 1839. It contains speeches delivered in the Chamber of Deputies by the Minister of Interior by François Arago by Gay Lussac, the procedure as described by Daguerre, also contains the description of Heliography...

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Art and Illusion | Ernst Hans Gombrich

This is a fundamental book. It studies the question of verisimilitude between image and object and the means by which it is constructed. It studies the weight of conventions and the role of learning and mental operations that contribute too much to our assessment of the visual stimuli we receive...

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Daguerréotypie | J. Thierry

Book of 1847 combines a short history of the invention of photography with detailed instructions on how to proceed in obtaining the daguerreotype. Can be downloaded from this link.

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The Evolution of Photography | John Werge

The book focuses on chemical side of photography, there is not talk about lenses or cameras. The author, himself a photographer and colourist, was a teenager when daguerrotypes were spreading into UK and he mixes historical events with his personal experiences in a very nice manner. There is a...

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Tom Wedgwood | Richard Buckley Litchfield

Biography of Thomas Wedgwood with a chapter about his works to photography and also an appendices named “A Mythical Account of T. Wedgwood Photographic Work” in which the author dismisses theories about an early discovery of photography made by Wedgwood. It contains the report wrote by...

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Researches on light in its chemical relations | Robert Hunt

Book published in 1854 devotes the first chapter to the chain of studies that led to the invention of photography. In the remainder of the book the author makes a thorough analysis of light theory, action, and light phenomena, especially photo-chemicals. Can be downloaded in this link.

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La vie d’Artiste au XIXe siècle | Anne Martin-Fugier

Excellent book. Lots of information that transports you into the art market environment in the nineteenth century. Talks about who embraced the artistic career, which were the prospects, which were the learning venues, how art was shown, how the salons worked, what about the relationship with...

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Traité de Photographie | N. P. Lerebours

This is the fourth edition, June 1843, so soon after the release of the Daguerreotype process in 1839. It is really a manual for those who want to start in photography, covering topics from exposure time, plate size and optical considerations, up to the processing of the silvered plate to obtain...

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Les Multiples Inventions de la Photographie

Publication after a colloquium held in France in 1989 commemorating the 150 years of public disclosure of photography according to the Daguerre process. There are several texts referring to conferences of the following authors grouped by themes: PHILOSOPHY OF INVENTIONS Andreas HAUS A.D. COLEMAN...

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Histoire de la Découverte de la Photographie | Georges Potonniée

A good history of photography focusing on its discovery. The author begins by defining photography, talking about the camera obscura, mechanical means of reproduction of drawings and his major focus is in the first experiments of Wedgwood and then Niépce and Daguerre. Published in 1929. Can be...

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