William Henry Fox Talbot ( / t æ l b ə t / ; 11 February 1800 – 17 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and pioneer in photography. He developed the salted paper and calotype processes, which were earlier versions of photographic methods used in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 1840s, Talbot worked on ways to copy images using light. This led to the creation of the photoglyphic engraving process, an earlier version of photogravure. He held a controversial patent that influenced the early growth of commercial photography in Britain. Talbot was also a well-known photographer who helped shape photography as an art form. He published The Pencil of Nature (1844–1846), a book that included original salted paper prints made from his calotype negatives. The book featured early photographs of places like Oxford, Paris, Reading, and York.

A person with knowledge in many areas, Talbot was elected to the Royal Society in 1831 for his work on the integral calculus. He studied subjects such as optics, chemistry, electricity, etymology, the decipherment of cuneiform, and ancient history.

Early life

Talbot was born in Melbury House in Dorset. He was the only child of William Davenport Talbot, who lived at Lacock Abbey near Chippenham, Wiltshire, and Lady Elisabeth Fox Strangways, who was the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Ilchester. His teacher was Agnes Porter, who had also taught his mother. Talbot studied at Rottingdean, Harrow School, and Trinity College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, he won the Porson Prize for studying ancient languages in 1820 and graduated as the twelfth in his class in 1821. From 1822 to 1872, he shared his research with the Royal Society, including many papers about mathematics. Early in his life, he began studying light and color, which later helped him make important discoveries related to photography. In 1826, he wrote an article for the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal about "Some Experiments on Colored Flame." In 1827, he wrote an article for the Quarterly Journal of Science about "Monochromatic Light." He also wrote articles for the Philosophical Magazine about chemical topics, including one about "Chemical Changes of Colour."

Photographic inventions

Talbot created a method for making photographs that were not easily faded by light and could last a long time. This was the first such method made public, but it was not the first one ever invented or the first one shared with the public.

After Louis Daguerre announced his daguerreotype process in early January 1839, but without explaining how it worked, Talbot claimed he had started his experiments earlier, in 1834. On January 25, 1839, at a meeting called the Friday Evening Discourse at the Royal Institution, Talbot showed paper photographs he had made in 1835. Within two weeks, he told the Royal Society about his process, and later shared more details. Daguerre did not share useful details about his method until mid-August, even though by spring 1839, it was clear that his process and Talbot’s were very different.

Talbot’s early method, called the "salted paper" or "photogenic drawing" process, used writing paper soaked in a weak solution of table salt (sodium chloride), then dried and brushed with a strong solution of silver nitrate. This created a light-sensitive coating of silver chloride that darkened when exposed to light. This process could be used to make shadow images by placing objects on the paper and leaving it in sunlight, or to capture faint images from a camera lens. It was a "printing out" process, meaning the image had to stay in the light until it reached the desired darkness. For camera images, this could take an hour or more if a detailed picture was needed, not just a simple outline. Earlier experimenters like Thomas Wedgwood and Nicéphore Niépce had made shadow and camera images using silver salts years before, but they could not stop their photos from darkening completely when exposed to daylight. Talbot found ways to chemically stabilize his images, making them less sensitive to light. This allowed sunlight to print the negative image from a camera onto another sheet of salted paper, creating a clear positive image.

The Calotype

The "calotype," also called the "talbotype," was a method to make images visible on paper. William Henry Fox Talbot improved his earlier "photogenic drawing" process by using a different silver salt (silver iodide instead of silver chloride) and a developing agent (gallic acid and silver nitrate) to reveal a hidden image on exposed paper. This change made it possible to take pictures in bright sunlight with only one or two minutes of exposure. The calotype negative was translucent, allowing many positive prints to be made through contact printing. In contrast, the daguerreotype was an opaque direct positive that could only be copied using a camera. However, the calotype was not as sharp as the daguerreotype because the paper fibers slightly blurred the printed image. A simpler method called the salted paper process was often used to make prints from calotype negatives.

Talbot introduced the calotype process in 1841. In August of the same year, he licensed Henry Collen, a miniature painter, as the first professional calotypist. The most famous people who used the calotype process were Hill & Adamson. Another well-known calotypist was Levett Landon Boscawen Ibbetson.

In 1842, Talbot was awarded the Rumford Medal by the Royal Society for his work in photography.

In 1852, Talbot discovered that gelatine treated with potassium dichromate, a chemical first used by Mungo Ponton in 1839, became less soluble when exposed to light. This discovery later helped create the carbon printing process and related techniques. Dichromated gelatine is still used today in some laser holography applications.

Later in his career, Talbot focused on photomechanical reproduction methods. These methods made it easier and cheaper to mass-produce photographs. By turning photographs into ink on paper, which can last for hundreds or even thousands of years, Talbot found a way to solve the problem of fading in early silver image prints. He developed the photoglyphic (or "photoglyptic") engraving process, which was later improved by others as the photogravure process.

Patenting controversy

Daguerre began working on his photographic process around the same time Talbot started developing his salted paper process. In 1839, Daguerre’s agent applied for patents in England and Scotland just days before France announced that Daguerre’s invention would be freely available to the world. Because of this, the United Kingdom and the British Empire were the only places where a license was needed to make or sell daguerreotypes. This situation is often seen as a result of old conflicts between nations and a response to Talbot’s own patent. Talbot did not patent his photogenic drawing process or his calotype method in Scotland.

In February 1841, Talbot received an English patent for his improved calotype process. At first, he charged £20 for each license, but later reduced the cost for amateur photographers to £4. Professional photographers, however, had to pay up to £300 each year. At a time when many people criticized patent holders for limiting access to new ideas, Talbot faced criticism for enforcing his rights. However, some scientists supported him and provided evidence in legal cases. Talbot also allowed free use of the calotype method for scientific purposes, such as photomicrography. He later explained that he enforced his patent to recover about £5,000 he had spent on his photographic experiments.

In 1844, Talbot helped create a business in Russell Terrace (now Baker Street), Reading, to mass-produce salted paper prints from calotype negatives. This place, called the Reading Establishment, also offered services like printing from others’ negatives, copying artwork and documents, and taking portraits. However, the business did not succeed.

In 1851, the year Daguerre died, Frederick Scott Archer introduced the wet collodion process, which made it practical to use glass instead of paper for camera negatives. This process improved the detail in photographs, making paper prints as clear as daguerreotypes. The collodion method quickly replaced the calotype in commercial use, and by the end of the 1850s, daguerreotypes were nearly gone.

Talbot claimed his patent covered the collodion process and required users to obtain a calotype license. In August 1852, The Times published a letter from Lord Rosse and Charles Lock Eastlake, who urged Talbot to reduce the pressure of his patent on photography’s development. Talbot agreed to stop charging amateurs but continued legal actions against professional portrait photographers.

In 1854, Talbot asked for an extension of his 14-year patent. During this time, a court case against photographer Martin Laroche was heard. Laroche argued that Talbot’s patent was invalid because a similar process had been created earlier by Joseph Reade and that the collodion process did not copy the calotype method. The court ruled that the calotype patent was valid but that Laroche’s use of the collodion process did not violate it. Disappointed by this outcome, Talbot decided not to extend his patent.

1844 calotype of Thomas Moore and the Talbot household

Talbot was a friend and neighbor in Wiltshire of the well-known Irish poet and writer Thomas Moore. In April 1844, Talbot created a calotype of Moore, who was visiting and standing with members of his own household.

The distinctive curls help identify Talbot’s half sister, Henrietta Horatia Fielding, standing to his left. Eliza Frayland, the nursemaid at the far left, began working for the family when Charles Henry Talbot was born in 1842. In the front are Matilda Caroline (later Gilchrist-Clark, age 5); Ela Theresa (age 9); and Rosamond Constance Talbot (age 7). The woman on the right may be Moore’s wife, Bessy.

Moore showed early interest in Talbot’s photogenic drawings. Talbot, in return, took images of Moore’s handwritten poetry, possibly for inclusion as exact copies in an edition of The Pencil of Nature.

Spectroscopic and optical investigations

Talbot was one of the first scientists to study the field of spectral analysis. He discovered that each chemical element has a unique light pattern and that scientists could use these patterns to identify elements. This method became important for studying light from distant stars, helping scientists learn about their chemical makeup. He also studied how light becomes polarized using crystals like tourmaline and Iceland spar, and he helped create the polarizing microscope, which is now widely used by geologists to examine thin rock slices and find minerals.

Talbot allowed others to use the calotype process for scientific work. He published the first known photomicrograph of a mineral crystal. Another image shows insect wings as seen through a "solar microscope," a tool he and others developed to project images of tiny objects onto a large screen using sunlight. These large images could then be photographed using special paper. He also studied how light spreads out when it passes through gratings and discovered a new phenomenon now called the Talbot effect.

Talbot wanted to use the calotype method to record natural scenes, such as plants, buildings, and landscapes. He made the calotype technique freely available for scientific and personal use. He understood that the visible part of light is only a small part of what we now call electromagnetic radiation and that invisible light beyond violet could cause chemical reactions, a type of radiation now known as ultraviolet radiation.

Other activities

Talbot was involved in politics and was a moderate politician who usually supported the Whig Ministers. He served as a member of parliament for Chippenham from 1832 to 1835, after which he left parliament. He also held the position of High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1840.

While working on his scientific research, Talbot spent much time studying archaeology. He worked in the field of Assyriology, which is the study of the history, archaeology, and culture of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), for 20 years. Along with Henry Rawlinson and Edward Hincks, he helped decode the cuneiform writings found in Nineveh. He wrote the book Hermes, or Classical and Antiquarian Researches (1838–39) and Illustrations of the Antiquity of the Book of Genesis (1839). He also authored English Etymologies (1846).

Selected works

• Hermes, or Classical and Antiquarian Researches (1838–39)
• Illustrations of the Antiquity of the Book of Genesis (1839)
• The Pencil of Nature (1844–46)
• Sun pictures in Scotland (1845)
• Loch Katrine (around 1845): Salt print from calotype negative, 8×9 inches. Birmingham Museum of Art
• English Etymologies (1846)