Margot Note
PhotoHistory XVOctober 22, 2011
“cheap substitutes”daguerreotypes’ “poorer cousins” “photographic abominations”“disgrace to photography and a burlesque upon
art”“abortions, and nine hundred and ninety-nine out
of every thousand taken in the United States are monstrosities”
Daguerreotypes are “obscured by a black cloud called Ambrotype…the black, nasty, filthy, ghastly, dead, inanimate, flat, shade of shadows.”
Gustave Le Gray Frederick Scott Archer
1st patent: addition of camphor to collodion
2nd patent: hermetically sealing collodion positives with Canada balsam and second sheet of glass
3rd patent: using potassium bromide in iodized collodion
“Caution - The term Ambrotype was originated as a trade mark to designate our patent pictures…. Any application of this term to pictures on single glass plates is therefore an infringement of our rights (injures our business) and involves the user in liability for damages.”
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