Two cameras owned by W H F Talbot, c 1840.

The British pioneer of photography, William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877), used these cameras to take the calotype photographs that illustrated the first photographic book, 'The Pencil of Nature'. This was published in six parts from 1844 to 1846. On the left is a calotype camera produced in 1841-1842, with a lens and metal focusing cover; on the right is a camera of c 1836-1840, with a hole and cork for focusing, and a rack for raising the camera.