Objects asociated with W H F Talbot, c 1840.

An open volume of 'The Mirror', 1839, shows the first representation of a photograph in print, a photogenic drawing by British photographic pioneer, William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877). In front of it are a small experimental camera with a lens, produced in 1834-1836, and a metal patent stamp, embosed: 'Patent Talbotype or Sun Pictures', items that belonged to Talbot. Talbot invented the first negative/positive photographic proces, meaning that any number of positive prints could be made from a single negative image. In 1844, he opened a photographic printing establishment at Reading, Berkshire. The copy of The Mirror shown here did not belong to Talbot, but was bought at auction during the 1970s by the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television.