A tip of the hat to those collectors who over the decades have appreciated and helped to preserve a great number of the Talbots that we enjoy today. This is the first of an occasional series on an inner circle that perhaps you will indulge me in styling them ‘Intimate Collectors’ – those contemporaries of Talbot who sought out or were presented with groups of photographs by Henry himself. They probably did not think of themselves as collectors – well, perhaps I’ll make an exception for Sir David Brewster, who confessed that “I have just received the very valuable packet of Talbotypes which you have been so kind as to send me … I do not believe that a Child ever received a Toy with more pleasure than I do a Sun-Picture. It is a sort of monomania which my dealings with light have inflicted upon me.” In the majority of cases, time, the changing tastes of generations, neglect (sometimes benign) and serendipity have led to the breaking up of these formative collections. There were no catalogues and rarely any other records of the primitive treasures that they once contained. Identifying and re-associating their surviving components is not only a satisfying historical puzzle, but also can yield insights into the actual images that seduced admirers, prompted contemporary comment and shaped private and public reactions. These collections are essential squares of fabric in the patchwork quilt of early photographic history.

Shall we start with some of the photographs received by the great (and greatly eccentric) Charles Babbage (1791-1871). Today Babbage is largely known as a computer pioneer and less well known for his manic obsession with the organ grinders who enlivened the streets of London in his day. Among his great early friendships was with Sir John Herschel. The onetime Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, Babbage became bored with teaching and additionally suffered the early loss of his beloved wife. He turned to a life of science and society centred around his London mansion on Dorset Street in fashionable Manchester Square. Babbage’s Difference Engine and later Analytical Engine were the mechanical forerunners of today’s computers.

It is now in a private collection. A somewhat enigmatic one is Lot 97, described as ‘Studies of Decorated Plaques.’

These appear to be negatives made by light shining through delicately engraved glass, each about 8 cm. in diameter.

Finally, we come to the kind of surprise that I am always hoping that the morning e-post will bring. Nearly a year ago I was alerted to a Talbot original that would be coming up in a specialized auction, one where you would never expect to find it. The print was an oddity in a deceased camera collector’s trove and there was no provenance nor other record of it.

Like many of Talbot’s earliest cadeaux, he inscribed it on verso, accepting the root of photography in preference to his original photogenic drawing

Talbot continued to feed fresh photographs to Babbage’s collection and Babbage reciprocated by giving them a wide showing. In early 1844, Talbot presented “5 Calotypes in case you like to show them at your Saturday’s réunion – the subjects are:

Exterior of Queen’s Coll: Oxford
Interior quadrangle of University Coll: d^o
Boulevards of Paris
facsimile of old book in my library.
Arch at Fontainbleau, done by my methods; by a French artist

None of this later group has been positively identified, and a few from the 1977 sale are MIA, but I have recently heard from colleagues that they may have some leads on these. Look for a supplement to this post. In the meantime, the search for additional items from the Babbage Talbot Collection continues. Can you assist? Or if you know of any Talbots associated with his contemporaries such as Brewster, Herschel, Biot or others, do tell (please).