Diary (1845-1847) kept by a traveling New York daguerreotypist whose identity is unknown. He traveled throughout Eastern North Carolina (October 1846-January 1847) and wrote down his impressions of Edenton, Plymouth, Williamston, Greenville and Washington, North Carolina, as well as Norfolk, Virginia. A small portion of the diary includes instructions on how to clean daguerreotype plates and take good portraits.
Daguerreotype was a photographic process used during the 1840s and 1850s. The process was invented by Louis Daguerre in the 1830s and was the first photographic process to be publicly available. The process involved silver-plated copper which had been polished to a mirror finish and treated with fumes in order to make the surface sensitive to light. The copper was exposed to a camera for as long as necessary (less intense lighting involved longer exposure times) and was fumed with mercury vapor to make the latent image visible. A liquid chemical treatment then reversed the light sensitivity, and the copper surface was then rinsed, dried, and sealed behind glass. The image remained on a silver, mirror-like surface and appeared as either positive or negative depending on the viewing angle. Daguerreotype photographs are delicate to the touch and can be permanently damaged by even a light wiping.
Typescript of journal by a traveling New York daguerreotypist from 1845-1847. The journal is divided into 5 sections. Pages 1-4 involve local New York politics and meetings that the author attended. Pages 5-24 involve the author's travel to and daguerreotype work in North Carolina and is dated from October 20, 1846, to January of 1847. The next 9 pages (unnumbered) involve the temperance law in New York and discuss the effects and author's opinion of the 1847 License Law. The next 4 pages (unnumbered) are instructions on cleaning daguerreotype plates and taking good portraits, written by a separate author. The last 5 pages (unnumbered) consist of miscellaneous food recipes and health cures. Also included are supplementary documents, including a letter written to Samuel Bond by the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions instructing him to cease the private use of his work office and levying a $25 fine, several newspapers with printed ads for daguerreotype printing, and newspaper articles involving the 1847 License Law.
Purchased from Cowan's Auctions, Inc.
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.