PBA Galleries

3 issues of the magazine. Vol. 5, Nos. 17&18; Vol. 6, Nos. 22&23 (2 in 1). (8vo) 22x14 cm (8¾x5½"), original printed wrappers. First Edition.

“Notes of the Month” in the May 1839 issue of The United States Magazine and Democratic Review contains Professor Samuel F. B. Morse’s first-hand description of Daguerre's invention of "photogenic drawing," as well as Fox Talbot's respective process and his claim for priority. Shortly after Louis Daguerre's invention of the daguerreotype was announced in early January 1839, Fox Talbot asserted priority of invention based on experiments he had begun in early 1834. In his essay, Morse, famous for the invention of the telegraph, first describes the Daguerreotype, and then adds "Mr. Fox Talbot, an English gentleman, perfectly unconscious of Mr. Daguerre's operations, made the same discovery, and, after some years experiments, had succeeded in bringing it to even greater perfection than the other -- when the announcement in Paris of the French invention astonished Europe."  Volume 6, p. 444-5 contains an article on the Daguerreotype. Ownership mark on cover of Vol. 5, no. 17.