New York, January 27, 1849.
E. ANTHONY, ESQ.
Dear Sir,--In submitting the accompanying "History and Practice of
Photography" to your perusal, and for your approbation, I do so with
the utmost confidence in your ability as a practical man, long engaged
in the science of which it treats, as well as your knowledge of the
sciences generally; as well as your regard for candor. To you,
therefore, I leave the decision whether or no I have accomplished my
purpose, and produced a work which may not only be of practical benefit
to the Daguerrean artist, but of general interest to the reading
public, and your decision will influence me in offering it for, or
withholding it from, publication.
If it meets your approbation, I would most respectfully ask permission
to dedicate it to you, subscribing myself,
With esteem,
Ever truly yours,
HENRY H. SNELLING
New York, February 1st, 1849.
Mr. H. H. SNELLING.
Dear Sir--Your note of January 27th, requesting permission to dedicate
to me your "History and Practice of Photography," I esteem a high
compliment, particularly since I have read the manuscript of your work.
Such a treatise has long been needed, and the manner in which you have
handled the subject will make the book as interesting to the reading
public as it is valuable to the Daguerrean artist, or the amateur
dabbler in Photography. I have read nearly all of the many works upon
this art that have emanated from the London and Paris presses, and I
think the reader will find in yours the pith of them all, with much
practical and useful information that I do not remember to have seen
communicated elsewhere.
There is much in it to arouse the reflective and inventive faculties of
our Daguerreotypists. They have heretofore stumbled along with very
little knowledge of the true theory of their art, and yet the quality
of their productions is far in advance of those of the French and
English artists, most of whose establishments I have had the pleasure
of visiting I feel therefore, that when a sufficient amount of
theoretic knowledge shall have been added to this practical skill on
the part of our operators, and when they shall have been made fully
acquainted with what has been attained or attempted by others, a still
greater advance in the art will be manifested.
A GOOD Daguerreotypist is by no means a mere machine following a
certain set of fixed rules. Success in this art requires personal
skill and artistic taste to a much greater degree than the unthinking
public generally imagine; in fact more than is imagined by nine-tenths
of the Daguerreotypists themselves. And we see as a natural result,
that while the business numbers its thousands of votaries, but few rise
to any degree of eminence. It is because they look upon their business
as a mere mechanical operation, and having no aim or pride beyond the
earning of their daily bread, they calculate what will be a fair per
centage on the cost of their plate, case, and chemicals, leaving MIND,
which is as much CAPITAL as anything else (where it is exercised,)
entirely out of the question.
The art of taking photographs on PAPER, of which your work treats at
considerable length, has as yet attracted but little attention in this
country, though destined, as I fully believe, to attain an importance
far superior to that to which the Daguerreotype has risen.
The American mind needs a waking up upon the subject, and I think your
book will give a powerful impulse in this direction. In Germany a high
degree of perfection has been reached, and I hope your countrymen will
not be slow to follow.
Your interesting account of the experiments of Mr. Wattles was entirely
new to me, and is another among the many evidences that when the age is
fully ripe for any great discovery, it is rare that it does not occur
to more than a single mind.
Trusting that your work will meet with the encouragement which your
trouble in preparing it deserves, and with gratitude for the undeserved
compliment paid to me in its dedication,
I remain, very sincerely,
Your friend and well wisher,
E. ANTHONY.