Handbook of American Daguerrotype | Page 3

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The Project Gutenberg Etext of American Hand Book of the Daguerreotype
AMERICAN HAND BOOK OF THE DAGUERREOTYPE GIVING THE MOST
APPROVED AND CONVENIENT METHODS FOR PREPARING THE CHEMICALS,
AND THE COMBINATIONS USED IN THE ART. CONTAINING THE
DAGUERREOTYPE, ELECTROTYPE, AND VARIOUS OTHER PROCESSES
EMPLOYED IN TAKINGHELIOGRAPHIC IMPRESSIONS. BY S. D. HUMPHREY
FIFTH EDITION NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY S. D. HUMPHREY 37 LISPENARD
STREET 1858 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by S. D.
HUMPHREY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New
York. To J. GURNEY, WHOSE PROFESSIONAL SKILL, SCIENTIFIC ACCURACY,
AND ENERGETIC PERSEVERANCE, HAVE WON FOR HIM UNIVERSAL
ESTEEM, THIS WORK IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. PREFACE.
There is not an Amateur or practical Daguerreotypist, who has not felt the want of a
manual--Hand Book, giving concise and reliable information for the processes, and
preparations of the Agents employed in his practice.
Since portraits by the Daguerreotype are at this time believed to be more durable than any
other style of "Sun-drawing," the author has hit upon the present as being an appropriate
time for the introduction of the Fifth Edition of this work. The earlier edition having a
long since been wholly; exhausted, the one now before you is presented.
The endeavor has been to point out the readiest and most approved Methods of Operation,
and condense in its pages; as much practical information as its limits will admit. An
extended Preface is unnecessary, since the aim and scope of this work are sufficiently
indicated by the title.
S. D. HUMPHREY NEW YORK, 1858.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
Polishing the Daguerreotype Plate--Buffing the Plate--Coating the Plate-- Exposure of the
Plate in the Camera--Position Developing the Daguerreotype-- Exposure to
Mercury--Removing the Coating--Gilding or fixing the Image-- Coloring
Daguerreotype, . . . . . 18

CHAPTER II.
Coloring Back Grounds--Transparent ditto--Gilding Dissolvent-- Solution for removing
Specks--Solarized Impression--To Purify Water-- Cleaning Mercury--Adhesive
Paper--Black Stain for Apparatus-- Sealing Wax for Bottles--Rouge--Rotten
Stone--Potassa Solution-- Hyposulphite Solution--Substitute for do.--Gilding Solution--
Solution for increasing the Brilliancy of the Daguerreotype-- Bleaching Solution;--Cold
Gilding--Neutralizing Agents-- Buff Dryer--Keeping Buffs in order--Cleaning
Buckskins-- Reflector for taking Views, . . . .52

CHAPTER III.
Bromine and its Compounds--Iodine and its Compounds-- Chlorine and its
Compounds--Cyanide of Potassium-- Hyposulphite of Soda--Hyphosulphite of
Gold--Nitric Acid-- Nitro-Muriatic Acid--Hydrochloric Acid--Hydrofluoric Acid--
Sulphuric Acid--Accelerating Substances--Liquid Sensitives-- Dry Sensitives, etc.,
etc., . . . . .72

CHAPTER IV.
Light--Optics--Solar Spectrum--Decomposition of Light--Light, Heat, and
Actinism--Blue Paper and Color for the Walls of the Operating Room-- Proportions of
Light, Heat and Actinism composing a Sunbeam--
Refraction--Reflection--Lenses--Copying Spherical Aberration-- Chromatic
Aberration, . . . 131

CHAPTER V.
To make Plates for the Daguerreotype--Determining the Time of Exposure in the
Camera--Instantaneous Process for Producing Daguerreotype-- Galvanizing the

Daguerreotype Plate--Silvering Solution-- Daguerreotype without Mercury--Management
of Chemicals-- Hints and Cautions--Electrotyping--Crayon Daguerreotypes-- Illuminated
Daguerreotypes--Natural Colors in Heliography-- Multiplying Daguerreotypes on one
Plate--Deposit in Gilding-- Practical Hints on the Daguerreotype, . . . 149

CHAPTER VI.
An Account of Wolcott and Johnson's Early experiments in the Daguerreotype, . . . 188

AMERICAN HAND-BOOK of THE DAGUERREOTYPE.

CHAPTER I.
Polishing the Daguerreotype Plate--Buffing the Plate--Coating the Plate-- Exposure of the
Plate in the Camera--Position--Developing the Daguerreotype-- Exposure to
Mercury--Removing the Coating--Gilding or fixing the Image-- Coloring Daguerreotype.
Polishing the Daguerreotype Plate.--I shall endeavor to present to the reader the process I
have found productive of good and satisfactory results, presenting the same in a clear and
concise manner, so that any one, by following the various manipulations given, will be
enabled to succeed. If there is any one part of the process in Daguerreotype in which
operators fail more than all others,