Jean-Baptiste-Gustave Le Gray. “Note sur un nouveau mode de préparation du papier photographique négatif”, in Comptes Rendus... 8 December 1851, Vol. 33, No 23, with LeGray's contribution on pp. 643-4 in the weekly issue of pp (631)-648. This issue was removed from a larger bound volume, though it is intact and in crisp and bright condition. Very Good. $300
LeGray “was among the first of the French painters to recognize the aesthetic potentials of the calotype. This process involved the use of paper for the negative, which was then waxed on the back side after development to make it more transparent and printed by chemical means. As an alternative to the glass plates used in the wet-collodion process, the dry wax-paper negative was more practical for travelers. It could be prepared days in advance and could be developed days after the photograph was taken. It also allowed for differing colorations and produced a softer, more aesthetically pleasing result than did the glass negative.”--Encyclopedia Britannica
“One of the problems of the calotype process was that as one had to print through the paper negative, the imperfections of the paper would also show. Care was taken to ensure that the right kind of paper was used. However, the more transparent the paper, the greater the definition. It was quite a common practice to wax the calotype negative after it had been developed and fixed. However, Gustave Le Gray introduced, in 1851, a process whereby waxing was part of the process prior to exposure and development. Le Gray's process also enabled the paper to be kept a week or so before use. However, though it showed a definite improvement in definition, it was also slower than the calotype process; sometimes exposures of up to fifteen minutes in sunshine were sometimes required. It was for this reason that most of the subjects using this process were inanimate.”--A History of Photography, by Robert Leggat, via M. Pritchard's History of Photography site
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