963
——, Pictorial Effect in Photography, Preface, unp. Reprinted by
Helios, Pawlet, VT, 1971, second impression 1972.
——, Pictorial Effect in Photography, Piper & Carter, London,
1869.
MUMLER, WILLIAM (1832–1884)
The fi rst spirit photographer
Originally an engraver in Boston, Mumler was learn-
ing the trade of portrait photography in 1861 when,
by his own account, a spirit ‘extra’ suddenly appeared
on one of his plates. His newly discovered powers as
a photographic medium were eagerly reported in the
local Spiritualist press and he soon had many clients
coming to his studio who were grieving for lost loved
ones. Grateful sitters included Moses Dow, who was
photographed with the spirit of his adopted daughter
seeming to offer him a white rose, and the widow of
Abraham Lincoln, who was photographed with Lincoln
appearing to rest his hands on her shoulders. Many
cartes-de-visite such as these were produced and sold
as proof of spirit survival throughout the world-wide
Spirititualist movement. After moving his business to
New York he was arrested for fraud in May 1869. At the
sensational trial prominent Spiritualists testifi ed to their
belief in his powers, whereas witnesses from the photo-
graphic industry enumerated the various ways identical
effects could be obtained through double exposure. The
judge reluctantly dismissed the charges because Mumler
hadn’t been caught in the act. He returned to Boston
where he continued his business for several more years.
In 1875 he published his memoirs, which were full of
the testimony of grateful clients.
Martyn Jolly
MUNDY, DANIEL LOUISE (c. 1826–1881)
English photographer
Daniel Louise Mundy (1826/7–1881) was born in Wilt-
shire, England, and arrived with suffi cient capital (from
the Australian goldfi elds perhaps) to buy into a well-
established photographic business in Dunedin in 1864.
At this time, the province of Otago, was experiencing
a gold rush. So any previous experience he may have
had in Victoria would have served him well in these
turbulent times. Following on from this, Mundy staged
a well timed move north to Christchurch in the mid to
late 1860s. This was during the height of great public ex-
pectations about fi nding a route through New Zealand’s
Southern Alps to the West Coast Goldfi elds. Mundy
seized upon this sense of high commercial expectation
with a splendid set of scenic photographs showing the
road as it existed between the two provinces. After
Canterbury, Mundy moved to Wellington and then
onto Auckland. Before he’d realised it, he’d practically
photographed all of New Zealand’s major settlements.
As well he spent a lot of time in the Hot Lakes District
photographing the Pink and White Terraces which were
being billed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
He returned to England in the mid 1870s and lectured
on his photographic exploits, publishing two books,
Rotomahana and the Boiling Springs of New Zealand
(1875), and The Wonderland of the Antipodes (1873)
that were illustrated with his photographs using the
autotype process.
William MainMURRAY, JOHN (1809–1898)
British surgeon and photographer in India
John Murray came to India in 1833 as a civil surgeon in
the employ of the East India Company. Having settled
into his post at Agra by the mid 1850s, Murray had
already taken up photography, the value of which for
documentary purposes was recognized in the military
and civil establishment on the subcontinent. In 1856,
Murray’s fellow surgeon John McCosh had written in
his Advice to Offi cers in India, “I would strongly rec-
ommend to every assistant-surgeon to make himself a
master of photography in all its branches” (45–46). Mur-
ray focused his attentions particularly on architectural
views of Mughal India and environs, which comprise
some of the most intriguing imagery of the decade in
a large corpus of plain and waxed paper negatives and
corresponding salted paper and albumen prints.
Murray participated in the photographic culture of
his day both in British India and in London. Twenty
seven of his large salt prints were displayed at the
fi rst exhibition of the Bengal Photographic Society in
March 1857; these were listed by title in the show’s
catalogue, and included landscapes of the hill station of
Nynee Tal and the Mughal architecture of Agra. Like
other photographic societies of the period, Bengal had
formed to provide support for serious amateurs and
commercial operators who shared a common passion
for the medium—the best of photographs judged by
their topicality or associative interest as well as artistry
and technical execution. Murray continued to show his
photographs at least until 1867, though they had been
deemed earlier in the decade somewhat wanting in reso-
lution compared with the results of the wet collodion
on glass process. He remained a member of the Bengal
Photographic Society until his departure from India at
his retirement in 1871.
In November 1857 John Hogarth exhibited Murray’s
paper prints in London, reinforcing the political and
cultural ties between the metropolitan center of the
homeland and Britain’s occupation of the subcontinent.