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It was quickly recognised that a public who trav-
elled little and were used to seeing strange and exotic
foreign lands solely through the eyes of an artist would
be fascinated by foreign photographic views. As early
as 1839 a French journalist had written, “travellers may
perhaps soon be able to procure M. Daguerre’s apparatus
and bring back views of the fi nest monuments and of
the most beautiful scenery of the whole world.” From
Paris, Noel P Lerebours commissioned and collected
daguerreotypes from all over the world and is reputed
to have acquired more than a thousand pictures of for-
eign lands. The British were particularly prominent in
the Mediterranean regions. During 1840 and 1841 Dr.
Alexander John Ellis took over 150 Italian views using
Daguerre’s original process. Talbot’s associates, Calvert
Jones and George Bridges took scores of calotype views
of Malta, Italy and the Holy Land in 1845–46, many of
which were printed at the Reading Establishment. In
America, the Niagara Falls was a popular subject for
daguerreotypists from as early as 1845. Commerce may
have been the driving force for much of the above work
but in an age of exploration and empire, photography
was beginning to be seen as having other applications.
Edward Anthony was reported to have been asked to
make daguerreotypes of parts of the north-east bound-
ary of the United States as aids to resolving a frontier
dispute with Britain. In India, John McCosh practised
calotype photography while serving as a surgeon in the
East India Company’s army during the Second Sikh
War (1848–49) and wrote ‘I would strongly recom-
mend every assistant surgeon to make himself master
of photography in all its branches.’
The scientifi c community of the 1840s was deeply
involved in photography, both in furthering its progressHISTORY: 3. PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE 1840sHill, David Octavius; Robert Adamson.
David Octavius Hill.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
The Rubel Collection, Purchase,
Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1997
(1997.382.8) Image © The
Metropolitan Museum of Art.