1052
paper depending on whether it was to be used simply as
salted paper or as albumised and salted. For the former
Hockin recommended English paper (Towgoods) and
for the latter foreign papers only were suitable, the
result of their being sized with starch which ‘confers
upon them a certain permeability by the very glutinous
liquid, without detracting much from their strength or
rendering them bibulous.’
Gustave le Gray writing in 1853 on the waxed-paper
process stated that very thin paper from Lacroix or
Canson Frères was required for making waxed-paper
negatives. This was expanded on by Roger Fenton, an
acknowledged practitioner of the process, who stated
that the ‘beauty of the results depends much upon a
judicious selection of [paper].’ Fenton noted that What-
mans and Turners paper were recommended for their
fi rmness and evenness of texture but that their gelatine
sizing limited their suitability for photography. Paper
from the Whatman mills from 1832–1838 was preferred
as it was thinner and less highly sized and was ‘much
used by the French, who say that it gives better half-
tones, and supports the action of the gallic acid for a
longer time.’ Fenton recommended thin Chanson paper
despite it being prone to iron spots which was sensitive,
being sized with starch, one side was smooth and made
from courser rags than the Whatman paper which gave
it greater strength. Lacroix paper was similar in quality
but with less spotting although slightly coarser.
In summary the three main paper processes, the
Calotype and waxed-paper for negatives and printing
paper each required different qualities from paper with
the former more suited to English papers and the latter
two to European papers.
The appearance of the collodion negative on glass
from the early 1850s saw a rapid decline in the use of pa-
per negatives and from the 1860s the major use of paper
in photography was for the production of photographic
postives. Increased commercialisation of photographic
printing, the preparation of sensitised papers on a large
scale and new processes affected the paper requirements
through the rest of the nineteenth century. With the ready
availability of pre-prepared printing papers the early
range of papers tested and prepared by photographers
was reduced to those available commercially which by
the end of the century had expanded to large range of
types, surfaces and weights.
The printing out process with paper made light sensi-
tive through silver nitrate and salt goes back to pre-1839
experimenters and was used by Talbot and Herschel in
- These silver chloride papers remained the dominant
type over silver bromide papers throughout the century
because of their stronger blacks. The coating of paper
with albumen to produce fi ner prints by overcoming the
grain and porosity of paper was described by Blanquart-
Evrard in 1850. Once and twice albumenised papers su-
perseded starch and gelatine-fi lled silver chloride papers
which had been introduced in the 1850s. Albumunised
papers remained popular until the 1890s.
Experimentation and the development of permanent
emulsion printing papers was advanced by the work of
G. Wharton Simpson who developed collodio-chloride
silver emulsion printing process, later called the cel-
loidin process. This work was complimented by the
work of J.B. Obernetter (1840–1887) of Munich who
was the fi rst to manufacture collodio-chloride papers
on a commercial scale. The paper was claimed to have
greater defi nition and permanency over the albumen
papers that it gradually displaced. Colonel Abney in a
paper read before the Photographic Society described
gelatine chloro-citrate papers which led to their subse-
quent commercial manufacture.
The rise of the amateur photographer using dry plates
and later rollfi lm encouraged a demand for permanent
and easily workable printing papers. By 1890 gelatino-
chloride silver emulsion papers (aristo papers) and
collodio-chloride silver papers (celloidin papers) had
almost completely displaced the earlier albumen and
starch papers.
The other principal photographic paper is use during
the later nineteenth century was gelatine silver bro-
mide paper. In 1874 Peter Mawdsley of the Liverpool
Dry Plate Company described the possibility of using
gelatine silver bromide papers for photographic print-
ing which he believed was ‘destined to play a most
important part in the future of dry plate photography.’
(Yearbook of Photography 1874) He manufactured
such papers commercially emphasising their sensitiv-
ity and matt surface which was suited to over-painting.
Mawdsley met with limited commercial success and it
was Sir Joseph Swan (1823–1914) who in 1879 was
granted British patent number 2968 for photographic
printing paper coated with bromide of silver. The patent
noted that the paper could be employed in a long band
and prints made as the band advanced allow for large
runs of prints to be made. Swan emphasised the short
exposure in weak artifi cial light that would ensure suc-
cessful results for the amateur.
Factories manufacturing silver bromide papers
opened in France by E Lamy at Courbevoie and in Brit-
ain by Mawson and Swan, Morgan and Kidd and Marion
& Co amongst others. Silver bromide papers, being more
sensitive than the better quality silver chloride papers,
as a medium for rapid printing with artifi cial light and
for enlargements was rapidly adopted from 1880. To
meet this demand emulsion coating machines for paper
and plates were developed in Germany, Britain and
the United States. Matt surfaced silver bromide papers
were introduced from 1879 using starch paste instead of