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offi ces in Prague, and was named to be a skilled ama-
teur portrait painter before he took up photography in
summer 1841. His daguerreotype portraits were lively,
and the portrayed look well at ease even though the
procedure of making which added much to his fame
besides his enourmous technical qualities. In 1854,
he opened a luxurious study in the center of Prague;
the same year, he started the photographic magazine,
the Photographisches Journal which covered every
practical aspect of photography as well as scientifi c
news on methods, materials, and inventions. Most of
the articles were written by Horn himself. From 1858
to 1865, V.H. ran a business of photographic supplies
in Vienna and edited his magazine from there. After
obtaining a concession on all territoric photographs
within the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1865, Horn retired
from all of his other businesses including the magazine
and returned to his native town Česká Lípa. Here he
documented the city’s and the country’s life, and he
kept vivid interests in photography’s progress until his
death on Oct. 15, 1891.
Rolf Sachsse


HORNE, THORNTHWAITE, AND WOOD


(1841–1913)
The London fi rm of Horne, Thornthwaite and Wood was
amongst the earliest to be actively involved in the supply
of photographic equipment and chemicals for photog-
raphy. The fi rm underwent various name changes and
the individual partners appear to have operated together
and on their own account at different times.
The original partnership of Horne and Thornthwaite
dates from 1841 and the form of Horne, Thornthwaite
and Wood from circa 1844 possibly linked to the
takeover over the optical instrument business of Edward
Palmer in 1845. Palmer had also been an early dealer
in photographic materials. HTW was based in Newgate
Street, London, and offered an extensive range of photo-
graphic cameras and equipment for daguerreotype, pa-
per and glass processes, sensitised papers and chemicals.
George Cundell’s calotype sliding box camera was sold
from 1844. Their 1852 catalogue includes a Traversing
camera for panoramic views and J Harrison Powell’s
stereo camera of 1858 was made by the fi rm. Horne and
Thornthwaite also operated a commercial photographic
studio at least into the mid-1860s.
Photography was only been part of the fi rm’s wider
scientifi c and optical instrument making and retailing
business and on 1 July 1857 Messrs J [sic] Horne and
Thornthwaite was granted a Royal warrant to Queen
Victoria as opticians, philosophical and photographic
instrument makers.
From the 1860s the fi rm’s optical, philosophical and


scientifi c instrument making appears to have gained
in relative importance to its photographic interests.
Horne and Thornthwaite continued in business until
circa 1913.
All three of the partners were actively interested in
photography:

William Henry Emilien Thornthwaite (1819–1894) was
described as an optician and philosophical instrument
maker. He joined the Photographic Society in 1870
and authored several manuals including Photographic
Manipulation (1843) published by Edward Palmer and
his Guide to Photography which went through many
editions and was usually bound with the fi rm’s cata-
logue. Thornthwaite acted as Secretary to a fund to pay
for Martin Laroche’s legal expenses after his success-
ful court case with William Fox Talbot in 1854. Talbot
had considered taking action against the fi rm and they
testifi ed against him at the trial of James Henderson in
1854–1856.
Fallon Horne (died October 1858) exhibited in
the Society of Arts exhibition of 1852 under Horne
& Co and produced a series of photographs of the
Great Exhibition site being prepared. Horne was a
strong proponent of this use of collodion and under
the auspices of Peter Fry provided the main support
to Frederick Scott Archer in bringing his collodion
process into general use. Thomas Sutton described
Horne as ‘an exceedingly clever practical photographer
in every branch of the art, but more particularly as a
Calotypist.’ He published ‘On the Calotype Process’
in Humphrey’s Journal in 1856. He was in partnership
with W H Thornthwaite and the Horne name continued
to be used after his death.
Edward George Wood (1812–1896) manufactured
scientifi c instruments in partnership with his brothers
Henry and George and was described as a philosophi-
cal instrument maker in 1830 when he is known to
have sold magic lanterns. Wood joined the existing
partnership of Horne and Thornthwaite as manager of
its optical works and his name was added to the fi rm’s
title. He was awarded a prize medal for photographic
apparatus at the Great Exhibition. Wood established
his own business at 117 Cheapside, London, in 1855
issuing his own catalogue of photographic apparatus
and chemicals. Wood’s main photographic interest was
in magic lanterns, slides and projection equipment and
he is credited with designing a biunial lantern while
working at HTW. He remained in business until a few
months before his death and his son A A Wood con-
tinued the business.
Michael Pritchard
See also: Calotype and Talbotype; and Talbot,
William Henry Fox.

HORNE, THORNTHWAITE, AND WOOD

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