1855 JOURNAL OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
Ver: Oct. 10, 2020
TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS:
--Italics have been retained from publications, which uses them for both titles as well as emphasis. To more easily locate image titles, I have continued this italicization when titles have been rendered in all capitols or put in quotes, however italics have NOT been used when the general subject of an image is mentioned.
--Photographer’s (or potential photographer’s) names have been bolded – see also below under “Names”
--Brackets [ ] are used to indicate supplied comments by the transcriber; parenthesis
( ) are used in the original sources. If the original source has used brackets, they have been transcribed as parenthesis to avoid confusion.
--Spelling and typos: Nineteenth-century spellings occasionally differs from currently accepted norms. In addition, British spellings also differ from American useage. Common examples are: “colour” vs. “color”; “centre” vs. “center” and the use of “s” for “z” as in “recognise” vs. “recognize. While great care has been exercised in transcribing the 19th-century journals exactly as printed, “spell check” automatically corrects many of these differences. An attempt has been made to recorrect these automatic changes, but no doubt some have slipped through. As for typographical errors, these have been checked although no doubt some have managed to slip through the editorial process. For matters of consequence, I will be happy to recheck the original sources if need be for specific references.
-- Technical articles: For the most part, articles discussing technical aspects of photography, products, etc. were not transcribed unless they are part of a larger article covering photographs. When technical descriptions are too lengthy to include, that has been noted. Exceptions have been made as the transcriber saw fit.
--Meetings of Societies: Names of officers, members attending or referenced, dates and locations of meetings have been given. The first and/or earliest meetings recorded have been transcribed in full. Beyond those early years, only if the reports are very short or discuss photographs, have the articles been copied in full; if administrative or technical in nature. Although not always possible due to time constraints on borrowed materials, when possible, I have included at least the dates of society meetings and any photographer’s names listed.
-- Related, contemporary journals: e.g., The Art-Journal, cover both photographer as well as painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.. As they frequently refer to the production of both the photographer and the painter as “pictures” it is not always possible to tell when photography is indicated. If there is doubt, these articles have been included and the names bolded, but the individuals may, in fact, not be photographers.
NAMES:
--All photographer’s names have been bolded for easy location. EXCEPTIONS: While it is likely that people working with photographic equipment and techniques are also photographers some discretion has been used and not all such names have been bolded. Names of honorary members of a photographic society are assumed to be photographers and thus bolded, when in fact, that may not be the case. Names mentioned in connection with meetings of non-photographic societies have not been bolded unless there is a known or suspected photographic association. A computer word search, however, will still enable the researcher to locate any references to specific names.
--Names: Given abbreviations for titles such as “M” for “Monsieur”, etc., it is not always possible to tell if an individual’s first name or title is being abbreviated. Thus, especially with non-English photographers, too much credence should not be put into an initial that could also serve as an abbreviated title.
--It is not always possible in lists of photographers to know when two separate photographers are partners or not, e.g., in a list, “Smith and Jones” sometimes alludes to two separate photographers and sometimes to one photographic company. Both names will be highlighted and indexed but a partnership may be wrongly assumed. Any information to the contrary would be appreciated.
NUMBERS:
--Numbers referenced in the various journals can refer to either the photographer’s image number, or an entry number in an exhibition catalog. When the number is obviously is obviously that of the photographer, it is included in the index under the photographer’s name, whereas exhibition numbers are not.
1855: JPS Sept. 21, vol. II, #34, p. 221-222:
[Editorial leader]
Writing a day or two in anticipation of the above date, we have just returned from a visit to the most remarkable and in certain respects most interesting exhibition of photographs ever opened. It is scarcely necessary to say that we mean the collection of our Hon. Sec. Mr. Roger Fenton, who has returned safely and laden with photographic treasures from the East. Among the numerous subjects it would be difficult to select, especially after a first visit; there are views, groups, portraits, entrenchments, shipping,--all that we have anxiously read about from day to day. Perhaps the two most striking pictures are No. 270, “The Council of War held at Lord Raglan’s Headquarters on the Morning of the successful attack on the Mamelon,” portraits of Lord Raglan, General Pelissier, and Omer Pasha,--a real picture of a kind of subject often attempted ideally by painters, and certainly a remarkable study,--and No. 218, “The Valley of the Shadow of Death,” with its terrible suggestions, not merely those awakened in the memory but actually brought materially before the eyes, by the photographic reproduction of the cannon-balls lying strewed like the moraines of a melted glacier through the bottom of the valley.
We need scarcely say that many of the pictures are excellent as photographs, and some very beautiful, for example, No. 277, “A View of Balaklava.”
The large number, nearly 300, of the exhibited collection, bear testimony of the activity with which their author plied his art.
This is a collection of national importance, and will of course be visited by every one who can have the opportunity. Those who can and those who cannot, will do well to secure some of these remarkable memorials of the war.
At a late sitting of the French Academy, a number of photographic pictures were presented from Messrs. Bisson; among the most remarkable of which were views taken in the Communes of St. Nicholas, Viege and Staldhen, situated in the Haute Valais, which present great nterest for the study of geology.
It is well known tht the earthquakes of the 25th and 26th of last July caused numerous disasters in Switzerland; houses were thrown down, the ground disturbed, and immense masses of rocks detached from the peaks, rolling into the valleys and converting the verdant bottoms into beds of stones.
Messrs. Bisson conceived the idea of preserving the very peculiar characters of these terrible and, fortunately, rare spectacles. Hastening towards the Oberland, provided with their powerful apparatus and considerable material, and accompanied by assistants and guides, they have succeeded in taking a large number of views. Especial notice has been taken of that of Ober Harli, above Handeck, the Chalet, those of the villages of St. Nicholas de Viege and of Niedewal; all of which, perfectly successful, give an exact idea of the accidents occurring during convulsions of the earth, and of the terrible traces they leave behind. The pictures, indeed, have not only a great scientific interest, but are beautiful and picturesque works of art. The artists were unwilling to pass the foot of the mountains of the Oberland without climbing their heights. In spire of the difficulties presented in the transport of baggage, they frequently scended from 6000 to 10,000 feet.
The most remarkable views brought back from this perilous excursion are those of the glaciers of the Bernese Oberland. Three conjoined negatives form a panorama more than 6 feet long, representing the Fuster-Aar and the Lanter-Aar. It was taken in the pavilion of the Aar, constructed at great expense by M. Dollfuss of Mulhouse, at an elevation more thn 8000 feet above the level of the sea. Thanks to frequent explorations in these lofty regions, M. Dollfus has become acquainted with the most beautiful sites; he was thus able to direct the artists in the choice of points of view and to save them much unnecessary delay.