William Henry Fox Talbot

2 salt prints, comprising Door of Abbotsford and Boulevards of Paris, the first with annotation 'LA 29' in ink on the reverse, 1843 and 1845 (Boulevards of Paris: Schaaf 128; Photographic Art, pl. 64) (2)

Door of Abbotsford - Grading this salt print on a scale of one to 10– a 10 being a print that has rich, brown dark tones, creamy highlights, and retains all of its original detail – this print rates a 7 or 8. A fine level of detail is visible in the building's architecture, but the left, right, and lower edges of the image appear to have yellowed somewhat. Upon close examination, there is a one-inch soft crease in the upper left corner of the sky area. There is an imperceptible pin-hole in the lower left quadrant. The hand-coated brown emulsion in the margins is slightly mottled, as is sometimes seen in Talbot's prints. The upper edge is unevenly trimmed, and the corners are bumped. Boulevards of Paris - Grading this salt print on a scale of one to 10 – a 10 being a print that has rich, brown dark tones, creamy highlights, and retains all of its original detail – this print rates a 6 or 7. This is a somewhat muted print and details have faded. There is tiny dark dot in the upper left sky-area. Flaws in the negative visible in the lower portion of the image are also visible in the print reproduced in 'Photographic Art' as plate 64. The hand-coated brown emulsion in the margins is slightly mottled, as is sometimes seen in Talbot's prints. The lower edge is unevenly trimmed.
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