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 THE DAGUERREOTYPE: AN ARCHIVE OF SOURCE TEXTS, GRAPHICS, AND EPHEMERA


  The research archive of Gary W. Ewer regarding the history of the daguerreotype

On this day (May 30) in the year 1840, the following item appeared in "Niles' National Register (Baltimore, Fifth series. No. 13. Vol. 8): - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - DAGUEROTYPE MINIATURES. The Philadelphia Chronicle says: Mr. Robert Cornelius, of this city, is now engaged, most successfully in making miniature likenesses, by means of the process discovered by Mons. Daguerre. Nothing could possibly be more true than these representations of the "human face divine," for they transfer to the plate the exact images of the sitters, "living as they rise." The mode, too, is as simple as the results are accurate. All you have to do is to place yourself in an easy, well-cushioned chair, assume the position in which you desire to be perpetuated and look steadfastly at a given object, for the matter of half a minute, and your features, expression, every thing connected with your countenance, are caught and stamped with a vigor and similitude that are unsurpassable. (Original spelling maintained. -G.E.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 05-30-96

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