In the never-ending search for interesting historical letters to bring to Arts in Letters subscribers, the best letters lead to interesting stories. In this week’s story, engraver John Pye, hoping to expand into photography is frustrated by restrictions involving the patent for Louis Daguerre’s photographic process.
Why is Pye being frustrated? Arts in Letters subscribers will find out next week!
Arts in Letters has featured the historical letters of a few 19th century photographers, including Matthew Brady, Julia Margaret Cameron, and Charles Dodgson. Since early photographic processes involved working with complex chemical solutions and reactions, these photographers had to be scientists as well as artists.
Cameron’s letter mentioned working with a collodion emulsion. She would have mixed this herself, meaning that she had to become comfortable working with potentially dangerous chemicals.
Here is an example of how a collodion solution might be prepared, according to Wikipedia:
Whew, what a lot of work! Preparing the collodian solution was just one part of the lengthy and complex process of creating a photographic image. The light levels, time of exposure, preparation and processing of the glass plates, photographers had to be willing to do much more than try to catch pretty pictures!
In fact, many of the earliest photographers were as interested in the science of photography as they were in the photographs they created. It was photographers such as Cameron who saw the potential for using photography to create art, and a new artistic genre quickly became popular.
The largest collection of Cameron’s photographs is held at the Albert and Victoria Museum, where she was also given the distinction of being the Museum’s first artist-in-residence. You can see an overview of the collection here.
You’ll also see and hear Cameron’s letter featured in Arts in Letters. The letter was addressed to Sir Henry Cole, who happened to have produced the first commercial Christmas cards. But that’s a story for another day!
It’s here! Arts in Letters Grand Slam subscription is now available through digital delivery!
Looking to reduce the amount of paper in your life? Haphazard mail delivery? Living outside the U.S. and want to get your letters faster? The Grand Slam Digital Version addresses all those concerns.
You’ll get the same content, delivered to your email box in PDF form, for you to read on your electronic devices. Another plus is that links to recordings, extra readings, videos, etc., will be clickable, so you can go directly to the extra resource without having to type it all into your browser.
Pricing is also less, since less material and labor is involved. 3 months is $39, 6 months is $69, a year is $99. Choose longer subscription package to get the best value.
So start your journey to lean about history’s great creative geniuses now. It’s the same great content, just delivered in a contemporary form!
Digital subscriptions to Arts in Letters will be available soon! The same historical letters and info, just delivered to your email as a PDF instead of through the mail. You’ll be able to view it on your devices or print it out if you like.
This is similar to the individual historical letter packets already available for download, except that subscription PDF’s won’t be watermarked as the individual downloads are.
One cool feature of these PDF’s is that links to extra resources will be clickable, so if you’re reading on your computer or other device, you can click right through to them, no typing in of long link addresses ! (I’m working on that issue, too!)
This is a great option for subscribers outside the US, no more wondering how long it will take the postal services to deliver the letters! I’ve had terrific luck over the years, but every time I send letters to new overseas subscribers, I’ve got my fingers crossed for a speedy delivery.
You’re probably wondering if there will be a difference in price, and yes there will be. Since the production cost is less, the price will be, too. So, same great content, clickable links, less paper, quicker delivery, lower cost, sound good?
I’m working out all the details now and I hope to be set up to start taking orders for digital subs next week, with the first digital delivery planned for Saturday, July 29, just in time for your weekend reading! What would Ada Lovelace think of this? I think she’d be thrilled by the possibilities. Hope you are, too!
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| I recently came across a news article about the controversy being stirred up by a group wanting to stage performances of Wagner’s operas in Israel. Knowing that Wagner had openly expressed anti-Semitic views, I wasn’t surprised that there would be people opposed to this, but I didn’t realize that all Wagner’s music had been unoffically banned in the country. Personally I try to stay neutral and apolitical when I choose and write about my historical subjects. I endeavor to spotlight their positive contributions to the world without being too Pollyanna-ish. There are people, good and bad, whose impact on the world won’t be erased simply by not performing their music, or burning their books, or whatever. Yes, there are people I haven’t featured because their negative impact outweighs the positive and because I didn’t want to offend people. However, ignoring history, or trying to hide it, doesn’t benefit us, either. Very deep subject, one on which I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts at communications@artsinletters.com. Your suggestion might inspire me to take on a new subject! In the meantime, if you enjoy Wagner’s music and have missed it during the pandemic, there are many performances being scheduled. Check with the Wagner Society and Wagneropera.org for announcements from around the world. |
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Created in 1935 to help explain elements of quantum mechanics, Schrodinger’s cat has become part of popular culture. Referenced in songs, poems, stories, comics, movies, video games, and emblazoned on T shirts, the cat which could be thought of as possibly alive and dead at the same time has given people other than quantum scientists something to think about.
Nobel Prize winner Erwin Schrodinger probably never imagined that he would be best remembered for the thought experiment he created involving a cat sealed inside a steel box with a radioactive source and a flask of poison.
My favorite reference is from the TV show The Big Bang Theory and features the characters Penny and Sheldon. Penny has asked for Sheldon for relationship advice and he compares the scenario proposed in the Schrodinger’s Cat example to her relationship with Leonard. You can see how physicist Sheldon explains it to non-scientist Penny here. It’s another example of historic ideas becoming ingrained in current culture!
Arts in Letters learned about Schrodinger and his cat through a series of historical letters between Schrodinger and his friend and colleague, Albert Einstein. Einstein probably understood immediately how the cat could be considered both alive and dead simultaneously. The rest of us may have to think about it for a little while. Who know who and what we’ll find out through historical letters between great thinkers!
