William Henry Fox Talbot
The Pencil of Nature

CultureBritish
Titles
  • The Pencil of Nature
Date1844
Place depictedEngland
MediumBook of salted paper prints from paper negatives
DimensionsSheet (varies): 6 1/4 × 7 7/8 in. (15.8 × 20 cm)
Sheet (varies): 9 1/16 × 9 in. (23 × 22.8 cm)
Overall (Closed): 11 15/16 × 9 5/8 × 13/16 in. (30.4 × 24.5 × 2 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2020.346.1-.11
Current Location
The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building
Gallery 208
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
DescriptionAlthough not as dazzlingly precise as the
contemporaneous daguerreotype process  (examples
of which are displayed in the nearby case), William Henry Fox Talbot’s photographic
process had the great advantage of producing multiple positive prints from a
single negative made in the camera. To promote his invention and demonstrate
its utility, Talbot produced The Pencil of Nature, the first
commercially published book illustrated with photographs. Like Gutenberg’s
invention of moveable type, photography forever changed the transmission of
knowledge, and The Pencil of Nature represents a revolution in the
history of publishing and the art of the book.

ProvenanceParts 1, 3, and 4 given by Lady Elizabeth Fielding (mother of William Henry Fox Talbot) to Rev. Jermyn Pratt, of Ryston Hall, Downham, Norfolk, England; by descent to his son, Edward Roger Murray Pratt (1847-1921); with Francis Edwards, London, 1966 (his catalogue 895); George Rinhart, Patterson, North Carolina; purchased by Miller-Plummer Collection of Photography [Harvey S. Shipley Miller and J. Randall Plummer, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania]; [sold at Christies, NY, October 8, 2009, lot 552]; [purchased by Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 2020.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in ink, flyleaf: E.R. Pratt Rebound 1898
Stamped lettering in gilt on spine: Sun Pictures, H Fox Talbot, 1844
Catalogue raisonnéSchaaf census, no. 51. Individual plates [in order] are Schaaf nos. 1461, 128, 68, 69, 190, 1574, 2771, 74, 312, 3664, 913.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

XIV. The Ladder.
William Henry Fox Talbot
April 1844
Salted paper print from paper negative
2020.346.7
XV. Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire.
William Henry Fox Talbot
before May 1845
Salted paper print from paper negative
2020.346.8
V. Bust of Patroclus.
William Henry Fox Talbot
August 9, 1842
Salted paper print from paper negative
2020.346.5
XIII. Queen's College, Oxford. Entrance Gateway.
William Henry Fox Talbot
April 9, 1843
Salted paper print from paper negative
2020.346.6
III. Articles of China.
William Henry Fox Talbot
1843–1844
Salted paper print from paper negative
2020.346.3
IV. Articles of Glass.
William Henry Fox Talbot
1844
Salted paper print from paper negative
2020.346.4
I. Part of Queen's College, Oxford
William Henry Fox Talbot
1843–1844
Salted paper print from paper negative
2020.346.1
II. View of the Boulevards at Paris.
William Henry Fox Talbot
May 1843
Salted paper print from paper negative
2020.346.2
XVIII. Gate of Christchurch.
William Henry Fox Talbot
before September 1844
Salted paper print from paper negative
2020.346.11
XVI. Cloisters of Lacock Abbey.
William Henry Fox Talbot
before June 1845
Salted paper print from paper negative
2020.346.9
XVII. Bust of Patroclus.
William Henry Fox Talbot
August 9, 1843
Salted paper print from paper negative
2020.346.10
An Aged Red Cedar in the Grounds of Mount Edgcumbe
William Henry Fox Talbot
1843
Salted paper print from paper negative
2004.687