Anonymous American Photographer

sixth-plate daguerreotype, cased, a modern typed description inserted, circa 1845

Stanley B. Burns, Mirror Mirror: The Burns Collection Daguerreotypes (New York: The Burns Archive Press, 2012), pl. 8

This fascinating, solarized plate exhibits a slight warm-tonality in the upper-left portion of the image. As is visible in the catalogue illustration, there is a thin border of tarnish following the contours of the mat. There are two pin-point-sized spots with halos in the upper portion of the image. The floral-stamped leather case is intact but rubbed on the covers. It is splitting just slightly along the spine. The typed text insert reads: 'Similar to the steamboat of the American inventor John Fitch who, in 1787 built the first such craft.  Ten years later, Robert Fulton built the Clermont and made it into a financial success. Perhaps this model is some inventor's trial project for some improvement in the 1840's.  For an illustration and discussion see: The New Intelligent Man's Guide to Science, by Isaac Asimov, 1965, Page 384 for the discussion and page 370 for the illustration of Fitch's steamboat (showing him wearing a top hat).'
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