LIBRARIES OF LIGHT: PHOTOGRAPHIC BOOKS FROM THE V&A COLLECTION
William Henry Fox Talbot, 'The Pencil of Nature', 1844. Museum no. L.149-1939
William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-77)
'The Pencil of Nature'
Plate VIII, A Scene in a Library
1844
Salted-paper print from a paper negative
London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1844
Museum no. L.149-1939
Talbot was one of the inventors of photography and The Pencil of Nature was one of the very first photographically illustrated books. To make A Scene in a Library, he arranged the books outdoors, where the light was stronger than it would have been in his actual library.