Family portrait with twins. Collection: Fotomuseum WestLicht
Deeplink: http://www.daguerreobase.org/en/type/d853f357-be53-ae00-e0b3-f6a4c06aa52e

Twins. Collection: Fotomuseum WestLicht
Deeplink: http://www.daguerreobase.org/en/type/04911999-e8bd-5bc4-787e-e2bb28636814

The Nanny, “Dadda”, Anna Cassius with twins Hugo and Bruno Sirén, painted portrait of their mother Matilda Sirén on the background. Collection: Porvoo Museum
Deeplink: http://www.daguerreobase.org/en/type/93e9ec41-9d48-0349-5aa5-959a653df23f

The European Daguerreotype Association (EDA) is an international non-profit association of photography enthusiasts who are particularly interested in the history and the art of the daguerreotype. Thanks to the EDA, Daguerreobase is now live, offering detailed information about daguerreotypes from 17 partners in 13 different European countries. The images seen above were retrieved with a simple search for twins.

Their Daguerreotype Journal, now in its second year, is open source and free to down load: http://www.daguerreobase.org/en/journal

Coming this fall, the EDA will hold their first international symposium, consisting of two days of conferences held October 8-9, 2015 in Bry-sur-Marne, Paris. This will be the first of a series of events, conferences, workshops and meetings, with a special annual symposium or excursion to a European location with a particular relevance to the history of the daguerreotype.The EDA will also offer its expert assistance and advice regarding publishing, education and the maintenance and conservation of photography collections. http://www.daguerreobase.org/en/eda

They welcome new collections.

Of many highlights in Princeton’s album of early photography compiled by Richard Willats (ca.1820-after 1881), the calotypes by Archibald Lewis Cocke (1824-1896) are among the most important. Fourteen positive and one negative calotypes have been identified along with fourteen additional salted paper prints attributed to Cocke, the majority exterior architectural views.

Although Cocke is not a familiar name in the canon of art history, he was among the earliest British photographers to make a living from his art. Like Willats, Cocke was both a talented artist and a commercial supplier of photographic equipment and chemistry prepared in his personal laboratory.

One of the few biographical notes on Cocke is found in Bernard Heathcote’s A Faithful Likeness (2002). The catalogue reveals that Archibald and his brother Arthur John Cocke managed a daguerreotype studio between 1847 and 1850 on lower Regent Street, opposite the fashionable shop, Swan & Edgar. Arthur appears to have “relinquished his interest in the business” around 1850, leaving Archibald to continue alone.

Like many daguerreotypists, Cocke transitioned to paper prints and submitted fifteen calotypes to the Exhibition of Recent Specimens of Photography, regarded as the first exhibition in the world dedicated solely to photography. The show ran from December 22, 1852 to January 29, 1853, under the primary organization of Joseph Cundall (1818-1895) and Philip Henry Delamotte (1821-1891), who are also represented in Willats’s album.

By October 1854, Cocke was back on Regent Street, this time in partnership with photographer Thomas Nashum Kirkham, who form Cocke and Company. Their ground floor rooms held a studio, a classroom, and a shop, which they called the “Institute of Photography.” Unfortunately, the partnership dissolved “by mutual consent” in July 1855 and the Institute is taken over by Herbert Watkins (1828-after 1901), who kept the name but moved the operation up the road to 215 Regent Street.

During his brief time with Kirkham, Cocke was able to offer a number of specialties, including the photography of oil paintings, as noted in the October 1854 Art Journal, “At the establishment of Mr. Cooke, 179, Regent Street, there are some of the most perfect photographs after pictures we have yet seen. Two are from landscapes by [Thomas] Creswick, one of “Margaret and Faust in the Garden.” by [Henry Nelson] O’Neil, and others of pictures lately exhibited, together with very perfect pictures of bas reliefs. Mr. Cooke is, we believe, one of the oldest photographers, and his landscape subjects on paper are unsurpassed for truth and beautiful detail.”

Cocke published a pair of advertisements in The Athenaeum and other papers between 1854 and 1855, one for the commercial business and one for himself. The first reads: “Institute of Photography, 179, Regent Street—Messrs. Cocke & Co. respectfully solicit the attention of amateurs to the Collodion, manufactured only by them form the formula of Mr. W. [Adrian] Delferier. This Collodion is superior to any other and will not injure by keeping. Waxed, Iodized and Albumenized papers of the First quality; also photographic chemicals of every kind from their own laboratory.” As the son of a surgeon, Cocke may have benefited from early training in scientific practices.

The second advertisement was for Cocke’s personal work and reads: “Portraits, Copies of Pictures, Sculpture &c. taken and Instruction in the Art given daily, by Mr. Archibald Lewis Cocke. Photographic Apparatus of all kinds consistently on Sale.”

Writing in Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives (2007). Roger Taylor calls Cocke “one of the most prolific exhibitors of calotypes.” He continues, “In 1853 his work mostly reflected the natural world, but starting with the 1855 exhibition at the Photographic Institution in London, Cocke took an increasing interest in historic buildings. In 1855 his waxed-paper views ‘elicited considerable admiration’ from the Liverpool Photographic Society; they were, according to their journal, ‘exceedingly sharp and presented a peculiar softness of tone, with a completeness of detail seldom accomplished.’”

By the 1860s, Cocke has relocated to Hammersmith, where he continued to exhibit and sell his photographs. In particular, the artist was included in the 1861 Architectural Photographic Association’s 4th annual exhibition, contributing a series on Exeter Cathedral. Curiously, in 1863, The Jurist records that “the photographic artist Archibald Lewis Cocke, born East Wonford, Devonshire, carried on his profession under the name of Archibald Lewis Coke.” This may explain why there are a many images in Willats’s album depicting Devonshire locations, where Cocke went to visit family.

More reproductions of Cocke’s photography can be found at: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/k930bx11x

On Leaf 5, verso: Center, at top: “Devonshire / Calotype Paper Process”. Center, at bottom: “Query Archibald [] L. / Taken by Mr. A. Cocke and Regent Circus Piccadilly / 32 Horoland Street Fibrisoy ? Square”.

Leaf 7 (five photographs): Top left: “Cambridge church / by Mr. A. Cock[e]”. Top right: “Mr. Archibald Cocke – Cambridge”. Bottom left: “Jersey”.

Leaf 10 (six photographs): Top middle: “Cambridge / Mr. A. Cocke”. Center right: “Jersey”.

Leaf 19 (three photographs): Top left: “Brodie Esq. / Jersey”. Bottom center: “Calotype / Hampstead / by Mr. A. Cocke”.

Leaf 20 (nine photographs): Top left (image gone, completely grey): “Catalissotype”. Top middle: “Mr. A. Cocke”. Top right: “Field Birmingham”. Center middle: “Cambridge”. Bottom left: “Brodie Esq. Bottom middle: Cambridge / church”.

Leaf 35 (two photographs): Bottom: “Calotype / Nr. Windsor / by Mr. A. Cocke / and Mr. Golls / London”.

Leaf 50: “In Devonshire / By Mr. A. Cocke / Howland St FitzRoy Square”.

Roger Taylor and Larry J. Schaaf, Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007). Marquand TR395.T39 2007Q

Bernard Heathcote, A Faithful Likeness (Lowdham: the author, 2002). Marquand TR680.H427 2002Q

Larry J. Schaaf, director of the William Henry Fox Talbot Catalogue Raisonné under the Bodleian Library, spoke at the recent conference Rethinkng Early Photography held at the University of Lincoln. That talk has been posted on YouTube and focuses on the authorship of a particular photogenic drawing much in the news lately. http://www.rethinkingphotography.com/

The abstract for Schaaf’s talk entitled “The Damned Leaf: Musings on History, Hysteria, and Historiography,” reads in part

“In 1984, a Victorian family album was broken up, dividing its contents among specialist departments at Sotheby’s in London. It had belonged to Henry Bright, initially confused with a watercolourist by the same name, but soon identified as an East India Merchant. A related group of six early photographs was split into individual lots acquired by several purchasers. In 2008, Sotheby’s in New York prepared one of these photographs for sale. Traditionally identified as being by the inventor of photography, William Henry Fox Talbot, it was an enigmatic contact negative (photogram) of a single leaf. I knew right away it was not by Talbot—sadly—for it was gorgeous, but this news came as a shock to the owner and to the auctioneers. ‘If not Talbot, then who could it possibly be?’ came back the question, and I volunteered a one-page essay suggesting possible dating and authorships. One bookend was Henry Bright himself in the 1860s, with several figures in between, finally ranging back to Thomas Wedgwood around 1800.”

More about Talbot and Schaaf can be found on his blog http://foxtalbot.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/. The video, also posted at British Photographic History, is thanks to Dr. Owen Clayton, the conference organizer, and Adam O’Meara, videographer.See similar photogenic drawings in an album compiled by Richard Willats, held at Princeton University: Permanent Link: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/k930bx11x

SOME FACTS ABOUT SCHOOL OF MILITARY AERONAUTICS; Major Crissy Authorizes Publication of Interesting Details in Work of Flying Cadets.

“Although much of the available information concerning the School of Military Aeronautics, established in Princeton last summer, is not permitted to appear in print, Major Crissy, Commandant of the School, has authorized the publication of a few interesting facts. Nothing definite concerning the schedule for the different squadrons can be printed, but it is probable that a two hour period every afternoon will be devoted to supervised sports on a competitive basis for developing an Esprit dc Corps among the men.

Every man in the School is obliged to take instruction in trap-shooting for the purpose of developing co-ordination for aerial gunnery. It is understood that a lengthening of the course from eight to twelve weeks, in order to prepare the men more completely for their work, is now being contemplated by the authorities in Washington. The military subjects which are being taught in the school are, in general, Signalling and Wireless, Machine Gunnery, Aeroplane Motors, Aeroplanes, Aids to Flight, and Aerial Observation.

With the permission of the town authorities, it is expected that a military ceremony of some sort, either a parade or a review, will be given by the flying cadets about once a month on Nassau street. The music will be furnished by the School’s band, which, starting from a Fife and Drum Corps, now consists of 14 pieces. No definite numbers can be stated but it is understood that the School contains over 500 men, 25 per cent, of whom are discharged for one reason or another before finishing the course.

Every week the men are given “pass” from 1130 p. m. Saturday to 7 p. 111. on Sunday. One-third of the staff of the School of Military Aeronautics is composed of Princeton graduates. A list of the staff follows: Major Crissy (Commandant); Captains Wessellis, Braig, Zehnder; Lieutenants Condit, Beggs, Urner, Handy (Adj.), Sampson, McCabe, Chandler, Lambert, Roberts, Nolde, Johnson, Sizer, Tilton, and Barrett.”–Daily Princetonian, Volume 39, Number 300, 21 March 1918

 

Members of the Friends of the Princeton University Library will be seeing a new Princeton University Library Chronicle in their mailbox soon. For others, please note that this issue is dedicated almost exclusively to the photography holdings in Rare Books and Special Collections. I think I can guarantee it is an eye-opener and will introduce wonderful resources possibly unknown and certainly underutilized.

The table of contents for v. 75, no. 2 (winter 2014) reads:

“Clyde-built: The Photographic Work of Thomas Annan” by Lionel Gossman

“Who Art These Masked Men? The Early Ku Klux Klan, a Photograph, and a North Alabama Family” by Frances Osborn Robb

“Photography and the Princeton Collections of Western Americana” by Gabriel A. Swift

“Photography and the Princeton Print Club” by Julie Mellby

with additional articles about John White Alexander, Arthur Dove, Thomas Rowlandson, and Lionel Grimston Fawkes.

As one of the very few academic libraries still researching and publishing about their collection, I am very proud of this initiative at Princeton. Please consider joining the Friends and/or requesting the issue through interlibrary loan.

Still to come: An issue dedicated to the upcoming exhibition: Versailles on Paper: A Graphic Panorama of the Palace and Gardens of Louis XIV.