PSS
and Talbot
PSS
Gold Medal awarded to Talbot
Talbot
was not a Member of PSS, but he made several donations to the Society.
In 1859, PSS awarded a Gold Medal to Talbot in consideration of his
discoveries in photography.
Five
years later, on 8 March 1864, Talbot attended one of the Society’s meetings
and had his portrait taken by John Moffat.
The meeting was held at 117 George Street.
The subject was:
“On
the Light of Magnesium wire in Combustion as a Photographic Agent”.
The
minutes of this meeting record:
“After
the paper had been read, an experiment was tried as to the value of this light,
first on the bust and then on a group composed of Sir David Brewster and Mr
Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of Photography who had honoured the meeting with
his presence. After an exposure of
42 seconds, the negative of the group when developed, was quite successful.
Mr Moffat kindly acted as photographer on the occasion.”
The
PSS Meeting on 8 March 1864 ended with:
This
is an engraving of a photograph taken by John Moffat’s in his studio.
John Moffat made the arrangements for Talbot to sit for this photograph
following the session on 8 March 1864. This
engraving was issued with the 12 August 1864 edition of the British Journal of
Photography.
