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As with many early photographic development. The albumen process originated in France. It is sometimes called the albumen silver process. The basic chemistry was developed by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard in France (1847). It was the first commercially viable process of creating negatives and producing a photographic print on paper. 【Newhall】 The process takes its name from using the albumen found in egg whites to bind the silver photographic chemicals to the paper. It began to replace the early processes by the mid-1850s, but really large number of albumen prints did not appear until the 1860s by which time it dominated photography for four decades. The two principal types of albumen prints were CDVs and cabinet cards, formats used in studios. Stereoscopic card were also important, but these were cards made by companies to bring images of places and peiole from around the world into British living rooms. The albumen process was invented in France (1850). For some reason it was not at first very popular. Patent law appears to have been the major impediment. The first commercial development was the CDV which for some reason did not become popular until the 1860s. Suddenly we have really large numbers of images. Much larger than the number of Dags and Ambros. The albumen process involved a negative and paper prints. his was much cheaper than a Dag or Ambro and provided for multiple print to share with family and friends. The CDV became popular in Britain and America at about the same time, although there are vastly more American than British and other European CDVs. At the time the American and British populations were comparable. So the disparity in the size of the photographic record was not population. It was more patent laws were more strongly enforced in Britain. Americans began turning to the larger cabinet cards about 1866 and CDVs declined very rapidly. This transition to cabinet cards for some reason was much slower in Britain. We have no idea why, but we still see substantial numbers of CDVs in Britain into the 1890s. We have no idea why.
Most early phoographic advances were made in England and France. The first commercial negative process was the albumen print. This began with the carte-de-viste (CDV) which was first appeared in France during the late-1850s. The CDV was hugely popular in England. We suddenly see an exponential increase in the number of photographic portraits. The Daguerreotype was introduced (1840s), but we see a rather limited number of Dags made in England. The CDV proved to be a very different matter.
Photographic studios began to spring up after the mid-1850s throughout Britain, far more than the number of Daguerreotypists. You can see this in our archive. We have found very few Dags, Calotypes, and Ambros to archive, but a lrge number of albumen prints (CDVs and cninet cards). It is not only that photographers were able to set up studios without paying a fee.
There were many advantages to albumen printing using collodion-negative process. You not only got high-quality prints at a low price, but you could make multiple copies to send to friends and family. The result was a huge increase in the number of studios and the an enormous expansion in the number of imges produced, not equal to but long the lines of what was happening in America.
The relative simplicity of the phoograpic process also meant that non-professionl, but really anateurs could dabble with pgotography. Most images were still made in the studio, but you begin to see images outside the studio taken by non-professionls, mostly rather well-to-do individuls. Sometimes the two groups crossed over (artist/photographers and profesional photographers). Many artist/photographers supported themselves and their hobby by setting up studio businesses. What we do not see are family snapshots by people thatvwere not well-heelded are having some basic ynderstanding of photography. We begin seeing CDVs in the mid-1850s, although they did not become really popular until the 1860s. The cabinet card which was essentially a large CDV appeared (mid-1860s). These formats would dominate English photograpy until the early-20th century.
As with many early photographic development. The albumen process originated in France. It is sometimes called the albumen silver process. The basic chemistry was developed by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard in France (1847). It was the first commercially viable process of creating negatives and producing a photographic print on paper. 【Newhall】 The process takes its name from using the albumen found in egg whites to bind the silver photographic chemicals to the paper. It began to replace the early processes by the mid-1850s, but really large number of albumen prints did not appear until about 1860 when he CDV became popular. This was about the same time the CDV came popular in America.
There are three primary albumen formats: the carte de visite (CDV), cabinet cards, and stereo view cards.. The first to appear was the CDV. The CDV was invented in France. It appeared in the 1850s, but did not become wildly popular until about 1860. The CDV was the smallest format. The name comes from there being used as calling cards. Stereoview cards apppeared in numbers about the same time. The larger cabinet cards appeared in the mid-1860s.
CDVs and cabinet cards were primarily portrait types. Cabinet cards in America rapidly replaced CDVs. For some reason, in Britain and several other European countries, the smaller CDV continued to be the primary photographic portrait into the 1880s. W are not sure why the smaller format was so popular for so long, but suspect that patent law was themajor reason. It is not until the CDV in the 1860s that we begin to see large numbers of Engish photographs. The early formats like Dags and Ambros were not nearly as common as in America. The albumen process was a breakthrough because it was inexpensive and as a negative process, mltiple copies could be made for country and friends. And they were ideal for collecting in albums. Stereoscopic card were also important, but these were cards made by companies to bring images of places and people from around the world into British living rooms.
Newhall, Beaumont (April 1955). "60,000 Eggs A Day" Journal of Photography Vol 4, No. 4 (April 1955), pp. 25–26.
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