Image Vol. 2 0 , No.

1 March, 1977

Journal of Photography and Motion Pictures of the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House

TABLE OF CONTENTS BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The Approach to Create: James Wong Howe 1 Chairman, Vincent S. Jones
Hercules Florence, Pioneer of Photography in Brazil 12 First Vice Chairman, Wesley T. Hanson
Personality Cameras 22 Second Vice Chairman, Alexander D. Hargrave
"Rounds of Amusement:" The Thaumatrope 28 Treasurer, Robert Sherman
The Ernostar Lens 30 Secretary, Mrs. Arthur L. Stern III
Publishing Symposium 32 Robert Doherty
Walter A. Fallon
IMAGE STAFF Sherman Farnham
Frank M. Hutchins
Robert J. Doherty, Director
Mrs. Daniel G. Kennedy
George C. Pratt, Director of Publications
William E. Lee
W. Paul Rayner, Co-Editor
Paul A. Miller
Contributing Editors: David L. Strout
James Card, Director, Department of Film W. Allen Wallis
Andrew Eskind, Assistant to the Director of the Museum Frederic S. Welsh
Robert A. Sobieszek, Associate Curator, 19th Century Photography Andrew D. Wolfe
William Jenkins, Assistant Curator, 20th Century Photography
Philip L. Condax, Assistant Curator, Equipment Archive
Marshall Deutelbaum, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Film
Martha Jenks, Director of Archives
Roger Bruce, Director of Education
Ann McCabe, Registrar About the Contributors
Walter Clark, Consultant on Conservation
Boris Kossoy is a young Brazilian journalist and
Rudolf Kingslake, Consultant on Lenses and Shutters
photohistorian, living in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Eaton
Eaton S. Lothrop, Jr., Consultant on Cameras
S. Lothrop, Jr. and Rudolph Kingslake are con-
Martin L. Scott, Consultant on Technology
sultants to IMP/GEH. Marshall Deutelbaum and
George C. Pratt are on staff at IMP/GEH.
Corporate Members Gannett Newspapers
Berkey Marketing Companies, Inc. Hollinger Corporation
Braun of North America, Inc. Polaroid Corporation
Dover Publications, Inc. Spectrum Office Products
Eastman Kodak Company Spiratone, Inc.
Flanigans Furniture J. Walter Thompson Company
Ford Motor Company 3M Company Front Cover: MALE AND FEMALE (DeMille, 1919): assorted
boredom of the castaways, including Gloria Swanson
(center) and Lila Lee (right). This was one of the early
Image is published four times a year for the International Museum of Photography Associate Members and libraries by
films for which James Wong Howe, later a famous
International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House Inc., 900 East Avenue, Rochester, New York 14607.
cameraman, " h e l d the s l a t e " for identifying the shots.
Single copies are available at $3.50 each. Subscriptions are available to libraries at $13.00 per year (4 issues). For overseas
The still is by Karl Struss. Back Cover: LAUGH, CLOWN,
libraries add $1.00.
LAUGH (Brenon, 1928): Lon Chaney in the only film of
Copyright 1977 by International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. his which Howe photographed.
The Approach to Create: James Wong Howe

George C. Pratt

1
The following interview was conducted April
19, 1958, at the Beverly Hills Hotel, with the
cinematographer born Wong Tung Jim in China
who became known in this country as James
Wong Howe. Howe's Hollywood career extended
over an unusual number of years — from 1919
to 1970. He died six years later at the age of
seventy-six.
The interview progressed smoothly and al-
most without interruption, except for occasional
recourse to a chronological list of the films he
had photographed, in order to refresh his mem-
ory. The weather — as I recall — was mild, and
through the open windows of the hotel room
came the sounds of distant street traffic which
pleasantly punctuated Howe's recital of events
on the tape.
The first film I remember seeing when I was
a boy was THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY [1903].
It was shown in the Knights of Columbus Hall
in a little town called Pasco, Washington. I had
to cross the railroad tracks; I remember that
night quite well. They hung a sheet in the mid-
dle of the hall and they projected the picture
[on this]. As we came in [behind the sheet], we
saw it backwards. So it was just a lot of images.
I remember the man [on the screen] fired a gun,
and someone by the projector had a gun with
a blank in it, and he fired it, synchronizing it.
And it scared the wits out of us. Well, it was
stormy that night — I'm not trying to make this
dramatic—but I had to cross the tracks going
back again, and it left a great impression in my
mind. It looked so vivid. This was around, I
would say — 1910? I don't remember the date.
I remember Griffith's HEARTS OF THE WORLD
[1918] and BROKEN BLOSSOMS [1919] very
well. And another film that stands out very
vividly in my mind is Henry King's TOL'ABLE
DAVID [1921], with Richard Barthelmess.
I remember seeing Chaplin comedies, and
Anita Stewart, James Cruze in THE MILLION
DOLLAR MYSTERY (the serial, with Marguerite
Snow). Then I remember Westerns with Broncho
Billy Anderson, and the William S. Hart Westerns.
I didn't see many of the Tom Mix movies. I
don't know how I missed those. But I did see a
lot of the early PERILS OF PAULINE [1914]. I
thought Anita Stewart was just the most beauti-
2
ful thing on the screen. Then I caught some
Sessue Hayakawa films: THE CHEAT [1915] and
HASHIMURA TOGO [1917]. The serials were
wonderful in those days: when you walked out,
you would be just hanging on a string, waiting
for the next episode.
I came down to California originally to study
aviation. My money ran out, so I had to go to
work. My first job was as a delivery boy on a
little motorcycle for a commercial photographer,
Raymond Stagg. He was very successful. I
worked with him about three or four months,
and then I met a friend of mine named Len
Powers who I'd known up in the Northwest.
He'd come down earlier. He was working in
Mack Sennett comedies as a cameraman. And
he told me that I should try to get into motion
picture work, and be a photographer if I liked
it. I didn't know how to go about it, so he told
me to go to some studio and ask for the head
of the camera department (at that time he was
the head of the laboratories, too), and get a
job as an assistant. I went over to the Jesse L.
Lasky studios and I waited for a man by the
name of Mr. Alvin Wyckoff, who at that time
was head of the camera department, and also
Mr. Cecil B. DeMille's chief cameraman. I
waited, oh, quite a long time — two or three
hours — and finally the gate man pointed him
out to me. And I went in and talked to him . . .
He said: "You know, you're a little small to
carry the cameras. They're quite heavy. You've
got to carry the movie camera and then the
still cameras." I said, "Oh, I think I can do it
all right." He said: "Well, I don't have a posi-
tion open right now, but I can put you to work
— if you don't mind it — down in the camera
room, keeping it clean. The boys throw around
short ends of film, and you know they're dan-
gerous, and the wrapping paper. I wish you'd
take care of it, and you could clean the cam-
eras, wipe them off as they come in. And if
there's an opening later on, you'd be the first
to get on it. So I did. I accepted it. I said:
"When do I start?" He said: "Well, you're on
the payroll right now. Ten dollars a week!" I
said: "That's wonderful."
. . . . Well, I worked in the camera room for
about, oh, three or four months. And Mr. De-
Mille was using some extra cameras, it seems,
and needed an extra camera assistant. Well,
those were the days before unions, and you
couldn't just get an assistant immediately. So
Mr. Wyckoff thought of me and he asked me
up and my job was to put the number on a
slate with a piece of chalk and hold it up in
front of the camera. I was a little embarrassed,
frightened, I didn't know. I got in front and held
this slate. But in those days I always smoked
cigars. Somehow I found the money to buy a
cigar, and I'd have this big cigar in my mouth
with this slate in front and I looked bewildered,
and it was quite comical. And Mr. DeMille saw
this strange face every time a scene number
would come up and I'd be peeking over and
wondering what's going on. "Alvin," he said,
"Who's that?" "Well," he said, "It's Jimmie
Howe. He's one of the extra assistants put on."
Mr. DeMille said: "He looks very funny. It gives
me a laugh. Keep him on with me." So that's
how I became one of the permanent assistants
on his staff there.
. . . . The very first film I held the slate for
was FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE [1919], a De-
Mille production. Then I remember going on
MALE AND FEMALE [1919], the DeMille film
taken from the play The Admirable Crichton.
Well, in those early days they didn't have a
camera machine shop. We used a Pathe and
the Bell and Howell cameras. And Mr. Wyckoff
had a Bell and Howell, and also he had his
favorite Pathe he liked. We used to have to
send it down to Los Angeles [to a place] called
The Los Angeles Motion Picture Equipment
Company. . . . So we sent the Pathe down to
have it cleaned, and I remember it came back
on a Saturday, and we left Sunday morning on
a little yacht that belonged to Mr. Frank Gar-
butt, who was part owner, owned stock in the
company at the time.
And we sailed over there. I remember Gloria
Swanson, Mr. DeMille, Mr. Wyckoff, Mr. Garbutt,
and Thomas Meighan, Lila Lee. Oh, it was a
terrible storm, going across the channel there
to Santa Cruz islands, opposite to Santa Bar-
bara. Everyone got seasick. We finally got to the
islands and on Monday morning we set up the
cameras and oh my a terrible thing happened:
Mr. Wyckoff looked through the camera and
then he called me and he said: "Where's the
lens?" They had taken the lens out and for-
gotten to put it back in the camera, and I didn't
inspect the camera. I thought it was all clean
and I just took the cases and sent them along.
A good thing we had the Bell and Howell. They
could go to work. The lens was sent over to
Santa Barbara and brought immediately that
day by speedboat.
I held the slate on MALE AND FEMALE. And
when Mr. DeMille rehearsed a scene, I had to
crank a little counter . . . and I would have to
grind sixteen frames [of film] per second. And
when he stopped, I would have to give him the
footage. He wanted to know how long the scene
ran. So besides writing the slate numbers down
and keeping a report, I had to turn this crank.
That was the beginning of learning how to turn
sixteen frames.
. . . . Now when we came back, they had
made a dissolve — I didn't know what dissolves
were in those days. Anyway, Mr. Wyckoff bought
a new tripod with an aluminum head. So he
said: "Be sure and keep this tripod head clean."
I used to polish it, oh, beautifully. Well, we'd
gone to lunch, I came back and I happened to
look at the tripod and I saw writing all over it
— a lot of " f d , " " f i , " "fo," " f i , " "des," and then
figures like "32," "46" and "out at 57, in at
58." And I said: "Who's been writing all over
this tripod?" So I got the rag and I wiped it all
off. So, somehow or other, Mr. DeMille stopped
work after lunch and we put all the equipment
away. Next morning I brought the equipment. I
set the camera up and put it on the set, and I
heard Mr. DeMille say: "All right, Alvin, we'll
make the rest of that scene now." And I noticed
Mr. Wyckoff looking at the tripod, and he
looked very concerned after a moment, and he
called me over and he said: "Jimmie, is this my
same tripod I've been using?" I said: "Abso-
lutely." He said: "What happened to the num-
bers on there?" "Oh," I said, "I wiped them all
off." He said: "Oh, my God! My God!" . . . .
What happened was that they were making a
dissolve of Gloria Swanson and Bebe Daniels
arguing and they dissolve to cats fighting. Well,
what I had done . . . [was to destroy the record
of the dissolve] when it would come in, change
to the cats and change back again. We had to
do it all over again. . . . I felt very bad about it
and I told Mr.Wyckoff. . . . Mr. DeMille was very
mad. However, one thing about Mr. Wyckoff, he
was very fair to all the boys that worked with
him. He said: "Well, Jimmie, I should have told
you that. It's not your fault really. Next time you
see any numbers — writing or anything — just
don't wipe it off."
. . . . Making $10 a week in those days — it
was a lot of money, that's before t a x e s — I got
along all right. I had to watch myself very
closely. I lived downtown in a little hotel, had a
room there. . . . I used to come to work on a
streetcar . . . [which would run] as far as
Hollywood Boulevard to La Brea, then turn
around and go back. So Mr. DeMille would
come to work — his hours were 10 in the
morning, lunch around 3, and we wouldn't get
through until 9 and 10 at night. Well, I had to
take care of loading all the cameras — he
always had two or three cameras on the set.
The cameramen in those days also shot the
stills. So I had to load them . . . [still cameras].
make the records (keep the footage) and load
and unload the film, get it ready for the labora-
tory. By that time it would sometimes be after
midnight, and I would miss my streetcar. Well,
Hollywood in those days — I couldn't afford
staying in a hotel that cost $2.00 or $2.50 a
night, and I was without a place to sleep. I
wandered back to the studio and went on the
stage and wandered around and I looked at
the sets and there was this beautiful set with a
beautiful bed and bathroom. Gloria Swanson
had played scenes there, and I thought, well, it's
summer and they're open stages. I just crawled
under the covers and went to sleep there. The
watchman came along . . . [and I told him:]
"If you don't mind, just wake me up around
about 6:30 before everybody comes." So every
time I'd be late, I'd sleep on a different set. . . .
[He'd get up early and go across the street and
get coffee and two doughnuts for ten cents.]
Then I'd punch in. It was always early. . . . Mr.
DeMille thought very well of it . . . and said:
"Give him a raise, Alvin." So he gave me a
$2.50 a week raise.
There were only 400-foot magazines [for the
cameras]. The Pathe magazines came separate.
We'd load 400 feet in one magazine, then we'd
thread it and the take-up was separate. The
Bell and Howell magazine was a separate
chamber, but altogether it was like the maga-
zine of the Mitchells today, only 400 feet.
. . . . All the cameramen had to do their own
tricks in those days. Right in the camera. They
didn't have the optical printers that they have
today. My, they used to make split screen and
all this kind of work, and the film would be
rewound — many exposures on one piece of
film. After every picture there would be cans
of film that we would have to shoot other
dissolves in. And they were just a slip of paper
with the numbers on, in the can. And they'd
have to wait two or three weeks some times
until the other part of the scene would come.
And we'd put them in the camera, and they'd
make the films — came out very successfully.
[Howe had first participated in film-making
some time in 1918 when for a single day he had
been an extra in an Enid Bennett feature di-
rected by Jerome Storm. Later that same year
(or else at the very beginning of 1919) he be-
came an assistant to the Japanese cameraman,
Henry Kotani, on PUPPY LOVE, starring Lila
Lee. Still later, in 1919, when George Melford
was directing Robert Warwick in TOLD IN THE
HILLS, Kotani with Howe assisting constituted
a second unit camera. Both Kotani and Howe
were short men, and, even though one was
Japanese and the other Chinese, they were
taken for brothers. Howe seems to have become
a second cameraman in 1921 — the chronology
is a little hazy in here — and worked apparently
on one film apiece with the director Irvin Willat
(a Western) and the director Frank O'Connor:
EVERYTHING FOR SALE, whose cameraman
was Hal Rosson. In 1922 he appears to have
been second cameraman on THE WOMAN WHO
WALKED ALONE, a Dorothy Dalton feature di-
rected by George Melford, who worked with the
cameraman Bert Glennon. During the making of
this, Glennon fell sick, and Jimmie took over
the picture. This was "the first time I had taken
pictures on my own."]
Then I remember on EBB TIDE [1922, Melford-
Glennon] we were over on the isthmus, Catalina
Islands, and had a rain storm. We shot the pic-
ture and somehow or other Mr. Melford asked
me the next day how I felt the scenes were. He
thought they were very good. . . . I said: "Uncle
George [his nickname], I think you won't see
anything on that film." He said: "What you talk-
ing about?" He got angry because I told him
that. He said: "What do you mean?" I said:
". . . Last night when they were shooting it, all
I could see was like a white sheet. There was a
lot of light on the water coming down." . . .
Sure enough, next day they got a telegram and
had to remake everything. . . . Then he had
quite a bit of respect for me and he would ask
3
me these things because we got along very fine. eyes "go dark." And besides, she explained, "I I remember I had [had] two lights, they were
. . . . During this time, to supplement my earn- have a couple of cat scratches on my forehead quite high. And I stood there with this little
ings, I bought a little still camera, a 5x7 East- and you eliminated the scratches." All well and mirror and I reflected into the black velvet — it
man view camera I bought, downtown in one of good, but Jimmie didn't know how he had went dark. Then I would tip it and reflect up to
the pawnshops, and I started to learn taking managed to darken the eyes.] the white diffuser, and it would be light. I
pictures with it. I would watch Alvin Wyckoff, . . . . I went back on the stage [where the thought: "It's the black velvet!"
how they would make stills and I'd try it and so portraits had been made]. We didn't have en- Well, when I made DRUMS OF FATE [late
I got quite good at making portraits and still closed stages in those days. There were open 1922, with Mary Miles Minter], for the close-ups
pictures and I used to make them for the bit stages and some were covered with glass. We I would always have a big frame with a piece of
players. They didn't have agencies in those had diffusers — white diffusers for diffused black velvet, and I had a hole cut in it. This
days. Each studio had its own casting office and white light, and then we had black diffusers if frame could raise up and down a little, and I
if someone would come there, they would bring we wanted to shoot night scenes. I went back put the lens through this little hole. It was quite
their own picture, usually 8x10, and they would and I noticed up there was a white diffuser. I a novelty. Miss Minter would sit in front of this
write on the back how high they were, weight looked around in back — there was a big piece black velvet with very few lights, and I would
and so on, complexion and all that information. of [black] velvet on the wall. Someone had been give orders to set other lights. Instead of walk-
So I used to make a little extra money in mak- making a picture with some double exposure ing around this piece of velvet, I would just lift
ing pictures for these extra people. Some of work. And I looked at this wall — this great big up the bottom and here my face would appear
them played Indian parts, cowboys, and they'd piece of black velvet. . . . I went and got a little and disappear. She liked it very much. It was
have their pictures taken in their costumes. And mirror and I stood where she [had] stood. . . . soothing to her, this black velvet. . . . Well,
I learned how to make good portraiture. And I
used to make title backgrounds: diffused focus
subtitles. You might have: "And then came the
dawn." We'd get a sunset shot, kind of early
morning, and soft focus, and then we'd put
[superimpose] the title; and a silk hat and a
pair of gloves or something for the evening
things. I made these illustrated titles for these
different pictures I worked on. Mr. Willat liked
them very much and he complimented me.
Karl Struss was a still cameraman then, the first
still cameraman that Mr. DeMille engaged. He
did nothing but make stills in those days. And
he had a lens he made — it was called the
Struss lens, soft focus. . . . A man still in town,
over on Highland Avenue — his name is De-
vereux D. Graham, an optician — I bought one
of these Meniscus lenses from him. It was $1.50.
Had it mounted. I used to make these soft focus
illustrations and by stopping down a little more,
I could make nice diffused portraiture.
[When Mary Miles Minter, a radiant blonde
star, walked by one day, Jimmie asked if he
could make a couple of portraits of her. He did
so, enlarging them and presenting them to her.
Two or three months later, he was called into
the office and told: "Jimmie, you are now a first
cameraman. Mary Miles Minter wants you as her
cameraman." Howe was frightened; he felt un-
ready. What had pleased Miss Minter was that
instead of washing out her very light blue eyes
— which the orthochromatic film of those days
took care of very neatly — he had made her
4
Hollywood was a small community and people
used to give parties, you know, and so it got
around that Mary Miles Minter had imported
herself an Oriental cameraman who photo-
graphed and hid behind a big piece of black
velvet. It was quite a mystery. . . . Overnight I
became a sensation. . . .
[In 1923 Howe shot the first of the ten films
he made with the director Herbert Brenon. The
best known of these is PETER PAN (1924).]
. . . . I was on my vacation. I was in Seattle,
Washington, when I read in a newspaper that
Betty Bronson was chosen to be Peter Pan. . . .
I came back and I remember making the test.
And we made a test of a young girl named Mary
Brian to play Wendy. The excitement in making
PETER PAN — not only in photographing — was
[being with] these kids [Wendy's two brothers,
and the "lost boys"] — I got along with them
very well. Mr. Brenon was very stern — he was
from the old school of theater, and sometimes
he'd be a little harsh with the children and they
got a little frightened of him. So he noticed that
I got along very well with them, because I'd
participate with them in their games, so a lot of
times he would ask me to tell the kids what
to do.
. . . . We had a boat, an old sailing boat that
had been rebuilt with another deck on top of
the original deck to look like a pirate ship. Well
they towed this ship over to Santa Cruz island
and we were working on this with all the chil-
dren and Ernest Torrence [Captain Hook] and
the whole crew and around three o'clock comes
a storm. The boat kept drifting closer to shore
and there was danger that it would get on the
rocks. The tug that was pulling it kept pulling
it out and it got so rough we couldn't work any
more. We took all the children, Mr. Torrence,
Mr. Brenon and the women — the mothers —
ashore. After that it got so rough we couldn't
get a rowboat [through]. So the rest of the
members of the crew — the staff — stayed on
the boat. And we were just pulled out in the
middle of the channel and we started drifting.
The storm — oh, it was an awful storm — we
drifted all night long. And I remember that we
had the gas generator on the boat and the
barrels of gasoline that we used. They started
rolling and they knocked some of the sidings
off. We broke two or three tow lines. Finally
the captain was on there — his name was
Captain Cunningham, I remember. And we . . . . And I remember the mermaids we had
drifted way down to a point they called Dead [in PETER PAN]. They had to paint their bodies
Man's Point. It must have been around 4:30 in with this oil paint of some kind so it wouldn't
the morning and he said: "Well, if this tow come off. And they had this long hair. And oh
rope breaks" — he had called everybody to- these girls used to swim in that cold water. I
gether — "I can't do much for you. The tug really admired them.
can't come over. All I can advise you, you [Between 1923 and 1927, Jimmie photo-
people, get your life preserver, or, if you don't graphed three films for the director Sidney Ol-
have one, get a piece of lumber, anything. If cott, and two for the director Allan Dwan. He
this towline breaks, we're in trouble." . . . Peo- also did four films for Victor Fleming (who later
ple got hysterical. Fortunately, the towline held, directed GONE WITH THE WIND in 1939), in-
and we just missed this point, and then it drifted cluding two Zane Grey Westerns and MANTRAP
into this bay round about — oh — six o'clock. (1926), with Clara Bow.]
Then they drove over from this camp and took
. . . . THE ROUGH RIDERS [Fleming, 1927]
us back.
took quite a while. Cuba was made right here
. . . . Mr. Brenon, as I said before, was from
on the hill out of Peco some place. The Wild
the theater, and he had seen Maude Adams do
West things — I mean where they recruited —
Peter Pan, and he said on the stage they used
was down in Texas — San Antonio. I remember
a mirror to reflect [represent] Tinker Bell. I said,
Mr. Fleming had 400 wild horses, and they
"A mirror! We have to reflect it on a surface
before you can see it. If it was a smooth sur-
face, it would be smooth, but if it was a broken
surface it would be broken pattern." . . . I
wanted a constant light. I said: "The thing to
do — I want to hook up an automobile headlight
bulb on a fine wire and put it on a trout pole,
and have a man work that." He said: "Oh, that's
impossible! You would never photograph that
little bulb." I said: "Well, I think that's the only
way to do it."
[Both were stubborn and the matter was fin-
ally arbitrated so that Jimmie was to try his
scheme, and if that didn't work, they could al-
ways fall back on the mirror.]
. . . . So I had my electrician wire this little
automobile headlight bulb and hang it on this
fine wire from a trout pole, and the grip could
just maneuver this thing — he had a wonderful
movement with this pole. And I hung a little
silver Christmas tinsel — looked like a little
skirt — and it reflected this light and gave it
movement. And we put on a little dimmer so
that it would breathe when the light would go
into the vase on the mantelpiece, and it would
fly through the air. But that's how we got Tinker
Bell.
. . . . And then of course we used Virginia
Brown Faire [miniaturized, in the closer shots
which showed Tinker Bell in detail]. . . . That
trick stuff was done by Mr. Roy Pomeroy who
did the parting of the Red Sea for the first TEN
COMMANDMENTS [1923] for Mr. DeMille.
5
advertised for riders. Everybody came — they
wanted to get into movies, they thought they
could ride the wild horses. On the fairgrounds
— I still have a still picture where they turn
loose 400 wild horses with these riders, and
I've never seen so many riders in the air at one
time. A lot of people got hurt. Dust and —
. . . . On THE ROUGH RIDERS, we made . . .
a camera dolly made out of little airplane wheels
with a counterbalance post in the center that
held two Bell and Howell cameras that could be
lifted up and down easily. [An account of this]
was published in Popular Mechanics. I think it
was one of the forerunners of the crane dolly in
those days.
. . . . In the twenties the Ufa [a German com-
pany] made some wonderful films that came
over. I remember the first one was directed by
Ernst Lubitsch: PASSION [1919] — Pola Negri
was in it. Then they had THE CABINET OF DR.
CALIGARI [1920]. Then came THE LAST LAUGH
[1924]. And they had great camera movement.
And VARIETY [1926] — oh yes, with Dupont
directing, and Karl Freund did some wonderful
camera work in those [last two] films, and that
set a pattern of camera movement. The pro-
ducers in the studios tried to move the camera
6
more. That's when the cameras got on wheels.
However, I'm quite sure there had been times
before [that] the directors would move cameras.
But not as much until the German films came
over.
[Location shots for SORRELL AND SON
(Brenon, 1927) were made in England.]
. . . . We were there in the spring. We had
beautiful soft light, I remember. There was a
little mist and it gave another perspective. It
would have this nice clear foreground, then you
get this misty effect like we used to try to get
here by stretching a huge piece of gauze be-
tween our foreground and the background. And
then having the sun hit it.
[LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH (Brenon, 1928) was
the only film that Howe made with Lon Chaney.]
. . . . He was the only actor I knew that could
stand in front of the camera, and no matter what
lens I put on (I would tell him what lenses were
on), he could step off and give me the sidelines
at any distance from the camera. He knew ex-
actly. He said: "Here I'm cut in half, and here is
your other sideline over here. He knew so well."
[In — as Howe remembers — the latter part
of 1928, he returned to China for a visit.]
. . . . I came over in 1904. And by the way,
yesterday I was naturalized. It's just been a long
time coming. Of course it's a long story. First
of all, people that were born in China — immi-
gration laws for many years — we couldn't be
naturalized, you see, until after the Second
World War, when it was possible. So I'm very
happy, because I've been living as an American
citizen all these years, and now that I've got it
in writing, I feel wonderful about it. I can go out
and vote now.
So anyway, I went to China, for a trip, and I
thought I'd take a camera along. I was gone
about — oh four or five months. I wanted to do
a little documentary film over there. I shot the
film but I didn't have enough experience as a
filmmaker — in other words as a director — to
get my material together right. So all I came
back with was about fifteen or twenty thousand
feet of film, as shot haphazardly. I mean, shot
well, but I didn't have the continuity. I tried to
do something with this film, put it together, try
to make travelogues, but FitzPatrick had better
travelogues. So I was out for a while. That's the
reason for the lack of credits [in this period]. I
didn't do much work because I was concentrat-
ing on this China project. Mr. Fleming was very
much interested . . . but not until . . . [several]
years later Mr. Fleming and Fairbanks made a
little film called AROUND THE WORLD IN 80
MINUTES WITH DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS [1931]
and he remembered that I had some of that
China film [footage] and he used some of that
in there. And then von Sternberg made the
SHANGHAI EXPRESS [1932], and they used
some of my film as background . . . for some
of the countryside — they used a process where
the train was going by. Well, that accounts for
the gap in my credits.
Now, I come back and sound had come in.
. . . Now it's quite a mystery to make a sound
picture. I'd go for a job and they'd say: "Have
you done anything in sound?" . . . And I went
quite a number of months without making a
film. . . .
[Finally he made the sound film TODAY (1930)
for Majestic, an independent company, "in nine
days," to establish a credit. Although his next
film was for Howard Hawks (THE CRIMINAL
CODE, 1931), with whom he also made AIR
FORCE in 1943, Howe considered his first major
sound credit to be TRANSATLANTIC (1931),
directed by William K. Howard, with whom he
 made a total of four films.]
. . . . All the way through that film [TRANS-
ATLANTIC] I used the wide angle 24mm lens.
There wasn't a lens used any wider than a 35.
It created quite an interest because it had the
deep focus, stopped down a little, with a wide
angle. We carried focus quite well, and a
forced perspective. And working with William
K. Howard was quite an experience. And we
went all out — he and I — we worked together
very closely on TRANSATLANTIC. I remember it
because he said he needed a good film. Every-
body had to re-establish himself when sound
came in. So I got re-established by TRANS-
ATLANTIC.
[Among the other Howard films were THE
POWER AND THE GLORY (1933), and then, in
England in 1936, FIRE OVER ENGLAND, with
Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.]
. . . . I enjoyed working over at the British
studios. It was quite different, although when
you go into a [sound] stage and you close the
doors and you once get into action, you would
hardly know that you were in a foreign coun-
try, only from the British accent and the new
faces. They have their little methods, their ways,
and I had to learn to adapt myself to their
tempo. And it was very nice having that tea
break around 3 or 3:30 in the afternoon, ten or
fifteen minutes, and it was quite worth while. . . .
[In Hollwoood, Howe was under contract to
Fox for 1931-33. At this time he first worked
with the director Raoul Walsh (THE YELLOW
TICKET), with whom he was to team again: THE
STRAWBERRY BLONDE (1941), OBJECTIVE,
BURMA! (1945) and PURSUED (1947). The odd-
est of his Fox projects was the film which Erich
von Stroheim had directed under the title
WALKING DOWN BROADWAY, but which was
unsatisfactory to the front office, and, apparently
largely reshot and re-edited, was finally released
in 1933 as HELLO SISTER!, with a directorial
credit to Alan Crosland.]
. . . But [Stroheim had] . . . said, "I want this
picture photographed like — we really should
go to New York and sit there in New York and
photograph in the real places, like I did GREED
[1924]," he said. "I went to San Francisco, and
that dentist's office there. We did the real
things. That's the way it should be made. These
movie sets — they look like movie sets. We've
got to make them so that they don't look like

7
8
9

movie sets."
. . . . He was very meticulous in directing. Oh,
the detail! Boots Mallory, I remember he had a
scene with her. He wanted her to cry, and she
was standing in a doorway, and it was raining,
and oh he really slapped her hard to make her
cry.
. . . I don't think in later years he was appre-
ciated. He was one of the fine artists, I felt, that
I had the opportunity to work with.
. . . I'd go up and visit Mr. von Stroheim in
his home — I've forgotten where it was — out
here near Bel Air or some place. And they had
taken all the furniture away from him, and he
was all alone in this huge living room. All he
had there was a couch. . . . [In the fireplace] he
was burning newspapers and magazines, you
see, to keep a little warmth. And he told me,
he says, "Jimmie," he says, "I sit here and I
hear voices coming through that fireplace. Just
the other day a voice came through, and told
10
me to go to a certain address over on Beach-
wood Drive. And I went over there . . . and told
this lady to expect either her husband or some-
one that was coming back."
And he was hearing things, he said, spiritual
things that were coming through this fireplace.
. . . His [Stroheim's financial] extravagance
was not unreasonable, it seems to me — [it
was] only that he wanted detail and perfection.
Everything exactly so. That's where his extrava-
gance came in. He wasn't extravagant in other
ways. Normally he would shoot the film until he
thought it was right. He would make a lot of
takes. But he really wanted detail. Sometimes
I thought it wouldn't show [on he screen].
But one thing it did do — it had an effect on
the players. It even had an effect on me, in
lighting, because it made me try to get a more
realistic type of photography which was lacking
in one phase of our photographic work. We'd
gone off into kind of a soft focus period at one
time. He was bringing us back to sharpness.
He finished . . . [the film] but they had a lot
of trouble.
[Later that year Howe was given a contract
with MGM which ran through 1935. His best-
known film from this period is THE THIN MAN
(1934). After his return from England, he signed
with the producer David O. Selznick to do THE
PRISONER OF ZENDA (1937) and THE ADVEN-
TURES OF TOM SAWYER (1938). The latter was
in color. Then, for the producer Walter Wanger
he made ALGIERS (1938), with Charles Boyer
and with Hedy Lamarr in her first American film
role. This was a remake of a French film called
PEPE LE MOKO.]
. . . . Mr. Cromwell [the director] and Mr.
Wanger did work very close to [a print of] PEPE
LE MOKO, although I hadn't seen the film. . . .
They wanted me to see it and I said I didn't want
to see it because I was afraid it might influence
me, and I wanted to do my film the way I vis-
ualized it. So I didn't see PEPE LE MOKO until
after I'd finished the film. I must say that the
original was very good, and much better in
some ways than mine. They had caught a real-
istic feeling. . . . I missed on some of it. I had
more of a pictorial, romantic feeling. They
caught the real documentary type of feeling. It
was very good.
[Signed by Warners, he photographed films
for them which appeared from 1938 through
1947, and, in addition to Raoul Walsh, he worked
with the directors Busby Berkeley, Michael Cur-
tiz, William Dieterle and Anatole Litvak. There
were several loan-outs to other studios: ABE
LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS (1940); HANGMEN ALSO
DIE (1943), which Fritz Lang directed. Perhaps
the most familiar Warners title now is YANKEE
DOODLE DANDY (1942), with James Cagney in
the main role as George M. Cohan. After the
Warner Brothers contract, Howe was a free-
lancer. He photographed THE BARON OF ARI-
ZONA (1950), one of the earliest films directed
by Samuel Fuller, in fourteen days. Once Howe
himself directed a film: GO, MAN, GO (1954),
about the Harlem Globetrotters; and he co-
directed THE INVISIBLE AVENGER (1958) with
John Sledge. There were two Academy Awards:
for THE ROSE TATTOO (1955), and the other
(since the interview was conducted in 1958, it
was still five years in the future): for HUD (1963).
After 1958, Howe photographed a total of thir-
teen films, the last two in 1970.]
. . . . [Solving technical problems was the
thing he enjoyed] . . . a great deal in making
motion pictures because now today there isn't
very much new in it, only we have the wide
films now and the cinemascope and things like
that. But the approach to our problems, the ap-
proach to create, to get something you don't
really have [easily] when you're away from the
studio. These are challenging things that come
out. There's great satisfaction in doing them.
I'm always trying to find some way to approach
the different stories that I make.
. . . . I've just finished a film called BELL,
BOOK AND CANDLE. . . . It's a story about
witchery . . . [photographed in color]. We had
Mr. [Eliot] Elisofon from Life magazine as a
color consultant. And I hope that we got some
nice effects. I hope that we didn't overdo, that
we didn't get too enthusiastic with the color.
That's a danger. . . . And there are so many
minds sometimes that enter [into it]: we have a
producer, we have the writer, we have the di-
rector; now we have the color consultants. And
it's hard for a cameraman, a photographer, to
keep his own identity without getting lost. And
I'm quite sure that in this film — much as I
enjoyed working on it — that there are many
things in it that I personally found that I would
have done differently, if I had had more control.
However they [color films] can be good. I like
color but we must have more control of color.
And the only way we can get the control is in
the preparation, in the designing, in working
closer with the art director. Now after the art
director gets through with it, we can do many
things with the lights [in order to more fully
achieve certain effects], but I don't like to work
too much with gelatins. I like to get the colors
planned ahead of time, with the art director.
Black and white is a harder medium, for me,
at least. It's more challenging, more satisfying,
because you can make the audience furnish
their own [photographic] values. I like black and
white. . . . It's a different technique, different
medium. Black and white, and color. And they
both have their place in the telling of the motion
picture. And I enjoy both of them. But if you
would say, "Which would you prefer?," I would
say: "I would prefer black and white." . . . It
becomes too beautiful sometimes [in color], a
little distracting.
11
Hercules Florence, Pioneer of Photography
Boris Kossoy
Introduction
That the history of photography is still but a
very youthful arena of study is apparent. New
discoveries and hitherto unrevealed names and
styles are uncovered at a fairly consistent rate
— so much so that each year suggests a com-
plete overhauling of the basic outline given us
by the standard texts. It is certain, also, that we
are tar from possessing anything near to a fully
appreciated overview of the medium's history
since these discoveries frequently cause us to
re-evaluate many of the assumed facts and ac-
cepted criteria of aesthetic judgments.
One of the more notable "new" facts to be
discovered issues from a rather unsuspected
locale. Only a few years after Niepce's helio-
graphie process; somewhat before the daguer-
reotype process was being developed in France
during the late 1830s; at the same time that
William Henry Fox Talbot was experimenting
with his photogenic drawings, which were to
lead in the early 1840s to the first negative/
positive process; and while Hippolyte Bayard
was attempting to fix positive images on paper;
it appears that a Frenchman by the wonderful
name of Hercules Florence "invented" photog-
raphy in the small Brazilian river town of
Campinas.
Reading much like a ficcione by Jorge Luis
Borges, the story of Florence and his diaries
contains remarkable parallels with the main-
stream inventions of photography in Western
12
in Brazil*
Europe. It seems that Florence, an amateur
scientist, naturalist, and "artist," managed in
relative isolation to work with the photosensitive
properties of silver salts, to associate these
properties with some sort of potential use within
a camera obscura, and to have realized results
with certain chemicals (most specifically am-
monia which Florence found plentifully in urine).
Florence did all this — or at least his diaries
indicate he did — between 1829 and 1832,
nearly a decade prior to the publication of
Daguerre's famous process. On one of the
pages of his diaries, dated 1832, we find clear
and precise drawings of a small camera similar
to Talbot's "mousetrap" cameras of a few years
later; a series of outdoor printing frames almost
identical with those used by Talbot and Henne-
man in Reading while printing the Pencil of
Nature after 1841; and most spectacularly, the
word, in French, "Photographie," appears atop
the same page, anticipating Herschel's "coining"
of the word "Photography" by some seven years.
And as early as 1829, this Frenchman in Brazil
was manufacturing pharmaceutical labels for a
friend in Sao Paulo, but he was producing these
labels by developing out sensitized paper and
chemically stabilizing them — in other words he
was making photograms or photogenic drawings
well before Talbot, Robert Hunt, et a/. The cor-
respondences are, indeed, remarkable.
Hercules Florence's early work with photog-
*Copyright © Boris Kossoy, 1976. All rights reserved.
raphy was first signalled by Gilberto Ferrez,
a Brazilian photographic historian, in 1953. More
recently his work has been studied by Boris
Kossoy, also a photographic historian from Sao
Paulo, who has been publishing essays on the
history of Brazilian photography over the last
five years. The following article is the result of
Mr. Kossoy's lengthy involvement with Hercules
Florence.
Most likely, the significance of Florence's
"invention of photography" will be argued for
some time to come. (The question has already
been raised whether to include him in the main
text or simply in a footnote to photographic
history.) One thing is clear, however, and that
is regardless of the "fact" that Florence was
the first to make a photograph, his invention,
his discovery, and even his use of the word
"photography" did not extend far beyond the
limits of Campinas nor did they influence the
general course of the history of the medium.
That the parallels and congruences are fasci-
nating and elegant in many ways is certain, as
is their academic interest. Hercules Florence's
invention is yet another verification that during
the 1830s, photography's time had clearly
arrived.
Robert A. Sobieszek
Author's Introduction
The idea of making a study in depth on
Hercules Florence, pioneer of photography,
came up as a consequence of research work
which I began in 1972, in an attempt to com-
pile a history of photography in Brazil, by
tracing its chronological development.
The role of Hercules Florence as one of the
pioneers of photography is still a relatively un-
known fact outside Brazil, although I have
dealt with the matter previously in several pub-
lications, which, unfortunately, have not been
widely circulated abroad. However, specific
cataloguing is continuing, and I feel that we
have now accumulated sufficient material to
justify publication of the research.
According to existing manuscripts, photo-
graphs, and historical data, pre-Daguerreian ex-
periments were carried out by Hercules Florence
in Brazil, in Sao Carlos Villa (today known as
Campinas) as early as 1832.
On August 12, 1973, I published an article
on the Photography page of the Literary Supple-
ment of the newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo
under the title "Hercules Florence, pioneiro de
fotografia no Brasil" [Hercules Florence, pio-
neer in photography in Brazil] with illustrations
of the first experiment conducted by Florence,
using rather primitive methods, in which he
photographed, on a sheet of paper coated with
silver nitrate and under the action of sunlight,
certain images in a home-made camera obscura.
On October 18, 1975, my article entitled
"Panorama de Fotografia no Basil desde 1832"
[Panorama of photography in Brazil since 1832]
appeared in a special edition of O Estado de
Sao Paulo in its Centennary Supplement. Touch-
ing on the role of Florence in referring to pho-
tographic pioneers in Brazil, I concluded by
saying: "The progress of this research work
culminated in an isolated discovery that was
made between 1832/33, a fact that has not yet
been given due recognition."
French-born Hercules Florence was gifted
with an inventive genius par excellence, which
led him to a series of discoveries during the
fifty-four years he lived in Brazil. Always de-
pending on bare minimum working conditions,
some of his inventions had a curious chain
reaction, since they developed more likely than
not as a consequence of the limited elements
Florence had to work with. Such was the case
of the impasse at which Florence arrived when
he decided to reproduce many copies of his
studies on animal voices (which he called
Zoophonie). Since there was only one printing
press in the province of Sao Paulo, he found
The Manuscripts of H. Florence
himself faced with the necessity of inventing his
own printing process, for which he carried out a The existing manuscripts which form the basis
great deal of research, making continual im- for the development of this study consist of
provements — he christened the process poli- three small volumes: Manuscript I*, entitled
"Livre d'Annotations et des premiers materi-
graphie. Next, still working on the printing
process, one day he came up with the idea of aux," which contains 359 pages and measures
22 x 16.5cm; Manuscript II, entitled "Deuxieme
utilizing sunlight for this purpose, thereby dis-
covering the photographic process, which he livre d'Annotations et des premiers materiaux,"
which has 185 pages and measures 21x16cm;
called photographie, a term that naturally oc-
curred to him. and Manuscript III, entitled "Troixieme livre
d'Annotations et des premiers materiaux" which
The history of all his inventions is not the aim has 115 pages and measures 22x15.5cm.
of this work, but I believe it to be important to There is still another larger manuscript vol-
mention them, in order to convey an idea of the ume of 423 pages, measuring 30.5x21 cm, en-
creative and scientific personality of Florence, titled "L'Ami des Arts livre a lui-meme ou Re-
as well as to show that the time in which he cherches et decouvertes sur differents sujets
lived was not particularly propitious for him as nouveaux" and a smaller volume entitled "Cor-
an inventor. Within my proposed objective, which respondence" of 170 written pages, measuring
is limited to his photographic achievements, I 21 x 15.5cm, in which Florence copied some of
will comment upon his experiments, noted in the letters he sent out.
his handwritten diaries, excerpts of which are In these volumes appear notes, conjectures,
reproduced in transcription, in French, in the
*The dates noted on the cover of each manuscript: I,
appendix. 1829; I I , 1836; I I I , 1840; " L ' A m i des Arts . . . " , 1837.
13
a sequence of scientific process reports such
as "Voyage Fluvial du Tiete a L'Amazone" with
beautiful illustrations, and some personal writ-
ings in which he airs his feelings, such as the
impressive "L'lnventeur en Exile," which covers
150 pages of the big volume.
In all the manuscripts we find information,
notes and deductions about his various inven-
tions. However, in Manuscript I are the records
of his day-to-day experiments.
The great manuscript which Florence entitled
"L'Ami des Arts livre a lui-meme ou Recher-
ches et decouvertes sur differents sujets nou-
veaux," dated 1837, condenses his notes about
his inventions, among others, poligraphie, pho-
tographie (or imprinting by sunlight) and fixing
the images in the camera obscura, studies of
the sky, the ninth hydrostatic, research on ani-
mal voices (zoophonie), etc., ending this volume
with the beautiful diary of the scientifc expedi-
tion under the command of Baron von Langs-
dorff.
On pages 42 to 79 of this manuscript, Flor-
ence describes his discovery of photography.
Fortunately, all this material, today in the
possession of his great-grandson, Arnaldo Ma-
chado Florence, is in a state of good preserva-
tion, thus making the continuation of our
research possible.
The Inventor's Youth
In March of 1824, after a forty-five day voy-
age from Europe, the sailing ship Marie Thereze,
under the command of Frigate Captain Du Campe
de Rosamel, anchored in the Bay of Guanabara
at Rio de Janeiro. On board was young Antoine
Hercules Romuald Florence, twenty-one years
old, a native of Nice, who, at the invitation of
Captain Rosamel, had come to America.
A painter by profession, young Florence, since
his early youth, had expressed a desire to travel
and see the world. He was the son of Arnaud
Florence, an eminent surgeon in Bonaparte's
army, and of Augustine de Vignallys, of noble
descent.
His sensitivity to the arts had been obvious
from childhood. However, his interest in the
sea and his curiosity about travelling had been
growing ever since he was sixteen.
He had done remarkably well in his studies
of mathematics and physics, developing at an
early age ideas and projects that showed the
14
self-discipline which was to be so useful to
him in the future. He devoted himself to paint-
ing, not only serving to occupy his mind, but
to put some money in his pocket.
Upon landing in Brazil, Florence obtained
employment with a Frenchman, the owner of a
dress shop, M. Pierre Dillon. He worked for
him for almost a year, but, reaching the de-
cision that that type of work was not for him,
he found another job in the printing shop-
bookstore of another Frenchman, M. Plancher,
the founder of the newspaper Jornal do Co-
mercio of Rio de Janeiro.
He had been working there for four months
when a neighbor showed him a newspaper ad
reading "A Russian naturalist, having to travel
to the interior of Brazil, needs a painter. Quali-
fied candidates may call at the Russian Con-
sulate."
The Langsdorff Expedition
Florence immediately contacted Baron von
Langsdorff, the consul general of Russia, who
was to head the expedition, and who accepted
him as second painter.
The first painter was to have been Rugendas,
who eventually gave up the job, and was re-
placed by Amado Adriano Taunay.1
The scientific expedition had the following
persons as the intelligentsia of the group: Baron
Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff,2 head of the ex-
pedition; Ludwig Riedel, botanist; Nestor Ru-
bzotf, astronomer; Christian Hasse, zoologist,
who, however, did not get to embark; Amado A.
Taunay, first painter; Hercules Florence, second
painter.
There were also a large number of slaves,
and an additional member of the party whose
presence was remarked upon in a gossipy pas-
sage narrated with much relish by the Viscount
de Taunay.3 The story appears on page 78 of
the Ensaio Historico e Literario [Historical and
Literary Essay], 1900, by Estevam L. Bourroul, 4
main biographer of Florence.
The expedition which had the Emperor Alex-
ander I as its patron lasted for almost four
years. It set out on September 3, 1825, from Rio
de Janeiro and stopped over for a few months
in Porto Feliz, S. Paulo, where the group made
their final preparations for the long trip. There
Florence met Maria Angelica Alvares Machado
e Vasconcellos with whom he fell in love.
In June, 1826, the expedition entered the
jungle and after covering 2,240 leagues (13,-
440km) returned to the capital of the empire on
March 13, 1829.
This expedition is the subject of a marvelous
report to be found in the manuscript of Flor-
ence's diary "L'Ami des Arts livre a lui-meme,"
full of daring deeds and adventure, and of in-
estimable scientific value.
Florence also wrote a separate report of the
expedition: Some eighty-two pages under a title
which translates into English as "Outline of a
journey made by Mr. von Langsdorff to the in-
terior of Brazil from September 1825 to March
1829."
Upon his return, Florence gave this report to
the Taunay family because they had lost their
relative Amado Adriano Taunay, who drowned
while trying to ford the Guapore River. The re-
port was translated and published forty-six years
later by the Viscount de Taunay in the Quarterly
Magazine of the Historical and Geographical In-
stitute of Brazil, vol. XXXVIII, in 1875. However,
the original manuscript which appears in Flor-
ence's diary, is only now being transcribed and
translated by his great-grandson Francisco A.
M. V. Florence.
After the expedition, Florence married Maria
Angelica, the daughter of Dr. Francisco Alvares
Machado e Vasconcellos, and they went to
Campinas (Villa S. Carlos) to live in the year
1830.
Previous Inventions which led Florence
to Experiment with Photography
The result of his observations concerning the
sounds made by animals, of which he took note
during the four years of the expedition, was one
of Florence's first scientific essays, "Recherches
sur la voix des animaux, ou essai d'un nouveau
sujet d'etudes, offert aux amis de la nature."
At that time, there was only one printing press
in S. Paulo, and one newspaper, O Farol Pauli-
stano, which was printed in its own type-shop.
Hercules found there were many obstacles in
the way of his publishing his Zoophonie so he
began to search for a different method of print-
ing, and in 1830 discovered a totally new method
to which he gave the name of polygraphie.
According to E. L. Bourroul (op. cit.) in 1831,
Florence at R. Ogier's print shop, Rua da Cadeia
142, Rio, published a booklet of sixteen pages
containing a musical system of eighteen figures,
and details of an essay concerning "zoophony."
In his manuscript "L'Ami des Arts . . .," Flor-
ence commented on the background for his
studies on "polygraphy."
Having had the desire in 1830 of publishing
a memoire with the idea of making the voices
of animals a new object of the study of nature,
and being in a country where there is no
printing press, I realized how useful this art
would be if it could be simplified in its ap-
paratus and processing, so that everyone
would be able to print as much as he needed,
I therefore dedicated myself to the study of
the art of printing with the few books I then
possessed, and I discovered that lithography,
which can become the more generally used,
still employs very weighty stones, voluminous
and expensive; that its process is still very
complicated and requires material which can
be found only in big cities. Engraving requires
very well polished "planches en cuivre," which
are expensive, and at the same time cannot be
found in all places. Because of its big appa-
ratus, the art of typography is still out of reach,
quite beyond someone in my circumstances.
I dedicated myself, therefore, to research
work, which led me, gradually, to a discovery
whose usefulness has already proven itself to
me over the last five years of experimenting,
giving me two great advantages, that I had
not expected: first, the board (planche) inked
only once for all the printing; and second, the
simultaneous imprinting of all colours. ("L'Ami
des Arts " p. 12).
A detailed description of the process of poli-
graphie, is to be found in his manuscript "L'Ami
des Arts . . ." on pp. 12-39.
The fact that the invention of poligraphie, a
process that utilized a kind of stencil device for
printing, was met with general indifference was
probably Florence's first great disappointment.
Nevertheless, he tried many different ways to
publicize his poligraphie. In 1831, M. Edouard
Pontois, Charge d'affaires of France in Brazil,
with whom Florence had already dealt, sent a
report to his government in Paris with a com-
plete description of the process and two "poly-
graphic proofs." In 1839, the newspapers A
Phenix and the Observador Paulistano published
several articles with complete information on
"polygraphy." In 1840 Jornal do Comercio of
Rio de Janeiro transcribed the articles from the
Phenix and announced that twenty-two "poly-
graphic proofs" had been placed on public ex-
hibition. In 1843 the Academy of Science and
Arts of Turin, Italy, declared that his invention
was something new, and that despite its pros
and cons, it deserved the support of the Sar-
dinian government. In 1843, Florence was hon-
ored by a tribute from the Academy of Fine
Arts in Rio de Janeiro.
On pages 62, 63 and 64 of Manuscript III, as
seen in the corresponding transcription from
the manuscript, Florence notes in his diary on
December 5, 1852, his dislike for Lipman's in-
vention in 1848, which is "polygraphy" itself,
and with which he had already obtained suc-
cess seventeen years before (in 1831) and that
from 1834 on, he had been printing perfectly
and simultaneously in all colors.
The scientific establishment, diplomats and
the press praised his invention, but nothing
positive resulted in the way of financial compen-
sation or protection rights for the inventor.
Going back to the inventor side of Florence's
personality, as we can see he was spurred on
by the difficulties he encountered in trying to
invent "polygraphy," and, to quote his own
words, the process "was born of a structured
and premeditated calculation." (Bourroul, op
cit., p. 459.)
Photography
Bourroul makes some superficial comments
about the invention of photography, although
transcribing certain ambiguous statements re-
garding it, made by the Viscount de Taunay in
his preface to the 1877 translation of Zoo-
phonie.
In the magazine of the Paulista Museum, vol.
IV, 1900, on page 167, there is a passage in an
article written by Dr. Jose de Campos Novaes,
containing the following reference to photogra-
phy: ". . . The documents about the latest sci-
entific discovery, one of the most useful of our
nineteenth century, made in Campinas by H.
Florence and completed through highly subtle
chemical manipulations by J. C. de Mello, are
in the possession of his grandchildren who
should give them the publicity they deserve.
They have not claimed the invention publicly,
since it coincided with an identical discovery
by Daguerre and Niepce in France. . ."
On June 26, 1948, Arnaldo Machado Flor-
ence, who, as the keeper of the estate of his
forefathers, is in possession of manuscript
diaries and other documents, gave a lecture
in the Public Library of S. Paulo, about the life
and works of H. Florence, accentuating his
pioneer effort in photography.
Bulletins 27 and 28, published by the Foto-
Cine Clube Bandeirante (July and August,
1948) printed the above mentioned lecture,
with a preface by Dr. Eduardo Salvatore, presi-
dent of that body.
As I mentioned in the introduction to this
paper, I published several articles about Her-
cules Florence, giving as many details as pos-
sible in order to capture the historical and cul-
tural era in which Florence lived, and to pin-
point his position as an independent, isolated
inventor of photography in 1832/33. However,
his original manuscripts offer us much more in
the way of substantiation, and I found it useful
to present the sequence of the evolution of his
reported experiments which led me to writing
this paper based on the data furnished in his
own diaries.
My main purpose in this study is to try to
locate the first reference to photography made
by H. Florence still in the year 1832.
So from a narration of the discoveries and re-
search work supplied to Dr. Manuel Ferraz de
Campos Salles 5 under the title "Noticia sobre
os meus trabalhos scientificos e artisticos feita
a convite do Dr. M. F. de Campos Salles" [News
about my scientific and artistic works made at
the invitation of Dr. M. F. de Campos Salles]
dated July 26, 1870 (written in Portugese) cited
by Bourroul, op cit., pp. 459, 460, the following
description follows:
I will not let the incident pass without com-
ment, and that is that in 1832, without even
thinking about it in advance, the idea of
printing with sunlight came to me. I obtained
several negatives, among them one of the
jail house of Campinas*; I distributed 30 ad-
*Author's note: He kept this view of the jail inside a
book to avoid the effect of light and it was still perfect
fifteen years later, according to Bourroul's affirmation.
However we cannot be precise as to the date of this
photograph.
15
 vertisements for the merchandise I sold. Mr.
Joaquim Correa de Mello 6 helps me in giving
this process the name of photographia: but
when I came to know that Daguerre had ob-
tained better results, I abandoned this type of
work.
And again in Bourroul's book, pp. 443-44 of
Chapter VII read:
In this year 1832, on August 15, while strol-
ling on my veranda, an idea came to me that
perhaps it is possible to capture images in a
camera obscura by means of a substance
which changes color through the action of
light. This is my own idea because not the
slightest indication of it ever reached me
from elsewhere. 7
I will call on Mr. Joaquim Correa de Mello,
my father-in-law's druggist, an educated per-
son, who mentioned to me the existence of
silver nitrate.
I started to make experiments, in which
everything came out perfectly insofar as the
engraving on the glass pane was concerned.
Using the camera obscura, I captured the
negative of the view of the jail house, and of
a bust of Lafayette, etc.
Mr. Mello helped me to formulate the word
"photographia." A document photographed
thirty years ago, with an embellishment on
it, which I used as an advertisement for the
sale of my fabrics is being circulated in Villa
Campinas that had never seen announce-
ments — I was left a whole week with a
"vara" and a "covado"* in my hands, selling
my fabrics.
Thus I took to making experiments without
being able to capture well the images until
1839, when I gave up because of having
heard about Daguerre's discovery.
The original of this text as reproduced in
Bourroul's book still has not been located, so
that we do not know its exact date.
There is another reference to the year 1832
that we located in his manuscript diary "Cor-
respondence" on p. 3. It is a copy of a letter
Florence wrote in September, 1862, to Charles
Auguste Taunay (a major in the Brazilian armed
services). The letter is reproduced in the manu-
*Author's note: vara and covado are ancient units of
measurements of length.
16
script "Correspondence" in the specific pas-
sage in which Hercules Florence deals exten-
sively with photography; however, there is one
doubtful point to be clarified:
"Je ne passerai pas sous silence un incident
qu'a commence en 1833.* L'idee me vient un
jour, c'etait le 15 Aout, que I'on pourrait fixer
les images dans la chambre obscure. . ."
We see in the manuscript, reference in letters
to the year 1832 and Florence's first contact
with photography. Although the idea, as we see,
had come to his mind in 1832, it was only in
1833, on January 15, that the first records were
noted down concerning it.
In the following paragraphs, I have tried to
make a short summary, to indicate his more
important conclusions and discoveries in the
field of photography.
It was first Joaquim Correa de Mello, the
botanist and druggist who, announcing to Flor-
ence the properties of silver nitrate, gave him
the first impetus for the unraveling of the chain
of subsequent facts.
Drawings and diagrams of his camera obscura
give us an idea of his equipment the description
of which appears on p. 59 of the manuscript
"L'Ami des Arts. . ."
Florence's search became intense when he
set himself to work for a definite end. After his
first results, when he used silver nitrate as the
solution for creating a sensitive surface, Flor-
ence began to experiment with other chemical
substances that in one way or another would
give better results after light had acted upon
them. Narrating his first experiment (January
15, 1833) he mentioned his first problem, that of
the change of the background color of the
image he obtained, the white becoming gray or
darker in tone after it had been washed and
dried by sunlight.
Next he speaks of a second problem, con-
nected to his getting a reversed image. On p.
58 of the manuscript "L'Ami des Arts. . ." Flor-
ence writes the following, which is a definition
of the negative itself:
*Author's note: There is every indication that there was
a lapse on Florence's part when he gives the year as
1833 instead of 1832.
By placing a paper that has been wetted in
the camera obscura, by a solution of silver
nitrate, the objects on it are reproduced, but
with the inconvenience that the parts that
should be clear become dark and vice versa.
From this it can be seen that, if because of
the inconvenience in question, my investiga-
tions still held poor results, it is none the less
true that I have obtained lines, forms and
contours, harmonious between themselves,
without the help of the human hand. 8
Curious is his observation about the diffi-
culty in obtaining a final image on paper,
identical with the original subject. This problem
showed the need for the performance of two
operations. A description of this can be found
on p. 132 of Manuscript I as well as a write-up
on the photographic portrait and additional
considerations on the reverse of p. 133.
Because of his background, Florence was
always attracted to drawing and painting. He
had an inkling of the progress that would be
possible for the visual arts through the applica-
tion of the photographic process and the per-
fection with which all subjects could be repro-
duced, especially drawings, and this is what
motivated him to devote more and more effort
to the improvement of his invention.
In his own words (Manuscript I, reverse of
p. 133 — January, 1833) he gives a description
of a process we could call negative-positive:
I decide to draw on a glass pane, "a la
maniere naturelle." I will take a copy with
sunlight on another glass pane previously
covered by me with a layer of silver nitrate
of complete transparency; there will be the
drawing, but in such a way that the white
tones [clairs] will appear in place of the
darks, and vice versa: I will then wash the
glass to avoid having that which must not be
dark appear as such, and I hope that the
water will not remove what is colored, since
it did not erase it on paper.
Then I will put sheets of paper under this
glass and will have the copies from nature
[au naturel].
Once this had been established, Florence be-
gan to make copies or printings of various
subjects obtained from the matrix or negative.
In different parts of his manuscripts, Florence
describes a way of multiplying writings and
drawings through printing by sunlight, as in the
passage "Avantages" [Advantages] in Manu-
script I on p. 150, dated August 26, 1833.
As I mentioned before, Florence devoted him-
self to searching for new chemical substances
in order to find new bases for further research
and in order to perfect his invention.
Since there were no scientific institutions in
the area in which he lived, and as he so often
remarked, he was so far away from any cul-
tural or scientific centers that could have given
him some recognition or glory, Florence worked
alone from 1833 developing his studies in the
field of photography.
It is worthwhile to note that Florence was not
discouraged by his working conditions in the
midst of the Paulista hinterland. He continued to
experiment using submuriate of mercury, phos-
phorus, prussic acid, oxalic acid, oxilate of
mercury, silver oxilate, chloridric acid, hydro-
cianic acid, silver chloride, silver bromide,
muriate of silver and dozens of other sub-
stances and chemical combinations and drugs,
describing their properties and effects when ex-
posed to light, as we see in his scientific diaries.
On April 8, 1833, in Manuscript I, on p. 141
and under the heading of "Interesting Findings,"
Florence describes the use of nitro-hydrochlor-
ide of gold. Then explaining that by combining
nitric acid with muriatic acid in equal propor-
tions and pouring a small quantity of gold pow-
der over the mixture, by wetting one side of the
paper with the resulting solution (in this case
he used a sheet of stationery), a sensitive emul-
sion would have been formed. Next, if this paper
were placed in sunlight, taking care to cover
part of it with an opaque object, the surface
reached by the light would darken. Then, wet-
ting the paper in urine for fifteen minutes and
drying the excess with a cloth, putting it back
in the sunlight for a few hours, he obtained a
result that he considered to be very satisfac-
tory: the white part that had been protected by
the opaque object never altered.9
The combination of gold chloride and urine
(p. 48 of "L'Ami des Arts. . .") seemed to him
to be most satisfactory because of the quality
of the "printing" obtained: "I printed by means
of photography, drawings as clear, as delicate
as the finest engraving." Florence captured the
images by the effect of light alone on the light
sensitive surfaces (no chemical development)
in a way similar to printout papers.
17
 Throughout his manuscript the reader will Florence's handwriting. Arts . . ."
keep running across the names of famous Besides the manuscript diaries, from which I 2) Photographic reproduction (contact print)
chemists and their theories: everything that extracted the data and notes on the discoveries of a "Mason's Diploma" (measurements:
could possibly be of interest to Florence was in photography, there are still in existence some 29x 20cm). This print shows against light a
reproduced. We thus find references to Ber- photographic documents and drawings by H. water mark of the original paper dated 1829.
zelius, Saussure, Fourcroy, Ritter, Wollaston, Florence of an estimable importance in the his- 3) Photographic reproduction (contact print),
Gay-Lussac, Laugier and many others. tory of photography. They are reproduced in the measuring 29.5 x 20.7cm, of pharmacy labels,
Florence describes the use of substances following plates: which Florence mentions in his manuscript
that sensitize wood and textile. He is even 1) Drawings (measurements: 19 x 20.5cm) of "L'Ami des Arts. . ." on p. 54 in the chapter
prophetic in describing the solidifications of his camera obscura and other accessories for "Avantages," and Manuscript I, p. 150 (August
bodies through the effect of light, which would copying, which illustrate the description con- 26, 1833) in the chapter "Avantages."
lead to obtaining images in relief through the tained on p. 59 of the Manuscript "L'Ami des I consider it apropos to mention two articles
use of gases in the interior of the camera
obscura.
In the same way he also investigates the
possible formation of images through the action
provoked by the presence of hydrogen and
chlorine in the interior of a vase (p. 165 of
Manuscript I). Nor did he neglect to make pre-
dictions based on the principles established in
the spectrum, about color photography (still in
1833). Up to the present time, I am not quite
sure whether or not he used hyposulphite in
the fixing of his photographs. However, he
noted in Manuscript II on p. 50, the following
reproduction of the words of Berzelius:
"Hyposulphite can be recognized by the fact
that it dissolves recently precipitated silver
chloride or if it becomes sweet tasting." He
also notes that "If the formiates are mixed with
silver nitrate, and we heat the solution slightly
they reduce silver."
And finally, Florence notes the following
(Manuscript II, p. 67):
I discovered a way to keep the proofs from
darkening: add a layer of silver nitrate to the
paper and allow it to dry in the dark; dip it in
a solution of water and table salt, and allow
it to dry in the dark; pass liquid caustic
potash over it and allow it to dry, but always
in the dark. Print in the sunlight, wash with
spirits of ammonia. 10
This experiment has been made and con-
firmed by the Rochester Institute of Technology
with very good results.
The texts in the appendix are the transcrip-
tion of his manuscript diaries in French, done
by one of Florence's great grandchildren, Mr.
Francisco Alvares Machado e Vasconcellos
Florence, who was, without a doubt, the most
qualified person to do the translation since he
is familiar not only with the subject but with
18
that came out in Brazilian newspapers soon
after the news of the discovery of photography,
as it was announced in Paris.
The first one is an article in which H. Flor-
ence reveals his position with regard to his
being a pioneer in polygraphy as well as in
photography. Published in the newspaper Jornal
do Comercio of Rio de Janeiro on December
29, 1839, it transcribed the material published
in the Sao Paulo newspaper Phenix, dated Oc-
tober 26, 1839, and bears the editor's title:
The readers may compare dates and de-
cide for themselves whether the world owes
the discovery of photography or at least
polygraphy to Europe or to Brazil:
"For nine years I have been working on
this new method of printing and for more than
six years I have done it here in this town; I
have also filled orders from the Capital and
from other parts of the province. So my dis-
covery is well known to the people of Sao
Paulo. Even in Rio de Janeiro, some people
of high public rank, some distinguished
artists, and some famous business people,
have been informed that I invented Polyg-
raphy and if it were really necessary I could
give the names of many respected persons. I
have not given wide publicity to this dis-
covery, because I wanted to perfect it, and it
Is quite clear that in this Villa of S. Carlos I
had need of resources to make quicker prog-
ress. Sennefelder had to work for many years
without any personal profit, facing poverty in
Germany, which has so much to offer, and
lithography took seventeen years to get from
that country to France.
"Polygraphy is already a confirmed fact,
which the arts are going to adopt. The proof
is, as I have already said, that for six years I
have used it in printing for the public in this
province.
"I have strong reasons for making this
declaration. Moved by principles I deem it
unnecessary to declare, I have not kept my
process a secret from people worthy of my
confidence. I have been surrounded by diffi-
culties here: in moments of total discour-
agement I felt as if my process would end by
destroying me: I wanted to launch it among
the artists and a text containing a full de-
scription was taken to Paris last year by a
kind person who has done me the favor of
appreciating my invention.
"Another briefer descriptive text was sent
in 1831 with M Pontois. Fearful that these
writings might fall into the hands of those
who would appropriate the discovery as their
own, and it being only fair that at least the
basic idea which gave it birth be publicly
acknowledged as belonging to its rightful
owner, I am impelled to make the above
declaration to the public.
"Another of my discoveries also known in
this town, as well as by some people in Rio
de Janeiro is photography: the text sent to
Paris carried two titles at the end: 'Dis-
covery of photography or printing by sun-
light' and 'Investigations into the capting of
the images in a camera obscura by the effect
of light.' A photographic drawing I had made
was presented to the Prince de Joinville and
put in his album by a person to whom I am
indebted for this favor. I have just been in-
formed that in Germany they have printed by
light, and that in Paris they are doing very
well at capting images. As I have done very
little with photography because of a shortage
of more sophisticated conditions and for lack
of a better knowledge of chemistry, I will not
dispute the discoveries with anyone because
two people can have the same idea, because
I always found the conclusions I reached to
be somewhat shaky, and to each his own:
but I make this declaration with regard to
polygraphy which has such beautiful proper-
ties that its inventor may be known for all
time."*
On February 10, 1840, the newspaper Jornal
do Comercio, referring to H. Florence's decla-
ration which had been published on December
29, 1839, took up the subject again:
Today we have more data than we had at
that time, so that we are able to settle the
question in favor of Brazil.
The reasons that led us to make this de-
*Author's note: The person to whom Florence refers as
being the one to whom he owes the favor of having
placed a photograph in the Prince de Joinville's album
was Felix Taunay, director of the Academy of Fine Arts
in Rio. The Prince de Joinville was married to D.
Francisca, daughter of D. Pedro I, and sister to the
heir to the throne of D. Pedro I I . The Prince de Join-
ville was himself the son of King Louis Phillippe of
France. The photograph that was presented to him was
a photographic reproduction of a drawing (portrait) of
a Bororo Indian (made by Florence).
cision are found in the following letter, which
the author of the discovery has just sent us
and which we are pleased to print:
Sao Carlos, January 18, 1840
Mr. Editor,
The article—Scientific News—in the 316th
edition of the Jornal do Comercio carries a
declaration concerning the discovery of
polygraphy which had appeared originally
in the Phenix of S. Paulo; and because of
that I am moved to address this letter to
you. I wish to thank the editors of the Jor-
nal do Comercio for the importance they
have attributed to my discovery and the
justice thus done, and at the same time
would like to offer a clarification I feel is
necessary about my first declaration.
I don't know if someone gathered from it
that I was confusing polygraphy, a dis-
covery that is entirely mine, with photog-
raphy, to which I have no pretensions after
learning what has been happening in
Europe along these lines. It is true that for
many years I have made use of photog-
raphy in drawing: and in 1834 I used it in
the presence of Messrs. Riedel and Lunt
who took some of my photographs with
them, and up to August 1839 I never heard
that the same or better experiments had
been made in Europe; perhaps it is not too
bold for me to say that I too invented
photography, a name which was not new
to me when I saw it for the first time in
the paper from Rio de Janeiro; but the
truth is that I did not continue with my
experiments, and for this reason I do not
want to claim as my own a discovery that
someone else may have a better right to.
Epilogue
Florence, from 1832 on (with the assistance
of Joaquim Correa de Mello) had it in his mind
that the use of silver nitrate would be the ideal
solution for creating a sensitive surface. And
as soon as he realized this, he began to record
in his diaries the effect of light upon silver
nitrate and in January, 1833, Florence obtained
a negative and entitled his invention photog-
raphy.
What is intended in this work is only to add
one more chapter to the history of photography
with regard to its early beginnings, which are
19
practically unknown and of an importance that
speaks for itself.
According to Florence: "I will not dispute my
discovery with anyone because two people can
have the same idea."
Although a succession of disappointments
pushed him to the point of self-depreciation,
when he said (after hearing about the discovery
of photography in Europe) that other inventors
had attained better results, it is up to the
readers and researchers to make the final
judgment in the face of the evidence presented
herein.
One fact must be recognized — that the sci-
entific isolation in which Florence lived, de-
scribed so well in certain passages of his man-
uscripts, was the factor that determined his
scientific and creative extermination insofar as
his inventions never received any recognition.
However, there is definite proof that Florence
was the first in Brazil and in the Americas, so
this must be accepted as a fact.
I fervently hope the sequence of his research,
as has been demonstrated, ending in his inde-
pendent discovery of photography in the villa
of S. Carlos, S. Paulo, Brazil, between 1832/33,
has finally emerged from obscurity.
Notes
I would like to thank the personnel of IMP/GEH for the
assistance they gave me in March 1976 and Rochester
Institute of Technology for its valuable cooperation re-
ceived through Dean Lothar Engelmann, Professor Thomas
Hill for reproducing the main experiments made by Her-
cules Florence since 1833, and Professor Charles Arnold
who introduced me to all these gentlemen.
1
Amado A. Taunay (1803-1828), a French painter who to-
gether with his family, came to Brazil in 1816 as a mem-
ber
2
of a French Artistic Mission.
Baron Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff (1774-1852), medi-
cal doctor, graduate of the University of Gottingen, ac-
companied the Prince of Waldeck to Portugal (at the age
of 23) where he introduced the use of vaccine. He was
part of several scientific expeditions and published
Observations faites dans un voyage autour du globe de
1804 a 1807; Plantes recuellles pendant le voyage des
russes autour du monde de 1810 a 1813; Memolre sur le
Bresil pour servir de guide a ceux que desirent s'y
establir.
The date of his arrival in Rio is unknown but it is cer-
tain that he was visited in 1817 by Spix and Martius, in
1818 by J. C. Mikau and in 1819 by Theodor Von Leuthold
and James Henderson, according to the latter's book,
History of Brazil etc. (London: Longmann, Horst, Rees
Orme, Brown and Green, 1828). In 1822 he was visited by
Maria Graham, as is reported in his publication Journal
of a Voyage to Brazil (London: Longmann, 1824). His res-
idence was a meeting place for naturalists and nobles.
His scientific works were carefully prepared and he
made frequent trips to the Science Academy of Saint
Petersburg and other societies. In Rio de Janeiro he
had the function of General Consul of Russia. During his
scientific trip in the interior of Brazil, Langsdorff became
mentally ill, did not recover and ultimately died of
malaria. Esboco da viagem feita pelo Senhor de Langs-
dorff (see note 3). In the introduction to his Viscount of
20
Taunay, there is reference to Langsdorff on p. 349, vol.
38, first part, 1875, by Rev. Tr. of I.H.G. (work quoted).
"When the commission arrived at the Santarem in the
beginning of 1829 Langsdorff was transported to Europe,
where he lived or better vegetated in his hometown,
Laisk, in Suabia until 1852, passing away at seventy-
eight, as he was born in 1776 (?). Until the last day of
his life, the Emperor Nicholas I paid him a generous
pension of 10,000 rubles in spite of his unsuccessful
expedition."
3
Viscount de Taunay (1843-1899) (Alfredo M. D'Escrag-
nolle Taunay), Brazilian military figure and writer, author
of many well known works in Brazilian literature: A
Retirada da Laguna [The Retreat of the Lagoon];
Inocencia [Innocence]. He translated and published
"Esboco da viagem feita pelo Senhor de Langsdorff ao
interior do Brasil, desde Setembro de 1825 ate' Marco
de 1829 [Outline of a voyage made by Mr. Langsdorff in
the interior of Brazil, from September 1825 to March
1829] in the magazine of the Historical and Geographical
Institute, vol. 38, 1875.
He participated in the whole military campaign in the
Paraguayan War, drawing up a diary about the war
which was later to give origin to The Retreat of the
Lagoon. He entered politics and was president of the
province Sta. Catarina and Parana. Viscount de Taunay
is not to be confused with Afonso Taunay, author of the
preface of the re-edited work "Outline of a Voyage. . ."
Afonso Taunay was the director of the Paulista Museum
and proposed that the title of "Patriarch of the Paulista
Iconography" should be given to H. Florence.
4
Estevam Leao Bourroul, the principal biographer of H.
Florence. Author of Ensaio Historico e Literario [Historic
and Literary Essay], 1900, the work used as a guide for
this paper.
5 Arts. . ." concerning the use of gold in his printing
Dr. M. F. de C. Salles, farmer, congressman of the em-
pire, senator of the republic, minister of justice' in the
temporary government, president of Sao Paulo and later
the president of the Republic of Brazil.
6 washed in urine and water for fifteen minutes. Accord-
Joaquim Correa de Mello (1816-1877). He was known as
"Joaquinzinho the druggist" because he was the partner
in a pharmacy or drugstore in Campinas with Florence's
father-in-law, Francisco Alveres Machado. Mello became
internationally respected for his contribution to botany. A
connoisseur of our flora, he collaborated extensively with
the botanists abroad. Thus Edouard Marren would ask him
for " B r o m e l i a s , " Nylander " L i c h e n s , " Cogniaux "Cucur-
bitaceas," Miers "Menispermeaceas," Spruce "Papaya-
ceas," Reichenbach "Orchidaceas," Bentham, Hooker, all
that could be added to the mew herbary.
On p. 437 of the Bourroul book (op cit), we can read:
" . . . He would see to everyone liberally but he ne-
glected the convention of mentioning his name in publi-
cations: he enumerated the series of the plants in se-
quence for citation in general herbariae. The names
change as the progress of science progresses, but the
pure and simple enumeration of the floral specimens
registered in the herbariae of museums is immutable as
well as their origin and the name of the traveler who
has collected them. For this reason Mello's name is only
associated with the sixty-five plants of Mr. Dureau's
herbariae, in particular the 'Bignoniaceas'. . ."
J. C. de Mello was very much helped by his daughter,
Francisca de Salles Mello, who was a skillful artist. He
was of a shy and modest nature, to the point of being
practically unknown in Brazil. He refused systematically
to publicize his research work.
One day he received a letter from a well known
journalist. Dr. Francisco Rangel Pestana, from which we
quote these words: " I believe that you know the journal
A Provincia de S. Paulo and its program, and therefore
you will not find it inconvenient for me to ask your
valuable collaboration in the Scientific Section. I know
that you have more important things to do that will bring
recognition to you and your Country and that an exces-
sive modesty and the suspicion of not finding them of
real acceptance on the part of your compatriots keeps
you from making them public among us. Allow me, how-
ever, to dare to contradict you in your designs by ask-
ing for some of these works for the A Provincia de Sao
Paulo."
As the chemist that he was, Mello had no difficulty in
disclosing to Florence the characteristic of silver nitrate
and its transformation through the effect of light. J. C.
de Mello's help was fundamental, therefore, to the de-
velopment of Hercules Florence's first experiments.
7
When Florence made his discovery, he named it " P h o -
t o g r a p h i e " since " the major role is performed by l i g h t . "
In the margins of his text, Florence noted titles refer-
ring to the subjects presented in it. The title "Photo-
graphic" [Photography] constantly appears as well as
"Fixation des images dans la chambre obscure" [Capture
of images in the camera obscura]. Probably they were
added to the text on different occasions. However, I
found in Manuscript I, January 2 1 , 1834, p. 156, the usage
for the first time of the verb "photographier" and on Feb-
ruary 19, 1834, Manuscript I, p. 159 (reverse) the usage of
the noun " p h o t o g r a p h i e " as well as the noun " p h o t o -
graphia" in Portuguese, which appears in his photo of
pharmacy labels.
John Herschel used the terms " t o photograph" and
" p h o t o g r a p h i c " for the first time in February 1839, just
some weeks before Madler published the noun " p h o t o -
graphie" on February 25, 1839.
8
Florence made the following comment on the use of
the camera obscura in " L ' A m i des Arts. . ." p. 59:
"The action of the light drew for me the objects in
the camera obscura, fixing the big shapes and accentu-
ating contrasts, but with the imperfection that the
lighter parts become darker and vice-versa. In spite of
the fact that this is the way to obtain drawings made by
nature and not by our hands, putting aside its actual
precariousness, is this new fact in the Arts, not really
interesting? Isn't it deserving of perfection?
"Haven't I initiated the more than wonderful art of
designing any object, and capturing a view, without
having the trouble of doing it m y s e l f ? "
9
Florence presented a careful report in " L ' A m i des
process. The printing was made by contact with a
paper coated with a gold chloride layer, and exposed to
sunlight, with a drawing on a glass plate, and then
ing to Florence the tones were very black with a
touch of blue. Copies were taken by using parchment
stationery paper, and he mentioned that non-starched
papers used in printing were not convenient for they
absorbed too much chloride. The use of gold chloride
as a light sensitive material was confirmed by experi-
ments at Rochester Institute of Technology.
10
In 1837, in " L ' A m i des Arts. . . " p. 5 1 , Florence de-
scribed the properties of silver chloride, its insolubility
in water and solubility in caustic ammonia (ammonia
hydroxide). While being washed with ammonia, the
chloride would be dissolved while the print was not
altered by the light. However there was the incon-
venience that the ammonia altered the drawing, making it
very light.
Appendix
MANUSCRIPT I "LIVRE D'ANNOTATIONS
ET DES PREMIERS MATERIAUX"
Le 20 Janvier. Dimanche 1833. Decouverte tres im-
portante. Ce que j ' a i dit dans I'article precedent du 15,
vient d'etre confirme aujourd'hui par deux experiences
tres heureuses. Premiere Exp. J'ai fait tres imparfaite-
ment une chambre obscure, avec une petit caisse: je
I'ai couverte de ma palette; j ' a i mis au trou de ma
palette une lentille qui avait apartenu a une lorgnette
(ces details sont pour montrer la precarite des moyens).
J'ai place le miroir, j ' a i mis dedans, a une hauteur
convenable, un morceau de papier qui avait ete imbibe
d'une dissolution faible de nitrate d'argent. J'ai place
cet appareil sur une chaise, dans une salle obscure par
elle meme. L'objet qui etait represente dans la chambre
obscure etait une des fenetres, avec la vitre fermee:
on voyait les carreaux, le toit d'une maison en face, et
partie du ciel. J'ai laisse cela pendant quatre heures,
j'ai ete voir, et j'ai (palavra ilegivel por dilaceracao da
pagina nesse ponto) apres avoir retire le papier, j ' y ai
trouvee la fenetre representee d'une maniere fixe; mais
ce qui devait etre obscure, etait clair; ce qui devait
etre clair, etait obscure. Mais n'importe, on verra
bientot le remede a cela. Craint que le reste du papier,
et tout ce qui etait clair dans la fenetre ne devinsse
obscur a la lumiere, je le lavai sans tarder, pour enlever
le nitrate d'argent; ce qui etait deja noir, ne perdit rien
de son intensite au soleil, pendant une heure; ce qui
etait blanc, devint a la verite un peu obscur, mais
jamais assez pour faire disparaitre le dessin.
Or, il ne manque plus qu'a trouver le moyen d'em-
pecher que ce qui est blanc se ternisse de la moindre
des choses, et faire que ce qui est obscure dans
l'objet, reste obscur sur le papier; nous allons bientot y
songer, mais traitons de la deuxieme experience, qui
presentement est bien plus concluente.
Je dirai, pour une satisfaction a moi particuliere, que
c'est au contraire cette experience-ci qui est la premiere
parce que je l'ai faite avant l'autre.
JANVIER 1833, p. 133
Je me propose de dessiner sur un verre a la maniere
naturelle; je tirerai une copie au soletl, sur un autre verre
que j'aurai couvert d'une couche parfaitement trans-
parente de nitrate d'argent; le dessin s'y trouvera avec
les clatrs a la place des obscurs et vice-versa; je
laverai ce verre, pour empecher qui ce qui ne doit pas
etre obscur le devienne, et j'espere que l'eau n'enlevera
pas ce qui est colore, car elle ne l'a pas enleve sur le
papier; alors je mettrai ce verre sur les feuilles de papier,
et j'aurais les copies en naturel.
MANUSCRIPT 1 p. 150
Le 26 Aout 1833. Decouverte d'une nouvelle maniere de
multiplier les ecrits et les dessins, dans laquelle on
imprime en taille douce, sans qu'il soit besoin de presse,
ni de planches en cuivre ou en bois, ni de pierres
lithographiques, et enfin, rien de tout ce qui est en
usage dans tous les arts d'imprimerie que l'on connait
jusqu'a ce jour.
Avantages de cette decouverte:
1) L'imprimerie tipographique, la gravure et la litho-
graphie exigent un appareil trop complique, trop lourd
et trop volumineux, pour qu'un voyageur puisse s'en
servir pour imprimer en tous lieux: partout il n'y a pas
d'imprimeries de quelqu'un des genres cites, on est
prive des moyens de publier un ecrit ou un dessin. Le
procede que le soussigne vient d'inventer, n'a besoin
que de cinq ou six carreaux de vitres et de nitrate
d'argent, objets que l'on trouve partout, et que l'on
transporte facilement. Les vitres sont a vil prix, et le
nitrate d'argent, qu'on en a besoin est employe en si
petite quantite, que pour la valeur de 320 rs., dans une
impression de 300 pages in 4), cela peut paraitre cher,
si l'on considere ce que coute l'encre d'imprimerie mais
le grand avantage ici c'est la facilite d'imprimer en tous
lieux.
2) On ecrit ou dessine en sens naturel, avec la meme
promptitude que sur le papier, et on peut, si l'on veut,
imiter les plus fines estampes de la lithographie.
3) Les planches ne souffrent jamais la plus petite
alteration, quand on imprime, n'importe le nombre
d'exemplaires que l'on tire: elles sont eternelles, a moins
qu'elles ne se brisent par quelque accident, ce qui ne
peut etre occasion par la pression, puisqu'on n'en
emploie aucune.
4) On change a volonte sur les planches, des titres,
des mots, des phrases, etc., en sorte qui si l'on aura
Imprime, par exemple; des etiquettes pour un pharma-
cien, on pourra se servir de la meme planches pour un
fabricant de draps, en ne changeant que le nom de la
personne et de l'etablissement, sans toucher aux orne-
ments, pourvu toutefois qu'il n'y a pas d'inconvenient,
s'ils sont du rapport a l'etablissement. Un meme dessin
peut donc servir pour differentes personnes et pour
differentes choses.
5) On peut n'imprimer qu'au fur et a mesure de la
vente: ou de l'emission, sans que jamais il soit besoin
de lavage ni d'aucune operation, lorsqu'on cesse ou
reprend le tirage: la planche se conserve toujours la
meme aussi longtemps que l'on veut.
Inconvenients de cette decouverte:
Comme toutes les decouvertes a leur berceau, celle-ci
presente des inconvenients: ils sont meme si grands, que
malgre les beaux avantages que je viens de signaler, et
auxquels les personnes entendues dans les arts d'im-
primerie pourront seules donner toute leur valeur, cette
decouverte est inferieure a tous ses arts: mais elle a
son prix; le seul premier article des avantages le
prouve. Enfin, il est agreable de pouvoir imprimer en
tous lieux, sans frais, sans peine, et si l'on voyage,
sans transport d'ustensiles et d'appareil lourd ou volum-
ineux. Ajoutez a cela que, pour etre lithographe, graveur
ou imprimeur, il faut un apprentissage difficile, ici on
est au fait en deux ou trois lecons.
1) Inconvenient. On ne peut imprimer que de jour, et
encore, pour bien imprimer, il faut qu'il fasse soleil. On
voit que cet art ne servira que pour une publication ou
le jour et l'heure ne soient pas fixes: mais il est une
foule d'occasions ou l'on veut publier quelque chose, et
ou l'on ne tient pas a cela: c'est alors que ce procede
servira.
2) Le tirage est tres lent: on ne peut, dans une journee,
imprimer que dix ou douze exemplaires d'un objet
quelconque, mais aussi les planches et les exemplaires
pourraient etre aussi grands qu'une table, ou qu'une
salle, s'il etait possible d'avoir des vitres de grandeur
correspondante. D'un autre cote, on pourra imprimer
beaucoup plus, si l'on a differentes choses a imprimer,
ou si c'est un ecrit de sept ou huit pages, et au-dela,
car alors on preparera toutes les planches et, comme on
verra dans le procede, on pourra les imprimer dans le
meme espace de temps que celui qu'il faudrait pour une
seule planche. Si meme on n'avait qu'un seul dessin ou
ecrit d'une page a impr., on pourrait, pour economiser
le temps de ['impression, preparer sept ou huit planches
de la meme chose, et de ces differentes manieres on
imprimera jusqu'a 200 exemplaires par jour, n'importe
quel format aient les planches.
3) Les imprimes ne sont pas noirs; ils sont marron
obscur, et tout le papier est sali d'une teinte brune ou
roux claire.
MANUSCRIPT II "DEUXIEME LIVRE D'ANNOTATIONS
ET DES PREMIERS MATERIAUX" p. 42
La Polygraphie et la Photographie reposent sur un
principe egal: une planche ou le dessin est a jour, qui
laisse traverser un corps qui s'imprime ou imprime son
action sur le papier; cela reconnu, on peut en faire
l'application de plusieurs manieres: Dans la Polygraphie,
c'est l'encre placee sous la planche, qui traverse le
dessin; dans la Photographie, c'est la lumiere; l'elec-
tricite, au moyen d'une planche non conductrice, et
dessin fait avec une matiere conductrice; le calorique
radiant, au moyen d'une planche non combustible et peu
conductrice du calorique, et dessin fait a jour, pourra
colorer en noir — une dissolution de noix de galle, etc.,
etc.
MANUSCRIPT III "TROIXIEME LIVRE D'ANNOTATIONS
ET DES PREMIERS MATERIAUX" p. 52
Berzelius — " L e s hyposulfites dissolvent du chlorure
argentique recement precipite, en prenant une saveur
sucree. Une liqueur qui ne contient point de sulfite, mais
qui contient un hyposulfite, donne, lorsqu'on la mele avec
une dissolution de nitrate argentique neutre, un precipite
blanc, qui devient en peu de temps brun, et a la fin
noir."
Les dissolutions des phosphites reduisent les dissolu-
tions d'or, d'argent et de mercure, avec lesquelles on les
fait chauffer, et en precipitent les metaux a l'etat reduit.
Les Oxalates ont la propriete, a l'etat de dissolution,
de precipiter l'or a l'etat metallique, de sa dissolution
bouillante.
Si on mele les formiates avec du nitrate argentique, et
qu'on chauffe doucement le melange, ils reduisent
l'argent.
MANUSCRIPT II p. 57
Photographie
J'ai trouve le moyen d'empecher les epreuves de
brunir: Mettez la couche de nitrate argentique sur le
papier; laissez secher a l'obscurite: plongez dans l'eau
portant dissolution de sel commun; laissez secher a
l'obscurite; passez dessus de la potasse caustique
liquide; laissez secher a l'obscurite. Imprimez au soleil,
lavez dans esprit d'ammoniaque.
MANUSCRIPT "L'AMI DES ARTS. . . " pp. 58, 59
J'etudiai ses proprietes chimiques, autant que mes
livres me permirent; je vis que mes recherches n'etaient
pas tout a fait illusoires, qu'il existe des corps qui
changent tres promptement par Taction de la lumiere
solaire, et meme diffuse et faible. J'eprouvai la peine de
ne pouvoir m'en procurer quelques-uns ou cette propriete
parqit eminente, et je fus limite a faire mes experiences
sur le nitrate argentique, qui toutefois en est passeble-
ment doue, et qui me servit a mettre en fait le principe
suivant: " c ' e s t qu'en mettant, dans la chambre obscure,
du papier mouille avec une dissolution de nitrate argen-
tique, les objets y restent dessines, avec ('inconvenient,
toutefois, que les parties qui doivent etre claires sont
obscures, et vice-versa."
On vient de voir dans cet enonce, que, si mes
recherches son de peu de resultats, a cause de la
gravite de ('inconvenient, je n'en at pas moins obtenu
des traits, des formes, des contours en harmonie entre
eux, sans qu'ils soient faits par la main de l'homme.
CHAMBRE OBSCURE "L'AMI DES ARTS. . . " p. 59
J'ai fait une petite chambre obscure, plus simple que
celle qui est connue, et ou l'image est plus vive, parce
que, n'ayant pas besoin de passer le crayon sur les
traits de l'image, et par consequent, de la rendre hori-
zontale, j ' a i supprime le miroir, que l'on emploie
uniquement dans ce but; et l'image ne souffrant pas une
reflexion, elle conserve sa plus grande vivacite. J'ai
par le meme motif supprime le petit appareil qu'on y
adapte afin d'introduire la main, en sorte que la chambre
obscure se limite a une boite verticale, ayant un tube
horizontal A, ou il en entre un autre qui porte la lentille,
et que l'on peut graduer; l'image se reflechis sur le fond
vertical de la boite. II y a par dessus le tube une petite
ouverture que l'on tient toujours fermee, et qui sert a
regarder l'image, pour graduer le lentille.
L'action de la lumiere m'a dessine les objets dans la
chambre obscure: elle ne fixait que les grandes formes,
les contrastes saillants, et cela, avec le defaut de rendre
clairs les obscurs, et vice-versa; mais ce moyen d'obtenir
les dessins faits par la nature, et non par la main de
l'homme, n'est-il pas, malgre sa precarite actuelle, un
fait neuf dans les arts, et de beaucoup d'interet? N'est-il
pas susceptible de perfectionnement? N'aurai-je pas
initie l'art plus que merveilleux de dessiner quelconque
objet, de prendre une vue, sans se donner la peine de le
faire soi-meme?
(P. 3 do caderno intitulado "Correspondence:" trecho
de carta dirigida por Hercules Florence, em setembro de
1862, a Charles Auguste Taunay, major, a servico do
Brasil):
Je ne passerai pas sous silence un incident qu'a
commence en 1833. L'idee me vient un jour, c'etait le
15 Aout, que l'on pourrait fixer les images dans la
chambre obscure. En faisant la premiere experience, des
rayons solaires ont passe directement a travers le tube
mal joint de l'instrument, et se sont imprimes sur le
papier imbibe de nitrate d'argent. L'idee me vint alors
que l'on pourrait imprimer de l'ecriture et des dessins
graves a jour sur un verre couvert de noir et de gomme.
J'imprimai une annonce, avec une Renommee en tete,
que je repandis dans la ville, et que me fit vendre
beaucoup de marchandises, car c'etait une nouveaute
pour Campinas que de faire des annonces. Je donnai a
ce procede le nom de " P h o t o g r a p h i e ; " entre autres
dessins et autographes photographies, l'imprimai au
soleil le portrait d'un indien Bororo, que j'envoyai a
M. Felix Taunay, qui m'ecrivit qu'il l'avait place dans
l'album du prince de Joinville a son premier voyage a
Rio de Janeiro.
Bibliography
Bourroul, Estevam L. Ensalo Historico e Literarlo, 1900.
Florence, Hercules. "Livre d'Annotations et des premiers
materiaux," 1829.
"Deuxieme livre d'Annotations et des
premiers materiaux," 1836.
"Troixieme livre d'Annotations et des
premiers materiaux," 1840.
" L ' A m i des Arts livre a lui meme ou
Recherches et decouvertes sur differents sujets nou-
veaux," 1837.
"Correspondence," n.d.
Jornal do Comercio (Rio de Janeiro), 29 December 1839.
Jornal do Comercio (Rio de Janeiro), 10 February 1840.
Kossoy, Boris. "Hercules Florence, pionero da foto-
grafia no Brasil." O Estado de S. Paulo (Suplemento
literario), 12 August 1973.
"Panorama de Fotografia no Brasil
desde 1832." O Estado de S. Paulo (Suplemento do
Centenario), 18 October 1975.
21
Personality Cameras

Eaton S. Lothrop, Jr.

With the success of the dry plate in photography

in the 1880s, manufacturers and dealers began
to aim the marketing of their products increas-
ingly toward amateurs. While men were — par-
ticularly in those Victorian days — the primary
target of photographic salesmanship, women
and youngsters were also considered potential
purchasers and users of photographic equipment.

A number of "Ladies Outfits" were offered for

sale, and the pages of the Youth's Companion
of the 1880s and the 1890s often carried men-
tion of camera outfits for children, one issue
pointing out that over 40,000 children had
learned photography from these. 1 One almost
certain way to engage the interest of children
was to christen a camera with a children's
storybook or cartoon character name. From
George Eastman's Brownie camera of seventy-
seven years ago, through the currently avail-
able Dick Tracy camera made in Hong Kong,
it has been an approach marked as much by
variety as by intermittent success.

In 1900 the Eastman Kodak Co. introduced

the first model of its "hit" series, the Brownie
camera. Dealers were informed of its existence
in February2 and the camera appeared in
March. 3 The camera itself was contained in a
small (3Va x 31/a x 5 in.) cardboard box cov-
ered with black paper leatherette. It made six
exposures, 21A x 21A in., on a film size which
was eventually designated 117 film. The camera
lacked a viewfinder, having intersecting lines
marked on its upper surface to define the angle
of view. A few months after the camera was
placed on the market, a viewfinder was offered
as a 25 cent accessory.4 While the camera
carried the Brownie name only inside its back,
it was enclosed in a carton with colorful illus-
trations of the big-eyed imps drawn by Palmer
22
Cox who had created them in 1887.5 Cox had
kept his characters in the public eye with a
series of sequels which rival today's PLANET
OF THE APES encores, so that the Brownies
were still popular figures at the turn of the
century when the camera bearing their name
appeared. Owing to mechanical defects, the
first Brownie cameras were withdrawn before
being fully distributed to dealers. 6 The improved
substitute, of the same size, was ultimately
designated the No. 1 Brownie, and a number of
other sizes followed later. 7 Only the early No.
2 (120 film) and No. 2A (116 film) Brownies
were marketed in boxes stamped with the Palmer
Cox figures which persisted as late as 1906,8
then gave way to more sedate boxes of first
yellow, then khaki, reappearing in later years in
"Kodak yellow" cartons.
Imitations of the Brownie eventually reached
the market. In 1906 the Anthony & Scovill Co.
brought out the Buster Brown camera, named
after a popular comic strip character, in three
different sizes.9 As with the Brownie, the illus-
trations were confined to the cartons in which
 as attractive as those for the Brownie or the
Buster Brown.
A considerable interval now interrupted the
procession of "personality" cameras, and even
this was lengthened to allow the secure estab-
lishment of the next imaginative figure who
would lend his name to a camera. Walt Disney's
Mickey Mouse made his screen debut in 1928,
yet it was not until 1931 — and then in Ger-
many — that the Micky-Rollbox, made by the
Balda-Werk of Dresden, was released. This little
2V4 x 31/2 x 3% in. camera had a leatherette
covered all metal body and weighed only 101/2
ounces. Advertisements showed Mickey and
Minnie Mouse, 13 but as these cartoon char-
acters were copyrighted in America, a Wil-
loughby's ad of 1932, announcing the camera
here, omitted any visual reference to the famous
pair of mice. 14 A relatively uncommon feature
of this little camera, probably scaled to the
economies of the depression, was its 4 x 6.5cm
format, on 127 film, which could be reduced
to 3 x 4cm by inserting a mask at the plane of
focus. This doubled the number of exposures
to sixteen, effectively reducing the cost of each
exposure. The camera apparently was discon-
tinued in 1933.
By the 1940s the Walt Disney characters had
long been well established in the popular cul-
ture of America. In the immediate post-World
War II period (1946), the Herbert George Co. of
Chicago brought out the first of its "character
cameras," the Donald Duck.15 Its plastic body
measured 2Vz x 21/2 x 41/2 in. On its back, in
relief, were images not only of Donald but also
of Huey, Dewey and Louie, his nephews, the
first time such a close identification had been
made on the camera body itself. The Disney
figures in addition colorfully decorated the top
and sides of the box, although the camera

the cameras came. The Buster Brown name and

illustrations were derived from the character
created by Richard F. Outcault for the New York
Herald where the drawings had first been pub-
lished in 1903.
The short-lived Pixie cameras from the Gund-
lach-Manhattan Optical Co. a few years later
also sported little imps in both advertising 10
and packaging, 11 but there seems to be no
evidence that the Kewpie cameras made by the
Conley Camera Co. for exclusive marketing by
Sears, Roebuck and Co. were advertised with
any illustrations 12 based on the fanciful Kewpie
drawings by the artist Rose O'Neill who was
later to make Kewpie dolls a national rage.
Neither the Pixie nor the Kewpie boxes were
23
24

itself was in "basic black," later supplemented
by an olive drab model which some collectors
referred to as the "combat model." 1 6 A still later
black model provided clips to hold on the
back, 17 and the company even offered the same
type of camera, likewise taking 127 film, but
completely divorced from the Disney connec-
tion, under the names Happi Time Camera18 and
Herco 12. 19
It seems odd that camera manufacturers would
have overlooked the commercial possibilities of
linking up with such early cowboy screenstars
as Tom Mix and William S. Hart, but they did so.
Not until the late 1940s did it occur to one of
them that a profitable connection might be
established. By then of course it was Hopalong
Cassidy who was enthralling the younger gen-
eration. This widespread enchantment was now
commemorated photographically by the produc-
tion of two different styles of Hopalong Cassidy
cameras. The first, a 3 x 4 x 5 in. black plastic
box camera taking 120 film, distributed by Gaiter
Products of Chicago, 20 appears to have been
made by Spencer Co., manufacturers of the
early Spartus camera. This first type of the
Hopalongs had an aluminum front-plate with
both a line-drawing illustration of "Hoppy" on his
horse, and a halftone of the cowboy. The cow-
boy and his horse were also shown in a slightly
more elaborate model which accommodated a
flash attachment. 21
The other Hopalong Cassidy camera, also
distributed by Gaiter Products Co., was made
of black plastic, took 127 film, and measured
2V8 x 2% x 5 in. 2 2 It was not only in the style
of the cheap imitation 35mm cameras popular
in the 1940s, but also exactly like the Congress
camera of 1939,23 and the Mar-Crest and Kando
cameras of immediately after the war. 24
Dick Tracy and Brenda Starr, Cub Reporter,
both of whose cartoon adventures were widely
followed, were celebrated next by Seymore
Products Co. of Chicago. The cameras bearing
their likenesses had a head-and-shoulders view
of the aquiline-nosed Tracy and a full-length
reclining view of the slinky Titian-haired Brenda,
but were otherwise identical save for their name-
plates, taking V/A X 1 % in. pictures on 127
film. (They were also the same as the 127 model
Hopalong Cassidy camera.) The Dick Tracy
camera dates from the early 1950s25 and it must
thus be assumed that the Brenda Starr camera 26
is from the same period.
By now, Hopalong Cassidy had faded in the
rising radiance of the screen's Roy Rogers,
around 1949-1950.27 The Roy Rogers camera,
available in both flash and non-flash models
(flash model — $3.49; non-flash — $2.49),28
was manufactured by the Herbert George Co.
and was a black plastic box camera, approxi-
mately 3 x 3 x 3% in. It took 21A x 21A in. pic-
tures on 620 film. On the aluminum front plate
was an illustration of Roy, astride a rearing
Trigger (his horse), with a lasso uncoiled to
spell out "Roy Rogers" below the lens. The
camera was not only otherwise identical to the
manufacturer's Imperial Six-Twenty,29 but also
to their Adventurer 620, Official Girl Scout 620,
Brownie Scouts 620 Flash camera, 620 Official
Cub Scout camera and Savoy Mark II. 3 0 Major
economies could be achieved with only mini-
mal alterations.
There were actually three western heroes of
the screen in the 1940s and 1950s who were
particularly appealing to the young, and the
third of these, the Lone Ranger, was soon rep-
resented on the market with a plastic camera. 31
The small 31/2 x 21/4 x 2VA in. camera used 828
film and, in addition to the name PHOTO-ETTE
molded above the lens, on the front, presented
an outline drawing in white of the "Masked
Stranger" and Silver (his horse) and the words
"Lone Ranger Camera" on the top of the black
plastic body's front section. Although the cam-
era bears no manufacturer's name, nor any date,
it is almost identical in appearance and exactly
the same in size as the Filius-Kamera made by
Isoplast GmbH, in Germany and imported into
America about 1954.32
Sensing that western heroes could be further
exploited, the Herbert George Co. now sought
to capitalize on Walt Disney's non-cartoon char-
acter Davy Crockett. Already playing "inter-
changeable nameplates," the company merely
took their basic Roy Rogers/Adventurer/Im-
perial 620 camera and converted it into a Davy
Crockett 620 Snapshot camera by the simple
addition of a frontplate showing a coonskin-
hatted Davy (actor Fess Parker) and two pseudo-
Kentucky rifles. 33
The use of 126 instant-load cartridge-film
25
 colored Charlie T. houses exactly the same 126-
film mechanism as the Mick-A-Matic, leading
one to speculate that Whitehouse Products, Inc.,
associated with Charlie, may have made both.
Charlie-Tuna, complete with beret for flash
cubes, was available for $4.95 plus three can
labels, from Star-Kist Tuna.38
Three inexpensive cameras which are inter-
changeable except for the names and cartoon
characters decorating their plastic bodies and
the cartons in which they came are the Fred
Flintstone, the Huckleberry Hound and the Yogi
seems to have increased the desirability of Bear. They were all made in Hong Kong and
this general type of camera, for in 1969 Child are close enough in design and dimensions to
Guidance Products introduced the Mick-A- the Boris & Natasha Super Spy to have been
Matic. 34 Whereas most previous "personality" manufactured by the same company. While they
cameras showed the character solely on the bear markings indicating the copyright of Hanna-
carton or in some way reproduced on the Barbera Productions, Inc., it is quite possible
camera itself, in this instance the camera was that these relate to permission by the creators
Mickey Mouse, or at least a 6V2 in. high replica to use the names of the cartoon characters and
of the rodent's head. The viewfinder was located have nothing to do with the marketing of the
between the eyes, and the 26mm, f/11 lens was cameras. As recently as 1975 the cameras were
mounted in the nose. The back of the head was
removable to permit changing film cartridges.
The first model had a flashcube adapter which
was mounted atop the head, between the ears,
and the shutter was released by pulling Mickey's
right ear down. With batteries and a roll of
Dynachrome film, the camera cost $8.95. A sub-
sequent model had the shutter release mounted
at the right side of the nose, and could be found
packaged with or without the flash (if without,
one could be sent for). Some packagings in-
cluded Dynachrome film, others Multiprint Color
film. 35
After this ingeniously constructed camera, at
such a price, it was a step backward to the
Boris & Natasha Super Spy camera, a cheap (in
terms of both cost and construction) plastic
camera measuring roughly 2 x 3 x 3Vz in., for
127 film. 36 It was made in Hong Kong around
1970 for the Larami Corp. of Philadelphia, and
could be found in supermarkets at discount
prices (one example marked $1.00 for instance,
was sold for 79 cents). The cartoon-character
graphics of Jay Ward's "Rocky and His Friends"
were restricted to the card behind the camera's
plastic bubble mount.
A more recent example of the "personality"
camera, dating from 1972, is Charlie-Tuna (a
character familiar from TV commercials), a 91/2
in. high camera-in-a-fish. 37 The attractive, multi-
26
obtainable as premiums, one for instance being
given to children selling at least $12.00 worth
of Barton's candy in school fund-raising pro-
jects. 39
A new form of Dick Tracy camera, also made
in Hong Kong, is currently available in some
novelty stores in New York City. Smallest of all
this type and made of black plastic, it mea-
sures only 1 % 6 x 1 % x 21/8 in., and takes ten
13 x 14mm exposures on the type of paper-
backed 16mm film used in such inexpensive
Japanese cameras as the Hit, Crystar, etc. The
camera itself bears no name (which means
that it could easily reappear in other contexts),
merely stating its patents and a 1975 copyright
by Laurie Import Ltd. The name and face of
Dick Tracy are relegated to the box — colorful
as usual — in which the camera comes. 40
The most recent of all these cameras is the
Snoopy-Matic Instant Load Camera which just
made it in time for the 1976 Christmas season. 41
Housed within a 2VB x 4% x 5% in. red and
white plastic dog house is the mechanism of over, particularly in this age of television. Kids
a 126 film camera. The lens aims out through are still kids, and merchandisers are still mer-
the door, with the viewfinder "window" mounted chandisers. Of course, what the next camera
to one side of the door, and the shutter release of this kind to come out will be like is another
to the other. Immediately beside the lens is the question. Will the lens be housed in the bul-
switch to change from the setting for daylight bous nose of Ronald McDonald? Will the view-
pictures to that for flash. The film-advance/ finder be concealed in the tousled top of Li'l
shutter-cocking lever is located at the back of Abner? While none of us, except perhaps the
the house. Concealed within the chimney is the designers working on such a project, knows,
mount which accepts magicubes. The character it is certainly fun to speculate.
in the case of this camera is Snoopy, which
Charles Schulz created for the Peanuts car-
toons; the dog lies atop the roof, peering hap-
pily down over the front edge. The camera,
distributed by the Helm Toy Corp. of New York, Notes
The Author wishes to thank Lewis and Janet Lehr for the
and made — where else? — in Hong Kong, 42 is loan of their Brenda Starr Cub Reporter Camera and
Richard Sanford for the loan of his Lone Ranger Camera.
packaged in a brightly decorated box. All other cameras shown are from the collection of the
As there has been a steady stream of "per- Author.
1
The Youth's Companion, 13 August, 1891.
sonality" cameras throughout the little more 2
3
Kodak Trade Circular, no. 3 (February 1900), p. 1.
The Camera, March, 1900, p. 84; Directions For Using
than sebenty-five years that have followed the in- The Brownie Camera, March 1900.
4
troduction of the first such camera, the Brownie, Kodak Trade Circular, no. 8 (July 1900), p. 4.
5
Palmer Cox, The Brownies: Their Book (New York: The
there is no reason to assume that the trend is Century Co., 1887).
6
Kodak Trade Circular, no. 5 (April 1900), p. 6.
7
Alan R. Feinberg, The Kodak Collector (Winnetka: Alan
R. Feinberg, n.d.), p. 40. The following are the dates of
introduction of the other " B r o w n i e " cameras: No. 2 —
October, 1901; No. 2A — April, 1907; No. 3 — November,
1908; No. 0 — May, 1914; No. 2C — July, 1917.
8
American Amateur Photographer, December, 1906, adv.
9
Illustrated Catalog of Photographic Apparatus and Sup-
plies (New York: G. Gennert, 1906), p. 38.
10
American Photography, September, 1914, p. x i , adv.
11
Collection of the International Museum of Photography.
12
Photographic catalog of Sears, Roebuck & Co., n.d.
(ca. 1914), pp. 28-29.
13
Photographische Rundschau und Mitteilungen, heft 24
(December, 1931).
14
The Camera, April, 1932, adv.
15
Win Valuable Monthly Cash and Merchandise Prizes
With Your Donald Duck Camera (Chicago: Herbert George
Co., 1946).
16
Collection of the Author.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19
Playthings, March, 1948.
20
Collection of the Author.
21
Ibid.
22
Romantic Confessions, August-September, 1952, adv.
23
Dealer Price List, Monarch Manufacturing Co., 15 Oc-
tober, 1939.
24
Collection of the Author.
25
The Three Stooges, Three Dimension Comics, October,
1953, adv.
26
Collection of Lewis and Janet Lehr.
27
Catalog of Arel Inc., 1950, pp. 40-41.
28
Ibid.
29
Catalog of Arel Inc., 1951, p. 7.
30
Collection of the Author.
31
Collection of Richard Sanford.
32
Photography, October, 1954, p. 148.
33
Collection of the Author.
34
Modern Photography, February, 1970, p. 18.
35
Collection of the Author.
36i Ibid.
37
Good Housekeeping, February, 1972.
38
Ibid.
39
Premium pamphlet of Barton's Fund Raising Division,
n.d. (ca. 1975).
40
Collection of the Author.
41
Consumers Distributing 1976/1977 Catalog, p. 232; Sun-
day News (New York), December, 1976, p. 110.
42
Instructions, Snoopy-Matic Camera, n.d. (ca. 1976).
27
"Rounds of Amusement:" The Thaumatrope

Marshall Deutelbaum

While the phenomenon of the persistence of

vision — the physiological quirk upon which
rests the illusion of motion pictures — was
known to the ancients, and served as the
basis for Newton's color wheel, the first dis-
cussion of it in what may be considered di-
rectly as the pre-history of motion pictures oc-
curs in a paper, "The Persistence of Vision
with Regard to Moving Objects," presented by
Peter Mark Roget to the Royal Society on De-
cember 9, 1824. Roget's purely scientific ex-
planation of the phenomenon was followed, in
1826, by the appearance in London of a
"Thaumatropical Amusement" whose invention
is generally attributed to John Ayrton Paris.
Called a Thaumatrope, the amusement was
actually an optical device which illustrated
the persistence of vision for a witty effect.
Physically, the Thaumatrope consisted of a
circular cardboard disc on either side of which the persistence of vision. While the Thauma- mend the dismissal of the cane, or the
were drawn two related figures. Though back- trope did not create the illusion of motion, the whip; on the contrary, I shall insist upon
to-back, the figures were upside-down in rela- way in which it synthesized an entirely new them as necessary and indispensable in-
tion to one another. The figures were centered image from two separate images does illustrate struments of my design. But the method of
in the middle of the disc and flanked on either the essential additive nature of the phenomenon applying them will be changed; with the
side by holes punched near the outer edge of involved. one I shall construct the bow of the kite,
the disc. A separate string was knotted through In 1827, Paris published Philosophy in Sport with the other I shall spin the top. 2
each punched hole. Made Science in Earnest; Being an Attempt to Significantly, the playfulness of these remarks
To operate the Thaumatrope, one would Illustrate the First Principles of Natural Phil- animates all of Philosophy in Sport, including
grasp the strings between the thumb and fore- osophy by the Aid of Popular Toys and Sports.1 the chapter on the Thaumatrope and the per-
finger of each hand and loosely loop the disc As its title indicates, Paris intended the work sistence of vision.
and strings around themselves to wind them to explain scientific principles to children in a Here, as in the rest of the work, the explana-
taut. Then, when the strings were tensely coiled, clear, yet enjoyable, manner. For as he notes tion of the phenomenon, and the presentation
one would firmly pull the ends of the strings in his introduction, "To The Reader," the fic- of the Thaumatrope to illustrate its useful and
in opposite directions away from the disc itself. tional Narrative in which he imbeds the ex- enjoyable application, arise naturally in a con-
Under this tension, the Thaumatrope disc and planations, as well as the toys and games he versation between Mr. Seymour (Paris' persona
strings would begin to unwind — the line of the offers in illustration of them, are intended to in the work) and two youngsters, Louisa and
strings supplying the axis about which the disc make the traditional work associated with Tom. Their dialogues are further enlivened by
revolved. As the disc spun, each side would be teaching natural science to children much less the watchful presence of a vicar, Mr. Twaddle-
exposed to view momentarily and the two drawn unpleasant than it might be in the formality of ton, who carefully ensures that the amusements
figures would appear to the viewer to merge a classroom: do serve serious, as well as enjoyable, instruc-
into a single, composite image as a result of Imagine not, however, that I shall recom¬ tional purposes.

28
 In addition to a careful explanation of the
phenomenon, including the fact that no one
notices a moment of darkness in the course
of blinking precisely because of the persistence
of vision, Mr. Seymour introduces a set of
eighteen Thaumatropes for the amusement of
the company. After noting the way in which the
two figures on the Thaumatrope are perceived
to merge into a single, new figure, Mr. Seymour
suggests a pedagogical use that might be
served by the discs:
On each of these cards a device is intro-
duced, with an appropriate motto, or epi-
gram; the point of which is answered, or
explained, by the change which the figure
assumes during the rapid whirling of the
card. 3
"Change" is, indeed, the key to the richness
of the process involved in the enjoyment of
these discs. But as the following dialogue
about one of the Thaumatropes reveals, such
change involves the appreciation of both visual
and verbal alteration. For not only does the
new, synthesized image created by the whirling
disc answer the question inscribed upon the
Thaumatrope, it does so in some manner which
also puns directly upon the circular shape of
the disc and its circular rotation. In the follow-
ing example, Mr. Seymour presents the com-
pany with a Thaumatrope which has upon
either side the drawing of a sleeping watchman
and a drawing of an empty watchman's guard-
house.
'Show us another card,' said Tom,
eagerly.
'Here then is a watch-box; when I turn it
round, you will see the watchman com-
fortably sleeping at his post.'
'Very good! It is very surprising,' said
the vicar.
'Yes,' observed the major; 'and to carry
on your political joke, it may be said that,
like most worthies who gain a post, by
turning round, he sleeps over his duty.'
'The epigram which accompanies it is
not deficient in point,' said Mr. Seymour.
The caprice of this watchman surpasses all
bounds;
He ne'er sits in his box, but when going
his rounds:
While he no sooner rests, 'tis a strange
paradox!
Than he flies from his post, and turns out
of his box. 4
This passage enumerates several pleasures
consciously drawn from viewing the Thauma-
trope. In addition to the visual delight of see-
ing two figures merge into a third — that of
the watchman asleep at his post — the epigram
suggests other amusements that derive from
observing the toy. In part, there is the pleasure
associated with the double meaning of
"rounds." Thus while a proper watchman ought
to be out of his box and making his rounds, it
is only by spinning the disc (i.e. setting it going
round and round) that the watchman appears to
be asleep, or stationary, within his shelter.
Should this appear, however, to be merely a
contradiction in terms, the last two lines of the
epigram set the matter right. For by stopping
the Thaumatrope abruptly so that only the
drawing of the empty watch-box faces the
viewer, it appears as though the watchman has
left the box to make his rounds. Thus there is
a fascination in both the illusion created by
setting the disc in motion and in abruptly
stopping it. As the epigram illustrates, the
pleasures are complexly visual and ideational:
the watchman sleeps at his post while the
Thaumatrope spins, yet hurries to his rounds
when the spinning disc is suddenly stopped.
The inscription on the lid of the box in which
the Thaumatropes are stored conveys the
pleasures of the double awareness of the
shape of the device and its motion in relation
to the figures depicted upon it:
The Thaumatrope;
being
Rounds of Amusement,
or
How to please and surprise
By turns. 5
Though the vicar objects to the continuous
puns which the discs encourage, Mr. Seymour
insists, at one point, upon reading what he
calls an address to the public by the author of
these Thaumatropes. As Mr. Seymour notes,
the address "contains a succession of very
happy puns:"
. . . the author of the present invention
claims for himself the exclusive merit of
having first constructed a hand-mill, by
which puns and epigrams may be turned
with as much ease as tunes are played
on the hand-organ, and old jokes so
rounded and changed, as to assume all
the airs of originality. The inventor con-
fidently anticipates the favour and patron-
age of an enlightened and liberal public,
on the well-grounded assurance, that 'one
good turn deserves another;' and he trusts
that his discovery may afford the happy
means of giving activity to wit that has
long been stationary; of revolutionising
the present system of standing jokes, and
of putting into rapid circulation the most
approved bon-mots. 6
The author's address suggests a final source
of pleasure derived from these Thaumatropes
which remains unacknowledged throughout the
discussion. When Mr. Seymour first shows the
discs to the children and calls each a Thauma-
trope, Louisa asks the meaning of the term.
The vicar explains that "Thaumatrope" is the
combination of the two Greek words for "won-
der" and "to turn." Mr. Seymour seconds the
vicar's explanation, adding " 'A Wonder-turner,'
or a toy which performs wonders by turning
round." 7 Though the derivation is correct, it
hides as much as it reveals. For as any edu-
cated reader of the time would have noticed,
the word "trope," contained within the name
"Thaumatrope," was a familiar term for any
rhetorical device, or figure of speech, such as
metaphor or irony, in which a word was used
in some way different from its literal sense.
The changes wrung on the italicized words in
the address having to do with motion suggest
that the Thaumatrope was also meant to be
enjoyed as an animate rhetorical device.
Notes
1
[John Ayrton Paris,] Philosophy in Sport Made Science
in Earnest; Being an Attempt to illustrate the First Prin-
ciples of Natural Philosophy by the Aid of Popular Toys
and Sports, 3 vols. (London: Longman, Rees, Orme,
Brown, and Green, 1827). Paris' name did not appear on
the title page of the first edition. However according to
William Munk, in his A Memoir of the Life and Writings
of John Ayrton Paris (London: Bell and Daldy, 1857),
" i t ' s author's name soon transpired, and became gen-
erally known." (p. 29). Munk notes, as well, that at the
time he writes, Philosophy in Sport was about to
appear in its eighth edition. The IMP/GEH Archives
holds both this first London edition and the expanded,
one volume London edition of 1833.
2
3
Paris, Philosophy in Sport, 1 : viii-ix.
Ibid., 3: 6.
4
Ibid., p. 9.
5
Ibid., p. 12.
6
Ibid., pp. 10-11.
7
Ibid., p. 6.
29
The Ernostar Lens
R. Kingslake
In August, 1916, an obscure individual named
Charles Clayton Minor, living in Chicago, ap-
plied for a patent (U.S. 1,360,667) on a novel
and revolutionary four-element lens, consisting
of two positive elements, a strong biconcave
element touching the second positive element,
a stop, and a rear biconvex element. This lens
was eventually manufactured, about 1920, by
the Gundlach-Manhattan Optical Company in
Rochester, New York, as the f/1.9 Ultrastigmat,
in 40, 50, and 75mm focal lengths, a motion-
picture taking lens that achieved some success
in Hollywood.
The new lens could be regarded either as a
triplet with an additional positive element in
the front airspace, or as a triplet in which the
front element had been split into two. Be that
as it may, the objective was capable of a much
higher relative aperture than the ordinary Cooke
triplet, but it covered a relatively narrow field.
A few years later, in January, 1923, a patent
was applied for (U.S. 1,584,271), in the name of
Ludwig Jakob Bertele of the H. Ernemann Com-
pany, founded in Dresden in 1889 and well-
known as a manufacturer of lenses, shutters,
and cameras. Bertele was a young man (he
was born in 1900) and he lacked the advantage
of a college education, but he turned out to be
a lens-design genius. In this 1923 patent he
disclosed a lens similar in principle to the
Minor objective but differing from it in that
both of the front positive elements were re-
placed by cemented doublets. The interface in
the front component was dispersive while that
in the second component was collective, and
the rear airspace was quite wide. The lens
covered a field of about ± 20° at f/2 with ex-
cellent definition. It was manufactured by the
Ernemann Company as the Ernostar in a focal
length of 100mm, and a small camera holding
30
41/2 x 6cm plates with a focal-plane shutter was
attached to the rear of the lens by means of a
long helical focusing screw. The camera with
this new high-aperture lens was announced in
mid-1924 as the Er-Nox, but the name was
changed almost immediately to Ermanox.
There is a legend that the name was to have
been Ernamax, but as both Erna and Max
were familiar German proper names, it was felt
better to interchange the letters. Actually, the
syllable "nox" was probably preferred as it in-
dicated the ability of the camera to take pic-
tures at night without requiring additional arti-
ficial light. The International Museum of Pho-
tography at George Eastman House has in its
collection two samples of the f/2 Ernostar lens
in 100mm focal length, one on an Ermanox
camera 41/2x6cm, the lens serial number being
150903, and the other on a non-standard
6V2 x 9cm camera, lens serial number 165467.
Although this camera is not listed in Ernemann
catalogues, it appears to be a regular factory
item.
At a time when f/4.5 was considered a fast
lens by ordinary standards, the new f/2 lens
created a furore as it was five times as fast as
an f/4.5 objective. It was particularly recom-
mended for theater photography by the ordi-
nary stage lighting. To be sure, some high-
aperture lenses of the Petzval type had been
made previously, such as the Dallmeyer lens
on Thomas Skaife's Pistolgraph of 1859, but
they did not cover anything like the field of the
Ernostar, which was almost twice that of the
Gundlach Ultrastigmat.
It is a very interesting fact that there was an
f/2 anastigmat which preceded the Ernostar by
three years, namely, the Taylor-Hobson Series
O, or Opic lens designed by H. W. Lee in
1920 (Brit. Pat. 157,040). This was an excellent
objective of the double Gauss type, but it was
offered for sale as merely a lens, with no
camera, shutter, or focusing screw being pro-
vided, so it failed to make any impression on
the photographic world and it did not sell at
all well. It is probable that the famous "candid"
photographs taken in available light by Erich
Salomon did more to publicize the Ermanox
than any other factor.
In December, 1924, a simplified f/2.7 version
of the Ernostar appeared, containing a single
element in place of the front doublet of the f/2
form (Brit. Pat. 237,861). This lens was sold on
the Ernemann Klapp (i.e. folding) cameras
in five sizes, from 75 to 220mm focal length,
where it was offered in competition with the
Zeiss Tessar.
Also in December, 1924, Bertele applied for
a patent on an improved form of the Ernostar
lens (U.S. 1,708,863). This lens consisted of a
front positive element; a cemented triplet con-
taining a high-index element between a posi-
tive and a negative element, so that the first
interface was dispersive while the second was
collective; then another negative element;
while behind the stop was a final positive ele-
ment. This design could be regarded as a
modification of the f/2.7 Ernostar in which the
strong cemented interface in the second com-
ponent was replaced by two cemented sur-

The IMP/GEH collection contains an Ermanox

faces. The new lens was announced in March,
1925, and offered for sale in May of that year.
At f/1.8 it gave better definition than the
previous f/2 Ernostar, and moreover covered a
wider angular field ( ± 24°) so that an 85mm
lens could now be used to cover a 41/2x6cm
plate. In June, 1925, the new Ernostar was ad-
vertised in several focal lengths as follows:
Focal length: 85 100 125
Plate size: 41/2x6 61/2 x 9
camera equipped with the 85mm f/1.8 lens,
serial 167272, and also an unmounted 165mm
lens serial 167048. It seems that the long
helical focusing screw was used only on the
smallest camera, the larger sizes having bel-
lows and four rigid supporting struts. Sale of
the earlier 100mm f/2 model was continued for
several years at a lower price.
In November, 1925, the Ermanox Reflex
camera was announced, equipped with a
105mm f/1.8 Ernostar lens and a 4V2 x 6cm
plate. This announcement came just a few
months before the Ernemann company was
absorbed into the newly formed Zeiss-lkon
combine. However, the Ermanox cameras were
140 165 195 240mm so good that Zeiss-lkon continued their manu-
facture for several years under the joint name.
9x12 10x15 13x18cm The Ermanox Reflex camera in the IMP/GEH

31
collection carries the following inscription on
the front of the lens mount: "Carl Zeiss Jena
Nr. 917022 Ernemann-Ernostar 1:1.8 f=10.5cm
D.R.P." The lens is very large and is focused
by a helical screw. The names Ermanox and
Ernostar were dropped from the Zeiss-lkon
catalogues early in 1930.
When the Zeiss-lkon company was estab-
lished, Bertele moved to Jena and became a
Zeiss designer. There he proceeded to de-
velop the Ernostar type of construction still
further, and in 1932 Zeiss announced the f/2
and f/1.5 Sonnar lenses, both designed by
Bertele, for the new Contax camera. Inci-
dentally the name Sonnar had been used by
Contessa-Nettel for their f/4.5 anastigmat of
the Tessar type of construction, and by acquir-
Some foreign patent equivalents
Patentee Convention date German
Minor 18 Aug. 1916
Bertele 401,274
13 Jan. 1923
Lee 14 Aug. 1920
Bertele 29 July 1924
Bertele 5 Dec. 1924 436,260
32
ing Contessa-Nettel, Zeiss-lkon acquired the Publishing Symposium
right to use the name Sonnar as well. In 1946,
at the close of World War II when Zeiss was
divided between East and West Germany,
Bertele left the company and joined Wild at
Heerbrugg in Switzerland. There he designed
some excellent aerial camera lenses such as
the 1947 Aviotar and the 1952 Aviogon. He
also designed the 1954 Zeiss Biogon lens,
which was manufactured in a 39mm focal
length for the Hasselblad wide-angle camera
and in a 25mm focal length for the Contax.
Portraits of Bertele have appeared in Jena Re- A symposium on publishing entitled "Photog-
view 4/1965, English language edition, and raphy '77: Perspectives on the Publishing of
more recently in Applied Optics 14, (October Today's Photographic Periodicals," sponsored
1975) p. 2367. He is now seventy-five years old by IMP/GEH and coordinated by Yong-Hee
and has retired from active lens-design work. Last of David R. Godine, publisher, of Boston,
is scheduled for May 12, 13 and 14 (Thursday,
Friday and Saturday) at the Dryden Theatre of
IMP/GEH in Rochester, New York.
U.S. British French Lens name "The symposium," Yong-Hee Last explains,
1,360,667 187,082 540,215 Ultrastigmat "is programmed to offer a comprehensive cov-
1,584,271 191,702 583,121 Ernostar f/2 erage of the entire step-by-step process of
157,040 Opic publishing a periodical: editing, design, pro-
237,861 590,651 Ernostar f/2.7 duction, marketing and financing. The panels
1,708,863 237,529 596,060 Ernostar f/1.8 will also seek to analyze and define the exist-
ing print media and their role in reflecting
American and European developments in pho-
tography."
The panel members are: Jim Alinder, Expo-
sure; Sam Antupit, Antupit & Others; Will
Clark, Camera 35; Michael Edelson, State Uni-
versity of New York at Stonybrook; Will Faller,
Photograph; Paul Farber, Petersen's Photo-
graphic; Arthur Goldsmith, Popular Photogra-
phy; Chuck Hagen, Afterimage; Jim Hughes,
Popular Photography; Bill Jay, Arizona State
University; Joe Kelleher, Penthouse Photo-
World; Herbert Keppler, Modern Photography;
John Morris, formerly of the New York Times;
Robert Pledge, Contact Press Images; George
Pratt, Image; Allan Porter, Camera; Charles
Reynolds, Popular Photography; Tennyson
Schad, Townsend, Rabinowitz, Pantaleoni &
Schad; Julia Scully, Modern Photography and
Peter Turner, Creative Camera.
Pre-registration is required: $35.00 should be
sent to Lee Swift, IMP/GEH, 900 East Avenue,
Rochester, N.Y., 14607. The phone number is
(716) 271-3361.
International Museum of Photography BRUCE DAVIDSON EUGENE SMITH
at George Eastman House 25 prints—$125/month 25 prints — $125/month
Office of Extension Activities University of Guelph, Guelph, Brooks Institute of Photography,
9 0 0 East Avenue, Rochester, N.Y., 14607 Ontario, Canada April 1-30 Santa Barbara, Ca. Feb. 28-March 28
Pentax Gallery, Tokyo, Japan June 15-July 14 Arizona State University,
Fort Lauderdale Museum of the Arts, Tempe, Az. April 10-May 5
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. September 1-30 Honeywell Memorial Community
Center, Wabash, Indiana June 4-30
ROBERT DOISNEAU Mendocino County Museum,
Schedule of Bookings: 25 prints — $125/month Willits, Ca. July 22-Sept. 16
March - September 1977 Duke University Union, Durham, N.C. April 1-30
JOSEF SUDEK
EUGENE ATGET ROBERT FRANK 25 prints — $175/month
40 prints — $200/ month 25 prints — $215/month Hampshire College, Amherst, Ma.
Western Washington State College, Pentax Gallery, Tokyo, Japan June 15-July 14 Feb. 15-March 15
Bellingham, Wa. Feb. 28-March 18 J. Hunt Gallery,
Zoller Gallery, State University of Pennsylvania, Minneapolis, Mn. April 15-May 15
FROM THE GEH COLLECTION
University Park, Pa. April 11-May 11
99 prints — $500/month
Musee d'art contemporain, TERMINAL LANDSCAPESS
Lincoln First Bank,
Montreal, Canada June 15-July 15 40 prints — $200/month
Rochester, N.Y. March 7-April 15
Hackley Art Museum, Musegon, Mi. Washington University,
August 1-31 St. Louis, Missouri March 1-31
GARY HALLMAN
HARRY CALLAHAN/CITY 20 prints — $125/month CARL TOTH
50 prints— $250/month Kearney State College, 25 prints — $125/month
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Az. Kearney, Ne. April 12-May 12 University of Guelph, Guelph,
March 15-April 24 Ontario, Canada April 1-30
Pentax Gallery, Tokyo, Japan July 15-August 14 LEWIS HINE Midland Center for the Arts,
50 prints — $250/month Midland, Mi. Sept. 1-30
MARK COHEN Everett Community College,
25 prints — $125/month Everett, Wa. March 15-April 15 TULSA/LARRY CLARK
University of Guelph, Guelph, Fort Lauderdale Museum of Fine Arts, 49 prints — $250/month
Ontario, Canada April 1-30 Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. September 1-30 Photographers Gallery Society,
Saskatoon, Sask., Canada March 9-April 2
COMING ATTRACTIONS: AMERICAN EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE Pentax Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
MOVIE STILLS AS PHOTOGRAPHY 35 prints — $175/month August 15-Sept. 14
50 prints — $250/month Kodak Park, Rochester,
New York April 15-May 15 JERRY UELSMANN
CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHERS V! 29 prints — $150/month
50 prints — $250/month ARNOLD NEWMAN Clark County Library District,
Musee d'art contemporain, 50 prints — $250/month Las Vegas, Nevada Feb. 15-March 15
Montreal, Canada Feb. 17-March 17 Northlight Gallery, Arizona State Zoller Gallery, State University Pennsylvania,
Secession Gallery of Photography, University, Tempe, Az. March 7-April 7 University Park, Pa. April 11-May 11
Victoria, B.C., Canada May 2-21 Oakton Community College, Brooks Institute of Photography,
University of Oklahoma, Norman, Ok. July 1-31 Morton Grove, II. July 1-31 Santa Barbara, Ca. August 1-31
Fort Lauderdale Museum of Fine Arts, St. John's College,
CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHERS VII Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. September 1-30 Annapolis, Md. Sept. 15-October 15
24 prints — $125/month
Florida Technological University, PHOTO/GRAPHICS WEST OF THE ROCKIES
Orlando, Fl. March 15-April 15 25 prints — $215/month 25 prints — $125/month
Millbrook School, Millbrook, N.Y. May 1-31 Kansas State College, Pittsburg, Cone University Center,
University of Oklahoma, Norman, Ok. July 1-31 Kansas May 1-27 Charlotte, N.C. March 15-April 15