10 Must Reads: History of Photography From Original Sources

At the outset, Henry Fox Talbot diffidently introduces photography to the world in his "little work now presented to the public". While just 45 years later photographer P H Emerson launches his polemic arguing that photography is an art form in its own right. These texts take us on a fascinating journey into the studios of some of the leading nineteenth-century European photographers. They confront us with examples of - and the thinking behind - some of the earliest examples of street photography; and underscore the sheer complexity and difficulty of taking and making photographs at the time. And along the way we are treated to fascinating, unique descriptions of the workings of photographic studios of the period - from the largest, most successful commercial operations, to specialist studios in such places as museums and prisons.