"First Photographs" delves into the origins of photography through the pioneering work of William Henry Fox Talbot. Curated by the Fox Talbot museum, this monograph presents unpublished images from Talbot's archives, including landscapes, architectural studies, and portraits from the 1830s and 1840s, housed at Lacock Abbey in England. Talbot's development of the negative/positive paper process marked a seminal advance in photography, distinguishing it from the daguerreotype and enabling image reproduction. The book features essays by Talbot scholar Michael Gray and Museum of Photographic Arts director Arthur Ollman, exploring Talbot's life, technological contributions, and the Romantic influences on his work.
