William henry fox talbot biography

H J P Arnold, William Henry Fox Talbot; Pioneer of Photography and Man of Science
(London: Hutchinson Benham, Ltd, ).

This book, the standard biography of Talbot, outlines the full range of his activities and interests.

William h fox talbot biography of alberta The father died when his son was five months old, leaving an estate in ruinous condition and forcing the boy and his mother to live in a succession of family homes. Then, in , Lady Elisabeth married Captain later Rear-Admiral Charles Feilding — and the boy effectively gained a real father. Although referred to as Fox Talbot by some of his contemporaries and many later writers, Talbot strongly disliked this use of the family name, almost always signing Henry F. Talbot or H. He was a brilliant student and eager to learn, but was painfully shy and reclusive by nature.

It is extensively documented and endnoted; the family trees and bibliography are a useful appendix. The illustrations, while numerous, are small and secondary to the text. Arnold's research was cut by about a third for publication (with the cuts mostly in non-photographic areas). The full unpublished text may be consulted in typescript at the Fox Talbot Museum in Lacock and in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center of The University of Texas at Austin.

Gail Buckland, Fox Talbot and the Invention of Photography  (Boston: David R Godine, ).

Buckland, the former curator of the Royal Photographic Society collection, gives a lively and sensitive account of Talbot's activities, concentrating on photography.

Whereas the text is less extensive and less documented than Arnold's, Buckland's selection of Talbot's images is superb. The quality of the monochromatic reproductions is uneven but the full colour reproductions give a very good sense of the originals.