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558 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [November 20,1863. “We must find out Eginton. There are many specimens of liis glass painting in England—one, a most splendid piece of work, at our St. Paul’s Church, Birmingham ; but he has been dead many years. I believe I have two pictures painted in oil by this process. « No one is now alive who can recollect Soho House before it was altered ; at least I think not, but will inquire. “ Excuse haste—I will write again. «I have found out Mr. John Powell’s mother; that’s something." No. 6. “16th December, 1862. “There will be no necessity for advertising Mr. John Powell, as I shall have his address to-morrow from his sister, and will then write him. “ I am quite interested in your pursuit, and begin to feel annoyed and sony that I had not the pleasure of your acquaintance years ago. What a rich mine of relics I might have saved, which, through ignorance, are now gone out of reach ! “ I saw an auctioneer to-day, who, some years ago, was a common dealer and broker. He knew Mr. Powell ; and when I inquired if he knew his address, the subject of the sun pictures came up. He reminded me that, some years ago, when I turned out all the rubbish and waste paper from the library at Soho House, he bought the old scrap paper, and amongst it, was a very curious picture which he could not make out. I did not recollect any picture being amongst the rubbish. He says that, in sorting it over, he found it, and put it on one side ; since then, he has frequently brought it out, and has always become bewildered as to what it is. He says it is neither chalk, crayon, Indian ink, paint, or painting. He will bring it up for me to see; it is in two parts, he says, and from his general description, I suppose it is a brother or sister of those I sent you. “I have not yet found any one who could recognize Old Soho House. Samuel Vale, whom Mr. Buckle knows well, says he recollects it being altered once, but cannot tell what it was like before the alteration. “ The publications of the Lunar Society are in the ‘ Philosophical Trans actions.’ These ‘ Lunatics,’ as they are called, threw out such outlandish ideas, that, instead of Lunar, they were called " Lunatics.’ But, of course, the records or memos, of their private proceedings may never come to light. They put forth to the world only just what they thought proper. Their private papers, I believe, will never come to light. They were truly great men. “ Buckle has heard from Mr. Watt (the late Mr. Watt, I mean) more about them than I can tell you. “Benjamin Franklin was among them atone time. Dr. Priestly was a firm member. Dr. Black came all the way from Scotland to attend these meetings on full-moon nights (as poor veteran Townsend used to call their meeting); Dr. Small, from Birmingham ; Mr. Edgeworth, from Lichfield (father of Maria Edgeworth) ; Mr. Wedgewood (the greatest potter) ; Dr. Johnson; Dr. Darwin (the great botanist). I cannot think of the others; they are all gone Mr. Galton, the Quaker, too. J. P. Muirhead, Esq., the friend and relative of the late James Watt, published lately (three or four years ago) a new edition of the ‘ Life of Watt.’ All in this book is authentic ; because I know Mr. Watt left him all his papers, books, drawings, and memoranda, &c., for the purpose of writing this life. Although I have never seen the book, I believe it refers to these sun pictures, as well as to the transactions of the Lunar Society. “ The article for Handsworth in Lewis was, of course, written by the late J. Watt. “ I will write again when I hear from Mr. Powell, and will not ‘budge’ till we have succeeded. No. 7. “ 19th December, 1862. ee I have obtained Mr. Powell’s address, and have written him. “ The broker, who has got the other pictures, expects to be paid. Of course I made very light of them, as he bought them merely as waste paper. I said he ought to return them to me as such. I asked him what he wanted for them, and he merely said he would consider of it. They should be secured by all means : they are very beautiful. “ I shall hear from Mr. Powell in a post or two. Singular enough, he was in Birmingham on Monday, and I did not know it. His address is 22, Liverpool Road, Manchester.” Copy of Telegram from Mr. F. P. Smith to Mr. Price. “ Don’t give him time to think, but get pictures at once, lowest price you can. F. P. S.” No. 8. “ 22nd December, 1862. “ Do not think by my absence that I am deserting you. “ On Saturday morning I had to meet Mr. Boulton at Malvern, and only came home late to-night, very tired. I found your telegram, and will see Mr. Shread, the auctioneer, to-morrow, and, if possible, will get the picture. “Mr. Powell’s letter* is enclosed. He will, I know, do all he can to find the old relic camera. “ In thinking over these pictures, I recollect old Townsend, in his gossip, telling me that they (the great men) used to have pictures on the table (not the pictures themselves, but the likeness of the pictures), and the way he tried to show me was nothing more or less than the camera obscura. He explained, " they’ were in a dark tent, and nothing but a. picture on the table. By some process they secured this shadow: 1 have no doubt whatever about it. Eginton, to whom it was subsequently resigned, and who became celebrated for his paintings on glass.”—Lewies Topographical Dictionary, art. Hands worth. ♦ Copy of Mr. Powell’s Letter. (No. 9). , , “ 21st December, 1862. “Mr. Gell handed me your letter, and that of the 18th inst. is to hand. "'It has long been a source of regret to me that, on my leaving my house at Trentham, the old and much-valued relic, the camera, vanished—whether sold by auction, or earned away by some friend while I was absent in Ireland, I have never been able to make out; however, as you are interested in its recovery, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to restore it to you. I shall, therefore, renew my inquiries, and if I can get any clue to it will not fail to let you know.” “I have written to Mr. Powell to tell him how interested I should be to get hold of my old camera again. He will do his best.” No. 10. “ 23rd December, 1862. “ I have much pleasure in apprizing you that I have this evening dis patched to your address two parcels; containing the pictures which I got from Mr. Shread, the auctioneer. He set a great value upon them, and I was at one time afraid he would not loose them. ‘ Will £10 do?’ said he. ‘£10 1 ’ said I; ‘ you mean 10s.’ After a good deal of bantering, I succeeded in getting them for £4 4s., and I think, under the circumstances, I did very well. They are really very beautiful. The large one in two parts is most beautiful; but where is the original painting? Some of your great men may recognize it.” No. 11. “ 26th December, 1862. “ Yours to hand, with enclosure and receipt herewith for the four guineas. “ Little did I think, when I had the pleasure of seeing you here, and showing you these old curiosities, that it would have turned out so in teresting. “ I fancy I have bothered somebody by turning up these mysterious relics. I think I have nearly exhausted my store of information on the subject; yet one thing I recollect. This old camera was about 12 inches cube, made of oak, roughly ; and, and to the best of my recollection, the lens was not more than 2} or 3 inches diameter, but there were some moveable parts in it. All this Mr. Powell will explain. “ The whole of the rooms at Soho have long since been cleaned out, and the house let to the incumbent of the church. There is, therefore, nothing what ever (not even a scrap of paper) left there belonging to Matthew Boulton. What remains of the correspondence and books I have in my own keeping, and these must soon be dispersed for want of room. The old factory is coming down, and there are many reasons why a regular turn-out should now be made. But before I begin to destroy any papers, you shall be welcome to look at them. Bear in mind, they weigh about three tons. « The writing at the back of ‘ Flora,’ was done by the broker, directly after his clearance from Soho ; it was at that time a mere guess from what I had let out.” ***** “Depend upon it, these sun pictures were produced by a process with the help of the camera obscura. It would not, I suppose, have been possible to have got such large paper as the picture in two parts.” [.C^l/ °f a Letter from Messrs. J. Hollingsworth and Company, paper makers, Turkey Mills, Maidstone'.— No. 12. “29th Dec. 1862. “In reply to your letter of the 26th, with respect to the exceedingly rough foolscap paper made by Whatman, the only information we can give you upon the subject is, that Mr. Whatman had the Mills about 100 years ago, and think that the name of Whatman was first put on the paper only, and after a few years the date of the year ; and when we purchased the Mills, in 1794, the date was then in, and have continued the date of the year ever since. “We remain, Sir, yours very faithfully, (Signed) “ Hollingsworth and Co. “F. P. Smith, Esq.”] No. 13. “30th Dec. 1862. ***** “The first thing is to retain Mr. Powell, to hunt up the camera, and get his account of it.” " I shall get Powell’s answer in a post or two.” [Extractfrom Mr. PowclVs letter:— No. 14. “ 31st Dec., 1862. ***** “I have written to a friend at Trentham, who will, I know, make diligent search for the camera. I have such a vivid recollection of the old favourite, that if I can get it back again in a hundred pieces, I can restore it to its original condition.” No. 15. “3rd Jan., 1863. “In the record of the International Exhibition, part 12, page 565, reference is made to experiments made by Davy and Wedgewood* for copying paintings on glass, in 1802. The author of this article seems to have a glimmer of this great mystery.” No. 16. “19th Jan., 1863. “The auctioneer, Mr. Shread, has found two more beautiful old sun pic tures, copies of paintings, amongst the rubbish I sold him. Had I better secure them?” No. 17. “5th Feb., 1863. “Boulton and Fothergill sold pictures painted in oil by the dozens, at very low prices ; and I firmly believe I have a clue to the secret, but am not yet quite ready to give you details. When I am, I will do myself the pleasure of riding up to South Kensington.!” * “ Wedgwood was very intimate with Boulton and Watt; and I have copies of letters to him from Boulton, but nothing about this subject.’ + Copies of Invoices, ^c. for S W I Taken from what 4 Square Mechanical Paintings, vix.— Masters. 15 0 West—One of Chephalus and Procris 15 0 West—One of Venus and Adonis 110 Angelica Kauffman—One of Penelope 1 1 0 Angelica Kauffman- One of Calipso
