Lea, Mathew Carey; A Manual of Photography : Intended as a Text Book for Beginners and a Book of Reference for Advanced Photographers; Philadelphia: Benerman & Wilson 1868. 1st Edition. 336; 20 ad pages. Hardcover.
Early Photography - 19th Century Photographic Techniques Advertising - 19th Century History Of Chemistry Mechanochemistry
Good. Margin dampstaining not affecting text legibility where it intrudes, some margin wrinkling, spine sun, front joint starting but firm, owner's name and 1869 signature, otherwise light wear. Solid hardcover.
Mathew (or Matthew) Carey Lea was the reclusive chemist now remembered as the founder of the field of mechanochemistry. However, his continuing interest was photography. "By the 1860s, Lea’s sole focus was photography. In 1868 he published A Manual of Photography, which became a standard reference work for photographers and others trying to understand the art and science of the technology. In it Lea offered practical advice on exposure times and special techniques for taking landscape and portrait images. It included chemical recipes for making the light-sensitive emulsions that photographers spread across glass plates and the chemical processes used to develop them. Innovatively, he described ways that the light-sensitive chemicals silver chloride and silver bromide could be used to generate different shades of color from metallic silver. (Figuring out how to fix these color images would take chemists another five decades.) Lea’s Manual was one of the first purchases George Eastman made when he set out to make photography something anyone could take part in." - Clay Cansler, Roger Turner; "Matthew Carey Lea and the Origins of Mechanochemistry"; Distillations, December 2021. Illustrated with text figures; includes 20 pages of photographic supply advertising in rear. First Edition of this highspot in the techniques of early photography.

Good. Margin dampstaining not affecting text legibility where it intrudes, some margin wrinkling, spine sun, front joint starting but firm, owner's name and 1869 signature, otherwise light wear. Solid hardcover.

9.37 x 6 x 1 in