Aperture 161

Aperture Magazine, issue #161, Fall 2001.
Portfolios and Essays on William Henry Fox Talbot by Anthony Burnett-Brown, Russell Roberts, and Mark Haworth-Booth.

Specimens and Marvels: William Henry Fox Talbot and the Invention of Photography
Preface by Anthony Burnett-Brown

Specimens and Marvels: The Work of William Henry Fox Talbot
by Russell Roberts

William Henry Fox Talbot/2000
by Mark Haworth-Booth

A special monograph issue published to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Britain's celebrated inventor of photography, Specimens and Marvels illuminates the mid-nineteenth-century cultural environment in which Talbot's vision for photography emerged—a vision that would permanently alter how human beings view themselves and the world. This unprecedented issue focuses on Talbot's ambitions for the mystical blend of science and art he termed "photogenic drawing" (later called "photography"), as outlined in his classic The Pencil of Nature. Lively and insightful texts by Anthony Burnett-Brown, Mark Haworth-Booth, and Russell Roberts offer new critical perspectives on Talbot's significance in the history of image-making, the illustrated book, and the history of ideas.