This book delivers an in-depth analysis of Hercule Florence, who is virtually unknown despite being among the world’s photographic pioneers. Based on the texts of various manuscripts, letters, diaries, notes, and advertisements, this book answers numerous questions surrounding Florence’s work, including the materials, methods, and techniques he employed and why it took more than a century for his discovery to come to light. Kossoy’s groundbreaking research establishes Florence’s use of "photographie" to describe the product of his experiments, half a decade before Sir John Herschel recommended "photography" to Henry Fox Talbot. This book aims to change the fact that despite its cultural and historical importance, Florence’s photographic breakthrough remains largely unknown in the English-speaking world.
Preface
Introduction
Part I: The Brazil of Hercule Florence
1. Brazil at the beginning of the 19th century
2. The inventor’s youth
3. His arrival to Brazil
4. The Langsdorff Expedition
5. Vila de São Carlos
6. First researches and discoveries
7. Campinas’ first typography. The periodical O Paulista
8. From the pictorial representation to the Salle Obscure
9. Hercule Florence’s other activities after 1839
Part II: Photography
10. Rediscovering the world
11. Europe in the 18th century
Knowledge in optics: the camera obscura
The contribution of chemistry
12. The multiple inventions of Photography
13. The announcement in Brazil of Daguerre’s discovery
14. References to Florence’s Discovery by various authors
15. References registered by Florence about his discovery
Part III: Replication and Confirmation of Florence’s Discovery
16. Critical examination of the sources: Methodology
17. Written sources
Description of the physical characteristics and content of the diaries
Analysis of the texts related to photography included in the diaries
First notes
The use of the câmera obscura. Sensitizing paper with silver nitrate
"Printing" by means of sunlight
Preparing the matrix or "negative" preparation. Materials and techniques
Sensitizing surfaces. Chemical substances. Materials and techniques
Printing plates
Searching for a fixing agent. Experimentations with urine. The use of ammonia. Other references.
International primacy in the use of the term photographie
18. Iconographic Sources
Physical characteristics and content of the sources. Description and analysis.
19. Other Sources
20. Florence’s sta
Biography
Boris Kossoy is Professor in the School of Communication and Arts at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
