Westminster Abbey, London,, Nicolaas Henneman (attributed to), c. 1843 - before 1846

salted paper print, h 184mm × w 224mm More details

This shot was taken using paper sensitized with silver salts. The result is a negative from which positive impressions can be made. But what purpose could this serve? Talbot discussed the applications of his new photographic process in his photo book The Pencil of Nature. Here we see precision, a wealth of details, and the Abbey that is so deeply bound up with English history: black and grimy from the soot of the metropolis.