Photographs of the Past: Process and Preservation

Bertrand Lavédrine With the collaboration of Jean-Paul Gandolfo, Sibylle Monod, and John P. McElhone Preface by Michel Frizot In recent years, interest in old photographs has grown significantly among a broad public, from collectors, conservators, and archivists to amateurs seeking to preserve precious family albums. Although the medium of photography is barely 150 years old, its relatively brief history has witnessed the birth of a wide range of photographic processes, each of which poses unique conservation challenges. This volume provides a comprehensive introduction to the practice of photograph preservation, bringing together more information on photographic processes than any other single source. Introductory chapters cover issues of terminology; the rest of the book is divided into three parts: positives, negatives, and conservation. Each chapter focuses on a single process―daguerreotypes, albumen negatives, black-and-white prints, and so on―providing an overview of its history