The Daguerreian Journal, Vol. I, No. 8, March 1, 1851

PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY, AT $3 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE.
Devoted to the Daguerrian and Photogenic Arts.
Also, embracing the Sciences, Arts, and Literature.
VOL. I. MARCH 1, 1851. NO. 8.
NEW-YORK: S. D. HUMPHREY, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, NO. 311 BROADWAY.
SUBJECT TO NEWSPAPER POSTAGE.—See 3d page cover.

WILLIAM S. DORR, Printer, 101 Nassau-St., New York.

Dr. Berres of Vienna was the first, I believe, who published a process for etching Daguerreotypes; his method was to cover the plates with a solution of gum-arabic, and then to immerse them in nitric acid of a certain strength. I have not seen any plates thus prepared, but the few experiments which I have made with nitric acid, have given me a burred and imperfect outline; and I have experienced extreme difficulty of manipulation from the circumstance of the acid never attacking the plate uniformly and simultaneously. My object, however, in this communication, is not to find fault with a process which I have never perhaps fairly tried or seen tried by experienced hands, and the inventor of which deserves the gratitude of all interested in physical science; but to make public another which possesses the advantage of extreme simplicity, which any one, however unskilled in chemical manipulation, may practise with success, and which produces a perfect etching of the original image; so much so, that a plate thus etched can scarcely be distinguished from an actual Daguerreotype, preserving all the microscopic delicacy of the finest parts of the impression.
On mentioning the subject to Mr. Gassiot, he, with his usual energy and liberality, offered to procure me a sufficiency of Daguerreotypes; and it is owing to his zealous and valuable coöperation that I have been able to get such definite results as appear worth publication.