Figure 1.--This British, presumably English Ambrotype photograph was probably made in the late-1850s. The boy seems to be wearing a jacket and skirt. was produced during the 19th Century, in the United Kingdom. It came with a protective case, wooden frame, and gilded metal mount. It was an outdoor photograph. Outdoor scenes were very rare in America. We are not sure how common they were in England.

The Ambrotype process is an early photographic process, a variation of the "wet collodin" process. The ambrotype is an underexposed wet-collodin negative on glass. The wet plate collodion process was invented just a few years before that by Englosh photograpic pioneer Frederick Scott Archer. James Ambrose Cutting of Boston developing a new process using the basic wet collodin process. Anvrose's innovation was to use the plate image as a positive, instead of a negative. He took out several patents relating to the process and may have coined the term "ambrotype" (1854). The anbrotype appeared in Englznd soon after, but were called collodion positives. Many people preferred the shiny Daguerrotypes, but Ambros were mucjh less expensive. (Preparing the metalic Dag plate was costly.) The fragility of the glass plate meant that like Dags they needed protective cases. This was especially important for Ambros, not only because of the fragility, but because a dark backgriuns was needed to view the image. Ambros were made during a relatively short period. Other processes such as the inexpensive tin-type appeared about the same time. And even more importantly, the CDV appeared. The first appeared in France during the late-1850s and by the early 60s was the dominant phootographic format. While we have found many American Ambros, we have found relatively few British ones.

Created: 4:46 AM 10/8/2008
Last updated: 8:07 AM 10/8/2008