Celtic Ornaments from the Book of Kells
Thomas Kingsmill Abbott (author)
photographer unknown
1895
31.5 x 24.5
ND 3359 B7 A13 1895 folio
Celtic Ornaments from the Book of Kells provides an example of a photographic reproduction of a unique work of art. This example, published in Dublin at the end of the nineteenth century, provides access to the book's decorative elements for those who could not view them firsthand.
One of William Henry Fox Talbot’s aspirations for photography, described in The Pencil of Nature, was that photographs would provide art reproductions. Compare this reproduction of the Book of Kells and Talbot's examples in The Pencil of Nature (such as plates v, xi, and xxiii) to an earlier volume of art reproductions, such as George Baxter’s Cabinet of Paintings. What were some of the advantages and disadvantages of these different processes for art reproduction?