PIONEER PHOTOGRAPHY—1849 PHILADELPHIA DAGUERREOTYPE RECEIPT FROM T. P. & D. C. COLLINS
COLLINS, THOMAS PAINTER and DAVID CHITTENDEN. Original manuscript receipt from the pioneering Philadelphia daguerreotype studio of T. P. & D. C. Collins, 100 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. January 9, 1849. One sheet, written on both sides, with contemporary docketing and a faded red circular marking.
A rare piece of early American photographic history documenting the price of a child’s daguerreotype portrait and a duplicate image only ten years after Louis Daguerre publicly introduced his revolutionary photographic process.
The receipt is headed:
“No. 100 Chesnut St., Jany 9th ’49”
It is made out to a customer identified as “Mr. Learning” and itemizes:
“For Daguerreotype of Daughter — $4.00
Duplicate of Same — $3.00”
A further one-dollar charge, apparently for a case or related finishing work, brought the total to eight dollars. At the bottom, the account is acknowledged:
“Rec’d Payment
T. P. & D. C. Collins
By S. Collins.”
The reverse bears contemporary docketing that appears to read “Collins bill / Daguerreotypes / Maria,” possibly identifying the young sitter as Maria Learning.
Brothers Thomas Painter Collins (1823–1873) and David Chittenden Collins (1825–1909) were among Philadelphia’s notable pioneer daguerreotypists. They opened their studio at 100 Chestnut Street in 1846, only seven years after the public announcement of the daguerreotype process.
Philadelphia was then one of America’s leading centers of photographic innovation. Chestnut Street supported a remarkable concentration of competing studios, including those of Marcus Root, the Langenheim brothers, McClees & Germon, and T. P. & D. C. Collins.
The Collins brothers’ surviving business registers record more than 23,000 customers between 1845 and 1854. During one five-year period alone, their studio reportedly produced over 9,500 daguerreotypes. Their portraits are now held by such institutions as the American Antiquarian Society, the Library Company of Philadelphia, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
This receipt offers unusually direct evidence of the economics of early photography. The original portrait cost four dollars, while the “duplicate” cost three dollars. Because a daguerreotype was a unique image formed directly upon a silvered copper plate, a duplicate was not simply printed from a negative; it generally required another exposure or the copying of the completed original with a second camera.
Condition: Original mailing and filing folds, general toning, scattered light soiling, creasing, small marginal tears, and several areas of weakness or short separation along the folds. The manuscript remains legible, including the studio address, charges, business name, and payment acknowledgment. Contemporary docketing and a faded red circular marking appear on the reverse.
A scarce and highly evocative artifact from the first decade of commercial photography in America, documenting the operation and pricing of one of Philadelphia’s important early daguerreotype galleries.
COLLINS, THOMAS PAINTER and DAVID CHITTENDEN. Original manuscript receipt from the pioneering Philadelphia daguerreotype studio of T. P. & D. C. Collins, 100 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. January 9, 1849. One sheet, written on both sides, with contemporary docketing and a faded red circular marking.
A rare piece of early American photographic history documenting the price of a child’s daguerreotype portrait and a duplicate image only ten years after Louis Daguerre publicly introduced his revolutionary photographic process.
The receipt is headed:
“No. 100 Chesnut St., Jany 9th ’49”
It is made out to a customer identified as “Mr. Learning” and itemizes:
“For Daguerreotype of Daughter — $4.00
Duplicate of Same — $3.00”
A further one-dollar charge, apparently for a case or related finishing work, brought the total to eight dollars. At the bottom, the account is acknowledged:
“Rec’d Payment
T. P. & D. C. Collins
By S. Collins.”
The reverse bears contemporary docketing that appears to read “Collins bill / Daguerreotypes / Maria,” possibly identifying the young sitter as Maria Learning.
Brothers Thomas Painter Collins (1823–1873) and David Chittenden Collins (1825–1909) were among Philadelphia’s notable pioneer daguerreotypists. They opened their studio at 100 Chestnut Street in 1846, only seven years after the public announcement of the daguerreotype process.
Philadelphia was then one of America’s leading centers of photographic innovation. Chestnut Street supported a remarkable concentration of competing studios, including those of Marcus Root, the Langenheim brothers, McClees & Germon, and T. P. & D. C. Collins.
The Collins brothers’ surviving business registers record more than 23,000 customers between 1845 and 1854. During one five-year period alone, their studio reportedly produced over 9,500 daguerreotypes. Their portraits are now held by such institutions as the American Antiquarian Society, the Library Company of Philadelphia, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
This receipt offers unusually direct evidence of the economics of early photography. The original portrait cost four dollars, while the “duplicate” cost three dollars. Because a daguerreotype was a unique image formed directly upon a silvered copper plate, a duplicate was not simply printed from a negative; it generally required another exposure or the copying of the completed original with a second camera.
Condition: Original mailing and filing folds, general toning, scattered light soiling, creasing, small marginal tears, and several areas of weakness or short separation along the folds. The manuscript remains legible, including the studio address, charges, business name, and payment acknowledgment. Contemporary docketing and a faded red circular marking appear on the reverse.
A scarce and highly evocative artifact from the first decade of commercial photography in America, documenting the operation and pricing of one of Philadelphia’s important early daguerreotype galleries.
