Problematic Low-Sheen Salt and Albumen Prints

Abstract

Abstract In most cases the nomenclature we use today for pre-1860 silver prints has been a universally accepted translation or adaptation of phrases used in the 19th century. Terms such as ‘albumen print’ and ‘salt print’ have been accepted and understood by most curators. It is not the purpose of this paper to supplant this accepted tradition which is embodied in some of the excellent identification guides covering the entire range of 19th-century photographic images.1 Use of the principles in these guides leads to the correct identification of early prints in the majority of cases. The pitfalls lie in those murky areas which have come to light in the past 20 or so years where there has been little consensus and perhaps some misunderstanding.