DEETERS, M[artin] G[ustav]. Einladung zur öffentlichen Prüfung und feierlichen Entlassung im hiesigen Gymnasium am 21. und 27. Junius zu den öffentlichen Prüfungen in der zweiten Kreis- oder Handelsschule am 28. und in der russischen Kreisschule am 30. J…

Daguerreotypes in Latvia

DEETERS, M[artin] G[ustav]. Einladung zur öffentlichen Prüfung und feierlichen Entlassung im hiesigen Gymnasium am 21. und 27. Junius zu den öffentlichen Prüfungen in der zweiten Kreis- oder Handelsschule am 28. und in der russischen Kreisschule am 30. Junius. Vorrausgeschickt ist eine Abhandlung: Ueber das Daguerreotypiren. Riga: Wilhem Ferdinand Häcker. 1847.

4to. Disbound as issued, green paper backstrip; pp. [2], 14; small portion excised from title, offsetting to inner margin of 2 pp., light spotting, small crease to lower corner of final leaf; otherwise a very good copy; contemporary blue ink stamp of Riga Municipal Real-Bürgerschule (i.e. the publishing institution) and manuscript shelflabel to title.

Extremely rare first edition of this early treatise on taking photos by applying Dauguerre’s method, written by and given as a public lecture at Riga schools for higher education in the Russian Empire.

Deeters (1800–1877), a teacher of mathematics and physics at the Riga Gymnasium, opens with a short pre-history of photography from Della Porta to Niépce and touches upon colour theory and the theory of light before explaining Daguerre’s photochemical process in detail, including slightly later improvements of both the chemistry of the process, as well as the development of cameras, especially in relation to Austrian engineers, scientists, and inventors. The Munich artists and photographers Kobell and Steinheil are mentioned, as well as Talbot’s calotypes and the watchmaker Breguet’s invention of ‘printing’ his name inside the watches.

Daguerreotypes were invented by Louis Daguerre in Paris and introduced in 1839, and the first daguerreotypes were brought to Latvia in 1840 by Domenico de Robiani. Following Deeters’s treatise is a register of teachers at the Gymnasium in Riga – the oldest school in the Baltic states – where Deeters is listed as Oberlehrer in physics and algebra; teachers are also listed for the Catharinäum – the first school in Riga to offer Russian-language instruction – and the city’s business school. This essay was published as a lecture accompanying the public examinations of two Riga schools; ZDB states that there appeared single issues of these examinations annually from 1827 to 1847.

OCLC finds a single copy, at Princeton; not on Library Hub.

SKU: 2091459