The Albumen Print
In 1850, L. D. Blanquart-Evrard (1802-1872), a French photographer,
introduced albumenized paper for photographic prints. Albumen
from the white of an egg was mixed with sodium chloride. Sheets
of thin paper were coated with the albumen mixture and then sensitized
with silver nitrate. A collodion glass negative could produce
finely detailed photographs on albumenized paper. By the 1860s,
most photographers were using collodion glass negatives and albumenized
paper in the production of photographic prints.
Blanquart-Evrard exhibited his albumen prints at the Great Exhibition
of 1851, announcing that his new process made it "possible
to produce two or three hundred prints from the same negative
the same day." The albumen print became an essential
component for the mass production of photographic images and played
an important part in meeting the public demand for stereographic
cards and carte de visite portraits in the 1860s.
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