Peter
>
> From a UK perspective I think Aaron Scharf's book Art and Photography
> 1974 was a great stimulus to us all at that time, and behind the scenes we
> had Professor
> Margaret Harker's contribution which was highly significant,I for instance
> would not have written Creative Sunprinting without her very strong
> direction, and valuable help,also her Magnificent book" the Linked Ring "
> 1979 has made a major contribution
I have all of these books and have to say that I had never really connected
any of them with the revival! Apart from yours the others treat the
processes as historical curiosities. By the time your book came out I
already had several US publications.
>
> >(What date did the Bea Nettles book come out - I think this was the
first
> book that told you how to do it that had been on sale in the UK - if very
> limited sale - since the '30's? Or was Peter Fredrick 1980 book before
> this?)<
>
> Bea Nettles book was published in USA in 1977 but made it over here a few
> years latter,as did Arnalds Gassans,hand book of contempory photography
> 1977 and Kent E Wades, Alternative Photographic processes,1978 also we
must
> not forget
> T I Williams little but influential book Pigment Printing Processes, and
my
> real friend David Scopick, whose book, The Gum Bichromate book published
> by light impressions 1978, and of course the seminal book by William
> Crawford, Keepers of the light 1979.
The Bea Nettles book was certainly the first I came across - I think it must
have been in some specialist outlets - perhaps Coo Press or the
Photographers' Gallery in 77 or 78. I also bought the Gassan book around
this time (and lent it to Terry for some years I remember!), but this was
all some time after we had got started.
Interested to hear you were at it in the '60's - what was it that started
you on gum etc?
>
> These flock of books instigated the revival.
I think it is clear that there were a very small number of people interested
and actively working in the 1970's - no doubt we could both add a few more
names. Not all were working successfully. You mention one TV series but I
remember a story about a quite different one in which an eminent UK photo
historian demonstrated the Collodion process. When I was failing to get this
to work with Terry we met one of the other people who had been making the
series and asked her about this, only to be told that he hadn't actually
managed to get it to work either, and the successful negative that was shown
was from the museum collection!
However I think is was in the mid '80's with the approach of the 150 years
that things really started to take off, and that following this we have seen
an enormous growth of interest.
Peter Marshall
On Fixing Shadows, Dragonfire and elsewhere:
http://faraday.clas.virginia.edu/~ds8s/
Family Pictures & Gay Pride: http://www.dragonfire.net/~gallery/
and: http://www.speltlib.demon.co.uk/