History of Photography. American Photographic Patents: The Daguerreotype & Wet Plate Era 1840-1880 by Janice G. Schimmelman

Carl Mautz, 2002. Invaluable reference. Hardcover with dust jacket (one of only 400 casebound copies). 128 pages. New in original shrink wrap.  Summary:

American Photographic Patents: The Daguerreotype & Wet Plate Era 1840–1880 (2002) is a specialized reference directory compiled by art historian Dr. Janice G. Schimmelman. Published by Carl Mautz Publishing, the 119-page volume bridges the gap between technological innovation and the material history of early American photography, indexing the foundational legal and mechanical frameworks that shaped the medium's first forty years.

The text serves as an exhaustive historical record, listing 810 photographic invention patents and 22 design patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office during the nineteenth century. Arranged chronologically, the volume spans the introduction of the daguerreotype, the development of the ambrotype, and the rapid rise of the wet-plate collodion process (including the tintype/ferrotype). Rather than offering an analytical narrative, Schimmelman compiles the names of inventors, exact patent dates, and descriptions, alongside numerous black-and-white reproductions of original patent drawings and mechanical schematics. The directory functions as an invaluable tool for curators, collectors, and historians seeking to verify the production timelines, structural improvements, and technological provenance of early photographic apparatuses, chemicals, and viewing cases.