Early Photographic Negative of a Grape Leaf

I was looking through the archives of the Bibliothèque nationale de France when I came across the image featured in today’s post.  Henry Fox Talbot claims to have begun his experiments with the calotype process in 1834.  He exhibited his first images shortly after Louis Daguerre exhibited his first Daguerreotypes in 1839.  Henry Fox Talbot’s negative of the window at Lacock Abbey, dating to August 1835, is believed to be the oldest surviving photographic negative.  That would make this grape leaf, taken just four years later, to be amongst the earliest photographic negatives related to the grapevine.

Dessin photogénique : feuille de vigne. Talbot, Henry Fox. 1839. Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie, RESERVE EI-17-BOITE FOL B – n° 1.