The Forms of Nameless Things: Experimental Photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot

Professor Geoffrey Batchen has just had a book issued by Bodleian Library Publishing. Titled The Forms of Nameless Things: Experimental Photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot, this book reproduces a selection of test prints made by England’s inventor of photography during the medium’s first few years. It also comes with an essay that places these prints in a larger history and seeks to make a case for their continuing significance.

The book is drawn from the Talbot Catalogue Raisonné of over 15,000 photographs, hosted by the Bodleian. It has been published as a supplement to the two exhibitions that Batchen is curating for the Bodleian, both due to open early in 2023; one of these is devoted to the Talbot Archive, acquired by the Bodleian in 2014.