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The author surveys photography's rise alongside the fine arts, describing early hostility from established artists and the gradual recognition of the medium's scientific and aesthetic potential. He examines how accessibility and cheapness broadened social use while sometimes encouraging vulgarity, and praises technical innovations—especially the paper process—for enabling artistic refinement. The essay critiques prevailing optical and chemical faults, emphasizes photography's utility for preserving memories and informing artistic study, and ends with a plea to elevate public taste, safeguard moral uses, and foster cooperation between art and science to rejuvenate artistic practice.
This book does not have a Table of Contents.
Hyphenation and spelling were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected.
All illustrations are decorative. Some are shown within decorative borders. Those borders were used on all pages of the original book, including the ones with text.