In The Pencil of Nature (1844–1846) Henry Fox Talbot, inventor of the negative-positive process, reflects on various applications of the new medium and presents them using photographic examples.
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Issued in fascicles from June 1844 through April 1846, The Pencil of Nature contained twenty-four plates, a brief text for each, and an introduction that described the history and chemical principles of Talbot's invention.
The photographs and texts proposed, with extraordinary prescience, a wide array of applications for the medium that included 1. reproducing rare prints and manuscripts, 2. recording portraits, 3. inventorying possessions, 4. representing architecture, 5. tracing the form of botanical specimens, and 6. making art.
The publication, however, was not a commercial success, and as sales declined with each new fascicle, Talbot abandoned the project just before the seventh group of plates was made. Approximately forty complete or substantially complete copies survive; the Museum's example belonged to Talbot's daughter Mathilde.