This book is a guide to the identification and dating of all the known types of black and white 19th century photographs on all bases. It includes common commercial types as well as rarities and home-made varieties. The aim was to make this a self- sufficient reference for such readers as educators, students, historians, collectors, museums, photographers, antique dealers, and individuals seeking to identify and date family photographs.

The book began as a compilation of identification characteristics of historic photographs from local sources, and the search widened as one reference lead to another. Eventually it became apparent that, while many excellent references exist, no single source listed recognition data for all known types, common and rarities. We hope the book fills this need.

The plan of the book provides several levels of information, varying in depth and technicality. Part One, Chapters One through Thirteen, contains technical and historical information on the processes, with emphasis on recognition of the types of photograph. Part Two, Chapter 14, is a quick reference area that contains five independent sections, including condensed descriptions in Section 3 that are listed according to base materials for quick reference. Section 4 describes an interactive computer program called FOTOFIND, written as a companion to this book. It is intended to be a complete identification database and also a learning tool.

William Leyshon is a retired industrial physicist with a lifelong interest in photography, having using it as a tool in his electronics research, and as an amateur. In 1974 he co-published some of the first scanning electron microscope pictures of a Daguerreotype. He holds five patents and has written papers on many subjects. He has been active in museum archival work since 1981. He and his wife Emily have homes in Prescott, Arizona, and in Syracuse, New York.