This book contains the definitive account of Daguerre and the daguerreotype. It covers Daguerre's early work as the perfecter and promoter of the diorama; his collaboration with Niépce, the first man to produce a photograph, imperfect though it was; his extension of Niépce's experiments after Niépce's death; and the eventual development of the daguerreotype : a remarkably sensitive positve on a metal plate.