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87. Ibid., 30.

88. Ibid.; Rinhart, American Daguerreotype, 33-36; see also Mabee, American Leonardo, 236-37.

89. M. F. Gouraud, "Description of the Daguerreotype Process" (Boston: 1840; reprinted in Robert A. Sobieszek, The Daguerreotype Process: Three Treatises, 1840-1849 (New York: Arno Press, 1973), 14-16.

In a short historical introduction Gouraud recorded that within fifteen days of Daguerre's revelation people in every quarter of Paris were attempting portraits. Even if Gouraud exaggerated, some people certainly would have trained their camera on other people or themselves stepped within the slow exposures.

All such "portraits" were taken with Daguerre's achromatic lens, required fifteen to twenty-five minute exposures, and recorded only distant, full length, outdoor images. According to Gouraud, an M. Susse carried this practice to its ultimate perfection by posing his subjects for "pretty" portraits with their eyes shut.

Of more interest was Gouraud's description of a method he learned from M. Abel Rendu just before sailing for America. Realizing the impracticality of using Daguerre's lens for portraits, Rendu turned to the use of a meniscus lens. Following Rendu's advice, Gouraud tried "at first the meniscus recommended by Wollaston, then the common one with one side plain, then one with a parabolic concavity." He claimed an exposure time of from one minute to two minutes twenty-seven seconds. Such a portrait turned out sharp in the center of the plate--if one captured exactly the correct focus. Outside of the center such images came out "nebulous." Gernsheim concluded that such a lens would have certainly shortened exposure time if used without a stop, and the portraits must have been small. Helmut and Alison Gersheim, L. J. M. Daguerre: The History of the Diorama and the Daguerreotype (London: Martin Secker & Warburg, 1956; reprint New York: Dover Publications, 1968), 117.

The drawback to such a process was probably the unevenness of result. Before Draper's 18 January demonstration, Gouraud presumably knew little about using the chemical instead of luminous focus. His mentor Rendu probably also used the luminous focus. Without Draper's technique, it would have simply been a matter of luck to accomplish a portrait with its narrow depth of field sharply focused upon the exact plane of the human face. In his 1840 pamphlet Gouraud mentioned only that "the focus of the camera obscura must be regulated," so his manual probably spawned few successful operators. Gouraud, "Description," 16.

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