An addition to the history of the first steps towards modern photography, in a text devoted more to the invention of the daguerreotype than to the man who gave it his name. L. M. Daguerre was trained as an architect, made his reputation as a stage designer, was partner to Boulon in the enormously popular entertainment, the Diorama, which was actually the forerunner of the cinema, and persisted in his conviction that there was possible a process of conveying a permanent impression through the camera lens and the use of sunlight and the application of some chemical to a surface. Others were working along parallel lines, and in Niepce, working in the south of France, Daguerre found the partner he needed. The first glass photographs were produced about 1829; the earliest daguerreotypes in 1837. Eleven years of experimentation and discouragement preceded success. Then, backed by Arago of the Paris Observatory, Daguerre- after the death of his partner- achieved success. The balance of the book traces the advance, improvements, other inventors not only in France but in England, America, etc. The application of the process to portraiture brought it to its zenith of popularity-and after ten years it began to be displaced by new processes, improved lenses, the improvement in stereoscopic photography. A definitive book, illustrated with 117 photographs. The market-those specifically interested in the history of photography.