Nevil Story-Maskelyne (English, 1823-1911)
Magdalen College, Oxford, 1840s
Calotype negative
20.7 x 15.2 cm, corners rounded
Initialed "SM" [Story-Maskelyne] in the negative

Nevil Story-Maskelyne (English, 1823-1911)
Reading the news of the "Fall of Sebastopol", 1855
Salt print
15.0 x 11.3 cm
Inscriptions in pencil and ink on verso

The fall of Sebastopol to the allied forces on 8 September 1855 was a crucial step towards the end of military action in the Crimea, which finally ceased in March 1856. 
In Britain, the news of the strategic manoveur filled the pages of the nation's leading newspapers and commanded the attention of an anxiously awaiting public. In this poignant image, the photographer's own family are pictured receiving the latest news bulletin as read aloud by their patriarch, Antony Story-Maskelyne. 

Inscriptions in ink: "Miss Cunningham / Charlotte / Edmund / Paws / Antonia / Sea anemonies / 'Mama' / Agnes / Sky / 'Papa' / Paws, Skye, & the sea anemonies / learning of 'the Fall of Sebastopol' / (4'.)"

Nevil Story-Maskelyne (English, 1823-1911)
Lace cuff, circa 1840-1842
Photogenic drawing
16.2 X 11.0 cm

Nevil Story-Maskelyne was a cousin by marriage of William Henry Fox Talbot and he had early access to Talbot's invention. Lace was a frequent subject for early photographers. Made without a camera, the piece of lace was placed onto light sensitized paper and then exposed to sunlight. The opaque lace blocked the solar rays so the sun darkened the paper around the lace and through its holes. In choosing a cuff with its double layer of lace, rather than a single layer placed flat against the paper as was more typical, Story-Maskelyne has achieved something of the halftone effect which Talbot would later perfect in his photoglyphic engravings.

Nevil Story-Maskelyne (English, 1823-1911)
Zoe Thompson, early 1850s
Salt print from a mica negative
14.0 x 11.5 cm 

Nevil Story-Maskelyne (English, 1823-1911)
Wadham College, Oxford, 1840s
Salt print from a paper negative
17.7 x 21.8 cm