Paris: Alphonse Giroux et Cie, 1839. Nouvelle Edition (second edition). 8vo. (iv), 76 pp., including half-title. Illustrated with a lithographic frontispiece portrait of Daguerre and six engraved plates. Quarter brown morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, stamped in blind and in gilt; corners moderately worn, rubbing along joints and spine; all edges trimmed; marbled endpapers; intermittent light spotting to text. From the library of Russian-American photographer Roman Vishniac. Printing and the Mind of Man 318b; Horblit/Grolier 21a (4th issue); Norman 569; Dibner 183

"Perhaps no other invention ever captured the imagination of the public to such a degree and conquered the world with such lightning rapidity as the daguerreotype" (Gernsheim, L.J.M. Daguerre, p. 104). Scarce second edition of Daguerre's manual describing his groundbreaking photographic process. First published by order of the French government in September 1839, it quickly sold out. Seven issues of the first edition quickly appeared, and this second edition was published before the year was out. In the 18 months following the publication of the first edition, a total of 39 reprints, new editions, and translations appeared.