The daguerreotype, the first photographic process, was invented by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (1787–1851) and spread rapidly around the world after its presentation to the public in Paris in 1839.
Photography was probably an inevitable invention – the surprise was that it took so long for it to develop, especially given that the scientific principles that are responsible for it – physical principles such as our understanding of lens and optics and chemical processes that are required to affix permanent images, have actually been known for long before the invention of the first photograph.
Life in the world from the 1840s and 1850s
If we take a look at the state of photography today, such as the advances of digital camera, artful image manipulation by photoshop, and even the role of paparazzi in media – and the pervasiveness of photographic images in our lives, it is easy to forget that the first photograph ever was taken just around 180 years ago.
Take a look at these rare and amazing pictures to see how life in the world looked like in the 1840s and 1850s.
2 women, 3 men and a dog, posed in front of the house
5 men and 2 women posed in front of the house
A class of children with their teacher
A farmer with his horse wagon
A young man stands in front of his house, somewhere in Canada
St Paul’s Cathedral
Abbot House, Kent
American troops ride into the city of Saltillo during the the war with Mexico
An outdoor portrait of women group
Beside the water, somewhere in England
Big house on the prairie
Couple at Niagara Falls
Doctor making house call on a winter’s day, Connecticut
Portrait of English men
Family posed outside their home, Wolcott, NY
Farmer
Father and daughter ridding on a horse
Horse and wagon to ‘Dyke & Back’
Lambeth High Street, London
Main Street, Wolcott, NY with horses and wagons
Man with his horse
Men with house-carriage
Niagara Falls
People around a homestead or a general store
Shopkeeper stands outside his corner store
Small town in the Northeast of the US
Stagecoach arrives
The old homestead from New Hampshire, or Vermont
Two guys ridding on the horses
Two ladies out for a drive on a street in Portland, Maine
Two women in a window
Young man proudly showing off his horse and carriage
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