Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpts from the first chapter:
The work of Louis Ducos du Hauron, commencing in 1859.
In 1869 the first handbook of practical Heliochromy was published in Paris by A. Marion, 16 Cite Bergere; the author being Louis Ducos du Hauron who about ten years before had fore-shadowed this and the cinematograph in a paper on visual sensations read before the Societe des Arts et Sciences d'Agen on Jan. 20, 1859. Other and fuller publications took place in 1862; the photographic reconstitution of colours being clearly defined. Louis Ducos du Hauron's first handbook of Heliochromy contains all essentials for success with the three colour process, not only by superposition of coloured images (see page 65) but also by the coloured line system which has recently been elaborated by Joly and others (see page 80 and page 84). The exact title of the book is Les Couleurs en Photographie Solution du Problem, and it consists of 58 octavo pages. Like many epoch marking books it was scarcely noticed when published.
Another book - practically a second edition of the above (108 pages) was published in 1878 by Louis in conjunction with his brother Alcide, and a much larger work (488 pages) in 1897 by Alcide alone; both these latter being published by Gauthier-Villars of Paris.
Suggestions by Clerk-Maxwell, H. Collen and Charles Cros.
Lecturing at the Royal Institution in 1861 Clerk-Maxwell indicated the possibility of three colour heliochromy, and writing to the British Journal of Photography in 1866 H. Collen made a suggestion in the same direction, but on an incorrect colour basis for taking the necessary negatives. Charles Cros in 1867 applied for a French Patent on the same erroneous basis as that involved in Collen's suggestion. The above proposals appear to have been made without knowledge of the earlier work of Louis Ducos du Hauron.
