A superb new exhibition is set to open in Bradford with exclusive pictures of the earliest photos ever taken. Ian Midgley reports.

THE PIONEERING work of history's greatest photographers is to go on show for the first time ever at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television this summer.

Some of the world's rarest and most important photographs will be on display at the exhibition - many for the first time since they were taken more than a hundred years ago.

The exhibition, called Specimens and Marvels, will display the museum's unique collection of work by the father of modern photography William Henry Fox Talbot as well as other pivotal figures in the development of the early camera.

Museum spokesman Alison Jarman, said that the exhibition was a world first and must see for anyone interested in photography and pivotal moments in history.

She said: "These are the jewels in our collection. They are the most fantastic artefacts from the dawn of photography.

"Many of the images have not been exhibited since they were taken in the nineteenth century. A lot of academics have come and looked at the material over the years but a lot of it is so fragile we don't put it out.

"We've got over 90 per cent of Talbot's work here at the museum and this will be the largest ever exhibition dedicated to him."

It was Talbot who in 1839 unveiled his invention of "photogenic drawings" which signalled the dawn of photography.

His idea of using light to create an image on sensitised paper provided the backbone for all modern photography.

And Talbot's book The Pencil of Nature, published in 1844, which shows the different uses for photography in the worlds of art, science and commerce, was the first book ever to be illustrated with photographs.

Among the museums prized and priceless items is the original and first ever photograph negative taken by Talbot in 1835. The negative is of a window in the south gallery of his home in Dorset.

A copy of this negative will be on show as the original could be destroyed if exposed to light.

Alison Jarman, said: "This year is incredibly important because it's the 200th anniversary of the birth of William Henry Fox Talbot. It's recognised that his invention completely changed the way we look at the world.

"To mark that occasion we want to take his invention and show how it came about and show the vast effect it had on the Victorian world.

"It gave people the chance to see countries and things they had only ever heard about before.

"It was a massive development and it's certainly up there with things like the invention of the steam engine.

"I think if you have a photograph album at home or ever wondered how it was all possible, and what life was like before photography was invented then this exhibition is a must see."

Work by other photographic pioneers such as Nicephore Niepce, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, Hippolyte Bayard and Calvert Richard Jones (ALL CRRT) will also be on show at the museum.

The exhibition will coincide with a two day international conference examining the development of photography on June 16 and 17.

Specimens and Marvels will run from May 26 to July 9 for more details contact 01274 202030.

Genius who led the way

William Henry Fox Talbot was born on February 11, 1800, at Melbury, in Dorset, the grandson of the Earl of Ilchester.

His extensive family connections provided Talbot with access to the elite circles in science and politics of the time.

A brilliant student he studied at Harrow and Cambridge before becoming MP for Chippenham.

It was a chance meeting in Munich in 1824 with Sir John Herschel that turned Talbot's interest to light and optical phenomena.

It was Herschel who introduced Talbot to research in the area of what would later become photography and it was during a parliamentary recess in 1833 that Talbot made his scientific breakthrough.

During a holiday with his sister on the shores of Lake Como, in Italy, he was frustrated to find he was the only one in the group unable to draw the scenery.

It was this that spurred him on to create the first camera and seriously set him towards his destiny as the father of photography.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.