In 1847 Claude Félix Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor, nephew of Nicéphore Niépce, invented a photographic process that included preparing glass plates by coating with a mixture of egg-white, salt and potassium iodide. The plates were dried for later use, and before exposure they were sensitized with an acid solution of silver nitrate. After exposure the plates were developed in gallic acid. The process gave fine images but was slow. It was the first acknowledged process to give negatives on glass.
The Albumen print was invented in 1850 by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard. "It used the protein albumen found in egg whites to bind the photographic chemicals to the paper"[wikipedia]. It was suitable for making paper prints from the glass negatives obtained from the wet-collodion process of Frederick Scott Archer. The Albumen print became popular when used for the first world-wide photo print standard, the Carte de Visite of André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri.
The Collodion-Albumen Process is an early dry plate photographic process, based on the wet-collodion process, but additionally treating the plates with a solution of albumen (egg-white) and ammonia, potassium iodine, potassium bromide and iodine tincture - and allowing them to dry. The process was invented in 1861 by Joseph Sidebotham who was also one of the microfilm pioneers. The albumen plates are less sensitive (by about two stops) than the wet plates, and tend to have harder contrast - however, being dry, can be prepared in advance and be transported without the preparation chemicals and equipment necessary for the wet processes.
Links
- about Claude Félix Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor on www.niepce.com
- history of Blanquart-Evrard's Albumen process at Robert Leggat's [1]
- Sidebotham's Collodion-Albumen process on wikipedia