Glass Plate Negative Featuring a rare Pearsall Compact Camera. Late-1880s to early 1900s.

Sometimes unexpected things come your way. In March of 2023, an email from another collector informed me of an auction featuring a glass-plate negative showing a camera. He said the camera looked like a Pearsall Compact Camera, similar to the example in my collection. The cameras are hideously rare and the potential of acquiring a glass plate negative showing a Pearsall camera was, in my mind, unheard of.

I immediately checked the auction and confirmed it was an elusive Pearsall camera on the negative. This was important and exciting to me because I own one of the three known cameras. It is also something I would not have thought existed and quickly decided it was a “must have.” I won the auction and, of course, extended a lot of gratitude to the other collector.

The 4 x 5 inch negative shows a tripod mounted Pearsall Compact Camera that dominates the scene. The picture was shot from a low viewpoint and carefully composed. All vertical lines are parallel, which means a camera with perspective controls might have been used to take the photograph. In the background are a roll-top desk and bulky bookcase filled with books.

The plate is not perfect. In addition to some gelatin loss at the edges, it has a smattering of blemishes that appear as white splotches on the positive image. On the negative, the stains are silvery-brown which could be tarnished silver due to problems from: improper storage in a humid environment; not thoroughly washing the plate after development; or accidental post-development chemical contamination.

Focus is on the camera and tripod, and everything outside the central depth-of-field plane lacks sharpness. Unfortunately, the book titles are beyond the optimal focal point and not rendered with enough clarity to read. On the neatly organized desktop are a changeable date stamping device, sheets of paper, and pigeonholes filled with more papers: a little sharper than the bookcase books but regrettably lacking satisfactory detail.

In summary, it is an odd setting for a camera of this type. Many early photographs of cameras were made in front of staged studio backdrops, yet this was taken inside what looks like an office. Could it be a photographer’s administrative workspace? Whatever reason the photograph was made, the camera is the main subject and might hold a special meaning. Maybe it was Frank Pearsall’s office, the builder of the camera. You never know. Unfortunately, there are not enough details to attribute the setting as Pearsall’s or the date of the plate negative.