John Parkes Decker dating history

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[...] the nineteenth-century photographer required a formidable array of equipment and chemicals. Cameras were large and cumbersome in order to accommodate the standard glass negative sizes of 8 X 10 in. or 16 X 20 in. Photographers coated and sensitised their own glass negatives immediately before exposing them. Chemicals, bottles, trays and glass plates were necessary for sensitisation. Since the collodion plate required total processing while still wet, a darkroom or light-resistant tent was essential during the entire procedure.