ABSTRACT

Florence’s journals–which have had the opportunity to study for research since the 1970s–make up six volumes described in the following text, which follow the chronological order in which they were written. All of them contain notes related to photography. Their transcription and translation are included in the Annex. The organization of this volume presents the characteristics of a book that Florence probably intended to publish, especially the first 150 pages. The manuscript, however is of minor importance for our study. First, because Florence started the volume after finding out the news about the discovery of photography in Europe; second, because it does not include information on the strictly scientific content related to the event. Those first notes are remarkable. Everything suggests that Florence already knew about the properties of silver nitrate, the use of the dark chamber, and the possibility of representing objects inside it by means of chemical substances.