The Daguerreotype, published by 5 Continents Editions in 2008, is a concise historical photography anthology centred on one of photography’s formative processes. Drawing on daguerreotypes from the Musée d’Orsay collection, it considers the early photographic method and the singular character of its metal-plate images. The book’s subject is therefore both technical and pictorial: it addresses how these photographs came into being while keeping attention on what their distinctive surfaces and status as unique objects mean for viewing.

Dominique de Font-Réaulx examines the Musée d’Orsay’s daguerreotypes as both historical images and singular photographic objects, connecting their material qualities to the experience of viewing them. The book is best understood as a collection-based study, in which historical photographs are brought into relation through editorial selection and context. Its value lies in this balance between process and image, allowing the daguerreotype to be approached not merely as an early stage in photographic history but as a particular visual and material form.

For collectors of photography books, the volume offers a focused entry into the origins of the medium and into the museum’s historical holdings. Its English-language, 96-page softcover format, measuring 16 × 16 cm, gives the subject a compact, accessible presentation without changing its underlying importance: these are photographs whose identity depends on their singular metal support as much as on their depicted content. The Daguerreotype deserves attention as a carefully bounded account of an early process and as a record of how a major museum collection can frame photography’s beginnings.