Désiré van Monckhoven

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Désiré Charles Emanuel van Monckhoven (1834–1882) was a Belgian chemist, physicist, and optician, who wrote several of the earliest books on photography and photographic optics, in French, later translated to English and other languages.

He invented or developed an enlarger (1864), a dry collodion process (1871), improvements of the carbon print process (1875–80), and improved silver-bromide gelatine emulsions.[2]

Publications

• Traité Populaire de Photography sur Collodion, or, A Popular Treatise on Photography : Also A Description of, and Remarks on, the Stereoscope and Photographic Optics, Etc. Etc, By D. van Monckhoven. Translated By W.H. Thornthwaite, PH.D., F.C.S. Illustrated with many Woodcuts. London: Virtue Brothers & CO., 1, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row. 1863. (A partial English transcription is available online [3])
• Désiré van Monckhoven, Photographic Optics; Including the Description of Lenses and Enlarging Apparatus, translated from the original French by Robert Hardwicke, Piccadilly, London, 1867, reprinted by Arno Press, New York, NY, 1979. (Full book available online [4])

See also

• Diaphragm (optics)
• Ghent University
• History of the camera