In the Getty Museum's collection are nearly two thousand daguerreotypes, including such notable examples as John Plumbe's The United States Capitol, one of the earliest known photographs of the building; an 1849 image of Edgar Allan Poe; and the documentation of the first public demonstration of ether for surgery. This beautiful book's drologue, based on document and letters, traces Daguerre's search for a way to produce a permanent and exact image of the natural world through a camera lens. A series of six essays discloses the tremendous impact of the daguerreotype on the worlds of science and art, and includes discussion of individual daguerreotypes that amplify the essay's theme.