Daguerreotypomania

Once the secret of making daguerreotypes was announced to the French public on August 19, 1839, fever for photography ran high in Paris. Jacques Louis Mandé Daguerre had relinquished his patent on the process, which caused a great rush among opportunity seekers eager to earn a living by it. Théodore Maurisset's lithograph playfully imagined a time when vast crowds would wait in line to have their portrait taken. It pokes fun at the pandemonium caused by the daguerreotype's invention and chronicles the many ways entrepreneurs hoped to cash in on the craze, from selling supplies and equipment to giving lessons in how to perform photographic procedures.