Daguerreotypes, the wet-collodion process, and nitrocellulose solution are all well-known early photographic processes due to their inclusion in patents and subsequent popularity.
However, another process, pannotypes, never achieved the same level of fame, partly due to a lack of patent and a subsequent lack of documentation and information.
Unlike other processes, pannotypes use a fabric backing instead of a glass plate, and conservators at the National Archives recently found a number in various states of preservation, requiring the application of modern techniques to analyse and stabilise them.
The process is not the first early photographic process to recently be restored to working order, with sputtering Daguerreotypes, for example, being recreated in 2022.
