Thomas Coffin Doane
Public Ledger, 10th March 1843
NOTICE.
Daguerreotype!
MESSERS VALENTINE & DOANE beg leave to call the attention of the inhabitants of St. John's and its vicinity, to an Art which has attained great celebrity and popularity in almost every city of Europe and America.
They have completed an apartment fitted for the purposes of Daguerreotype Portraiture, and have made other improvements and arrangements, by means of which they are confident of producing pictures of exquisite beauty.
The truth and high finish of Portraits by the Daguerreotype process, and the rapidity with which they are accomplished, render the Art deserving of universal attention, independently of its great value as a means of obtaining accurate LIKENESSES, as a comparatively small expense.
The Daguerreotype Rooms, at the Golden Lion Inn, will be opened on MONDAY, at 10 o'Clock, and will remain open daily from 10 to 4 o'Clock. Persons unacquainted with the art, are respectfully invited to call at the Rooms, and examine Specimens.
Portraits taken in any state of the weather. March 10.
A letter dated May 12, 1846, from Edward Newfoundland [Edward Feild Bishop of Newfoundland] to his brethen refers to a daguerreotypist in Bermuda.
To the Treasurer & Building Committee
Of the Church of the Holy Trinity
Bermuda
Hamilton, May 12, 1846
My Friends and Breathren,
Within a very few months, upwards it is said of 1200 likenesses have been taken in this island by the daguerreotype and the artist it is believed has carried away with him many hundred poundsand yet I might safely venture to affirm that no single person's pursuits or manner of life have been or will he altered or seriously affected in consequence. Let it not be supposed that I speak enviously or grudgingly as if I thought that large sum of money was ill bestowed or I desired it for our particular purposefar from it. I rejoice that a deserving artist has met with encouragement and success. I rejoice that a most interesting and useful discovery has been appreciated among us and regarded with reasonable delight and admiration. I rejoice especially that the remembrance of many friends and friendships may hereby be refreshed and preserved and some of the best feelings of the heart gratified and strengthened.
But may I not apply all these arguments in behalf of equally cheerful and liberal contributions to this sacred edifice [the proposed Church of the Holy Trinity]? Shall we not encourage in such a work the skill and industry of many artists and artizans who in one respect at least have greater claims on us that they are neighbours and natives of the countryand will also spend their profits here? Shall we not to our power promote or honour that most noble science of ecclesiastical architecture? Shall we not leave to children and children's children a more durable and far more interesting record and picture not of outward features but of zeal for God's honour and of charity to our brethren and to all men? May we not hope that the children of those who project and promote this great work will love and cherish it for their parents' sake and as the record and evidence of their hearts' desire and affections?
Signed
Your Friend and Servant, for Christ's sake,
Edward Newfoundland [Edward Feild Bishop of Newfoundland]
Published in the Royal Gazette, Hamilton, Bermuda (1846-05-19)
(Alan Griffiths: I'm indebted to Jeff Ward for bringing this letter to my attention. 29 August 2023)