The first time the word “Photography” has been written, by Hercules Florence 1832, one of the photographic pioneers and the inventor of the word Photography, Until Proven Otherwise. The first image is also the first photocopy ever did. Hercules Florence, originally drawing and typographer, was looking to create a photographic technic useful to copy many documents, as well the labels for his friend pharmacist Mr. Mello. The main interest of Florence was the zoophonie: the record of the birdsongs in the jungle. More info and photos © Instituto Moreira Salles.

For long time the great contribution of the french exile inventor in Brazil, Hercules Florence (1804 – 1879), has been hidden by the european critic and in many books the invention of the word “Photography” is still commonly attributed to Herschel. Normally we consider the first appearance of this word together with the first use of the words “emulsion”, “positive” and “negative” in 1839 when Herschel presented to the Royal Society on March 14, 1839 the essay “On the Art of Photography; or the Application of the Chemical Rays of Light to the Purpose of Pictorial Presentation”. Well, here the proofs collected by Boris Kossoy, professor and photographer that helped the rediscovery of Florence.  http://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local–files/biblio%3Akossoy-1977-florence/kossoy_1977_hercules_florence.pdf