Books like Yellow jack by Josh Russell
Claude Marchand, an eager apprentice of French photographer Louis Daguerre, discovers the power of the daguerreotype when a broken thermometer’s mercury fumes reveal images etched on silver plates. After a falling‑out with Daguerre, Marchand travels to New Orleans, where he becomes the first American to produce daguerreotypes. The vibrant, corrupt 1840s city—shrouded in sex, drugs, and disease—provides the backdrop for Marchand’s artistic trials. He becomes entangled with a voodoo‑practicing octoroon mistress and the precocious daughter of a prominent New Orleans family, while the city’s annual yellow fever outbreak tests his resolve. Driven mad by mercury, Marchand’s work nonetheless leaves an enduring imprint on the history of photography.
First publish date: 1999
Genre: Historical Fiction/19th Century Historical Fiction
Authors: Josh Russell
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