An early photographic process from the 1840s that used paper coated with silver compounds to create negative images, allowing multiple prints to be made from one picture.
From Greek 'kalos' (beautiful) + 'typos' (impression or type). Coined by William Henry Fox Talbot, who invented the process in 1841. The term literally means 'beautiful impression.'
Calotypes were revolutionary because they were the first truly practical way to make multiple copies of a photograph—unlike daguerreotypes, which were one-of-a-kind. This invention directly led to modern photography and changed how we preserve and share images forever.
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