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Mercer was also fascinated with the new concept of photography, and worked long and hard at achieving colour photography.
He was accustomed to work with dyes, so followed this route, and created single coloured photographs on cloth in a rainbow of different shades.
He never achieved full colour, but at a meeting of the British Association in Leeds in 1858, he exhibited colour photos, some on paper, others on cambric.
Below are probably some of those exhibits on cambric, with the colours perfectly preserved.
They are of himself, possibly his daughter and possibly his sons. He also took photographs of friends, such as Frederick Steiner another calico printer.
(Click the images to enlarge)
(Courtesy of the Lancashire Record Office)
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