“The first publication by Daguerre himself (he was a painter by profession), is the monograph cited above - History and Description of the Daguerréotype process” (PMM). “No one individual can be called the true inventor of photography, but Daguerre’s technique of fixing photographic images on a metallic surface was the first to capture the public’s curiosity and imagination, bringing photography out of the laboratories of a few researchers into the mass market. Daguerre’s technical instruction manual, complete with the scale drawings of photographic apparatus, first appeared in mid-August 1839. The manual went through eight French editions’ in 1839 alone” (Norman).
Historique et description des procédés du daguerréotype et du diorama