Stereo-daguerreotype of a young woman, c 1853.

ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 03: A hand-coloured stereoscopic daguerreotype of a young woman, taken at the studio of Antoine Claudet (1797-1867). Born in Lyons, France, Claudet moved to London in 1829. He became one of the first importers of daguerreotypes and cameras from France and opened his own photographic studio in 1841. Claudet was the first person to introduce painted studio backclothes. In 1839, the Daguerreotype, invented by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, became the first photographic process to be announced to the public. Daguerreotypes are unique images which may appear as a positive or negative depending on how light hits the surface. A stereograph is a pair of photographs which, when viewed through a stereoscope, give the appearance of three-dimensional depth. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)