[Gadfly_71]

Relevant passages from Talbot's notes are perhaps too numerous to quote, but I would suggest you refer to Larry J Schaaf, Records of the Dawn of Photography; Talbot's Notebooks P & Q
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996). You can then back this up by actual experiments to confirm his observations. When you mention that generally when we refer to salt-prints we are referring to the latter, rather than the former. I thought calotypes were called calotypes and not salt prints. Perhaps what is in confusion here is that I am not referring to an alternative print making process, but recording the imagery as the image changes during chemical reaction. Perhaps this should be called Imageography?

My understanding from research, education and training is this; What you refer to as a salt-print is what Talbot frequently referred to as a "photogenic drawing" (essentially a photogram on salted paper sensitized with silver nitrate) and I think this is where much confusion sets in. What I (and just about everyone I know) refer to as a salt-print (or salted paper print) is the later process Talbot used to make prints from his paper negatives (i.e., the calotype). While the basic printing process is similar, the formulae are a bit different.

It's important to note that while Talbot was unhappy (ish) with the aesthetic compromise that using hypo instead of a salt solution required, he favored permanence above all. It's easy to see how the salt-print became the de-facto standard for quite a while, eventually yielding to the platinotype and factory prepared albumenized paper. (Slightly OT, albumen prints are just salt-prints on albumenized paper)

Warmest Regards,
Andrew