1856                40 College Street, Nashville, Tennessee.                                                            1858                Corner of Cherry and Union Streets, Nashville, Tennessee.

Augustus Larcombe was recorded in two Announcements and four advertisements.  The first advertisement ran from March 11 to April 16, 1856 in the Nashville Union and American  (Nashville, Tennessee).  A. Larcombe, Ambrotypist.  No. 40, College Street, Corner of Union, Ambrotypes—the new Photographic Pictures on Glass, made by Cutting’s Patent Process, are now offered to the public as the most beautiful and only permanent likeness in the world.

All sizes and styles from Breastpins to Cabinet Portraits.  Daguerreotypes copied in Ambrotype.  Caution—Imitation Pictures got up by Daguerreotypist are not Ambrotypes.  One is perishable, the other immortal.  Genuine Ambrotypes are made at 40, College street and no where else in Nashville.

The first announcement appeared on October 26, 1856 in the Nashville Union and American  (Nashville, Tennessee).  Mechanics’ Institute.  Second Annual Exhibition.  Premiums Awarded…Class No. 6—Marble Work, Paintings, Drawing, Daguerreotypes, Etc.

J. W. & E. S. Dodge, Nashville, Miniatures on Ivory……………………….5                                        J. W. & E. S. Dodge, Nashville, Photographs, plain and colored…………5                                      A. Larcomb, Nashville, Ambrotypes…………………….…………………..5                                    Hughes Brothers, Nashville, Daguerreotypes…………………………….5

The second advertisement ran from November 13 to December 19, 1856 in the Nashville Union and American (Nashville, Tennessee).  Get The Best.  Larcombe’s Ambrotypes Took the first Premium over all competitors at the recent Exhibition, and are acknowledged to be the best Pictures in Tennessee.

Made as heretofore at New York and Philadelphia prices, and put up in tip top style at his Ambrotype Rooms, No. 40 College street, over Campbell & Donegan’s.

The third advertisement ran from February 1 to October 1, 1858 in the Nashville Patriot (Nashville, Tennessee).  Get The Best.  The Genuine Ambrotype—the Premium Picture—is beyond comparison the best style of likeness yet introduced, and stands without rival:

Time cannot change them,                                                                                                                              Light cannot fade them,                                                                                                                            Dampness cannot mould them,                                                                                                                          Dust can never reach them,                                                                                                                                   Rust cannot corrode them.

Made as heretofore by Larcombe, Corner of Cherry and Union Streets, and put up in tip-top style at Eastern prices.  Made in no other rooms in Nashville.

The second announcement appeared on July 21, 1858 in the Nashville Patriot (Nashville, Tennessee).  The Ambrotype Process.  This new process of photography upon glass excels all previous methods of taking portraits by the action of light.  The daguerreotype, it is well known, too commonly wears a sharp angular, harsh expression, arising from too strong a contrast of light and shade.  The photograph, on the contrary, is apt to wear a dull inanimate expression, and its unnatural hue is sometimes far from being agreeable.  By the ambrotype process entire precision of outline and naturalness of feature and expression are secured, while at the same time a tone of softness is diffused over the picture from the more graceful effect of light and shade upon a surface of glass.  Moreover, two pictures are obtained from one impression, the face of the glass exhibiting the sitter as he sees himself in a mirror, while the reverse shows him as he appears to others.  The latter is a very great advantage over either the daguerreotype or the photograph.  These always present a reversed picture, more natural to the eye of the subject himself than to others; but the ambrotype gives both the mirror face and the natural face.  It will probably be some considerable period of time before this beautiful branch of the art is brought to the highest state of perfection of which it is capable, but scarcely a week goes by without some improvement being announced.

Call on Larcombe if you would get an Ambrotype in its most perfect state.

The fourth advertisement ran from September 21, 1858 to November 28, 1859 in the Nashville Patriot (Nashville, Tennessee).  Home Again!  Mr. Larcombe desires to inform his friends and the public generally that he has returned from his Northern tour, and is ready to open the fall campaign.

Fully posted in all recent improvements in Photographic Manipulation—relying, as heretofore, solely upon the merits of his pictures, and determined to spare no effort to please, he confidently invites those who have never given him a fair trial, to do so.

Ladies will find his present rooms the most conveniently and pleasantly located of any in the City, Cherry Street, corner of Union.

Augustus Larcombe is recorded in Craig’s Daguerreian Registry as being active in Nashville starting in 1857.