Accession No
1033
Brief Description
simple microscope, screw-barrel type, by Edmund Culpeper, English, 1720 (c)
Origin
England
Maker
Culpeper, Edmund
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1720
Latest Date
1720
Inscription Date
Material
ivory; leather (fish-skin); metal (brass, steel); wood; cloth (velvet); glass
Dimensions
case length 137 mm; breadth 73 mm; height45 mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Gift from Robert S. Whipple in 1951.
Inscription
“E Culpeper Fecit” (on top of ivory eyepiece)
Description Notes
simple microscope, screw-barrel type; made by Edmund Culpeper; circa 1720.
Ivory body, signed (see 'inscription') round end; threaded condenser tube bearing on leather and brass three piece stage, the plates stamped 1-3; steel spring; brass ferrule and screw plate for turned ivory handle; six objectives: marked ‘1’, ‘1+’, ‘3+’, ‘5’, ‘7’, ‘8’; four with ivory dust caps; ivory and brass lens holder for viewing opaque objects; six ivory four-object sliders inscribed 1-3, ‘5’, ‘6’, and ‘8’; talc and ring box; fitted wooden case covered with black fish-skin and lined with red velvet.
Condition: Good
References
Events
Description
This type of simple microscope, employing only one lens, was first described in 1702, by James Wilson in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. The design was in fact the work of the Dutch microscopist Nicolaas Hartsoeker.
The essential feature of the design is the threaded cylinder, carrying a condensing lens, which screws in and out of the body. The microscope is hand-held, and the slide is inserted at one end — the whole instrument is then pointed towards a light source.
Large numbers of these microscopes were made, and they proved extremely popular. This was in part due to the recommendation of John Harris, in his 1704 book Lexicon Technicum, in which he wrote that “of all microscopes I have ever seen for commodiousness, various uses, portability and cheapness, I never met with anything like Mr. Wilson’s Glasses.”
26/02/2008
Created by: Boris Jardine, with text from Olivia Brown’s Catalogue 7 on 26/02/2008
FM:43311
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