Accession No
0780
Brief Description
stereoscopic viewer and box of 25 slides, by A. Marion and Co., Carpenter and Westlet, and London Stereoscopic Company, English, c.1860
Origin
England; London
Maker
A. Marion and Co. Carpenter and Westley London Stereoscopic Company
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1860
Latest Date
1860
Inscription Date
Material
wood; glass; paper (cardboard and 1 other); organic (mother-of-pearl); ivory (?)
Dimensions
viewer length165mm; breadth 213mm; height 121mm; box of slides length 210mm; breadth 112mm; height 110mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Inscription
‘A MARION & CO 152 REGENT ST’ (one slide)
‘CARPENTER & WESTLEY OPTICIANS 24 REGENT ST LONDON’ (one slide)
‘LONDON STEREOSCOPIC COMPANY 54 CHEAPSIDE’ (one slide)
Description Notes
Tapered stereoscope box with prismatic eyepiece on hinged frame with clip fastening. Opaque glazed end with slide carriage. Hinged lid in top with silver paper reflector inside (hinges broken) (ivory handle?; 27-1-2000). Black japanned decoration with inlaid mother-of-pearl and painted lilies of the valley.
Slide box to match: lined with decorated paper; internally subdivided into two. Containing 25 slides (plus one plain glass; 27-1-2000): 3 glass;1 tin-type (but covered with glass?; 27-1-2000); 21 in cardboard mounts (12 sepia, 9 hand-coloured). (Some from series of slides. Some have titles or descriptions on the back; 27-1-2000).
Condition: good/fair.
References
Events
Description
A stereoscope produces the illusion of a single three-dimensional image from two slightly different flat images. It works only when the flat images are of identical subjects drawn or photographed from viewpoints approximately equal in separation to the distance between the human eyes. The stereoscope is constructed so that each eye sees only the appropriate image, that is the left eye sees the left viewpoint and the right eye the right viewpoint.
Binocular vision is the means by which slightly different images seen by the two eyes separately are fused in the brain into one solid image and has interested scientists for centuries.
Stereo-viewers could consist of boxes or even large cabinets, often made of walnut, fitted with pairs of viewing lenses and transparent glass slides. By 1900, stereo cards were being mass-produced, on which pairs of photographs were pasted. These were viewed through simple, hand-held stereo-viewers, consisting of a pair of hooded lenses, and a clip to hold the photographic card. The cards depicted views from all over the world.
In the second half of the Nineteenth Century a mass market for stereoscopic photographs was soon established, and the stereoscope, often in ornate forms, became a common feature in Nineteenth Century homes.
01/02/2001
Created by: Toni Parker on 01/02/2001
FM:43468
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