Accession No

2729

Brief Description

sterescopic viewer in box with slides, by Carl Zeiss, German, 1910 (c)

Origin

Germany; Jena

Maker

Carl Zeiss

Class

optical

Earliest Date

1910

Latest Date

1910

Inscription Date

Material

metal (alloy); glass; paper (cardboard)

Dimensions

box length 281mm; breadth 205mm; height 142mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Transferred from Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, 12/1981.

Inscription

‘CARL ZEISS
JENA’ (frame)

Description Notes

Metal alloy; black finish. Binocular eyepiece, two eyepieces jointed together by bar over two cogged arcs, graduated 56-88, numbered by 10, divided to 2 with index on bar, for size adjustment. Mounted on ‘S’ shaped stand with ring base. Glass slide holder on lowest part of ‘S’ with sliding adjustment and 4 spring clips. Fitted cardboard box with six glass stereoscope slides demonstrating the possibilities - 2 mountain views, 2 aerial views, 1 silhouette of buildings and 1 diagramatic photo. Other sections in the box are empty (purpose unknown).
Each slide in signed and one is dated by reference to a book - 1903.

Condition

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:44590