Accession No
6277
Brief Description
magic lantern slide of the planet Mars, by Carpenter and Westley, English, 1860 (c)
Origin
England; London; 24 Regents Street
Maker
Carpenter and Westley
Class
astronomy; demonstration
Earliest Date
1838
Latest Date
1914
Inscription Date
Material
wood (mahogany), glass, metal, paint, paper?
Dimensions
wooden base: 93mmx175mm, glass disc: 72mm diameter
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from eBay.co.uk on 22/10/2008.
Inscription
CARPENTER
& WESTLEY
24 REGENTS ST
LONDON
Description Notes
Magic lantern slide of the planet Mars, by Carpenter and Westley, English, c. 1860.
The slide comprises a block of wood with a circular glass aperture. On the obverse, two decorative intaglio rings surround the wood of the aperture, which has been smoothed to meet the glass. An adjacent inscription on the left-hand-side names the manufacturer, Carpenter and Westley, and their address, 24 Regents Street, London. On the obverse, the number ‘7’ is incised above the glass aperture. To the right is a handwritten paper label (a later addition) which reads ‘MARS’.
The glass contains a a translucent painted image of the planet Mars, bordered in black. The image is prolate. The areography is in various shades of purplish-red, and is hand-painted. Four large pale albedo features are depicted, demarcated by narrow red bands. The polar extremities are unpainted. Within the top right-hand albedo feature are various lines of shading, and two isolated dark patches, perhaps representing Syrtis Major and Utopia.
On the reverse of the slide, a black metal ring and three metal pins secure the glass. On the same side, a small scrap of yellowing paper is stuck to the lower left hand area of the wood. A small black rectangle of paper is also stuck to the upper left hand area of the glass.
On the obverse, the inscription reads:
CARPENTER
& WESTLEY
24 REGENTS ST
LONDON
References
Events
Description
Magic lanterns are an early type of image projector. They use a powerful light source to project images onto a screen or wall. They were the precursors to modern slide, overhead and motion picture projectors. Although first developed in the 17th century, it was in the late 18th and 19th centuries that the design of the instrument became developed enough to make magic lantern shows a popular form of general entertainment and scientific and artistic education.
The basic elements of a magic lantern are a metal or wooden body, a light source, a condensing lens, a focusing lens, and interchangeable slides that were commonly produced in sets. Early lantern slides were hand painted on glass, but by the late nineteenth century a number of companies were mass producing slide sets utilising photographic transparencies. Hand cranked mechanisms were sometimes also built into the slides to produce elaborate animated effects. Slide sets might show recent events, exotic locations from around the world, or illustrate tales and fables. For scientific lecturers, the magic lantern was an invaluable instrument for illustrating their public talks, enabling the projection of spectacular astronomical images or massive diagrams of plants and animals.
03/04/2014
Created by: Joshua Nall on 03/04/2014
FM:46759
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