Accession No
6278
Brief Description
13 magic lantern slides depicting scientific (predominantly astronomical) phenomena, homemade, blank slides by Ilford, English, c. 1910
Origin
English [attributed]
Maker
homemade Ilford [blank slides]
Class
astronomy; demonstration
Earliest Date
1890
Latest Date
1920
Inscription Date
Material
metal, glass, paper, printed film
Dimensions
boxes: 91mm [height] 91mm [breadth] 11mm [depth] boxed slides: 82mm [height] 82mm [breadth] 3-5mm [various depths] unboxed slide: 82mm [height] 101mm [breadth] 3mm [depth]
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from eBay.co.uk on 01/09/2008.
Inscription
On box:
ILFORD
GASLIGHT
LANTERN PLATES
On the other box:
ILFORD
ALPHA
LANTERN PLA[TES]
Description Notes
13 magic lantern slides depicting scientific (predominantly astronomical) phenomena, c. 1910.
The slides are of glass set within a square black metal frame. All slides images are black and white, printed onto film and set between two sheets of glass.
Unboxed:
6278.1 large slide showing nine timelapse photographs of Mars.
First box (marked ‘ILFORD GASLIGHT LANTERN PLATES’):
6278.2 slide showing cylindrical projection of the planet Mars with Lowell’s ‘canals’. Above and below are extracts from a newspaper article discussing Schiaparelli’s discovery.
6278.3 slide showing orthographic projection of the planet Mars, showing Lowell’s ‘canals’
6278.4 slide showing nine orthographic projections of the planet Mars, with Lowell’s ‘canals’. Text at bottom reads ‘THE ‘EYE’ of MARS’. Text under acetone reads ‘Knowledge’.
6278.5 slide showing a nebulous star structure, probably a nebula or the Milky Way
6278.6 slide showing a star cluster
6278.7 slide showing two illustrations of the planet Jupiter. Text below the images reads:
Oct 25 1882 17 45
white spot follows [underlined] the red spot 1 33
Nov 4 1882 - 14 35
white spot precedes the red sot
Second box (marked ‘ILFORD ALPHA LANTERN PLA[TES]’):
6278.8 slide showing two illustrations of the planet Saturn’s rings
6278.9 slide showing twelve illustrated silhouettes of the planet Saturn and its rings. Text below reads ‘DRAWINGS OF SATURN’
6278.10 slide showing a trunk dissected to reveal tree rings
6278.11 slide showing two star maps
6278.12 slide showing meteors/comets (?) emanating towards the viewer from a central point
6278.13 slide showing an orthographic projection of the planet Mars, with labelled Lowell ‘canals’.
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:46760
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