Accession No
1820
Brief Description
simple microscope, screw barrel-type, by Edmund Culpeper, English, 1720 (c)
Origin
England; London
Maker
Culpeper, Edmund
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1720
Latest Date
1720
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, steel); hide (leather); ivory; fishskin (shagreen); cloth (velvet); glass; paper; wood ([ebony] and one other)
Dimensions
Microscope height (on stand) 190mm; breadth 191mm; depth 165mm; barrel length 79mm; Box length 214mm; breadth 121mm; height 54mm; parts in bag length 130 mm; breadth 55 mm
Special Collection
Heywood Collection
Provenance
Purchased from the H.Heywood collection under estate duty exemption benefit with the assistance of a Science Museum grant-in-aid in 1973.
Inscription
‘Culpeper Fecit’ (body)
‘Culpeper Londini’ (stand)
‘E: Culpeper’ (stage plate)
Description Notes
Brass body with threaded condenser tube bearing on 3 part leather and brass stage; plates stamped ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’, with steel spring; screw plate for ivory handle; external screw to brass ferrule mounting, for ivory compound body; simple draw eyepiece. Six objectives marked ‘1-6’, 1-4 with ivory dust caps; ivory hand lens marked ‘7’; brass lens-holder for viewing opaque objects; stage forceps with brass stage plate engraved ‘ E. Culpeper’ and verso serpent . 3 glass tubes, one broken, with brass coiled wire; 1 ivory 4-object slide ‘No 4’; turned ivory box with objectives ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’ for compound body; condenser stop; 3 brass springs. Stand: turned pillar with ball and socket attachment to screw barrel body; flat 3 piece foot, the ‘sectornal’ section limbs signed and decoratively engraved at the hinge; bull’s eye condenser lens on brass and steel knuckle jointed limb. Triangular brass plate with threaded central hole and 3 further holes in each corner.
Fitted wooden box, covered with black shagreen and lined with green velvet, including velvet and pasteboard lid to one compartment of box.
Brass lock to box (no key). Fragments of paper (text written in German, description and instructions for microscope’s use).
Condition: fair, some rusting of steel; complete.
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:40054
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