Accession No
3373
Brief Description
nine boxed sets of magic lantern slides, showing stories and geographical scenes, by Primus, Indcol, All British T Series, Newton, English, 1880 - 1925
Origin
England; London
Maker
Primus Indcol All British T Series Newton
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1880
Latest Date
1925
Inscription Date
Material
wood; glass; paper (paper, cardboard); metal (brass, steel)
Dimensions
wooden mounts: length 180mm; breadth 110mm. Other slides 90 x 90mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Sotheby’s, London, England; lot 23, 25/02/1986.
Inscription
Description Notes
Nine boxed sets of lantern slides, one broken slide and eight further slides, showing story and geographical scenes, by Primus; Indcol; All British T Series; Newton, English, 1880 - 1925.
Eight wooden slides; five adjusted by brass handles; two with moving glass parts; one static scene. One engraved on both sides ‘NEWTON & CO 3 FLEET ST LONDON OPTICIANS’.
One box by Primus ‘COLOURED LANTERN SLIDES’ of Robin Hood (series no.613) containing eight scenes from that story.
Five boxes by ‘Indcol’: ‘Robinson Crusoe series 2’ with story (12 slides); ‘St. George and the Dragon’ (12 slides, 6 cracked); ‘Jessie’s Dream or the Relief of Lucknow’ with unrelated paper insert (12 slides); ‘The Russo-Jap War Series 3’ (11, four cracked); box without lid containing 12 slides (2 cracked) of Middle Eastern scenes.
Three boxes of the ‘ALL BRITISH T SERIES’: set of landscapes (12 slides, 1 cracked); ‘Set 42 How Jane Conquest Rang the Bell’, with lecture (12 slides), also a set of unconnected photographic negatives; ‘Set of Natural Phenomena (Series 1)’ with story (12 slides).
One smashed slide in bottom of cardboard box.
Condition fair (13 cracked; one broken); incomplete.
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:40544
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