Accession No

2600

Brief Description

Three-colour stereoscopic viewer by London Stereoscopic Company

Origin

London; England

Maker

London Stereoscopic Company

Class

optical

Earliest Date

1875

Latest Date

1875

Inscription Date

Material

wood; mahogany; metal; brass; glass; plastic; ivorine; oxidised brass

Dimensions

length 295mm; height 184mm; breadth 165mm; slides length 137mm; breadth 70mm; height 53mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Donated, 09/1945.

Inscription

‘LONDON
STEREOSCOPIC
COMPANY’ (ivorine disc above eyepieces)
‘The “KROMSKOP”
IVES’S PATENT
The Photochromoscope Syndicate L’d
HOLBEIN HOUSE
121 Shaftesbury Av’e LONDON W.C.’ (ivorine plate on inside of instrument)

Description Notes

Mahogany box with ‘stepped’ top. Glazed panel in ‘staircase treads’ the upper red and the lower blue. Face of lower step green. Hinged mirror on sliding bracket adjustable to direct light into the instrument. Viewing panel at opposite end with two round plano-convex lenses mounted on hinged panel. Diagonal glass inside; detachable eyeshade. Box hinged to mahogany base with sliding bar and clamp raising box to suitable viewing angle.

Six sets of glass slides illustrating coral, two of vases, two of flowers, one cottage scene.

Condition good; complete

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:40598