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Stereoscope Madness .. History of Photography .. Book of Photography

Stereoscope Madness

Since at least the second century BC, it was known that each eye sees an image slightly different from the other, and the combination of the two images gives stereoscopy and the feeling of three dimensions. In 1832, Charles Wheatstone discovered that it was possible to obtain the sensation of protrusion by taking two images from two slightly different points of view and examining them through a device of mirrors and prisms. Wheatstone's machine was called a stereoscope and the term stereoscopy can be attached to this inventor. It was logical to apply stereoscopy to photography, and this happened from 1840.

It was impossible for Daguerreotype images to be viewed in a stereoscope because their shiny surface gives off reflections. Calotype images were also not suitable because it was impossible for the model or model to remain completely motionless for the time required to take two negatives (with the same photographic device) from two different points of view. The best subjects were still lifes or still lifes which allowed for this and several good stereographs were taken on calotype by Fox Talbot, Roger Fanton and others. Stereoscopy had been popular since the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. In that year David Brewster introduced the lenticular stereoscope, a small box containing a pair of prisms in which two images were represented side by side. Anton Claudet, the London Daguerreotype photographer and holder of the first English patent, made several stereoscopic daguerreotypes which could be examined with the new apparatus, including one of the Crystal Palace in south London taken with two prisms mounted side by side. The twin-lens machine had not yet been invented at that time.

A characteristic of the Victorian era are the richly decorated instruments: stereoscopes were made of carved wood with height, aiming spacing and expressive capabilities.

In this era, images on albumen (egg white) paper were mounted on a piece of cardboard and stereoscopes could receive them and receive transparent images on glass plates. The most effective hand-held stereoscope was made of aluminium and was illustrated by the American writer Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1861.

Victorians in Stereo

A pair of Daguerreotypes and a stereoscope from 1854. The photograph was taken by the London daguerreotype photographer Antoine Claudet, holder of the English stereoscope patent.

The photograph represents a purely Victorian scene. An image like this was hand-coloured in search of realism.

The first stereoscopic pair was invented by J. B. Dancer, the idea having been given by Brewster six years earlier. Stereoscopy became more popular when a large number of instruments and photographs were introduced at a low price by the London Stereoscopic Company, founded by George Nottage in 1854. In 1858, this company introduced a pocket stereoscope, which weighed only 400 grams and was available to most people. Stereoscopic pairs became a fashion, but the craze did not last long. It made a brief comeback around 1890, but died out after the end of the Great War, despite the invention of modern instruments and the use of colour film.

Furniture for the home:

Stereoscopy became popular during the Great Exhibition in London in 1851.

This stereoscope stand is a beautiful example of the Victorian-style decoration.

The development of stereoscopic instruments:

A stereoscopic instrument made in 1856 by the optical instrument maker J. B. Dancer in Manchester. The stereoscope became popular during the short time it was in fashion thanks to several inexpensive machines.