Rare Natural Stereoscope

Rare Natural Stereoscope, by J. Wood, Birkby, Huddersfield , with achromatic lens pair adjusted laterally by brass bar, rack-and-pinion focusing of internal slide holder, figured walnut box-form body with hinged mirror, slide door; two double sets of rollers holding tinted tissue filters (one missing), rear 6 1/2 x 8 in. glass screen and arched lacquered-brass polychrome-engraved plaque The Natural Stereoscope, Patent, J. Wood, Birkby, Huddersfield , on adjustable tapering brass column with geometric engraving and four scrolling walnut supports with floral relief carving, on shaped walnut base with foliate-carved scroll feet, ht. 22 1/2 in.; and fourteen topographical stereo positives in a stained wood box. Literature: Paul Wing, Stereoscopes: the First One Hundred Years , (1996), p. 41. Note: Patented on May 29, 1862 (Pat. # 1611), the Natural Stereoscope was designed by John Hirst and Joseph Wood of York, England. Remarkable as much for its aesthetic as its technical design, the viewer incorporated a unique double set of rollers holding translucent and tinted filters to alter the light effects on stereocards (the side roller) and stereo positives (the rear roller). Several designs are known: a plain version, an Art Nouveau design and the deluxe model offered here. The decoration differed even between examples of the same model, and the design of Royal Feathers carved over the arched pediment is an unusual element on this particular viewer.