Optical Collection

Blossom and Decay
BLOSSOM AND DECAY

Rainbow Falls, near Hilo, Hawaii, USA. Date: 1935

University of Oxford. College of the University and Queens College. Illustration in Vues d Optique (Perspective Views). Images to be seen through a zograscope

Bald Prima Donna 20C
A prima donna and her two bald-headed admirers

Mutoscope at Gravesend
New Road, Gravesend (Kent) - notice the premises of The Wonderful Mutoscope (a forerunner of the cinema) - Admission Free !

April Fool / Coats 1924
April Fool: Two coats and hats on a stand, looking at first glance like a couple embracing

Optical illusion disc with man jumping rope and a man sticking out his tongue. Date 1833

Optical illusion disc with somersaults and horseback riding. Date 1833

Advertisement, Thomas Harris, Opticians to the Royal Family
Advertisement, Thomas Harris & Son, Opticians to the Royal Family. 1841

Ghostly apparition produced by reflection. Date: 19th century

Bouquet of flowers in a stone niche, 1618, by Ambrosius Boss
Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1573-1621). Dutch painter. Bouquet of flowers in a stone niche, 1618. National Museum of Art. Copenhagen. Denmark

Reynaud Praxinoscope
A young girl is fascinated by the illusion of movement given by Reynauds praxinoscope

CLAUDE CHAPPE 1763-1805
CLAUDE CHAPPE French Engineer. Invented a telegraph system employing visual semaphore signals. With his brother, he erected signals between Paris & Lille

Heliograph used by British army in Africa
Heliograph used in the British army in Africa, probably during the Boer War (1899-1902). The heliograph is a wireless telegraph that signals by flashes of sunlight (generally using Morse code)

Edisons Vitascope
This was one of Edisons several ingenious but ultimately impracticable attempts to invent the motion picture

DECOUPAGES
Light, shining through cunningly torn paper, casts grotesque shapes on the wall

Projecting Praxinoscope
Reynauds praxinoscope adapted for projection onto a screen : later he would adapt it for projection in a large hall

Reynaud Praxinoscope 2
Reynauds device with central lamp, drum holding the images, and a handle for turning it, giving the illusion of movement

Chappes Telegraph - 1
The optical telegraph of Claude Chappe and his brother is erected on the Eglise de Montmartre, overlooking Paris

Cabaret du Neant (Cabaret of Nothingness or Death) - a ghost show cabaret, where ghosts were shown before the amazed audience via optical trickery and special effects

Trompe l oeil showing wife and mother-in-law
MY WIFE - AND MY MOTHER-IN-LAW 1915

The Magnetic Hill, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
The Magnetic Hill is an example of a gravity hill, a type of optical illusion created by rising and descending terrain. It is located at the northwestern edge (in the Magnetic Hill Area)

Advert for Haig Whisky. The Haig brand name is disguised in the profile of the gentleman. Date: circa 1932

A device to teach the optical golf swing using a mirror-flashes that denote pulling and slicing. Date: 1930

A rotating zootrope : the image seen through the slits as the drum spins give the illusion of movement. Date: 1881

EDISON'S KINETOSCOPE Reproducing to the eye the effect of human motion by means of a swift and graded succession of pictures'. Date: 1894

Comic postcard, Bald head in the sea, WW2 Date: circa 1940s

The Nature of Light - Sir William Braggs experiments
The Universe of Light: Factors in " A Fascinating Problem". The Nature of Light - The famous physicist Sir William Braggs experiments at his opening lecture at the Royal Institution - aimed

Burning lens built in 1782 by William Parker, the London instrument maker. According to Parker, the optical glass melted platinum in 30 seconds

PIX FOR MUTOSCOPE
Taking photographs for the mutoscope requires a camera capable of taking a great many pictures in rapid succession, which will later, when projected, suggest movement. Date: circa 1897

LIPPERSHEY TELESCOPE
Dutch astronomer Hans Lippershey demonstrates his optical device which anticipates the telescope Date: 1609

CHAPPES TELEGRAPH - 2
The optical telegraph of Claude Chappe and his brother is erected on the Eglise de Montmartre, overlooking Paris Date: July 1793

London Trade Card - James Simons, Scientiific Instruments
London Trade Card - James Simons, Mathematical, Philosophical and Optical Instruments, at Sir Isaac Newtons Head, corner of Marylebone Street, opposite Glasshouse Street. 18th century

100 inch Hooker Telescope

Folioscope, 1896
more popularly known as the flicker-book, it is simply a succession of images which, if the pages are turned with sufficient rapidity, give the illusion of movement. 1896

Magic Lantern
Using a double lantern, which makes it possible to superimpose one image on another, giving a crude illusion of movement

Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625) and P. P. Rubens (1577-164
Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625). Flemish painter, with the collaboration of P.P. Rubens (1577-1640). Allegory of Sight, 1617. Oil on wood. Prado Museum. Madrid. Spain

Entrance hall by Allan Walton, carried out by Fortnum & Mason, with lightly marbled walls in ivory and pale green with rose pink, and a trompe l oeil effect seascape in perspective. Date: 1933

Enfermedades de los ojos (Eye diseases). Engraving illustrating major eye diseases: stye, conjunctivitis, squint, pterygium, keratitis. Engraving

Greta Garbo, optical illusion illustration
An illustration by Japanese artist, Keye Luke, the idea is to look at the image and then stare at a white wall, where the image should appear. Date: 30th January 1935, p203

Edisons Kinetoscope 2
EDISONs KINETOSCOPE " Reproducing to the eye the effect of human motion by means of a swift and graded succession of pictures"

French Railway Alphabet - N for Nivellement (levelling, surveying). 19th century

The Ring Magnet
The front cover of " The Sphere" magazine, 16 April 1927, featuring the latest innovation in eye-care. Factory workers suffering from metal filings flicked in to their eye can now have them

Binocular microscope large Best. London, around 1890
Binocular microscope large Best. Signed: R. & J. Beck Ltd London 19901. London, around 1890. The Large Best microscope was the top product of R. and J

Roman Mosaic of polychrome geometric motifs. 3rd century B. C
Roman Art. Italy. Roman Mosaic of polychrome geometric motifs. Dated to 211 BC. It comes from Lucus Feroniae. Lazio

Italy. Rome. Spadas Palace. Built in the 16th century and renovated in the 17th century by Francesco Borromini (1599-1667). Courtyard

Rotary Zootrope
A rotary zootrope : the images on the disc, seen through the slits, give the illusion of movement. Date: 1882

Reynaud Projecting Zootrope
Reynauds Projecting Zootrope, a very sophisticated device, but also, doomed to be made obsolete by the praxinoscope and even more so by the first cinematograph projects. Date: 1890

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