1452
stereoscopic photograph stubbornly remains two-dimen-
sional. However once seen though the correct viewing
device the image is miraculously perceived in three
dimensions. Such viewing devices therefore have the
power to convert two separate, fl at photographic images
into one single three-dimensional image.
The fi rst system capable of producing a photographic
stereoscopic image is credited to Sir Charles Wheatstone
(1802–1875). He successfully described the theory of
stereoscopic vision and invented a device, known as a
Wheatstone Refl ecting Stereoscope, through which two
large, separate photographic images could be simultane-
ously viewed in order to produce a single stereoscopic
image. It was the fi rst practical stereoscope, and because
it was capable of accommodating large photographic
prints (up to 27 × 40 cm each) it was particularly
suited to the photographic connoisseur. Both Roger
Fenton (1819–1869) and Benjamin Brecknell Turner
(1815–1894) produced Wheatstone stereo images.
Stereoscopic photography was not introduced on a
mass scale until the 1850s, when demand for images for
use in Sir David Brewster’s (1781–1868) Refracting, or
Lenticular Stereoscope grew. Commercially produced
by Louis Jules Duboscq in 1851, Brewster’s system
used two photographs taken of the same object from
slightly different viewpoints at exactly the same time.
This was an improvement on the stereo images created
using Sir Charles Wheatstone’s stereo pictures which
were usually created using a single lens camera which
had to be moved between two consecutive exposures.
The diffi culty in producing the stereoscopic image
for Wheatstone’s system was mirrored in the viewing
device. The Wheatstone Refl ecting Stereoscope was
a rather insubstantial affair constructed from strips of
wood and two mirrors set at an angle of 45° which re-
sulted in an awkward and uncomfortable stereo viewing
experience. Brewster’s system, on the other hand, pro-
duced a handsome design which was much being better
suited to a Victorian drawing room. It also produced a
more effective, or pleasing stereoscopic effect.
Antoine Claudet’s Folding Stereoscopic Viewer ap-
peared on the market around the same time as Brewster’s
pattern for a Lenticular stereoscopic viewer. Claudet’s
design was the more limited of the two, as it came with
a single stereo daguerreotype permanently built into the
viewer. Its collapsible design meant it could be stored
fl at, however, Brewster’s design proved to be more
adaptable and formed the basis for most of the popular
stereoscopic viewers that followed, and became the
viewer of choice in the craze for stereoscopic images that
was to continue into the latter part of the century.
Stereoscopic viewers based upon Brewster’s pattern
were popular throughout the 1860s and were known as
Box Form stereoscopes. These simple hand-held de-
vices, capable of holding one stereoscopic photograph
at a time, were often highly decorated in keeping with
the setting of the Victorian parlour. The stereo card fi tted
through a slot at the back of the device, while a mirrored
fl ap could be raised and angled so that light was cast
onto the stereo card thereby giving enough light for it
to be viewed through the twin lenses at the front. The
back of the stereo viewing device was often fi tted with
a ground-glass panel which allowed diaphanous stereo
cards manufactured on hand coloured tissue paper also
to be viewed, alternating between night and day, summer
and winter, simply by raising and lowering the mirrored
fl ap on top of the viewer.
In America, Dr Oliver Wendell Holmes devised a
simplifi ed stereo viewer in 1861 which is probably the
design most people think of today when they imagine a
nineteenth century stereoscope. It consisted of a wooden
hood-like arrangement which covers the viewer’s eyes,
with a holder for the stereo card fi xed at a set distance
from the hood. This design was improved in 1864 by
another American, Joseph L Bates of Boston, when he
added an adjustable sliding holder for the stereo card,
thereby making it possible for the instrument to be
adjusted to suit the individual and maximise the three-
dimensional effect.
More ornate ‘pedestal’ stereo viewers were manu-
factured by companies such as Negretti & Zambra.
Although the actual stereo viewer was simple in design,
and similar to the box form stereoscope described above,
they were often constructed from high quality wood
veneers and incorporated highly decorative fi gurative
sculptural elements in the base. The third, and most
substantial type of stereo viewer dating from this period
and intended for use in the most lavish Victorian parlour
setting was in the form of a cabinet. These cabinet stereo
viewers were capable of accommodating a selection of
up to twenty individual stereo view cards at the same
time which moved through sequence on a carousel
inside the cabinet.
The fact that companies such as Underwood & Un-
derwood could produce up to ten million stereoscopic
views a year in order to meet the Victorian parlour’s
huge demand for photographic images I order to ensure
its viewing device was well stocked with photographic
images is testimony to the importance of this sector of
the photographic industry in the nineteenth century.
Brian Liddy
See also: Ponti, Carlo; Frith, Francis; Stanhopes;
Wheatstone, Charles; Turner, Benjamin Brecknell;
Duboscq, Louis Jules; and Claudet, Antoine-François-
Jean.Further Reading
Norman Channing and Mike Dunn, British Camera Makers:
an A-Z guide to companies and products, Esher: Parkland
Designs, 1996.