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stereographs in the Victorian era. By 1858 they were
advertising 100,000 views of famous buildings and
places of interest in England and abroad (although the
actual fi gure is more likely to have been a tenth of that)
and manufacturing stereoscopic cameras as well as
viewers for the consumer market. Their photographers
travelled as far afi eld as the Middle East and America.
William England, who was with the fi rm from its incep-
tion travelled in America in 1858 and 59, documenting
New York, the Hudson River, and Niagara Falls, and the
new railways and bridges along the route. The impor-
tant “North America Series” was immensely popular,
being amongst the fi rst photographic views of the US
to arrive in Britain. England was instrumental in build-
ing the fi rm’s reputation with travels in Ireland in 1857
and Paris in 1860 and technical advances in equipment
including the invention of the focal plane shutter. He
also produced the popular Comic series, which though
derided at the time by intellectuals as “low art” is now
an important record of Victorian domesticity and street
life. His last major venture for the company was as sole
photographer of the 1862 International Exhibition, for
which London Stereoscopic paid the enormous sum of
£1,500 for exclusive photographic rights.
London Stereoscopic also bought, distributed and
published material by non-commissioned photogra-
phers, including the work of William Grundy of Sutton
Coldfi eld (1806–1859) whose collection of 200 nega-
tives was acquired after his death. Grundy had published
a series of half stereos to illustrate Sunshine in the
Country, A Book of Rural Poetry, (Richard Griffi n &
Co, 1860) comprising of idyllic rustic scenes, country
folk and rural occupations. London Stereoscopic’s 1860
catalogue also advertised a series of views of Switzer-
land by Adolphe Braun and though William England
left to pursue his own career in 1863 he continued to
publish views through the company’s catalogues under
his own name. Renowned sports and war photogra-
pher Rheinhold Theile worked as a watercolourist and
photographer for the company between 1880– 894.
These references to individuals are unusual, however,
as London Stereoscopic rarely divulged the names of
their operators.
In 1862 alone the company sold one million stereo-
scopic views and had offi ces and agents as far afi eld
as New York. During the 1860s and 1870s, however,
stereoscopy began to decline in popularity. London
Stereoscopic diversifi ed their interests adding large
format travel views and portraiture to their catalogues.
By 1889 they advertised a comprehensive range of
cameras, lenses and general photographic goods and
also offered a wide range of photomechanical printing
services, including Woodburytpe, collotype, photomez-
zotype, photolithography, and platinogravure. Their
Woodburytypes were widely used in book publication
and periodicals, and next to the Woodbury Company it-
self London Stereoscopic were the largest manufacturers
of Woodburytypes in England, often donating albums
of Woodburytypes to hospitals and charities. In 1896
the commercial department of the fi rm at 54 Cheapside,
London offered letterpress printing to the trade, as
well as commercial printing of photographs in silver,
bromide, carbon and platinum. They had also begun to
expand into newly opened area of photoengraving and
made half-tone blocks for the printing trade.
An important spin-off for the company was theLONDON STEREOSCOPIC COMPANY
London Stereoscopic Company. The Telescopic Gallery.
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles © The J. Paul Getty Museum.