852
in Paris, Germany, Austria, Spain, England and Scotland
(nos. 6001–6997). These “CS” views were incorporated
into the FSL general catalogue of 1864, which was more
than twice the length of that of 1859. The 1864 catalogue
included most of the views fi rst published in 1859, ex-
cept for a few deletions, plus nos. 2401–6997.
The fi rm “Ferrier pere, fi ls et Soulier” was short-
lived; in 1864 the Ferriers and Charles Soulier sold out to
two of their employees, Moisé Léon and Isaac Georges
Lévy (?–before 1895), known commercially as J. Lévy.
Léon had formerly been in the silk ribbon business with
Lévy at 243, rue Saint-Denis, in Paris, and was probably
a silent partner in the new fi rm. Production of the high-
est quality of glass stereographs continued unabated,
however. Another general catalogue was published in
1870 under the Léon and Lévy imprimatur, and included
views from the fi rst two general catalogues, plus nos.
7001-10027. The best known of the new collections of
views was the series devoted to the Exhibition of 1867,
issued both in glass and paper. Léon disappeared from
the FSL fi rm in 1872, when the company assumed a
new name: “J. Lévy & Cie.” Lévy and later his sons
ran the fi rm for almost a half-century, until its fusion
with Neurdein in 1920.
In addition to the general catalogues of 1859, 1864
and 1870, three more general catalogues were published,
in 1880, in 1886 and in 1903. The 1886 catalogue carried
the numerical entries down to no. 12778; that of 1903
continued the numeration of views down to no. 27325.
In between the general catalogues, thirty short stocklists
of FSL glass stereoviews are known to have been pub-
lished during the period 1859–1908. These latter listed
the very latest additions to the stock of views available to
customers. All of the FSL general catalogues after 1859
included the infi lling of numerical series left empty in
previous catalogues. For all practical purposes all FSL
views produced after 1855 were numbered, and so their
identifi cation is simple. The effective date for each and
every view is the date of the catalogue or stocklist in
which the view fi rst appears.
It would be fair to say that photographic excursions
to distant sites to make negatives for full-sized glass
stereographs (8 × 17 cm) had stopped by 1910, as
the popularity of these larger glass views had begun
to decline. Fortunately for the FSL fi rm their sales of
magic lantern slides were substantial in Europe and
the United States. The title page of the fi rst general
catalogue to mention magic lantern slides along with
glass stereographs was the general catalogue of 1870.
Lantern slides fi gure on the title pages of virtually all
subsequent catalogues. The lantern slide was in effect
one half of a glass stereograph. The importance of the
lantern slide business explains why so many of the
FSL glass stereo negatives still conserved at Roger
Viollet in Paris have been cut in half; it was to simplify
the printing of slides. Stereo halves were also used to
produce paper prints, which are of course the mainstay
of Roger-Viollet’s business.
FSL enjoyed a reputation in the nineteenth century
that far surpasses that of today. Their glass stereographs
were universally admired as the fi nest produced in Eu-
rope. In Adolphe Joanne’s Le Guide Parisien of 1863
FSL is singled out among photographic fi rms producing
stereographs: “Let us mention especially the admirable
collections of stereoscopic views in glass produced by
Ferrier, pere, fi ls, et Soulier, at 113 boulevard de Sébas-
topol.” The fact that the fi rm still exists, as Roger-Viollet,
with its vast collection of FSL negatives substantially
intact, makes it so much easier for us to assess the fi rm’s
substantial art-historical signifi cance.
John B. CameronSee also: Brewster, Sir David; Duboscq, Louis Jules;
and Henneman, Nicolaas.Further Reading
Adolphe, Joanne, Le Guide Parisien, Paris: Hachette, 1863,
39, where the author singles out for special praise the glass
stereographs of FSL.
Brewster, Sir David, The Stereoscope. Its History, Theory and
Construction, London: Keeler, Nancy B. “Illustrating the
‘Reports by the Juries’ of the Great Exhibition of 1851...,”His-
tory of Photography, vol. 6, 1982, 257–272.
McCauley, Elizabeth Anne, Industrial Madness. Commercial
Photography in Paris, 1848–1871, New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press, 1994.
Murray, John, 1856. Reprinted by Morgan & Morgan, 1971.
Voignier, Jean-Marie, Les Vues Stéréoscopiques de Ferrier et
Soulier, Paris: Editions du Palmier en Zinc, 1992. This work
includes an invaluable concordance of the fi rm’s fi rst three
general catalogues of 1859, 1864, and 1870.LEUZINGER, GEORG (1813–1892)
Swiss photographer, printer, and engraver
Born in the Swiss canton of Glaris (Glarus) in 1813,
Georg Leuzinger arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1832. He
originally sent daguerreotypes from Brazil to Paris to
be colored by hand and printed as lithographs. By 1861
he had opened a photographic studio, Casa Leuzinger,
which was also a printing and engraving fi rm. Marc
Ferrez apprenticed there under Leuzinger’s son-in-law,
photographer Franz Keller. Leuzinger originally sold
other photographers’ work (e.g., Stahl, Klumb, Chris-
tiano Junior). Then in 1865, he published a catalogue
of 400 photographs, including his own. Leuzinger’s
views of Rio and the surrounding region show a keen
awareness of the artistic possibilities of landscape
photography. He also produced intriguingly modern
scientifi c images of plant life for the expedition led by
naturalist Louis Agassiz in 1865, published in Journey