19th century stereoviews

[P3D Richard A Wood <JSRAW2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dan Shelley commented that there are few well-made 19th century stereo
pairs. Judging from what one sees at antique shops these days, that
is a fair appraisal. There are millions of horrible, cheap views for
sale that no one wants.  But go to an NSA convention and you'll see
that there is nothing better than 19th century stereos. They used 5X8
cameras. The negative was 5X8, often the top inch or so was not used.
They contact-printed (using sunlight for, say, 5-30 minutes). Each
Realist format of 24mm X 24mm. Even with 25ASA film in a Realist,
you get grainy prints.  The negative is too small. Look at a good
Anthony from the 1860's. They are incredibly sharp with rich tones.
The book titled "The Albumen and Salted Paper Book", now out of
print, is excellent for showing how 19th century stereoviews were
made.  Regarding the term stereopticon, this is a name for a
"magic lantern", or early form of slide projector. I presume the
stereo of stereopticon is due to the fact that often two or
three projectors were used to allow dissolving from one slide
to the next. The two projector, stacked, unit is called a biunial
lantern. A three projector unit is a triunial lantern.  These are
stereopticons. Antiques dealers are notorious for calling
stereoscopes stereopticons.  If it shows 3-D, it's a stereoscope.
And while purists like to call stereoviews "stereographs", most
19th century ads and studio signs read stereoviews. Don't be
discouraged by the junky stereos at antique malls.  Really great
views show up every day.  There is, however, frenetic competition
for them. You have to work hard to find them, but they are often
priced at pennies on the dollar. Most antiques dealers don't
know a 25 cent view from a $500 view. 



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