Folding viewer

[P3D John Bradley <106374.3315@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ray Dobbins writes about a recent gift and asks for more
information on it.

He describes it as
                                   " a folding stereo viewer made of black
crackle finished metal that holds separate left and right card 
views.  The viewer is rectangular, has simple round glass 
lenses and folds into something about the size of a cigarette 
case, perhaps a little larger  (12 by8cm...3.5 by5 in.)  The view 
cards are real photos, not lithos, and on the back it says "Issued 
with Army Club Cigarettes"...Cavenders Ltd, London.  The images
are very good photographically...copyrighted by  J Dearden Holmes.
"Peeps into Many lands, A Series of 72 Real Photographs".

What Ray has is a CAMERASCOPE.  I wrote an illustrated article
which covered this product in the May/June 1990 issue of Stereo
World ("British Stereoscopic Cigarette Cards"  Vol17 No2 pp4-11).

I won't bore readers by regurgitating the article , but here is a brief 
synopsis .

In the first half of the century most cigarette companies issued
cigarette cards in their packets. Several companies issued 
miniature stereoscopic cigarette cards. Most prolific were 
Cavanders cigarettes who issued nine black and white 
sets and two coloured sets(24-36 pairs per set).
The cards were produced for Cavanders by  Camerascopes Ltd. 
They produced the Camerascope viewer , and had previously sold 
it under their own name , together with  the views which were
later published as the "Peeps in to many Lands" series. The 
same viewer is found with other company names on it , 
particularly in Germany , and it is not clear 
who actually manufactured it.

Rival tobacco companies mostly employed an even smaller 
format for their stereo cigarette cards , and a tiny tin viewer the 
"pocket Rotoscope" was sold to view these.

Ray asks about the date of the photographs. The sets were issued
between 1927 and 1931, and mostly photographed between 1915
and 1925.

A good early example of the use of stereo as a sales promotion tool !

One later manufacturer issued anaglyph cigarette cards.

A more recent (1960's) example of stereo trade cards appeared when
 cereal and tea manufacturers issued sets of miniature
coloured litho cards utilising the Vistascreen folding plastic viewer 
(Weetabix in England, Weet-Bix and Liptons in Australia).

Sometimes I feel embarrassed to know the answers to questions
like this. Shouldn't I be using my few remaining brain cells to process
information that may be of use to humanity ? Or at least remember the
dates of my children's birthdays.

Happy New Year to you all, and thanks to the regulars and irregulars
for sharing all their thoughts and wisdom.

John Bradley



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