| Welcome | About | Introduction | Chapter One beginning of time – 999 AD |
| Chapter Two 1000 AD – 1399 | Chapter Three 1400 – 1599 | Chapter Four 1600 – 1649 | Chapter Five 1650 – 1699 |
| Chapter Six 1700 – 1749 | Chapter Seven 1750 – 1799 | Chapter Eight 1800 – 1819 | Chapter Nine 1820 – 1829 |
| Chapter Ten 1830 – 1839 | Chapter Eleven 1840 – 1849 | Chapter Twelve 1850 – 1859 | Chapter Thirteen 1860 – 1869 |
| Chapter Fourteen 1870 – 1879 | Chapter Fifteen 1880 – 1884 | Chapter Sixteen 1885 – 1889 | Chapter Seventeen 1890 – 1894 |
| Chapter Eighteen 1895 – 1899 | Chapter Nineteen 1900 + post cinema | Chapter Twenty 1911 + | Copyright |
| HOTDOC Internet Archive Channel | HOTDOC X Channel | HOTDOC You Tube Channel |
Period: 1820 to 1829
I left off in chapter eight with Joseph Nicรฉphore Niรฉpce and he will return as he is a major player in the history of photography and a significant player in the history of cinematography.
During the 19th century we will see an onslaught of Victorian optical toys as the decades unfold.
1820s
THE POLYORAMA
The Polyorama preceded Clarks Myriorama which was another childrenโs game where interchangeable cards could be re-arranged in an almost uncountable series of “pleasant views.” Children could have hours of cinematic fun editing their own stories.
The Polyorama may be attributed to a Parisian optician and instrument maker active from the 1810s through the 1830s named Pierre-Antoine Henry or sometimes referred to as M. Henry.
The interchangeable aspect of this Middle English ‘gamen’ (to sport, joke, jest) or the Old English gamenian (to play, jest, joke), allowed the child to ‘edit’ the way they wanted their story to go.
Many were painted by Irish artist Frederick Calvert (c.1785โc.1845), who specialized in painting landscapes and seascapes.
An indefinite number of these Polyoramas were printed by the English firm Hodgson and Company, which published a number of lithographic landscape views during the 1820s.
The Polyorama originally dates from the mid 18th century, and consists of a series of illustrated cards which combine to form an ‘endless landscape’ – you can place the cards in any order, and the pictures will still fit together to create a countryside.
The earliest announcements Iโve seen for Henryโs Polyorama date to 1823โ1824 in Paris, where he exhibited it publicly. Henry worked from a shop at Place du Palais-Royal, which was the hub for fashionable amusements.
His marketing stressed illusion and variety โ Polyorama literally meaning โmany viewsโ and the capacity to create dramatic transformations without moving parts.
This Polyorama box and its contents or, Endless changes of landscapes (London: Hodgson and Company, c. 1824) included sixteen hand-coloured lithographed cards forming an interchangeable panoramic landscape view, is in the possession of Princeton University, Graphic Arts Collection, Special Collections (Acquisitions, Ephemera, pre cinema optical devices), Firestone Library, 2020 The Trustees of Princeton University.
Ann Bermingham, in her work Learning to Draw: Studies in the Cultural History of a Polite and Useful Art (London: Paul Mellon Centre, 2000, pp 107โ08) had this to say on the Polyorama, the Myriorama, and John Clark;
“The formulaic nature of the picturesque landscape had become, by the nineteenth century, a visual clichรฉ, so much so that it was fashioned by John Clark into a childrenโs game called the Myriorama, a Collection of Many Thousand Landscapes in 1824. Clark followed this first Myriorama of English-like scenery with a second series composed of Italian scenery which made explicit the classical, Claudean antecedents of Gilpinโs picturesque formula. As the suffix โoramaโ suggests, Clark saw his Myriorama as the domestic counterpart to those large-scale popular landscape amusements, the panorama and diorama.โ”
children could have hours of pre cinema fun
editing their own stories with the Polyorama
The Polyorama originally dates from the mid 18th century, and consists of a series of illustrated cards which combine to form an endless landscape – you can place the cards in any order, and the pictures will still fit together to create a countryside.
Polyoramas were mostly landscapes and seascapes. The one here by Frederick Calvert (c.1785โc.1845) also went by the name of Endless Changes of Landscapes. It contained sixteen hand-coloured lithographed cards forming an interchangeable panoramic view.
Henry himself fades from the pre cinema historical record after the early 1830s, but his invention helped seed, along with John Clark, a huge industry in printed transformation views.
1820
THE COSMORAMA
The Cosmorama was an entertainment spectacle of the 19th century not a lot different than the Panorama, Cyclorama or Diorama. It was distinct in form, scale, and purpose. Think of it as a more intimate, optical cousin to the grand, immersive Panorama.
The Cosmorama was a popular early 19th century optical entertainment that displayed miniature, highly detailed perspective views of famous landmarks, cities, or exotic locales. It used optical lenses and lighting to enhance depth, realism, and illusion.
The term comes from Greek kosmos (world) + orama (view), i.e., a โview of the world.โ It became popular in France, Britain, and Italy especially between 1815 and 1860.
Visitors would look through peepholes or lenses set into a wall, cabinet, or rotunda. Inside were painted perspective scenes, usually backlit and carefully lit to create a 3D illusion. The lenses distorted the image just enough to simulate depthโearly VR goggles, in a sense.
Unlike the Panorama, which surrounded the viewer with a 360ยฐ canvas, the Cosmorama was about controlled, framed, optical illusions, one scene at a time.
The Cosmorama was also known as a specific physical location in London where patrons viewed scenes of exotic subjects through optical devices that magnified the pictures.
Daguerre exhibited Cosmorama-style views at the Diorama. The Thรฉรขtre du Gymnase, Paris, had Cosmorama exhibits in the early 1800s.
Londonโs Regent Street had commercial Cosmorama galleries and some Cosmoramas travelled in portable cabinets like proto-slide viewers.
Careful use of illumination and lenses gave images greater realism. From Visual Delights: Essays on the Popular and Projected Image in the Nineteenth Century, Dr. Vanessa Toulmin, 2001 p188 we read about โthe most well-known Cosmorama rooms at Regent Street:โ
1820
THE THEATRE OF ANIMATED SHADOWS
FRANCISCUS ZAMBONI (fl. 1820Sโ40S)
Another little-known pioneer of pre cinema who was an itinerant performer who built elaborate Shadow Theatres using glass slides with moving elements. And he left nothing behind for us to see. Zamboni worked with Viennese engineers to make multi-layered shadow illusions which prefigured animated projections. He advertised his performances as โanimated dreams cast by lamplight and gearโ suggesting early multi-plane shadow effects like Charlotte Reiniger and Disney.
PRE FIGURING CINEMA
Zamboni used layered glass plates and foreground characters mechanically moved across glass backdropsโa method somewhat common since the 1700s.
Tiny cams, pulleys and levers allowed repeated or subtle animation (think windmill blades turning, limbs moving).
Doing business in Vienna, Zamboni is documented as having worked with local instrument-makers to fabricate precise slides and projection rigs.
Zamboniโs methods were overshadowed (pun intended) by later pioneers, and I have found documentation extremely thin and images non-existent.
HONOURABLE MENTION
SIR GEORGE CAYLEY (1773โ1857)
While mostly known for his studies in aviation, Cayley also built rotating vision disks to study motion perception and aerodynamics. Some of these devices involved viewing moving lines or feathers through slits, akin to early Zoetropic logic.
In unpublished notebooks, he describes using Apparent Motion tests to measure object perception during flight simulations.
Cayleyโs disks are a neglected side-story in animation history, overshadowed by his flight machines: experimental tools that flirted with kinetic illusion. In a very specific way, George Cayley had a peripheral relationship to pre cinema through his optical and mechanical inventions, but he was not a core figure in visual entertainment or projection.
Is he a candidate for inclusion in a deeper study of proto cinematic apparatuses? No. But he deserves an honourable mention.
1820
APPARENT MOTION
JOHN MURRAY II (1778-1843)
In the study of the optical phenomenon of human vision called Apparent Motion, and quite pertinent to seeing โpictures moveโ I might add, this learned-to-say-the-least Scotsman, is somewhat of an important player in the history of pre cinema.
He was a professor of the natural sciences and began writing and lecturing at an early age. For a time, he was the publisher and editor of The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and The Arts.
On pages 282 and 283 of Volume X of The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and The Arts, published 1 December 1821, Murray wrote a letter he had written a year earlier, regarding the spinning of a wheel and the phenomenon he called โAccount of an Optical Deception.โ
The โannexed woodcutโ shown here is the picture he offered along with a lengthy account of what is witnessed. I can find nothing more on Murrayโs contribution as I believe there likely isnโt any. However, I did find something interesting about this man . . .
THE BURNING OF LORD BYRONโS DIARIES
Did you know, that this same John Murray II who was the second in a line of eight publishing John Murrays, and Lord Byronโs literary executor, was the key player in the burning of Byronโs mรฉmoires and diaries after his death.
Lord Byron portrait by Thomas Phillips, 1835. National Portrait Gallery, London
While traversing the history of the great English, Murray publishing house history, I came across this very interesting entry on John Murray II. From Marc Haynes and Darkest London, it goes something like this;
โFrom 1768 until it was finally sold in 2002, Britainโs most famous publisher was run by a man by the name of John Murray. John Murray wasnโt a single man โ but seven men from the same family all of whom bore the same name (they are differentiated by a number, I to VII.) All but the first John Murray operated from a building at 50 Albemarle Street, Piccadilly . . . . Renowned as an uncanny spotter of literary talent, John Murray II (1778-1843) moved the firm his father had started from Edinburgh to Albemarle Street in 1812, a year after he began publishing the works of Lord Byron (1788-1824).โ
Upon Byronโs death and return for burial, Byronโs mรฉmoires found their way into Murrayโs hand and were subsequently destroyed for apparently โsinisterโ reasons. As Haynes closes his report; โOf what Byron wrote, which shocked Murray so deeply, we know only one thing; it left the house at Albemarle Street via the chimney.โ
Image the Franรงois Binรฉtruy Collection
1820
OMBRASCOPES AND WHITE SHADOWS
The Ombrascope falls within a multitude of Victorian pre cinema optical toys closely related to Shadow Puppetry. So much so they could be kissing cousins. In the early 1800s, such devices were typically used in domestic settings or small gatherings to cast silhouettes or shadow figures onto a surface, often using candlelight or early oil lamps.
They were part of the broader fascination with optics and visual effects during the Regency period, aligning with the development of other pre cinematic technologies. For example, shadow plays or โombres chinoisesโ (Chinese shadows) were popular in Europe, and an Ombrascope might have been a specific tool or toy marketed for creating very similar effects, possibly involving cutout figures or translucent cards.
Thereโs limited documentation on a specific Ombrascope device from exactly 1820, but the term aligns with the periodโs interest in Shadowgraphy and optical curiosities, as seen in later references to Umbromania in the 1880s.
As this image shows, this simple pre cinema optical toy offers a shadow of white onto the wall. These very early Victorian era toys were first seen around 1820.
The Ombrascope had many names;
๐ฌ Ombrascopes
๐ฌWhite Shadows
๐ฌShadowscopes
๐ฌUmbromania refers to a shadow craze
Umbromania was the umbrella term referencing the craze of shadow-related toys like an Ombrascope that was popular in society. It was one of a multitude of shadow-related toys during the 19th century.
The Ombrascope however, was overshadowed by many of the more popular toys.
There is no one particular name that can be associated with the initial introduction of the Ombrascope. There were however, many promoters. Here are twelve out of a set of twenty-four cut-out Ombromania projections of White Shadows, from 1890.
Images the Franรงois Binรฉtruy Collection
Jean Caroly (1868-1955), the pen name of Jean-Auguste Faugeras, was the founder and editor of the publication Illusioniste. Caroly was a predominant magician of the period and proponent of White Shadows during his career.
Here is the Illusioniste of January 1902 and two of his promotional advertisements. The front page of the Illusioniste pictures the famed conjurer Robert-Houdin.
Images the Franรงois Binรฉtruy Collection
Image the Franรงois Binรฉtruy Collection
So popular throughout most of the 19th century were any kind of simple pre cinema optical toy for children, that we see an Ombrascope-themed working chocolate dispenser, in lithographed sheet metal.
When you deposit your coin, you see a White Shadow image on the front screen.
The year is 1880.
Pictured here are three White Shadow Ombrascope Cards from the University of Exeter Collection.
The Pope, The Virgin, and Monsieur Bรฉbรฉ.
From the Franรงois Binรฉtruy Collection, four White paper shadows, of very good quality representing Napoleon III, Jesus Christ, Queen Victoria, and her husband Albert.
At the height of Umbromania in the late 1880s, Scientific American Magazine had a full two-page spread on the craze over-taking households throughout America.
Anything shadow-related including the Ombrascope.
READ Volume 58, issue โ 8, dated February 1888 here at Internet Archive.
Image the Franรงois Binรฉtruy Collection
FUNCTIONAL WHITE SHADOW FAN
Child or adult could cool themselves on a hot day or, view their very own White Shadows with a hand-held fan made out of what looks like balsa wood.
Here is a selection of Ombrascopes, White Shadows and Shadowscopes from the Franรงois Claire Martin Arthur Binรฉtruy Collection in Paris, covering a period that spanned at least 60 years, c.1820 to 1880.
Such longevity for simple pre cinema shadow-related optical toys.
1820
THE PROTEAN VIEW
A smaller version of the Diorama begins to be seen, manufactured for personal use, in the home. This very early optical toy miniature seems to have eluded many, because little is known about it. A pure optical toy, the Protean View relied heavily on Apparent Motion.
Like the Thaumatrope, the two pheasantโs heads converge into human heads, and return to pheasant heads. In this case the human heads were Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington.
These Victorian-age pre cinema entries can also be compared with the Dissolving View or even a Peep Show.
The Greek character Proteus was the master of disguise.
These almost-transparencies were early optical toys showing the scene by day and when held up to light the same scene by night. Morgan’s Protean Views were published in 1838.
The example here is The Pyramids of Egypt, The Third Miracle of the World.
Recall the Thaumatrope and the spinning two-sided image that was created by either Dr. Paris or an unknown caveman from chapter one.
Combined with the Dioramic theatrical experience, the Protean View could excite many patrons at one time, especially children.
This pictured Thaumatrope is a Cacao de la Cie Francaise La Lanterne Magique trading card. Attach your strings and start twirling.
In ancient Greece, Proteus was the shepherd for Poseidon’s sea creatures.
The dictionary defines protean as โvariable; easily changing; or continually changing.โ
Pictured here is a Protean View of The Amphitheatre of Rome.
The Protean Views shown here are from the publisher Georg Balthasar Probst (1732-1801) of Augsburg (unless stated otherwise) and are part of a series dedicated to the Seven Wonders of the World. This theme was also popular with other manufacturers as well.
Probst views measured fifteen and three quarter inches by ten pont six-three inches or 15.75 x 10.63 inches. These prints are captioned in both German and Italian since they were intended for worldwide distribution.
In the 1830s the English publisher William Spooner produced several series of Protean Views in which the image turned into another when the print was illuminated from behind.
The title of this print shown here is Swiss Village Buried by an Avalanche.
A Spooner print which this is, usually measured 5.1 by 7 inches.
Here we have a Protean View known as Monument of Mausoli.
Named after King Mausolus, we get our word mausoleum.
The Mausoleum of Halikarnassos is an elaborate, magnificent tomb built for a king. SEE a brief video from See You in History, immediately below.
Spooner’s main competitor in England was William Morgan who produced Morgan’s Dioramic Views during the same period.
Westminster Abbey by Morgan is depicted here, and Queen Victoria’s coronation appears against the light. Westminster Abbey, entirely deserted, with the empty throne at the centre.
When the Protean View is held up to the light, it transforms into the scene of Queen Victoria’s coronation, with the Archbishop placing the crown on her head.
1821-1822
COG-IN-A-BOX and
THE HEAVY MIRROR CURTAIN
In 1821, Joseph Glossop (1793-1850) installed an enormous 63-panel mirrored curtain weighing about five tons, over the stage at the Royal Coburg Theatre. It was meant as a lavish spectacle, allowing patrons to see themselves reflected during performances, such as sword-swallowing and Indian juggler acts. The audience could โseeโ themselves โin the show.โ
Pictured is Theatrical Reflection, depicting Ramo Samee performing in front of the looking glass curtain at the Royal Coburg Theatre, 1822.
This print shows Samee seated on stage and the auditorium and audience reflected in the mirrored curtain behind him. Held at the V&A.
When unveiled, it reflected the audience back at itself โ an extraordinary optical and social provocation at the time. It became a notorious curiosity until it was removed due the danger of its impractical weight.
Glossop was a London theatre impresario, speculator, and showman, best remembered as the founder and first manager and builder of the Royal Coburg Theatre โ the venue that later became the Royal Victoria Theatre, the now the Old Vic. Most of the great British film stars performed at the Old Vic.
SHOW TIME
On the evening of Thursday, 3 January 1822, at the Royal Coburg Theatre in London, a looking-glass curtain hung in place of the crimson draperies that customarily separated the audience from the stage.
According to that night’s playbill, this “striking object of attention” weighing five tons it is said, and measuring thirty-six by thirty-two feet, was supported by massive pillars and resplendently set in a carved and burnished gold cove.
Executed by Mr. Walker, a Drury Lane plate-glass manufacturer, it apparently created the brilliant reverse effect of reflecting “in one lucid sea of glass, the entire audience, and every object in front of the theatre.โ
This Looking-Glass Curtain is one of the earliest large-scale uses of reflective technology as theatrical spectacle, decades before Pepperโs Ghost or the Phantasmagoria.
This places Joseph Glossop at the intersection of mechanical spectacle, mirror illusion, and theatre architecture, a transitional figure between 18th century mechanical shows and Victorian theatrical engineering.
His mirror curtain and short-lived Royal Coburg experiments directly foreshadowed later optical stagecraft, including Robert-Houdinโs mechanical stage illusions and his automata as we will see.
Glossop is a key missing link in the history of pre cinema because he imported mechanical illusionism into mainstream theatre two decades before Houdin made it artistic. This is a caricature by Robert Cruikshank, of Glossop. Your guess of which character is Glossop, is as good as mine.
Among the balancing acts performed in front of this “magnificent tout-ensemble” were, according to the playbill for 16 May 1822, the astonishing turns of Il Diavolo Antonio (Signor Antonio Vivalla), the flesh-and-blood Italian model for Jean-Eugene RobertโHoudin’s android acrobat (see fig. 97).
At roughly the same time the Mirrored Curtain was attracting patrons, RobertโHoudin, still only in his late teens, was experimenting with his first automaton, Diavolo Antonioโan acrobatic android powered by clockwork and cogs.
Although there’s no contemporary document I can find identifying the phrase CogโinโaโBox, it’s plausible that it, too, performed in front of the giant mirror.
WATCH the authentically rebuilt RobertโHoudin automaton Antonio Diavolo, by John Gaughan. From The Paul Daniels Magic Christmas Show from 27th December 1986.
Pictured is an Il Diavolo Antonio playbill in private collection.
Both the mirror curtain and Diavolo Antonio were performed/installed in the same time frame (~1822) at the same theatre.
A massive mirror curtain and a boxed automaton performing flips both create reflectionsโliteral and metaphorical: one reflected the audience, the other reflected mechanical ingenuity.
If the automaton was housed in a wooden transport/display boxโwhich was typical for small clockwork figuresโsomeone later (or even contemporaneously) might have dubbed it a Cog-in-a-Box.
The mirrorโs presence backstage or in a proscenium setup intersected with Houdinโs early mechanical showpieces, potentially sparking the memory of an automaton displayed in a mirrored or boxed stage set.
Honestly, I think I stumbled across two parallel pre cinema curiosities of the same time in 1822 and the same place: the heavy mirrored curtain and Houdinโs cog-driven โdroid. Perhaps this is the droid weโre looking for.
Below are three period handbills.
And as for the origin of the name Cog-in-a-Box itself, the only thing I can come up with, is that because Robert-Houdin’s little bionic man operated using cogs, and was transported in a box . . . . . I think you get the idea.
1821
JEAN-BAPTISTE BIOT (1774-1862)
Biot was a French physicist, mathematician, and astronomerโsharp, prolific, and sometimes combativeโbest known for three things: Magnetism; Optics and polarization; Atmospheric and astronomical work.
Pictures of up to 20X life size were possible with a Camera Obscura Megascope illustration according to Biot. He is one of the central figures who turned polarization from a fringe curiosity into a measured, quantitative branch of optics.
Biot illustrated his Megascope with a description. This is from Alfred Molteniโs 4th edition of Instructions Pratiques sur l’Emploi des Appareils de Projection in 1884, found in Chapter XVI, figure 80 on page 203.
Photos de Luikerwaal
1821
THE HORIZONTORIUM
WILLIAM SHIRES
This shrewd anamorphic illusion is said to have been invented by Shires in 1821. Three dimensions without glasses, and before Wheatstone.
Prior to 3D glasses, people saw optical views like this one, to experience greater depth than the typical flat 2D image. This print was to be placed on a level table, with the observer placing their chin in the bottom centre to see the building from a 3D perspective.
Images the Firestone Library at Princeton University
DIY ANAMORPHOSIS IN 1821
Cut out the centre piece, place a hole at A, fold at B, and position it at D. Peer through the hole with one eye, with the light source to your right and see the headstone in three dimensions, surrounded by the fence. Crazy.
Images Futility Closet
This Horizontorium is by J. W. Schwenk in 1870.
Click to enlarge.
WATCH this incredible modern day working of an anamorphosis example that puts everything into um, perspective. You wonโt have any questions after you spend one minute seeing this, by Cap Cut software. From Adel_mari @Adel_marie2003 at X.
1822
JOSEPH NICรPHORE NIรPCE (1765-1833
Niรฉpce was one of three children who were forced to flee their area when the French Revolution began. Although named Joseph, he took the name Nicรฉphore in honor of Saint Nicephorus the ninth-century Patriarch of Constantinople while studying at the Oratorian College in Angers France.
Niรฉpce was a staff officer in the French army under Napoleon. He later became administrator of the district of Nice. He married Agnes Romero and began scientific research with his older brother Claude at their familyโs estate in Chalon.
This reunited him with his mom, sister and younger brother Bernard. The brothers served as wealthy gentlemen-farmers, raising beets and producing sugar.
In 1822, he employed his Heliography process to create what has been referred to as the world’s first permanent photographic image. However it no longer exists, if it did. It was a contact-exposed replica of an engraving of Pope Pius VII, but it was later destroyed when Niรฉpce attempted to manufacture copies from it.
Niรฉpce’s earliest known photographic artifacts made in 1825, are of a 17th-century engraving of a boy leading a horse, and an etching or engraving of a woman with a spinning wheel.
The boy and horse exist and I will speak of it at the 1825 mark.
The woman and the spinning wheel are said to exist but in 32 years of looking, I have never seen it. There are apparently two of them both in private US collection.
1822
POLYORAMA PANOPTIQUE
ANTOINE LOUIS LEMAIRE (fl. c. 1820sโ1850s)
The pre cinema Polyorama Panoptique was a miniature version of the Diorama. The viewer looked in through the lens at a thin paper transparency, which was printed on both sides with different scenes.
The Polyorama Panoptique was a popular 19th-century optical toy that allowed viewers to observe hand-colored lithographic slides, creating day-to-night transitions through light manipulation.
It was a simplified, domestic version of Louis Daguerreโs Diorama, using a wooden box with a bellows, a viewing lens, and two flaps to control lighting for dramatic effects. The device was sold as a souvenir at diorama exhibitions and was popular from the 1820s to 1850s.
Antoine Louis Lemaire, described as a Parisian optician at 32 Passage Salmon, invented the Polyorama Panoptique during the Second Empire (1852โ1870). By operating a hinged shutter, the viewer could alternately light the transparency from the front or the rear.
This produced a variety of transformations, which sometimes involved movement.
Some of my French sources explicitly name Antoine Louis Lemaire as the inventor, describing a device with 36 views (e.g., scenes of Paris, London, and Napoleonโs exile in Saint Helena).
Other sources attribute the invention to Pierre Seguin, who developed it as an evolution of the โprotean viewโ in the 1820s, based on Daguerreโs Diorama. Another source credits Pierre-Henri Armand Leford with patenting a simplified, Panoptique version in 1849, building on a method by Auguste-Louis Rรฉgnier, who patented a Dioramic image technique in 1848.
Some sources refer only to a โLemaire,โ an optician, without specifying a first name, which may contribute to the confusion. For instance, Janet Buerger credits a French optician named Lemaire (our Lemaire) with the invention, and other sources mention a โLemaireโ as well.
The box was attached to a concertina device allowing for adjustment. This had an eye-sized viewing lens at the end of this toyish optical device.
The illustration card would be inserted at the back of the box, which would be held up to the light.
Images Princeton University, Graphic Arts, Exhibitions, acquisitions, and other highlights from the Graphic Arts Collection, Princeton University Library, Julie L. Mellby
The Polyorama Panoptique was first marketed as a gift to visitors of Daguerre’s auditorium-size Diorama in 1822. Janet E. Buerger, a biographer of Daguerre, attributes the creation of the Polyorama Panoptique to the Parisian optician Antoine Louis Lemaire.
The box, which is simply made of a wooden frame and paper bellows, carries a single hand-coloured lithographic slide that has been punctured with tiny tiny holes and hidden colour additions.
These tiny holes provide illumination as the light source shifts from front to back.
SEE how the Polyorama Panoptique works in this short production from our friends at Museu del Cinema in Girona Spain, the Tomร s Mallol Collection.
Image Sue Truman
1822
PANORAMIC BOOK MR. OSKVAT
THOMAS ROWLANDSON vs. UNKNOWN ARTIST
This is a childrenโs Panoramic Book scroll of twelve cartoons, all hand-drawn and then painted.
A movie in a box.
A poetic text accompanies the scrolling which depicts motion in story-telling.
The drawings in this Panoramic Book of 1822 are attributed to Thomas Rowlandson. The scrolling was done from right to left.
Then in the upper window of the drawer, a single story about the adventures of Mr. Osquat was obtained.
The drawings in this Panoramic Book of 1822 has been attributed to Thomas Rowlandson.
However, Julie L. Mellby, Graphic Arts, Special Collections, Firestone Library at Princeton University states โit should not be attributed to Rowlandson.โ
This was apparently confirmed by a London colleague Jonathan Gestetner who told Melby that โno artist can yet be credited for this comedy about Mr. and Mrs. Osquat.โ
Here is a section of the Panoramic Book strip called Mr. Osquat. A beautiful pre cinema movie for children right before their eyes. Four years before photography and 66 +/- before Cinematography.
A silent movie in a box.
BTW, if it matters, Thomas Rowlandson was a highly flamboyant caricaturist during the approximate 100-year period of the English Georgian era.
This is a sketched portrait of Rowlandson by George Henry Harlow (d.1819), currently in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
1822-1862
THE GรORAMAS
Early in the 19th century the desire to educate and spread geographic knowledge to the masses, grew.
Some men thought the use of the Panorama experience was one way. Just like eKnowledge is sent around the world today to educated.
This led to a number of 360ยฐ spheres called the Gรฉoramas.
In the latter days the Bible says “knowledge shall be increased.” -Daniel 12:4
1822
CHARLES FRANรOIS-PAUL DELANGLARD
The first Gรฉorama was Delanglard’s who built a hollow sphere with a 14-metre diametre, right in the middle of Paris. On the circular wall encompassing the entire interior was a 360ยฐ painted world map. A full Panorama. Patent filed 25 March.
โThe onlooker finds himself as if by magic floating in the air, borne in the wake of images in the immensity of space. […] The lighting of this monument, which should resemble that on a clear night, is provided by the planets and stars that decorate the vault of the sky […] The daylight outside filters through these apertures into the gloom of the interior and outlines all the objects in the vault with bright, sparkling light. […] This form of lighting the monument is a perfect reproduction and the effect of the stars could not be be more brilliant.โ
– Etienne-Louis Boullรฉe, ‘Architecture, Essay on Art’ Helen Rosenau editor, London, 1952
The public climbed a spiral staircase reaching the level of the equator, similar to Guรฉrinโs Gรฉorama pictured next.
The forty-foot-wide sphere offered a breathtaking view of the Earthโs land and oceans seen everywhere you looked and beyond your peripheral vision.
The rotunda’s ceiling was composed of translucent glass, allowing outside light to shine in.
The earth’s surface was mapped on its interior based on the state of geographic research at the time. Delanglardโs Georama stood in Paris from 1825 to 1832.
This globe was composed of transparent tissue that had been painted with water colours. Thirty-six iron sticks were used to secure the tissue.
Illustration of Guรฉrin’s Georama. The illustrator has translated French place names into German because this was printed for a German audience.
1844
CHARLES-AUGUSTE GUรRIN
Guรฉrin built his Gรฉorama with the help of Charles Langlois in 1844.
A hollow sphere with a detailed painted world map encircling the interior was again achieved, this time on the Champs-รlysรฉes in Paris.
It was smaller than Delanglardโs Gรฉorama at 32 metres in diametre (Delanglardโs was 40 feet). It had a double staircase and a single platform also to the equator of the map. Natural light pierced through an oculus located at the top.
DEA / Getty Image
A drawing that symbolises the establishment on the Champs-รlysรฉes in Paris that housed Guรฉrin’s Gรฉorama. This portrayal appeared in the weekly magazine L’Illustration.
This is a prospectus for the Gรฉorama, or the World at one View of Guรฉrin, issued by an organisation called the Gรฉorama Committee seeking support from the Society for the Construction of the Attraction in London, from 1846.
1851
JAMES WYLD (1812โ1887)
In 1851 James Wyld placed his Gรฉorama in Leicester Square. Sixty feet wide* version nick-named The Monster Globe.
It was a gigantic hollow globe containing the continents, oceans, rivers, mountains in an IMAX-style pre cinema way.
Wyld’s Great Globe had stacked galleries for visitors.
According to Oettermann (1980) โthe surface of the earth was formed true to scale with a three-fold super-elevation.โ
The lakes appeared as if transparent and the active volcanoes shone through small purple glass lenses.
Wyld’s Great Globe showing completed galleries. Like tuning in to National Geographic on the History Channel. Illustration for The Illustrated London News, 29 March 1851.
The continents and islands were defined on an opaque surface with the mountains rendered in relief with everlasting snow tops painted white, while the arid zones showed in warm tones and the Asian and North American steppes in a greenish tint.
Wyldโs twelve-page guide which accompanied each ticket to his Great Monster Globe of 1851.
The MSG Sphere opened in Las Vegas in 2023. The eye-catching venue will host live music, film and sporting events including boxing and mixed martial arts.
Concert goers will be able to see their artists perform live alongside the appeal of being surrounded by a 16K LED screen displaying augmented animations and also serve as a 360 Jumbo Tron showing close-ups of performers.
How far have we come from the days of pre cinema? Maybe not as far as we think. SEE a sneak peek here.
1822
BEFORE PHOTOGRAPHY
LOUIS JACQUES MANDE DAGUERRE (1787 – 1851)
Daguerre opens the first Diorama in rue Sanson, Paris. He provided scenes of The Interior of Trinity Chapel (painted by Charles Bouton), along with the Valley of Unterwalden and Canterbury Cathedral (painted by Daguerre).
The scenes consisted of elaborate landscapes and places well known to the public. The large scale paintings on canvas were huge, measuring 14 metres by 22 metres. These translucent paintings were lit from behind and could be made brighter or less, according to the mood or atmosphere the operator wanted.
The Diorama opened on 11 July 1822. It was built by Daguerre and Charles-Marie Bouton in Paris behind Place du Chรขteau dโEau in rue Samson.
A review of the event from Sir Humphrey is as follows;
“The visitors, after passing through a gloomy anteroom, were ushered into a circular chamber, apparently quite dark. One or two small shrouded lamps placed on the floor served dimly to light the way to a few descending steps and the voice of an invisible guide gave directions to walk forward.
The eye soon became sufficiently accustomed to the darkness to distinguish the objects around and to perceive that there were several persons seated on benches opposite an open space resembling a large window. Through the window was seen the interior of Canterbury Cathedral undergoing partial repair with the figures of two or three workmen resting from their labours.
The pillars, the arches, the stone floor and steps, stained with damp, and the planks of wood strewn on the ground, all seemed to stand out in bold relief, so solidly as not to admit a doubt of their substantiality, whilst the floor extended to the distant pillars, temptingly inviting the tread of exploring footsteps. Few could be persuaded that what they saw was a mere painting on a flat surface.
The impression was strengthened by perceiving the light and shadows change, as if clouds were passing over the sun, the rays of which occasionally shone through the painted windows, casting-coloured shadows on the floor.
Then shortly the lightness would disappear and the former gloom again obscure the objects that had been momentarily illumined. The illusion was rendered more perfect by the sensitive condition of the eye in the darkness of the surrounding chamber.”
– Sir Humphrey Davy, 1801
Daguerre was a larger-than-life painter who seriously desired the real thing in his art and through the Diorama he could achieve this effect by actually bringing the scene to the theatre.
He began his early working years as an architect, and soon after became an assistant stage designer for a theatre. Daguerre was a gifted illusionist in terms of his ability to design sets, which dazzled audiences.
These designs he would later coin as a Diorama.
Pictured here is a portion of the Diorama of Daguerre called the interior of the abbey church of Brou (Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain) painted in 1825. This is a lithograph by Geoffroy Engelmann of the painting.
The word Diorama is Greek in origin, dia meaning through, across, by, or over and horama meaning view or to look through something. Scenes consisted of elaborate landscapes well known to the public.
โpeople went as if it were the cinema,
like itโs a movieโ
– Mandy Tutin, Head of Galerie Perrin
Following, is the front and the back of Le Campo Santo de Pise, recently discovered to be a Diorama painting by Louis Daguerre and Charles-Marie Boutons from 834 to1839.
When the Parisian Galerie Perrin purchased this dramatic picture of the Pisa Cathedral, they realised it was unique. The head of the gallery, Mandy Tutin, on her investigation of the painting noticed “There’s a small hole in the canvas, this is not normal, this isn’t an accidental hole.”
She authenticated it as a Louis Daguerre Diorama, this unique form of painting produced by the artist and inventor in 1822, nearly two decades before he went on to establish the Daguerreotype.
Working with painter Charles Marie Bouton (1781-1853), they created canvases with parts painted on both sides, so the work changes look depending on the illumination. He displayed pieces like this one at his custom-built Paris venue, Diorama (the first image I showed). Pictured here, is the reverse side.
The effect is still striking over two centuries later, as the picture mysteriously transitions from day to night, almost like a large fiery torch emerges from the centre of the canvas, and the flame aligned with the mysterious hole. Tutin noted that the effect “is a reflection between the light and the transparency of the canvas.”
SEE the Daguerre – Bouton section of the Diorama Le Campo Santo de Pise the way it was meant to be seen during the days of the Diorama beginning in 1822. It’s nine seconds but I have looped it several times.
This woodcut engraving pictures the Diorama built by Daguerre and Bouton on rue Sanson in Paris, called Vue du Chateau d’eau, c. 1822-1823, minus the Tricolore. Obtained from Les Miroirs Qui Se Souviennent, Syros Alternatives, 1987, p11.
1823
Daguerre opens a second Diorama in Regent Park, London. His Diorama painting The Ruins of Holyrood Chapel, which now hangs in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool below, was completed with the use of the Camera Obscura.
Here is the ground-plan of the Diorama Building in London in 1823, by A. Pugin and J. Morgan. From an illustration reproduced by Helmut Gernsheim, 1968, p21.
It was a big polygonal brick structure with a prominent dome, placed behind a row of terraced dwellings with a front designed by John Nash.
Up to 200 people sat about forty feet from the canvases in a dark rotunda that rotated through approximately 75 degrees on rollers beneath the floor so that the paintings could be presented alternately in “picture rooms.”
Image Lacroix et Baudry, Architectonographie des thรฉรขtres de Paris, 1837, plate 23.
From Oettermannโs The Panorama History of a Mass Medium New York zone, 1997, Figure 3 of Daguerreโs Diorama in Paris, 1822.
The architectural plans of the Diorama were called Diorama et Wauxhall.
1822
ORIGINS OF THE DIORAMA; AN 11-PART SERIES
Learn how the Diorama was conceived of the theatrical stage, how it relates to cinematography today, and how it found a resting place in natural history museums around the world in this series I curated for my Twitter account in 2022.
1823
TABLEAU POLYOPTIQUE
JEAN-PIERRE BRรS (1760-1834)
Myrioramas were sets of Panoramic landscape cards that changed views when mixing their order. Attributed to John Clark, Jean-Pierre Brรฉs made his own pre cinema version before publisher Samuel Leigh coined the term.
Samuel Leigh hired artist John Heaviside Clark to create Myrioramas for the English market. The examples shown here are of Italian scenery by John Clark who improved on the work of Brรฉs. Italian scenery images from World of Playing Cards.
The Myriorama is a pre cinematic card game consisting of coloured widescreen landscapes with an infinite horizon-line cut into each interchangeable card. Each margin fits to all others so that no matter what combination is chosen, a new scene is formed.
Brรฉs found a talent in, and love for children’s literature. An aspiring illustrator as well, Brรฉs called his pre Myriorama the Tableau Polyoptique (Polyoptic Pictures) soon to be referred to as the First Series. Clarks was known as the Second Series.
Image Bibliothรจque Francophone Multimรฉdia Limoges
The Clark series was capable of even greater variation than Brรฉs, as the number of cards is increased from 16 to 24.
It has been documented that the number of scenes that can be edited is in the hundreds of thousands.
Tableau Polyoptique and Myriorama cards were typically 2 and 5/8 inches high by 8 inches long. The name Tableau Polyoptique derives from the Greek ฮ ฮฟฮปฯ ฮฟฯฯฮนฮบฮฎ meaning very visual or, many views. Tableau is of course French for Table.
We therefore have a table of many views.
1823
THE OXYHYDROGEN BLOWPIPE
SIR GOLDSWORTHY GURNEY (1793-1875)
More famous for his steam-powered carriages, Gurney is mentioned for his contribution in the assisted creation of limelight, also attributed to the American Robert Hare and many others, hereby avoiding controversy.
The oxyhydrogen blowpipe was developed as a means of increasing the flame produced by hydrogen and oxygen. Later it became more widely known as limelight. It was adapted to many industrial uses including the illumination for the Magic Lantern.
1823
CHARLES CHEVALIER (1804 – 1859)
Chevalier presents his meniscus prism in the Camera Obscura instead of lenses and mirrors.
In doing this, he avoided the aberration created through curved lenses (lost focus in the centre or fringe of the screen on a plane screen) known as achromatism.
1824
MOBILE MAGIC LANTERN ADVERTISING
This year George Samuel Harris patents his โroyal ambulatory advertiserโ designed to feature โlit transparencies on a moving carriage.โ
Being difficult to read and obstructing traffic, it did not catch on at the time.
The Magic Lantern was also adapted for advertising on city streets, and projecting upon the sides of buildings. Advertising historian T. R. Nevett (Advertising in Britain: A History, pp 56-59 read it here) cites an 1876 controversy over a traffic jam on the Strand in London UK caused by;
The repeated castigation of the views as โgratuitousโ suggests their unwelcome status, not merely for the distraction and congestion they caused, but also for the content of the advertisements.
Here, from Punch Magazine 5 March 1864 (National Gallery of Art Library, Washington).
Similarly, in 1883, legal complaints were filed against a London tailor who had lately from his second-floor window after dark, exhibited a large Magic Lantern with moving slides, which attracted a large number of persons who stood on the pavement close to Mr. Kelseyโs window.
This prevented the access of his customers to his, and other shops. How would you like this giant truck parked right in front of your store blocking the view of traffic.
Although the advertisements attracted many viewers, it prevented actual sales and defeated its own purpose.
Such illuminated ads were not limited to London.
Steven Bunker has noted this was a widespread practice in Mexico, with commercial establishments projecting their advertisements onto the walls of the Alameda Park, Teatro Nacional and Municipal Palace.
Here from Punch, 16 April 1864.
The Australian National University also has a working group devoted to investigating the practice of outdoor Magic Lantern slide projection in that country beginning in 1840.
In New York, a lantern at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue was singled out in 1880 as;
Despite the assembled crowdโs assumed fascination with the publicised lantern projections, others complained that the omnipresence of marketing never gave city-dwellers respite;
1896
MCKINLEY WON!
Below from the Library of Congress, newspaper microfilm Nยบ 1363, an image by Charles Graham, called Election Night in New York City, found in The Worldโs Sunday Magazine, printed 8 November, 1896.
Worldโs largest Magic Lantern projection it claimed.
Image U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Patent filings on illuminated Magic Lantern Advertising indicates pedestrians would be OK with actively embracing the new technology.
Pictured Improvement in Advertising-Lanterns, US Patent โ 133158, 19 November, 1872.
This phenomenon was so widespread it merited a cartoon in the London publication Funny Folks 9 April, 1892, stating โOur Artist gives a prophetic sketch of London as it is likely to appear in the future.โ
Was the artist wrong? A modern day picture of London at night.
Good thing we never got rid of the A-frame, or The Present Sandwich-Man, or Smithโs Model (William Smithโs, Advertise? How? When? Where? Routledge, London, 1863, pp137, 138).
Images Winterthur Library and Ellery E. Foutch, Johns Hopkins University Press.
2013
FAST FORWARD
Fast forward 189 years to 2013 and Google Glass died just as quick as it stumbled out of the gate at aged 10. Computerised Smart Glasses capable of receiving and projecting data.
Sandow and Friese-Greene would be impressed.
Because both attempt the very same thing (mobile advertising while you walk) in chapter eighteen, or about 71 years from now.
Stay tuned.
1824
THE MYRIORAMA
JOHN HEAVISIDE CLARK (1771-1863)
John Clark of London designed and illustrated a child’s table game consisting of sixteen landscape cards with interchangeable views. The game was known as the Myriorama and was manufactured by Samuel Leigh.
The Myriorama were simple illustrated cards that can be arranged in thousands of different ways to form numerous visual narratives.
One Myriorama called Endless Journey (shown here) claims a massive 479,000 different landscape combinations, made from 12 beautifully illustrated cards.
The cards were first illustrated and engraved and finally coloured by hand. Varying scenes of the sea, rural cottages, dales, castles, as well as rustic scenes, were fully interchangeable and allowed the user to arrange them in any order thereby creating a near-endless assortment.
This simple picture toy reminds us of the smooth movements of the fading in and out from scene to scene in a film.
These individual aquatint cards were 7.8 by 2.7 inches in size, expanding to 7.8 by 40 inches once assembled.
The Myriorama was identical to the Polyorama.
SEE the Clark Myriorama in a short 1:03 video. Be the editor of your own widescreen production. From Kate Lain – The Huntington Library.
SEE this Myriorama animation by Laurent Gontier @laurentgontier on X
George Birkbeck painted by Samuel Lane, c.1830
1824
GEORGE BIRKBECK (1776 – 1841)
Birkbeck was a British physician and academic who used the calcium lights of Gurney in his Magic Lantern presentations.
He is the founder of Birkbeck College, University of London and a leader in the education movement in the UK and was co-founder of The Mechanics Institute.
1824
APPARENT MOTION
PETER MARK ROGET (1779 – 1869)
Roget was a British physician, philologist, and inventor best known for creating Roget’s Thesaurus, a widely used reference work for synonyms and antonyms. Born in London to a Swiss father and English mother, Roget studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1798.
He practiced medicine, contributing to public health and medical education, but his intellectual curiosity extended beyond medicine. Roget, seeing a moving wheel through the vertical partitions of a Venetian blind was surprised to see that the wheel seemed to advance without turning.
The wagon wheel effect is a visual illusion where spoked wheels, like those on a wagon or car, appear to spin backward despite moving forward. This happens due to the way our eyes or cameras capture motion.
When a wheel spins, its spokes pass through a sequence of positions. If the frequency of the wheel’s rotation aligns in a certain way with the sampling rate of our vision or a camera (e.g., frames per second), each successive image captures the spokes slightly behind their previous position, creating the illusion of reverse motion.
On 9 December 1824 Roget sent a scientific communiquรฉ to the Royal Society with his work titled Explanation of an Optical Illusion in the Appearance of the Spokes of a Wheel.
This is often seen in videos or under flickering light, like in old films where the wheelโs rotation syncs poorly with the cameraโs frame rate. Itโs a quirk of how discrete snapshots misrepresent continuous motion. Illustration plate below for Peter Mark Roget’s Explanation of an Optical Deception in the Appearance of the Spokes of a Wheel Seen through Vertical Apertures (1825).
Before his presentation to the Royal Society, he defines the phenomenon of the backwards wheel in forward motion.
That phenomenon was the same that we have seen so many times in a Western movie, where the wheels of the stage coach appear to spin backwards while actually moving forward. For best effect, follow the spokes at the axle while following the air plug with your peripheral vision.
Left is an illustration plate for Peter Mark Roget’s Explanation of an Optical Deception in the Appearance of the Spokes of a Wheel Seen through Vertical Apertures (1825).
Right is a wood-cut illustration by John Murray, of the deception in the appearance of the spokes of a wheel from 1821.
1824
THE NATUORAMA
ROBERT HAVELL SR (1769-1832)
Robert was from Londonโs notable Havell family of engravers, etchers, painters, and publishers who in 1824 produced the Natuorama.
It was typically 18 hand-coloured aquatint cards, each measuring 200 by 135 mm, forming a compatible Panoramic view, with a near-endless opportunity to be your own film editor making as many views as you wanted.
One such Natuorama was known as Endless Transposition of Views on the Thames pictured here.
They were drawings taken from nature, eighteen hand-coloured aquatint cards with grey wash borders top and bottom.
In the same vein as the Panoramacopia of T. T. Dales of whom I will show next, and the Myiorama of Clark which I have already shown, the Natuorama formed a series of interchangeable Panoramic views, with coloured arched viewing frame for theatrical presentation.
these views inferred motion and story-telling combined, in a widescreen format
Robert Havell Natuorama; or Endless transposition of views on the Thames … The drawings taken from nature, by R. Havell, London, Havell and Company, L. Lorant [ca. 1824], aquatint, Yale Centre for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.
Below are nine of the Natuorama cards by Robert Havell Sr. known as Endless Transposition of Views on the Thames from 1824. Only half of the views used, and a beautiful Cinematic widescreen Panorama is seen.
All images are from the Yale Centre for British Art, the Paul Mellon Collection.
1824
PANORAMACOPIA
T. T. DALES
A similar interchangeable pre cinema toy like Clark’s Myriorama was the Panoramacopia by a man of some mystery, T. T. Dales.
Little is known of him except he was a teacher or over-emphasised drawing master.
Scene changes allow any number of cards to be fitted together regardless of the order and a wide screen Panorama could be seen. This snippet is from the Harley-Mason Collection, Cambridge University Library site.
The Harley-Mason Collection at Cambridge University Library houses a Dales Panoramacopia on eighteen cards.
Each card contains an element of a traditional landscape.
Pictured: Havell’s Coastal view of Brighton, 1824 and Panorama of London, 1822.
Laura Callery, the Senior Curatorial Assistant, Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts, at Yale Centre for British Art has graciously honoured my request for Panoramacopia images. She sent me all eighteen. Thank you Laura at Yale British Art.
Panoramacopia was a deck of illustrated pre cinema picture cards children would position into an editable Panorama of unending scenes.
Pictured: 4 of the 18 plates of T. T. Dale’s Panoramacopia from 1824.
Panoramacopia soon came to refer to varied art that used a succession of striking visual effects to entertain an audience. Panoramacopia refers to the fact that although these cards are vertical in the beginning, they form a horizontal wide screen Panorama in the end.
Pictured are nine plates in succession itemised as #1 thru #9.
Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Yale Center for British Art
If you look closely at the edges of each card, youโll see that no matter what order they are placed in, they will always create a beautiful landscape.
The child would visualise motion and movement in every edit they make, as the scenes of rolling hills, rivers, horses and weeping willow boughs change on command.
Pictured are the final nine plates of the eighteen plate Panoramacopia.
Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts, YCBA.
Finally, here are the eighteen plates of the Panoramacopia by T. T. Dales, 1824 provided by the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts, YCBA.
Presented in only one of thousands of combinations.
My personal thanks to Laura Callery, Senior Curatorial Assistant at the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Yale Center for British Art in Connecticut for her valued assistance in providing these images of T. T. Dale’s Panoramacopia.
1825
THE THAUMATROPE
JOHN AYRTON PARIS (1785-1856)
Paris was an English physician, author, and scientist known for his contributions to medicine and popular science writing. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, earning his MD, and practiced as a physician in London.
Paris began making what he called a Thaumatrope. A simple illusionary toy meant to imitate motion, it consists of a circular disk of paper and an image on each side. When twirled by a connected string, the images appear to move.
A round piece of heavy stock paper with hands on one side and an apple on the other.
Holes at each end allow string to be tied.
When held taught in the fingers it can be rolled between the finger and thumb. When this happens the two images combine to create the I have an Apple effect.
The bird-in-a-cage was a popular theme for the Thaumatrope. The Thaumatrope of J. A. Paris is a simplistic toy of motion, and supremely illustrates the concept of Apparent Motion.
Thaumatrope comes from the Greek meaning of Magic Motion.
The Cardinal-in-the-cage seems to be the more popular Thaumatrope as we see from the Paramount 1999 version of Sleepy Hollow with Christina Ricci.
The story is set in 1790, 35 years before the Thaumatrope appeared. Washington Irving’s book was published in 1820. Or did the Thaumatrope first make its appearance in 1825?
Let’s not forget the paleolithic Thaumatrope theory of Marc Azรฉma I shared back in the first chapter.
In the same Sleepy Hollow-Paramount film of 1999 Lady Crane played by Lisa Marie, demonstrates the same Thaumatrope.
A modern computer-generated GIF Thaumatrope of an egg on toast.
The shadow placed underneath the pink circle is by itself, a fabulous illusion.
Apparent Motion at its best.
Whoโs ready for breakfast?
READ the 1839 John Ayrton Paris book Philosophy in Sport Made Science in Earnest at Internet Archive and see in 8 separate references where Paris speaks of his Thaumatrope (pp20 to pp423).
Pictured is the front page and page 337.
Here are some Paris drawings of a special thaumatropic mechanism giving some perception of apparent movement, on paper early 1830s.
From Stephen Herbert,The Optilogue.
Let’s not forget the paleolithic Thaumatrope theory of Marc Azรฉma I shared back in the first chapter. If the Azema hypothesis is correct, Paris and Fitton were scooped by thousands of years. Letโs see, here.
1824
WILLIAM RITCHIE (1790-1837)
Ritchie was a Scottish physicist who in a letter to the editor, suggested gas-based illumination for projection of the Phantasmagoria using a Magic Lantern.
While professor at the Royal Institution and later London University, he published several papers between 1821 and 1825 discussing improvements to optical projection.
In these writings he promoted the superiority of gas illuminationโparticularly oxygenated flames, hydrogenโoxygen blowpipe flames, and gas-fed โintense white lightโ sourcesโas replacements for oil-based Argand lamps in lantern projection.
Ritchie was looking for more brilliant white light in his suggestion. He repeatedly called attention (one example is the Edinburgh Journal of Science, Volume 3 [1825], p. 37) to the advantages of gas for optical projection apparatus, noting its stability, intensity, and controllability.
David Brewster records on p37 of his Edinburgh Journal of Science, William Ritchieโs letter to the editor on 15 November 1825 his Proposal for Improving the Phantasmagoria.
He specifically applied these comments to Magic Lantern projection, urging that lecturers and performers adopt gas where available. He referenced phantasmagoric projection in the same context, arguing that the dramatic effects demanded stronger, steadier light.
READ David Brewsterโs Edinburgh Journal of Science November-April edition of 1826 here at Internet Archive.
Ritchie researched the making of optical glass and worked with John Dolland. Through John Herschel he presented his paper On a New Photometre with Its Application to Determine the Relative Intensities of Artificial Light to the Royal Society 16 December 1824.
Ritchieโs Photometre side-view illustration from On a New Photometer with Its Application to Determine the Relative Intensities of Artificial Light presented to the Royal Society 16 December 1824.
๐ฆ Sighting tube (d)
๐ฆ Adjustable stand (c)
๐ฆ Compare candlelight placed at (m, n)
William Ritchieโs new Photometre cross-view illustration Plate XII, p146, of On a New Photometer with Its Application to Determine the Relative Intensities of Artificial Light presented to the Royal Society 16 December 1824.
Published 1 January 1833.
1825
OPTICS
GIOVANNI BATTISTA AMICI (1786-1863)
Giovanni Amici was an Italian microscopist, astronomer, optical instrument designer, is best known as the inventor of the achromatic lens.
The Amici prism, a combination of three prisms, is still used in refracting spectroscopy.
In addition, he created reflecting telescopes and the Amici-Bertrand lens, which examined the back focal plane of an objective.
In addition, he created the water immersion lens in 1850. An Amici prism is a compound dispersive prism used in spectrometers that is named after him.
An achromatic lens has been corrected for chromatic aberration with regard to two specific wavelengths using elements like crown and flint glass.
Pictured: An achromatic lens manufactured by Charles Chevalier for a Daguerreotype camera.
This image is an Amici schematic for his Camera Lucida, in 1818.
Giovanni Amici also designed reflecting telescopes and introduced a lens for the inspection of an objective’s rear focal plane, termed the Amici-Bertrand lens.
In 1850, he also invented the water immersion lens.
Learn how astigmatism works ๐๏ธ๐ from @cooltechtipz at X.
1825
TUNNEL BOOK PEEPSHOWS
Tunnel Books would be opened up like an accordion and the viewer would look through the end opening to “see through the tunnel.” The scene could not be seen when the book was closed. Here we see how the Tunnel Book would look like when opened and looking down through the opening.
The Thames Tunnel Book depicting Motion-In-Depth and a Perspective View of the tunnel under the Thames River, London when the real construction began in 1825.
This particular Tunnel Book of the Thames tunnel was a double telescopic Peepshow with two viewing holes.
The viewer could enjoy either view.
Horses, pedestrians and carriages are shown entering one end, and the other was a view of the busy river.
SEE how a Tunnel Book appears to the viewer in this short one minute silent slow-mo tour by Robert Romanowicz.
This 19th century Tunnel Book comes in a box with the peep hole in the lid. It contained the same system of optical views:
Left; the Channel Tunnel (1848).
Right; the ascent of Mont-Blanc.
Here from the V & A Museum is a legend describing the various elements of a Tunnel Book and how it’s constructed.
It helps us understand the different sections from the front board Peep hole, through the cut panel scenes, to the back scene.
1838
QUEEN VICTORIA CORONATION
A rare historic Tunnel Book peepshow commemorating Queen Victoriaโs 1838 Coronation. The pocket-sized book of coloured cut-outs unfold to create a 3-D view, like a theatre set, of the royal ceremony.
This rare Tunnel Book of the 1838 Coronation has had specialist paper conservation by Fiona Johnston at Lambeth Palace Library and is on display at Westminster Abbey, London.
As Fiona Johnston of Lambeth Palace Library tells us, โItโs a rather intricate and delicate item.โ
She was however, able to restore it by cautiously eliminating yellowing tape and glue from its folds using a water-based poultice;
This Tunnel Book perspective view depicting Motion-In-Depth is just under 15 cm high by 11 cm wide and contains 10 layers when unfolded, extending out to two metres in length.
The view is from the Abbeyโs triforium looking down into the church.
1825
TUNNEL BOOK PEEPSHOWS
THE AREAORAMA
Tunnel Books depicted Motion-In-Depth and a Perspective View while looking through the opening into the tunnel. An Areorama Tunnel Book from 1825, below. Samuel Fuller, the principal of S. & J. Fuller, co-published the Areaorama in 1825, a Tunnel Book showcasing a three-dimensional view of Regentโs Park.
An Areaorama Tunnel Book from 1825.
This peepshow, with its hand-coloured, layered engravings, exemplifies the firmโs expertise in creating engaging visual novelties for the Regency-era market. The Areaoramaโs design aligns perfectly with the Tunnel Book format, using accordion-style panels to create a perspective effect.
Tunnel Books combine story-telling with 3D art. A series of pages are held together by folded strips of paper on each side. The sides of a Tunnel Book might make you think of an accordion.
The purpose is to create the illusion of spatial depth, motion, and perspective. The Areaorama was an eight-section peepshow, consisting of hand-coloured engraved scenes on cardboard panels, cut and shaped to create a three-dimensional perspective view of Regentโs Park when viewed through a peephole.
The panels were connected accordion-style with bellows, a design typical of Tunnel Books or peepshow books popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. The item was housed in an original slipcase with an engraved label, and some surviving examples show minor repairs to the bellows, indicating its delicate construction.
LEARN what a Tunnel Book is and take An Inside Look at Three Centuries of Tunnel Books curated by Neil Weijer, Curator of Rare Books, at the University of Florida.
Image Columbia University Libraries
These images are of a Tunnel Book known as the Areaorama created by Samuel S. Fuller in 1825 and were called A View in Regents Park.
This hand-coloured Peep Show had eight sheets of etchings measuring over two meters long when fully extended.
S. & J. Fuller were renowned for their high-quality prints and novelty items, catering to the growing middle-class demand for educational and entertainment products during the Regency era.
Their work often included detailed engravings and interactive formats, such as paper dolls and theatrical prints, which were popular among collectors and families.
The Areaorama fits into this niche, offering a visually engaging depiction of a prominent London landmark, Regentโs Park, designed by architect John Nash.
Image Columbia University Libraries
Like all Tunnel Books, this 3D telescopic Peep Show called A View in Regents Park was by Samuel S. Fuller. It had eight hand-coloured, cut-out etchings on cardboard panels, connected top and bottom, folded like an accordion style concertina. These were popular in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries as a form of visual entertainment.
Tunnel Books are read through a peep hole on the opening page. Each page features openings that allow the reader to see through the entire book to the back.
Images around the perimeter of each page opening, form the three-dimensional scene as the viewer looks through it.
Tunnel Books, like the Areaorama were first seen in the mid-18th century. Originally called just a Peep Show, Tunnel Books were inspired by theatrical stage sets.
If you’ve ever witnessed a live play with movable set pieces, it’s easy to see how they inspired Tunnel Books.
Tunnel Books are alive and well today. Artist Carol Barton designs extremely creative Tunnel Books at popularkinetics.com.
This image is from Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Avery Classics Collection, Columbia University.
Concluding my look at Peep Shows, Perspective Views and Tunnel Books is this three-dimensional view by Canadian artist Ruth Maendel at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery in Winnipeg.
Images Dora Dueck
This is a one-dimensional view providing a three-dimensional tunnel view using only perspective. Constructed out of an old repurposed German Bible, look closely at this magnified image on the right, and you will see tiny doors at the top of the stairs.
Look even closer to see that the steps are printed with the words from the Holy Scriptures. Itโs quite amazing.
1825
LIMELIGHT AS AN ILLUMINANT FOR PROJECTED IMAGES
GEORGE BIRKBECK (1776-1841)
In November, the same month in which Drummond conducted his limelight experiments, Dr. George Birkbeck gave a lecture at the London Mechanics Institution.
Birkbeckโs lecture could be the first documented instance of limelight being used for illumination in a projecting Magic Lantern. George Birkbeck was a Scot from Glasgow and the first President of the newly founded London Mechanics Institution.
engraving by W. C. Walker after Mr. Davy, 1828
Image de Luikerwaal
Magic lantern showing the inserted limelight blowlamp for use in lectures and education and of course in entertainment.
Made by James W. Queen of Philadelphia.
Birkbeck used a limelight Magic Lantern very similar to this one.
Birkbeck began his lecture with a discourse on the nature of light. At one point, he used a limelight Magic Lantern, designed by Charles Woodward (1789-1877) to project light through a prism to produce a colour spectrum on a screen.
Birkbeck began;
Although Birkbeck used a limelight Magic Lantern in his lecture but unfortunately I have no illustration. However, it clearly was a marriage of a Lantern and a oxy-hydrogen blowpipe, shown here.
Source Magic Lantern Gazette Volume 29 Nยบ 2 and 3, Summer/Fall 2017 pp 7,8,9.
Here is a British lime light burner from the John Finney Collection via The Magic Lantern Society.
Possibly used by Birkbeck.
Image Royal Society
1825
SIR FRANCIS RONALDS (1788-1873)
PERSPECTIVE MACHINES
On 23 March Ronalds patented two drawing instruments for producing perspective sketches.
The first one produced a view of an object directly from drawings.
Thomas Malone photographed Francis Ronalds, c.1850.
This device (r) enabled a scene or person to be traced from life onto paper with considerable precision. Ronalds and Dr. Alexander Blair (1782โ1878) used it to document the important Neolithic monuments at Carnac France, (l) with “almost photographic accuracy.”
Here is an image of an axonometric projection created using the second type of Ronalds drawing instrument.
Courtesy of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Archives.
A scene or person could be traced from life onto paper using the Perspectograph, which was simple and accurate, in the days before photography.
Sir Francis Ronald’s first type of drawing instrument for creating perspective pictures from life.
Sir Francis Ronald’s sketch made using his second type of perspective drawing instrument.
The model is a statue of Hermes, probably in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
Courtesy of the Institution of Engineering and Technology Archives.
Ronalds also created a universal portable tripod stand with three pairs of hinged legs to support his drawing board in the field. He manufactured these instruments himself and several hundred of them were sold. One of his first customers was mining engineer John Taylor.
From 1831 these are two (figures 14 and 15) of Francis Ronalds perspective devices from Charles Humphrey’s book Perspectograph Figures.
Ronalds built a semi-automated production facility and printing descriptions of the devices and their use called Mechanical Perspective (1828).
Several hundreds of the machines were sold.
Shown here is Ronald’s patented perspective tracing machine from Mechanical Perspective.
Ronalds applied his understanding of perspective in developing more complex apparatus. Below, Sir Francis’ picture of Ramsgate Harbour (1829) using his perspective drawing instrument, engraved by him. From his book Mechanical Perspective.
1825
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHOTOGRAPHY
JOSEPH NICรPHORE NIรPCE (1765-1833)
Prior to View from The Window At Le Gras, is another Niรฉpce Heliograph known as Boy Leading His Horse.
The picture has been authenticated as having been produced in 1825, almost one full year prior to Window at Le Gras.
The Heliograph or Sun Drawing was accompanied by correspondence and letters written in Niรฉpces’ own hand when found. Boy Leading His Horse seen below is a faded-pen and ink engraving of a boy and his horse.
Itโs a 17th century Flemish scene. Nicรฉphore Niรฉpce’s House Museum calls this A horse and his rider. I highly recommend for those desiring to understand the Niรฉpce Heliographic process, you attend Nicรฉphore Niรฉpce’s House Museum.
Found in the home of a Parisian book and photo collector in 2002, it was auctioned off by Sotheby’s and bought by the French National Library as a national treasure for $392,000 US (โฌ450,000).
Sotheby’s listed it as “the earliest recorded image created by photographic means.”
Boy Leading His Horse is now 200 years old in 2025. The French government prior to the Sotheby auction, declared it a national treasure banning it from being removed from France.
The six-by-four inch Heliograph was purchased by, and resides at, the Bibliothรจque Nationale. How does this qualify if it was not taken with a camera?
Image Sothebys
The bookseller was Andre Jammes seen here on the right of this picture with his wife.
He had been collecting photographs since the 1950s.
In a joint statement, Jammes and Sotheby’s proclaimed, “This image and its accompanying correspondence oblige us to rewrite those crucial first stages of the history of photography.”
THE LIEBIG SERIES
From the series History of Photography (Storia Della Fotografia) card Nยบ 288 dated 1826.
Shows Joseph Nicรฉphore Niรฉpce taking his Heliograph View from the Window at Le Gras on a pewter plate using his Camera Obscura at Le Gras, France.
Not the first Heliograph taken by Niรฉpce, because View from the Window at Le Gras is our oldest surviving camera photograph, but Boy Leading His Horse in 1825 was a photograph created naturally outside the camera.
Pictured: the flip side of the card.
1826
THE THAUMATROPE
WILLIAM HENRY FITTON (1780-1861)
Fitton devised a small paper disk which twirled while connected to strings.
One side of the paper had a picture of a bird and on the other, a cage.
The bird appeared to be in the cage once a certain speed was achieved.
John Ayrton Paris, a physician from Edinburgh, began to manufacture a toy which was strikingly similar just a year earlier (1825).
I spoke on Paris earlier in this chapter.
Paris called it a Thaumatrope and described it in his Philosophy in Sport Made Science in Earnest (fourth edition).
Image de Luikerwaal
A terrific little trade card is now an optical toy called a Thaumatrope when two matching pictures on each side are twirled.
The image does not have to be round, and if rectangular, might present a 3D effect according to John Herschel.
The British physician John Ayrton Paris is typically given credit for creating the thaumatrope. He explained the apparatus in his children’s educational book published in 1827, Philosophy of Sport Made Science in Earnest, with some George Cruikshank illustrations.
The story goes that Sir John Herschel asked the polymath Charles Babbage to make both sides of a coin appear at once. When Babbage couldn’t do it, Herschel simply spun the coin on a table.
Shortly after, Fitton showed Babbage his illustration with the first bird being a parrot (shown above). Paris as well, had also seen the spinning coin trick from Herschel and the rest is history.
Antoine Claudet whom I will speak about later, suggested the idea of a three dimensional Thaumatrope if the images, card, and strings are prepared in a certain way.
Claudet suggested that if a rotating, rectangular Thaumatrope displayed the entire name Victoria at two distinct distances from the viewer’s eye, with the letters alternating on each side, the two thaumatrope threads needed to be attached to the same side of the card.
The thickness of the card would account for a tiny difference in distances, while each side is visible.
W. Phillips in London issued the first for-sale Thaumatropes on 2 April 1825 as The Thaumatrope; being Rounds of Amusement or How to Please and Surprise By Turns, sold in boxes of 12 or 18 disks. Neither Fittons or Paris’s names were mentioned.
Needless to say, whoever came up with the idea, or whoever made the first Thaumatrope, it all led to one of the earliest examples of motion illusion, on the way to cinematography with a little help from Apparent Motion.
READ Philosophy of Sport Made Science in Earnest, from 1827, volume 3 by John Ayrton Paris here at Internet Archive.
One final note: let’s not forget the Marc Azema theory that people during the paleolithic age appeared to have made Thaumatropes based on artifacts found in the Pyrenees mountains along the France and Spanish border.
1826
CARPENTER & WESTLEY
Philip Carpenter and Bill Westley manufactured top-quality Magic Lanterns and designed mass-production of copper-plated lantern slides.
They also made barometers, microscopes, Kaleidoscopes, thermometers, spectacles, and Claude Glasses, in addition to slides.
After Philip Carpenterโs death in 1833, his sister Mary continued the business keeping the name Carpenter and Westley.
Here are two Copper-Plate Sliders by Carpenter and Westley, in production between 1837 and 1860. Elements of Zoology; Brazilian porcupine, variegated and spotted cavies, beaver, Newfoundland dog, wolf, striped hyena, and Fennec fox.
Carpenter and Westleyโs expertise was recognised when they were asked to create achromatic lenses for Peter Dollond and John Benjamin Dancer. In 1817 Sir David Brewster invented the Kaleidoscope and chose them as his manufacturer.
A simplistic Phantasmagoria Lantern by Philip Carpenter photographed at the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin Italy.
From the Phillip Roberts Collection.
Phantasmagoria Magic Lanterns by the famous British optician Philip Carpenter from the 1820s to 1860s.
In the Erkki Huhtamo Collection.
These extremely high quality Magic Lantern slides by Philip Carpenter and Bill Westley from 1826 are so beautiful. Imagine these being lit up on a white wall in a darkened room. Simply beautiful even digitized, 197 years later.
A set of Mechanical Magic Lantern slides known as Astronomical Slides. The complete set of nine showing astrophysical phenomena signed Carpenter and Westley 24 Regent St London, each with printed title and rosewood handle.
Carpenter and Westley stayed in operation until the early twentieth century, when they closed their doors in 1914.
1826
LIMELIGHT
THOMAS DRUMMOND (1797-1840)
Drummond was born in Edinburgh and invented the signal light which produced limelight through the use of calcium oxide.
Lime was far more brilliant than an Argand lamp.
With a concave mirror the light was more concentrated.
Pictured is the Drummond limelight and its workings (an illustrative description), with reflector.
Drummond’s light produced a soft, dazzling light that could be concentrated and controlled. Lime was made from a block of calcium oxide that was heated to incandescence amid jets of burning oxygen and hydrogen.
Limelight placed in front of the balcony could also be utilised for general stage lighting, creating a more natural light than footlights. The phrase “in the limelight” refers to the most desired performance area on stageโwhere the limelight shone.
Limelight was originally used in a theatre in 1837 and had spread to become the major lighting system by the 1860s. Its intensity made it helpful for highlighting and simulating realistic effects like moonlight but especially sunlight.
In 1868 the American Lighthouse Board tested Drummondโs limelight and had the following positive and negative comments;
Here is a reference to Drummondโs โball of limeโ taken from The Art of Projection and Complete Magic Lantern Manual by Expert, published by E. A. Beckett, London, 1893, on p2.
Late in the nineteenth century, electric illumination in general, but the electric arc spotlight in particular, replaced limelight.
1826
JOSEPH NICรPHORE NIรPCE (1765 – 1833)
Using a pewter plate that was sensitized with bitumen of Judea, Niรฉpce went into history as the producer of the first image that was fixed permanently.
In our story of the history of the discovery of cinematography, few names deserve the recognition Niรฉpce does. Clearly, throughout countless resources, histories, commentaries and documentation’s, Niรฉpce must be recognized as the one who ahead of others was able to secure an image from further action of light.
This image (above) is a reproduction print of gelatin silver and watercolor made from the original photograph found in Niรฉpce’s possessions.
Immediately below, see the photograph in its original state.
The Heliograph as he called it, or โdrawing of the sun,โ was made in a Camera Obscura and took an eight hour+/- exposure, although over the last few years there has been questions about this time.
The extant photograph is eight inches by six and a half inches and resides at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin.
The photograph is part of the Gernsheim Collection and is known as View From The Window At Le Gras, or as Gernsheim affectionately called it, G’s photograph.
Thanks to Robert Carter, Photographic Historical Society of Canada
View From The Window At Le Gras, was taken on a pewter plate and Bitumen of Judea, with an now-unknown solvent to wash and fix it.
It was discovered by chance, in March of 1952 in London when found along with letters written by Niรฉpce.
1827
BASIL HALL (1788-1844)
Hall wrote Forty Etchings Made with the Camera Lucida in North America sustaining the instrumentโs worth to the traveller, liberating him from โThe Triple Misery of Perspective, Proportion and Form,” as Hall put it.
Basil Halls Forty Etchings Made with the Camera Lucida in North America from 1827 had of course, forty etchings.
Four of those etchings below.
This is Basil Hall’s American Stage Coach rendered using the Camera Lucida plate No XL from his book Forty Etchings Made with the Camera Lucida in North America published in 1827.
This book has no page numbers.
READ / VIEW Basil Halls Forty Etchings Made with the Camera Lucida in North America from 1827 in colour, at Internet Archive.
1827
SEQUENTIAL ART
THE ADVENTURES OF MR. OBADIAH OLDBUCK
RODOLPHE TรPFFER (1799-1846)
The 19th-century book Obadiah Oldbuck was written and drawn by the Swiss caricaturist Rodolphe Tรถpffer.
Once again, the art of sequenced pictures come into the story of pre cinema.
His image stories always showcase quirky men caught up in amusing situations. Because the text is placed beneath the images, these are among the earliest examples of storyboards within the modern film industry, text comics, and how a silent ‘animated picture’ of the early days of the twentieth century will appear.
Tรถpfferโs style entailed sequential images with captions, and as American cartoonist Scott McCloud emphasizes, โTรถpffer’s use of cartooning and panel borders“ were “the first interdependent combination of words and pictures seen in Europe.”
Was this our first storyboard?
Obadiah Oldbuck is forty pages long and measures 8 ยฝ inches by 11 inches. The book was side stitched, and inside there were six to twelve panels per page totalling 84 panels.
Reading through it one can see itโs an 1827 epic.
Tรถpffer created Obadiah Oldbuck in 1827 and published it in Geneva ten years later. Its French name was Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois before the English version was published in the US in 1842.
Rudolphe Tรถpffer created seven graphic sequenced-image novels that we know of.
Printed in many languages, another one of his is pictured below. Mr. Pencil (one image pictured here), was completed in 1831 and published in 1840.
these are among the earliest examples of storyboards within the modern film industry, text comics, and how a silent animated picture of the early days of the twentieth century will appear
Another of Rodolphe Tรถpfferโs storyboard creations was titled Histoire de M Monsieur Cryptogame from 1845. Tรถpffer is well known for his histoires en images, or picture stories that are considered the forerunners of modern comic strips.
He created seven titles; Histoire de M. Jabot (created in 1831, first published in 1833), Monsieur Crรฉpin (1837), Les Amours de M. Vieuxbois (created in 1827, published in 1837), Monsieur Pencil (created 1831, first published 1840), Le Docteur Festus (created 1831, first published 1846), Histoire d’Albert (1845) and Histoire de Monsieur Cryptogame (1845).
A very futuristic title for 1845.
The History of Monsieur Cryptogame by Rodolphe Tรถpffer is the first graphic sequenced-image novel that features Algerians.
Drawn in 1830 by the brilliant illustrator Genรจvois (1799-1846).
SEE and READ The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck from 1837 laid-out as a storyboard with intertitles. This anglicised American digital copy is held at Dartmouth University Digital Library.
Tรถpffer was influenced by William Hogarth of whom I spoke about in chapter six at 1735, and his picture stories influenced many of the early ‘sequenced picture artists’ who followed in his footsteps.
1827
SIR MICHAEL FARADAY (1791-1867)
Faraday wrote in the Journal of the Royal Institute of Great Britain, describing the motion phenomenon we see as reverse movement when in forward motion. What comes to mind is the spinning wagon wheel phenomenon.
Travelling in the forward motion of between 10-30 miles per hour, a spoked wheel can appear to be either motionless, or moving backwards.
Faraday had been building a variety of mechanical wheels with spokes turning at different speeds.
Is this an Optical Illusion or a real phenomenon? Actually, itโs a bit of both, and what Michael Faraday saw is today known as the wagon wheel effect.
How does the wagon wheel effect pertain to the history of Cinematography?
The effect is observable in movies as well. The cameras used in movies capture many images per second, typically 24 – 50 fps.
Our brain fills in the voids between these images because our retina maintains the last image for a split second and then blends it in to the next.
In our example with the single bicycle wheel, we see the rubber tire and the tread moving left to right. However, we see the spokes going in the opposite direction right to left. Even though they are all moving in the same direction.
If the wheel rotates most of the way along one frame to the next, the most apparent direction of motion for the brain to comprehend, is backwards. This is the explanation for the phenomenon in movies. We also observe the same illusion in real life.
MOTION BLUR IN FILM
The motion blur effect caught in photography or video appears differently and is caused by somewhat different factors. However, for all intents and purposes, the effect is the same across both mediums.
Image Warner Bros. / DC Comics 2019
The difficulty to clearly focus on a static subject when the camera pans is known as motion blur.
Because the human eye instinctively senses motion blur in real life, a subtle blur in film more closely resembles reality.
Motion blur happens in almost every film to some extent. This blurring occurs naturally in footage shot at the conventional 24 frames per second, as well as higher frame rates such as 30 frames per second, and it also occurs naturally in real life.
1827
KALEIDOPHONE
SIR CHARLES WHEATSTONE (1802-1875)
Wheatstone invented what he calls a Kaleidophone which provided a combination of Brewsterโs Kaleidoscope effects with primitive musical sounds.
Wheatstone was attempting to match a musical sound with a moving image.
Some scientists like Wheatstone worked with ratio harmonics. A precursor to the Harmonograph was the Kaleidophone.
It had one end of thin steel rods embedded into a heavy brass stand and the other had silvered glass beads. Vibrations created a Lissajous curve in the air.
Lissajous Curves were given their name after the French mathematician Jules Antoine Lissajous (1822โ1880), who developed a straight forward optical technique to examine compound vibrations.
Photograph of Joules Lissajous.
Year and photographer unknown.
The Kaleidophone had thin steel rods in a brass base. The vibrations created a Lissajous curve in the air.
In the animation provided by Math Images, X and Y are simple harmonic oscillators in x and y directions.
What Wheatstone wanted, was to match sound with a moving image.
Below we have pp188 and 189 from Letters on Natural Magic by David Brewster in 1834 explaining and illustrating Wheatstoneโs Kaleidophone in some detail.
A contemporary elucidation if you will.
When illuminated, a spot of light is seen. If a violin bow strikes a rod it takes on a particular shape, with a sound or note.
Acoustic figures seen in Wheatstone’s Kaleidophone below. A Kaleidophone is on display at the Palais de la Dรฉcouverte in Paris.
1828
JOSEPH ANTOINE FERDINAND PLATEAU (1801-1883)
Plateau had been investigating what used to be called persistence of vision and what is now called Apparent Motion, at the University of Ghent, Belgium and in 1829 published his experiments.
In 1836 he will establish the law of the stroboscopic effect.
This, the first of many mentions of this major player in pre cinema history.
1828
OPTICS
SIR GEORGE BIDDELL AIRY (1801-1892)
Airy was an eminent nineteenth-century English astronomer royal who pioneered optical studies and was the first to identify astigmatism as a visual impairment.
In 1828 he became Director of the Cambridge Observatory.
In optics, regular observations of sunspots and spectroscopy were conducted.
Airy’s water telescope helped erase the theory of รฆther, the substance in which light was supposed to travel. This began a path towards Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.
Pictured, Cambridge Observatory 1828.
In 1835, Airy will publish the first comprehensive theoretical analysis of the phenomena that will later be coined as the Airy Disk in his work On the Diffraction of an Object-glass with Circular Aperture.
The diffraction pattern is mathematically defined by the wavelength of light illuminating the circular aperture and the size of the aperture. The sensitivity of your eye or other detector used to see the pattern, also influences the appearance of the diffraction pattern.
The most significant use of an Airy Disk is seen in cameras, as well as in telescopes and microscopes.
Airy made the first correcting eyeglasses for astigmatism in 1825 with a cylindrical lens design thatโs still in use today.
Diffraction disks that bear his name were discovered in the spherical centre of a wavefront travelling through a circular aperture.
Pictured, is a simulated Airy Disk.
It took four offers by the Queen before Airy agreed to become Sir George in July 1872.
Pictured here is a Sir George Biddell Airy caricature by Spy British caricaturist Sir Leslie Matthew Ward in Vanity Fair, 1875.
Ward painted in excess of 1,300 caricature and portraits, all published by Vanity Fair.
He also went by the pseudonym of Drawl.
1828
JAMES MILES WATTLES (1812-1865)
Little is known or can be found about this fellow. I did discover however, that as a youth, Wattles attempts to retain an image on plain paper that was soaked in potash and placed within his Camera Obscura.
His attempt was ridiculed by many as simple “moonshine thoughts.”
Did Wattles obtain a photograph just two years after Niรฉpce and nine before Daguerre? A contemporary of Wattles and author/historian Henry Hunt Snelling, said in 1849 that Wattles had invented photography back in 1828 but that Wattles was reticent about announcing his discovery due to possible “ridicule.”
Wattles apparently referred to photographs as a “Solar picture drawing.”
William Shew in his work Pioneer: or California Monthly Magazine published in July 1854 ascribed Wattles as โEqually entitled to credit.โ Shew (1820โ1903) was a prominent American photographer and also a contemporary of James M. Wattles.
Wattles first had the thought that images of light may be fixed in all their โprettiness and perfectionโ on paper, while in the occasional part-time employ of his teachers at New Harmony School, Indiana to sketch landscapes using a Camera Obscura for them.
Henry Hunt Snelling in 1849 wrote The History and Practice of the Art of Photography. Snelling said Wattles dabbled in “Solar picture drawing” in 1828.
Here on pp111 and 112 we read in Wattles own words, his process; READ it here at Google Books or the Gutenberg Project.
The mention of potash in Wattlesโ alleged experiments is significant, as potassium-based compounds played a role in later photographic processes.
Specifically, bichromate of potash (potassium dichromate) was discovered to have light-sensitive properties by Mungo Ponton in 1838.
Ponton found that paper coated with bichromate of potash would harden when exposed to sunlight, allowing unexposed areas to be washed away, creating a basic photographic image.
This discovery, however, came a decade after 1828 and was not used in practical photography until later processes like carbon printing emerged in the 1850s. Wattlesโ use of โcommon potashโ and โcaustic waterโ suggests an alkali-based process, possibly inspired by general chemical knowledge rather than photographic precedents.
Potassium carbonate (potash) could alter paperโs properties, but it lacks the photo-sensitivity of silver compounds or bitumen.
Henry Hunt Snelling (1817โ1897) [pictured], a prominent American photographer, editor, and author, published The History and Practice of the Art of Photography in 1849, considered one of the first bound volumes on photography in the United States. In this book, Snelling writes on the matter of Mr. Wattles photographic efforts:
โSince I commenced the compilation of this work, I have had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of an American gentlemanโJames M. Wattles Esq.โwho as early as 1828โand it will be seen, by what I have already stated, that this is about the same date of M. Niรฉpceโs discoveryโhad his attention attracted to the subject of Photography, or as he termed it โSolar picture drawing,โ while taking landscape views by means of the camera obscura.โ
Snelling further describes Wattlesโ experiments;
โIn my first efforts to effect [sic] the desired object, they were feeble indeed, and owing to my limited knowledge of chemistryโwholly acquired by questioning my teachersโI met with repeated failures but following them up with a determined spirit, I at last produced, what I thought very fair samplesโbut to proceed to my experiments. I first dipped a quarter sheet of thin white writing paper in a weak solution of caustic (as I then called it) and dried it in an empty box, to keep it in the dark; when dry, I placed it in the camera and watched it with great patience for nearly half an hour, without producing any visible result; evidently from the solution being too weak. I then soaked the same piece of paper in a solution of common potash, and then again in caustic water a little stronger than the first, and when dry placed it in the camera.โ
Wattles was only 16 at the time of his experiments. Helmut Gernsheim on p90 of ‘The History of Photography from The Camera Obscura โฆ’ supports both Shew and Snellingโs reports of Wattles, as โquite probable.โ
Helmut Gernsheim, a leading historian of photography, is known for his meticulous research and foundational work in documenting the mediumโs origins. In The History of Photography (page 90 in the second revised edition), Gernsheim addresses James Miles Wattlesโ experiments, referencing Snellingโs 1849 book The History and Practice of the Art of Photography.
Gernsheim writes that Wattles, as a 16-year-old in 1828, conducted experiments in โsolar picture drawingโ using a Camera Obscura and chemical solutions, which Snelling claimed paralleled Nicรฉphore Niรฉpceโs heliographic work (1825โ1827).
Gernsheim also notes William Shewโs later mention in The Pioneer: or California Monthly Magazine (1854), which reportedly corroborates Snellingโs account.
Gernsheim concludes that Wattlesโ experiments are โquite probable,โ suggesting that independent attempts at photography could have occurred in America simultaneously with European efforts, even if they were rudimentary and undocumented by artifacts. Gernsheimโs endorsement is significant because he was a rigorous scholar, unlikely to accept claims without some basis.
However, his cautious phrasingโโquite probableโ rather than definitiveโreflects the lack of physical evidence (e.g., surviving images) or independent corroboration beyond Snellingโs and Shewโs reports.
Gernsheim likely saw Wattlesโ story as plausible within the context of early 19th century scientific curiosity, where individuals experimented with light-sensitive materials, even if their results were not practical or influential.
READ Gernsheim’s work directly from the scanned page here at the Internet Archive.
1829
NIรPCE and DAGUERRE
Just three years after the Niรฉpce Heliograph View from the Window at Le Gras was exposed and fixed in 1826, Daguerre signs a ten-year partnership agreement with Niรฉpce (shown seated), to mutually work on Heliography for the cause of photography.
Within some of the correspondence Daguerre writes, โThere should be found some way of getting a large profit out of the invention before publication . . .โ
Here from the Janine Niรฉpce Collection we see the portion of the contract that contains both signatures, dated 14 December, 1829.
As it turned out, Daguerre did not obtain ownership of the Daguerreotype photographic process on Niรฉpces death in 1833 or, later in 1839 when it was announced to the world.
The French government acquired the rights in exchange for lifetime pensions to Daguerre and to Niepceโs son and heir, Isidore.
Here is an illustration of the announcement of photography to the world (Daguerreotype photographic process), 19 August 1839.
Franรงois Arago standing, Daguerre centre seated, Isidore Niรฉpce seated on the right.
A moment in time, that is equally as important as the moment Niรฉpce washed the Bitumen residue from View from the Window at Le Gras following exposure.
Image Ghent University Museum
1829
JOSEPH ANTOINE FERDINAND PLATEAU (1801-1883)
Plateau was a Belgian physicist and mathematician best known for his pioneering work in visual perception and the invention of the Phenakistiscope, an early animation device. Born in Brussels, he studied at the University of Liรจge, earning a doctorate in physics and mathematics.
His research focused on Apparent Motion, the optical phenomenon where the human eye retains an image briefly after it disappears, which laid the groundwork for the development of motion pictures.
In 1832, Plateau invented the Phenakistiscope, a spinning disc with sequential images that, when viewed through slits, created the illusion of motion. This device is considered a precursor to modern cinema and animation.
He also conducted significant experiments on colour perception and the physiology of the eye, contributing to the understanding of how humans perceive light and motion. Plateau’s 1829 thesis was submitted to the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lieges.
His dissertation was a long series of investigations on Apparent Motion.
Plateau reasoned that this persistence explained frequent senses of movement, such as seeing rainfall as straight downward streaks, or a shooting star to appear longer than it really was
Pictured on the left: his optical locus instrument for making โlight drawings.โ Plateau calculated the POV effects for different colours by counting how long it took for viewers to finally see the arc become a full circle;
๐๏ธ 0.35 seconds for white
๐๏ธ 0.32 seconds for blue, and so on
On the right is the aforementioned 90-degree colour arcs mounted on a black disc.
Plateauโs contributions bridged physics, optics, and early film technology, making him a key figure in the history of visual media and scientific discovery. Plateau began with 90-degree colour arcs mounted on a black disc, rotating them at slowly increasing speeds to assess how long an observed image remains on the retina.
Plateau reasoned that this persistence explained frequent senses of movement, such as seeing rainfall as straight downward streaks, or a shooting star to appear longer than it really was.
Plateau’s observations of colour arcs inspired him to devise a series of experiments involving translucent mathematical curves put on black discs.
This eventually led to his Anorthoscope, which was an optical device that used a rotating disc with distorted images viewed through slits in another rotating disc to correct the distortion and create the illusion of a clear, undistorted image in motion.
This device built on Plateau’s earlier work with the Phenakistiscope, further exploring visual perception and the principles of Apparent Motion. The Anorthoscope demonstrated how the human eye and brain could reconstruct images from rapidly changing visual stimuli, contributing to the development of early animation and motion picture technology.
Image from Plateau’s ‘Correspondance Mathematique et Physique’ 1830
Madou painted many of Plateau’s Phenakistiscopes but as a painter, his four-sided work came first, frequently depicting human figures in time; in living moments; and, in sequential duration
By superimposing the discs and revolving them in opposite directions and at varied speeds, a travelling “locus” of brightness was created at the intersection of the arcs, creating virtual “light drawings” in front of the observer.
These experiments resulted next in the development of the Anorthoscope which reversed Stroboscopic Effect in 1829-30.
THE PHENAKISTOSCOPE PAINTER
JEAN-BAPTISTE MADOU (1796-1877)
Plateau’s visual work was with this lithographer and painter who conceived and executed possibly the majority of the early Phenakistiscope discs. Madou was a prominent artist known for his contributions to Belgian art, particularly through detailed illustrations and lithographs, often depicting everyday life or historical themes. Considered one of the finest genre painters of the period, Jean Madou received his artistic training at the Brussels Academy.
During his lifetime he won numerous prizes.
Madou painted many of Plateau’s Phenakistiscopes but as a painter, his four-sided work came first, frequently depicting human figures in time; in living moments; and, in sequential duration.
I therefore suggest that Madou may have had an ulterior motive working with Plateau.
Pictured here, two of his works; The morning news first, and A suitable proposal, both 1872.
Image Ghent University Museum
The transition for Madou from four sided paintings to circular Phenakistiscopes are visible here with two examples of the use of light and now, motion.
Madouโs involvement is noted in several historical accounts. For instance, he designed unique discs, such as one depicting a creature blowing coals into flame and another showing a monk with a lighted torch moving through a cloister, which explored changes in light and motion, aligning with Plateauโs studies on visual perception.
Animation Ghent University Museum
Secondly is this Madou Phenakistiscope disc he painted of a monk walking through an abbey in the dark with a torch. Their collaboration was significant, as Madouโs artistic expertise complemented Plateauโs scientific innovations, enhancing the Phenakistiscopes visual appeal and functionality. Additionally, Madou was connected to Plateau personally, as he married Plateauโs sister, Hรฉlรจne Madou, in 1833, further strengthening their professional and personal ties.
Plateauโs collaboration with Madou was one example of blending optical science and art into an identical early animation that pre-dates the work of Muybridge and Faber by some 50 years.
Pictured: Plateauโs famous twirling dancer Phenakistiscope disk painted by J. B. Madou.
I have much more on Plateau in the next chapter. Stay tuned.
| Welcome | About | Introduction | Chapter One beginning of time – 999 AD |
| Chapter Two 1000 AD – 1399 | Chapter Three 1400 – 1599 | Chapter Four 1600 – 1649 | Chapter Five 1650 – 1699 |
| Chapter Six 1700 – 1749 | Chapter Seven 1750 – 1799 | Chapter Eight 1800 – 1819 | Chapter Nine 1820 – 1829 |
| Chapter Ten 1830 – 1839 | Chapter Eleven 1840 – 1849 | Chapter Twelve 1850 – 1859 | Chapter Thirteen 1860 – 1869 |
| Chapter Fourteen 1870 – 1879 | Chapter Fifteen 1880 – 1884 | Chapter Sixteen 1885 – 1889 | Chapter Seventeen 1890 – 1894 |
| Chapter Eighteen 1895 – 1899 | Chapter Nineteen 1900 + post cinema | Chapter Twenty 1911 + | Copyright |
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