Lefort Boîte Simple 20

Antiq Photo, Paris^[*] #SL-26-02

France, ca.1848

Dimensions: H=16.2 cm, W=22 cm, D=32 cm

Lens: ƒ

 

Figure SL-26-02.1 – Lefort boîte
Photo © Rod Bantjes.

Figure SL-26-02.2 – Back View
Photo © Rod Bantjes.

This is an early boîte d'optique from the workshop of Henri Lefort (1804-1880). It is an example of an “optical machine ” and is included in the Optical Machine Taxonomy.

 

Like other Lefort boîtes this one is designed for Lefort’s paper dioramas. The paper-diorama format for this box is 14.5 x 20 (hence the “20” in its designation).

 

Comparison with an example in the Museo Nazionale del Cinema Collection, (#MNC-M04936), shows the degree to which construction was standardized in this workshop. The lens is turned to the same pattern, but evidently done freehand with slight variations in emphasis. The green paper with the “eixample grid” pattern is identical. The overall dimensions vary by up to a centimetre.

 

Note the side-slot for changing image-plaques – the same feature was also used in the Brewster stereoscope, later and perhaps on the inspiration of this box by Lefort.

 

For more on these boîtes d'optique see my discussion of the one in the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum in Exeter, UK.

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