BECK SYMMETRICAL LENS
Toronto. Turns out the choice of glass plus the lens design makes a rapid rectilinear! Both the two wide angles lenses mentioned the other day predate the release of the Rapid Rectilinear (or Aplanat in Germany). R & J Beck (earlier Smith, Beck and Beck and later just plain Beck) was a well known British optical house which designed, manufactured and sold microscopes as well as camera lenses. Check Wikipedia entry here. Check camera-wiki site here.
The lens I have is a brass BECK SYMMETRICAL lens, made around 1900, and a popular rapid rectilinear design often found on British cameras of the period (usually Ensign or Thornton-Pickard models). The date of manufacture is a bit vague at best. My lens is about a 10 inch focal length with an aperture from f/8 to f/45.
