c1929 ad for the tiny microscope. Note the amount of text used.
Toronto. I mentioned in earlier post that we camera collectors sometimes collect other oddball optical gadgets too. In the last issue (22-2) Ev wrote about a 1901 souvenir he discovered amongst Brodie Whitelaw’s gear and suggested it was a Stanhope viewer of sorts.
In the following issue (22-3) Ev reported on the messages he received in response to the article. His latest article, ‘“Mystery within Enigma” solved” covers some of the responses including ads submitted to him.
Ev writes,”Generous readers from Michigan and California telephoned, wrote and faxed, joining local collectors with explanations about the device shown in the previous issue and I thank them all.
“Bill Carroll of La Entrada, CA, photographed his collection of six with a new APS [35mm film with a new kind of cassette] camera and explained that the glass block and small lens were one piece. There are slight size variations in the size of Bill‘s brass examples. One is stamped Japan and two have no apertures in the body. Instructions on a box are in Spanish, French and English.
“The larger lens unit is a complete magnifier. Tube length and four apertures allow its use on opaque specimens. The smaller lens and glass block unit produces about 26X magnification of smears on the block face ([PHSC past president] Don Douglas used blood) or an insect or flower petal impaled on the pin which can pass through the body tube.
“Bob Carter‘s scope is also of brass. John Naslanic‘s (MiPHS) catalog sheet [see large illustration at left] is almost a treatise on its use, at half the price, postpaid, of my 1901 model.
“According to definition it is still a ‘Stanhope’.”
