Stereoscope ‘Le Minimus’
Historical Context
Lucien Albert Bize was a pioneer in compact stereoscope innovation in early 20th-century France. Introduced in 1908 alongside ‘Le Multiphote’ and ‘Le Phénix’, it features an ingenious simple mechanism. Bize’s stereoscopes were initially manufactured by Maison Gustave Jacob in Paris until Jacob’s bankruptcy in 1911. Production continued under Bize until he sold his company to Robert Pleyau in 1913. The manufacturing of Bize’s stereoscopes likely ceased during World War I.
Details
Le Minimus is a compact manual multi-view stereoscope that holds 24 glass slides. Turning the knobs on the sides moves the front panel outward, allowing a slide to drop into position before the lenses. Further rotation transfers the viewed slide to a storage compartment below, and the next slide moves into place. Once all slides have been viewed, inverting the device resets them to their original position. The slides can be stored in removable boxes that can be placed on top of the viewer so that the views can slide into the box, allowing for quick and efficient slide replacement. A 45x107mm version was also available.
Further reading: Stereoscopy History Series — Lucien Bize (A. Ruiter)
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