Object Details

Foldable Stereoscope ‘Le Merveilleux’ with original storage box

Foldable Stereoscope ‘Le Merveilleux’ with original storage box

Historical Context

Le Mer­veilleux Stéréo Mobile is a com­pact, portable stere­o­scope designed for paper stere­oviews. It was devel­oped by the pub­lish­er Ernest Le Deley specif­i­cal­ly for the 9 x 14 post­card-size stere­oviews he published.
Le Deley patent­ed his design, but a patent from 1900 already exist­ed for a vir­tu­al­ly iden­ti­cal view­er; there­fore, the idea did not orig­i­nate with Le Deley.
Le Mer­veilleux is list­ed under a neu­tral name in the 1936 prod­uct cat­a­logue of Mat­tey, which sug­gests that Mat­tey man­u­fac­tured the view­er for Le Deley.

Details

The stere­o­scope con­sists of a wood­en box. The lid con­tains a wood­en block with grooves into which a stereo card can be insert­ed. When the lid is slid open, the lens pan­el can be unfold­ed. The focus is adjust­ed by slid­ing the lid, which changes the dis­tance between the lens­es and the stere­oview. The two square lens­es are sur­round­ed by met­al frames that serve a dec­o­ra­tive pur­pose only.
(from: Com­pendi­um of Stereoscopes)

Date Made

c. 1905

Place Made

France

Period

1893–1939

Type

Stere­o­scope

Manufacturer

Le Delay, Ernest

Technique

Sin­gle-view, man­u­al­ly; Focus, carrier

Format

Uni­ver­sal

Medium

Paper stereo views (Post­cards)

Related Patent

FR 324437 (E. Le Delay, 1902); FR 305920 (N. Fioc­chi-Pog­gi, 1900)
Tags: fold­able hand­held

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