Category Archives: Museum object collection

Praxinoscope

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A slight improvement on the Zoetrope, the Praxinoscope employs the same elements: a moving drum loaded with a strip of paper holding a sequence of images. To these, the French scientist Charles‐Émile Reynaud added an inner circle of mirrors, one for each image. The reflected images proved brighter and clearer than ones viewed directly through slots in the drum.

 

juggler3The Praxinoscope in the Graphic Arts Collection is French, dating from around 1877. We also have a portable Praxinoscope Theatre.

Here is one example of a juggling sequence
juggler1

praxinoscope

 

 

Megalethoscope

ponti9In the 1860s, Swiss-born Carlo Ponti, optician to King Victor Emanuel II of Italy, created a device called an Alethoscope for the viewing of both prints and photographs. Large or deluxe versions were called Megalethoscopes. Princeton University is very fortunate to have one of the few megalethoscopes still in existence along with a set of photographic slides.

There are holes in each print, barely visible from the front, and various sections have been trimmed so that the paper is thinner. When the top is open and the light hits the front of the image, we see a daytime scene. When the top is closed and the light comes from the back, we see the scene at night.

ponti8Below is a  sequence of shots as the light moves from the front to the back of the photographic slide. The slide is slightly concave to fit inside the device and has become somewhat warped as the wood frame has dried over the years.

megalethoscope

 

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Thaumatrope

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Trompe-l’oeil ou les plaisirs de Jocko, French, ca. 1837. Discs: 2 1/2″ diam.; set contains 24 discs. Graphic Arts Collection, optical devices

A thaumatrope is a small paper disc with two strings on either side. Half of a picture is on the front and the other half on the back. When you spin it between your fingers, the pictures appear to merge and form a complete scene. The Graphic Arts collection has a French set from the early 1800s. Here are a few examples.

thaumotrope

artist2         artist1
artst

 

fox2          fox1

bird

For a set of smoother animations, see the wonderful Richard Balzer tumbler or website:
http://dickbalzer.blogspot.com/

Phenakistoscope

jump2

 

One of the optical toys not represented in the Graphic Arts Collection is an original Phenakistoscope. We do, however, have a modern facsimile with a nice variety of circular image sequences.

Here is one example of a slack rope dancer or acrobat.

 

jump1

jump2

Zoetrope strip for Halloween

door2

 

 

 

The Graphic Arts Collection has a large selection of optical devices, including a zoetrope with hand colored image sequences.

Here is one for Halloween, entitled “Who’s that knocking at the door?”

door

 

Untitled-1

 

 

Inside McCosh

mccosh gabriel4

There was a leak recently in Rare Books and Special Collections. Unfortunately, the water chose to come down directly on Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ 1889 bust of James McCosh, the eleventh president of Princeton University. The bronze was not damaged in any way, as confirmed by our excellent sculpture conservator John Scott.

While examining the back of McCosh’s head, Scott noticed that there was an indentation for the brace that holds it in place and inside the head were two tiny pieces of paper. With thanks to our reference librarian, Gabriel Swift, for his investigative probing and to Charles Greene for his flash light, we were able to remove the material.

Here’s what we found.

 

mccosh gabriel

mccosh gabriel2

mccosh gabriel3

Audubon’s monument

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DSCN2165In 1842, needing more land for a cemetery, Trinity Parish purchased 24 acres of the upper Manhattan estate owned by the naturalist and painter John James Audubon (1785-1851). When Audubon passed away, he was buried in Trinity cemetery with only a small sDSCN2166tone marker.

Also buried in the Audubon vault are his wife Lucy Bakewell Audubon, their children and grandchildren, and Audubon’s friend, the musician Anton Philipp Heinrich.

Aububon’s grave was later moved and funds were raised, under the leadership of Thomas Egleston (1832-1900), for a 25-foot monument. Along with a portrait of the artist are two dozen carved birds and quadrupeds; a painter’s easel and brushes; and two of Audubon’s rifles, one of which is held in Firestone Library’s Audubon collection. The October 30, 1892, New York Times noted:

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“In May last a fourteen-ton block of North River bluestone, quarried in Malden Township, in the Catskills, near Saugerties, arrived at the marble yards of R.C. Fischer & Co., at Corlears Hook. Since then the stone has been cut into a monument in the form of a Celto-Runic cross, which will soon be erected in Trinity Cemetery over the tomb of Audubon, the naturalist, artist, and ornithologist. The cross is in one solid piece, 19 feet high, and weighs seven tons.”

 

 

DSCN2179“…The monument is 25 feet high. The color of the stone is a beautiful bluish-gray. The monument was designed and modeled and the work upon it personally superintended by Eugene Pflister, foreman of R. C. Fischer & Co. It has cost $10,000. Some of the minor work remains to be done, but it will be ready to be unveiled by the latter part of November. The monument will be unveiled by Miss Audubon, the grand-daughter of Audubon.”

 

 

Note Audubon’s California Vulture over his portrait, taken directly from the image in his Birds of America. The first scientific paper Audubon delivered concerned the vulture and its sense of smell.

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For more information, see: Audubon Park: http://www.audubonparkny.com

Audubon Monument: http://audubonparkny.com/AudubonParkAudubonTomb1.html

Trinity Cemetery: http://audubonparkny.com/AudubonParkTrinityCemeteryTour.html

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