Lantern Slides
I have found several types of lantern slides:
- Early Wide Glass Magic Lantern Slides
- Middle-Breadth Magic Lantern Slides
- Extra-Wide Magic Lantern Slides
- Complete sets of twelve magic lantern slides of numbered fables of La Fontaine
- Aesop's Fables from Father Tuck's Story Books
- Fables of La Fontaine: Doré
- Glass Magic Lantern Slides of La Fontaine's Fables
- Victor Featherweight Slides
Early Wide Glass Magic Lantern Slides Group 1
1890? Twelve long colored magic lantern slides showing La Fontaine's fables. Two fables per slide. 7½" x 1½". €75 from revesdenfantspapiers through Ebay, July 21.
The color work in these slides is strong, even after all this time. The titles in the upper left are sometimes obscured by the framing of the glass. Might the glass have been originally without a frame?
Middle-Breadth Magic Lantern Slides
1870? Set of 6 magic lantern slides of fables of La Fontaine in pairs. 2¼" x 9⅛". €60 from bellemimine through Ebay, Oct., '22.
This medium sized collection is unusually well done and well preserved.
Extra-Wide Magic Lantern Slides
1890? Three extra-long colored magic lantern slides showing La Fontaine's fables. Two fables per slide. 10½" x 2½". $32.04 from nanicohen through Ebay, June, 21.
Again, the color work in these slides is strong, even after all this time. The two titles are in cursive in a text-box to the left, and the two fable scenes to the right play out almost as two aspects of one scene. Beautiful craftsmanship! And very fragile!
Complete Sets of La Fontaine Magic Lantern Slides
Here is yet another surprise in the experience of collecting fables. In 2019, I found, at the Paris shop of Thierry Corcelle, an intact set of 12 glass magic lantern slides, each presenting two La Fontaine fables with title panels. I was delighted to bring them home with me!
Four years later a set of twelve La Fontaine magic lantern slides appeared on Ebay. Since we have several sets of such slides, I did some checking and comparing. I was amazed to see that the designs were the same as those on the Corcelle slides, but there were also significant differences. The slides were narrower, and so the images were less expansive. The coloring, apparently by hand, was different in case after case, and the typeface used on the panels was different. Since it is fascinating to examine the differences together, I offer a page not only on each collection but on a page of comparison between the two.
Corcelle Complete Set of 12 Magic Lantern Slides
1890? Complete set of twelve magic lantern slides of numbered fables of La Fontaine. Original box. 8½” x 2⅛“. €200 from Thierry Corcelle, Paris, July, ’19.
Exquisite set, numbering each of the 24 fables on 12 slides. The color work is exquisite!
Narrower Set of La Fontaine Magic Lantern Slides
1890? Complete set of twelve magic lantern slides of numbered fables of La Fontaine. Original box. 7½” x 1⅝“. €35 from 123broc through Ebay, March, '23.
Here is yet another surprise in the experience of collecting fables. In 2019, I found, at the Paris shop of Thierry Corcelle, an intact set of 12 glass magic lantern slides, each presenting two La Fontaine fables with title panels. I was delighted to bring them home with me! Four years later I found this set of twelve La Fontaine magic lantern slides on Ebay. Since we have several sets of such slides, I did some checking and comparing. I was amazed to see that the designs were the same as those on the Corcelle slides, but there were also significant differences. The slides were narrower, and so the images were less expansive. The coloring, apparently by hand, was different in case after case, and the typeface used on the panels was different. Since it is fascinating to examine the differences together, I also offer a page not only on each collection but on a page of comparison between the two.
Comparison of the Two Sets
Here is a comparison of the individual slides, with their different coloring and lettering.
Aesop's Fables from Father Tuck's Story Books
1908? Aesop's Fables from Father Tuck's Story Books. Coloured Lantern Slides. Junior Lecturers' Series. Chapter 1 of 2 Chapters. In the original box. Watford: Tuck. $192 from E. & J. Shelley, June, '99
A very lovely set of eight substantial and richly colored slides. The numbered scenes included are: 1. LM (title slide: "Aesop's Fables from Father Tuck's Story Books"), 2. "The Dove and the Crow," 3. WL, 4. DM, 5. "The Fighting Cocks and the Eagle," 6. TH, 7. "The Hares and the Frogs," and 8. "The Quack Frog." I first saw a set of these in a German museum a year ago and wrote asking if any might be for sale. In the meantime, these were offered in London and were even set aside for me without my knowing it! I am already thinking about how best to display these beautiful pictures....
1908? Aesop's Fables from Father Tuck's Story Books. Coloured Lantern Slides. Junior Lecturers' Series. Chapter 2 of 2 Chapters. In the original box. Watford: Tuck. $35.20 from mike3949 on Ebay, July, '21.
Another very lovely set of eight substantial and richly colored slides. The numbered scenes included are given on the T of C on the box's side. I am so happy to get this set to complete the pair of Tuck's Lantern "Coloured Lantern Slides."
Doré La fontaine Glass Slides
1900? Fables of La Fontaine: Doré. 77 black-and white lantern slides. "By permission Cassell, Petter, and Galpin." $170.50 from Bastion Epanning, Victoria, BC, through eBay, Oct., '08.
Here are beautiful magic lantern slides, 3¼" square, with a circular scene within a square frame. Most retain the two paper slips proclaiming "Fables of La Fontaine: Doré" and ""By permission Cassell, Petter, and Galpin." Though the pictures do not scan well, they are very well done. I offer several here merely as samples; they do not do Doré justice! The slides themselves are in various states of poor repair. In many, the two glass plates have separated. In some the framing paper -- square on the outside, circular on the inside -- has become fragmentary. Two slides have cracked. What a wonderful ephemeral find! Click on any image to see it enlarged. Lifted together, these slides are also exceedingly heavy!
Glass Magic Lantern Slides
1900? Glass magic lantern colored slide of Gustave Doré's TMCM. 7" x 3 7/8". Labeled on the lower rim "Class 29. Series 11. Fables of La Fontaine. No. 2. The City Rat and the Country Rat. B. 1 F. 9." $19.99 from phillips_bradley on Ebay, Dec., '19.
The coloring of the image here is surprisingly strong. The image is about 3" in diameter.
Victor Featherweight Slides
2018? Two Victor "Featherweight" Slides by Victor Animatograph Company, Davenport, Iowa. $4.95 for black-and-white LM and $6.95 for colored FS from Alboxman through Ebay, July, '18.
3¼" x almost 4". These slides are indeed light. It seems that the glass of the slides is very thin. I am still seeking the best solution for illuminating slides like these for web presentation. Patented Oct. 5, 1915.