Stereopticon Cards
Stereoscope pictures have always fascinated me. I am delighted to see that early stereoscope producers included fables. So far, with the help of Bertrand Cocq, I have found two full sets and three (out of six?) in a fourth set. Do we see the same woman in all three S.I.P. series, and perhaps even the same costume? Their producer, S.I.P., is already in this collection for three different photographic series of postcards, and this collection already includes a number of simpler stereoscopic postcards, "Scènes de Genre," from L'Imprimerie Nouvelle Photographique in Paris. Enjoy these series!
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Furne Fils et H. Tournier DW1900? DW stereopticon scene by Furne Fils et H. Tournier, Paris. No. 7. Do I understand correctly that the left-hand figure is the wolf starting to run away? As La Fontaine says, he is still running! I acted too slowly when several stereopticon cards came up at once. This was the only one left! -
S.I.P. Stereo Two Doves1900? Three stereopticon cards by S.I.P. of "Two Doves." S.I.P. We have cards #1, #2, and #4 of this set. Might it include six? The first card presents the two birds lovingly together – at the same door used in cards #4, #5, and #6 of the stereopticon series of GA! This is a matter of killing two doves with one stone! The female or "stay at home" dove seems to be the same actress as in both the ant in that GA series and as Perrette in MM. In card #2, is the male dove feeling bored or perhaps some form of wanderlust? What, we might ask, is his female friend doing? By card #4, she is waving good-bye with her kerchief. Perhaps in cards #5 and #6, he will experience the trials of the world and return to her loving arms. -
S.I.P. Stereo MM1900? Complete set of six stereopticon cards by S.I.P. of MM. S.I.P. This set starts with Perrette attending the cow on the farm. In #2 she milks the cow. In #3 she has her pot of milk in her hands before she departs. In #4 she is proceeding down the road to market. In #5, the pot has fallen and is smashed, and her milk is all gone. In #6 she laments her loss. These stereopticon cards are in good condition! Do we have the same actress as Perrette here, the ant in GA, and the home dove in "Two Doves"? And is she wearing almost the same costume? -
S.I.P. Stereo GA1900? Complete set of six stereopticon cards by S.I.P. of GA. S.I.P. This set starts, unusually for French postcard presentations, with the countryside as the venue for the grasshopper's encounter with an ant. The time is summer. The ant works the soil. The grasshopper is lavishly dressed. And she plays music happily. Suddenly it is winter. With hat in hand, she knocks at the ant's (barn)door. The ant opens, and the grasshopper extends an open hand in request for food. The ant rejects the grasshopper, telling her to go dance.