This is a set of eight large glass slides depicting images of the moon. Each 12cm x 16.5cm slide appears to be a copy of a page of a photographic atlas called “Photographie Lunaire” by Maurice Loewy and Pierre Puiseux (1910). Each slide has the date of the photograph handwritten onto it underneath the image. The slides are separated by sheets of scrap paper, and contained with a cardboard slide box.
Accession Number: 2018.ast.92
Alternative Name:
Primary Materials: Glass, Cardboard
On a paper label on the top of the box: “Agfa-Chromo-Isolar-Platten”
“ACHTEN-GESELLSCHAFT FUR ANILIN-FABRIKATION”
“PHOTOGRAPHISCHE ABTEILUNG BERLIN S.O.36”
“OPEN ONLY IN RUBY LIGHT! NUR BEI ROTEM LIGHT OFFNEN! N’OUVRIR QU’A LA LUMIERE ROUGE”
“EMULSION”
“12/16.5cm 12St. 4 3/4 / 6 1/2 inch.”
“9242”
Handwritten in pencil on the lid of the box there appears to be a mathematical calculation: “49×7”
“43
117
<u>16</u>
476”
Dimensions (cm): Length = 17, Width = 12, Height = 2.5.
These slides were possibly used for demonstration or teaching.
Fair: Some of the surface of the slides is peeling, particularly around the edges of the image; this is very delicate. The paper separating each slide is yellowed and in some cases worn or stained. The cardboard box is intact, but worn around the corners. The surface is stained with
Slides: Photographische Abteilung, Berlin; Images: Maurice Loewy & Pierre Puiseux; Exposures: Unknown
Photographs: 1890s, Slides & Exposures: 1910-1930s
It is unknown when these slides were produced, or why. They may be associated with teaching at the Department of Astronomy, or with work done at the David Dunlap Observatory (although they predate the observatory itself). If the latter, they were likely moved from the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill in 2008, upon the sale of the observatory. It was stored at the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics until 2017, when it was moved to a new storage location in McLennan Physical Laboratories.
The Metropolitan Museum holds a photogravure by Loewy & Puiseux, <a href=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/265630>and provides some information</a> about their work [24/01/18].
Historical Notes:
Themes: