Patent revolving carte de visite photograph album
Perry & Co. Ltd
Category
Photographs
Date
1879
Materials
Wood, Glass, Brass, Card, Paper, Felt
Measurements
400 x 300 x 315 mm
Collection
Fox Talbot Museum, Wiltshire
NT 1521133.1
Summary
Patent revolving carte de visite photograph album by Perry and Co. It comprises a wooden stand made up of three pieces: 2 ornate fretwork panels and a turned wooden spindle between. Onto the stand fits a wooden case with glass panels either side. The glass has been painted with black and gold paint to create two viewing frames on each side of the case. Within the case are thirteen panels comprising stiff card with a double carte de visite album mount either side. The card and mounts are held together with metal strips top and bottom and wooden strips either side. The wooden strips are shaped top and bottom to allow the panels to slip past each other as the case revolves, thus changing the pictures on show. Each panel can hold up to four cartes de visite two on each side. The panels have mounts with an oblong frame with an arched top on one side and oval frames on the other. The album could contain 52 cartes de visite. It actually contains 43 pictures.
Provenance
Part of the Fenton Collection. A gift from British Film Institute in 2017. From 1986-1999, part of BFI collection for the Museum of the Moving Image. BFI purchased collection in 1986 from James Fenton's Museum of Photography, Port Erin, Isle of Man 1976-1986
Makers and roles
Perry & Co. Ltd, patentee Perry & Co. Ltd, manufacturer