THE LONDON STEREOSCOPIC COMPANY 2014 Announcing a new fine-art publishing company with a mission to share the wonders of the world s greatest 3-D images, from Victorian times to the present day.
The London Stereoscopic Company The London Stereoscopic Company premises at 108 Regent Street, 1898.
Introduction by Brian May I discovered the magic of 3-D photographs as a child, and soon realised, scouring Portobello Road and other markets at weekends, that there was a vast forgotten legacy of wonders out there, the works of generations of inspired stereoscopic photographers, just waiting to be channelled into what was then the 20th century. Now, in the 21st century, we have seen a massive resurgence of 3-D in the cinema, yet still most of those wonders of the 19th century remain known to only a few. Stereographs are a remarkably powerful medium. Through the stereo cards created in the 1850s, close to the very beginning of photography itself, we can experience the closest thing to time travel we can visit the whole world known to Victorians tea-planting in India, ricefields in China, the Pyramids, The Gold Rush, Victorian theatre, and intimate portraits of Gladstone, Disraeli, Dickens and viewing through the stereoscope, the people in this virtual 3-D world are so real, we feel we could walk in and touch them and talk with them. In its day, in the 1850s, the legendary London Stereoscopic Company (LSC) had a million stereo views for sale in premises in Regents Street and Oxford Street. It was my dream to bring the LSC back to life in the present day, and once again thrill an audience in their own homes, as they enjoy the magic just as their ancestors did, along with new wonders made in the 20th and 21st century. Of course the essential means to achieve this is the stereoscope the stereoscopic viewer and our journey to make the OWL, the definitive modern-day stereoscope was a big part of this adventure. Every book the LSC publishes in the next few years will have an OWL included, and the illustrations in the book, reproduced by the highest resolution printing technology available will, through this device, thrill us all just as they did in Victorian times. We are also publishing sets of stereo cards, a perfect way of enjoying 3-D at its best and all with a no-headache guarantee! The Victorian way is still the best! This, our first brochure, gives a snapshot of the path we are set upon, as the reborn LONDON STEREO- SCOPIC COMPANY. Motto: A Stereoscope in every home! 1
New for 2014 History of Photography 2
The Poor Man s Picture Gallery Victorian Paintings and their Stereoscopic Counterparts Denis Pellerin and Brian May Michael Burr: The Death of Chatterton (c. 1861). This astonishing set of stereo cards from Brian May s collection reconstructs over 12 well known Victorian works in Tate Britain using real actors and staged scenes. The stereos are contemporary with the paintings, and their existence was hitherto unknown outside the circle of specialist collectors of Victoriana. They were produced for commercial reasons the advent of a new painting by a great artist was big news, but most people were not able to access and enjoy the new works of art. Entrepreneurial photographers of the day reconstructed the scenes, photographed them, and sold the stereo cards for profit. In addition to their beauty, they shed light on the story of these famous paintings, and reveal a great deal about the society of the time. Henry Wallis: The Death of Chatterton (1856). The format is to show the painting itself, followed by the stereo card versions of that painting with explanatory text. The artists include Landseer, Maclise, Wallis, Millais, Calderon, Lane, Frith, Nicol, Collins, Leslie, Hunt, and the photographers were the most distinguished of that time. The book accompanies an exhibition of these cards which will be held at the Tate from October 2014 on. Punch cartoons such as this from 1857 inspired the stereo photographs. 3 Retail price: 40/US$60/CAN$75 Hardcover: 208 pages, 300 photographs, slipcased with 3-D viewer Size: 325 x 240 mm Published: Autumn 2014 ISBN: 978-0-9574246-1-6
2015 and beyond History of Photography 4
Crinoline Fashion s Most Magnificent Disaster Denis Pellerin and Brian May Mysteries of the Crinoline (1857). The word Crinoline brings to mind visions of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett dancing with Clark Gable as Rhett in Gone with the Wind in the classic 1950s movie, or bridal petticoats, prom dresses, fairy tale princesses, evening gowns, or fashion fantasies sported by stick-thin models for designers such as John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen. It was the name originally given by the French to a fabric made of horse hair, capable of great stiffness and employed to distend women s attire, and was subsequently applied in a general way to those structures of steel wire or hoops, by means of which women could attain overwhelming dimensions! By the late 1850s, crinolines had already been the cause of many deaths due to fire, but had also been blamed for the financial ruin of some families. Because of the unprecedented opportunity they afforded the wearer to display more of their body than ever before, it was also a common idea amongst the less liberated that crinolines were the work of the Devil. This book, set against this dangerous sociological background, presents the history of crinolines using a cornucopia of stereophotos, cartoons, and drawings from the excitable Victorian press. It brings the story of crinolines right up to date as today s haute couture revisits and takes this extraordinary fashion to new heights of excess. Crinolines were a great source of humour for caricaturists and cartoonists, such as Daumier. Retail price: Hardcover: Size: 40/US$60/CAN$75 208 pages, 200 photographs, slipcased with 3-D viewer 325 x 240 mm Published: Spring 2015 ISBN: 978-0-9574246-2-3 5
2015 and beyond Astronomy 6
Rocks A 3-D Atlas of Solar System Objects Brian May and Claudia Manzoni, with additional new material by Chris Lintott Dione, one of Saturn s moons. 3-D imaging plays a role in expanding our understanding of the Solar System: for example, NASA s STEREO satellite images violent eruptions from the Sun which can disrupt our climate and communications, and it also tracks the paths of visiting comets. But while this book does include a chapter on the scientific use of 3-D imaging, its main purpose is to encourage readers to relax and enjoy the magnificence of the Solar System as it actually is, and is seldom seen: in three dimensions, using the beautifully engineered OWL 3-D viewer which is included. The Earth s annual journey around the Sun enables photographs to be taken at sufficient separation (baseline) to create stereo views of astronomical bodies and, similarly, satellites visiting remote planets and their flotillas of moons, produce a host of images taken at vastly different distances in the trajectory of the spacecraft, and this again provides the necessary baseline to prepare beautiful stereo views. From our Earth and Moon, out to Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, with their host of moons, and including asteroids and comets, this tour of the Solar System literally adds a breathtaking extra dimension to the usual 2-D views we see. And there are some intriguing bonus 3-D pictures too, including historical stereo cards of the Moon, astronauts in space, Earthbound telescopes, and even Sir Patrick Moore! Comet Tempel 1. Retail price: Hardcover: Size: 30/US$45/CAN$60 120 pages, 200 photographs, slipcased with 3-D viewer 325 x 240 mm Published: Autumn 2015 ISBN: 978-0-9574246-3-0 7
2015 and beyond History of Photography 8
George Washington Wilson Artist & Photographer 1823-1893 Roger Taylor The path to the well, Tobermory, Island of Mull. George Washington Wilson was one of the leading landscape photographers of the 19th century. From early beginnings in Aberdeen in 1853, he created a thriving enterprise based on the growing public enthusiasm for stereoscopy. His beautifully crafted studies of Scottish landscape found especial favour with visiting tourists attracted to the region by the lure of Sir Walter Scott s narratives. Within a couple of decades Wilson had secured an international reputation for his photographic innovations and the quality of his work. A frequent visitor to Balmoral Castle, he undertook a number of significant private commissions for the Royal Family, and in 1873 was formally appointed Photographer to the Queen. Roger Taylor s scholarly study of 1981 became the standard work of reference on Wilson, and for the past twenty five years has been out of print. This new edition will retain the original text in its entirety and illustrate it with full colour reproductions, many of them designed to be viewed stereoscopically in celebration of Wilson s extraordinary prowess as one of Britain s most commercially successful photographers. Queen Victoria at Balmoral with her servant John Brown. 9 Retail price: 40/US$60/CAN$75 Hardcover: 224 pages, 200 photographs, slipcased with 3-D viewer Size: 325 x 240 mm Published: Spring 2016 ISBN: 978-0-9574246-X-X
Already Published History of Photography Brian M AY Denis PELLERIN Paula FLEMING DIABLERIES Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell 10
Diableries Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell Brian May, Denis Pellerin and Paula Fleming A devilish 1860s sensation finally unleashed on the 21st century! In France, around 1860, from the loins of a traditional national fascination with all things diabolical, was born a new sensation a series of visionary dioramas depicting life in a strange parallel universe called ENFER Hell communicated to an eager audience by means of stereoscopic cards, to be viewed in the stereoscopes which had already become popular in the 1850s. This 3-D phenomenon, which fascinated a nation for 40 years, is now yours to share. This book, the fruit of half a lifetime s study by three impassioned authors, brings every one of the published Diableries into the 21st century for the very first time. Some of them are so rare that at the time of writing there is no known complete collection of the originals of these masterpieces. But this book enables all but two of the 182 scenes to be enjoyed just as their creators intended, in magnificent 3-D, using the high-quality patent OWL stereoscopic viewer supplied. REVIEWS: Los Angeles Times The devil was close at hand in Victorian-era France, particularly if you had a stereoscope. A series of doubleimage cards, Diableries fit into a wooden viewer and leaped into 3-D, with witty, racy, frightening visions of hell. One hundred and eighty images are collected in the new book Diableries: Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell, which comes with a sixteen layer lenticular fronted slipcase and a fold-out stereoscope viewer. The book is written by Brian May, the Queen guitarist,(who has a doctorate in astrophysics and is a life long stereo photography collector), Denis Pellerin and Paula Fleming. It contains detailed context for each Diablerie, explaining political references, pointing out jokes and illustrating technical accomplishments. The images were created by photographing hand-sculpted scenes. They look sepia-toned in daylight and fill with color when backlighted, which is particularly frightening when the eyes of the damned glow red as the green devil parades by. Wall Street Journal Who says dinosaur rockers can t raise hell? In the poshly published Diableries Brian May shares his longstanding passion for 19th-century stereopticon images. He bought his first pair of these 3-D cards over 40 years ago from a psychedelia vendor at Portobello Road Market in London. In this nearly complete set of a phantasmic French stereopticon series from the 1860s, skeletons enact an elaborate danse macabre. Curiously Satan bears a striking resemblance to King Louis Philippe in a fiery underworld, prefiguring the aesthetic of many an album cover. When viewed through the nifty folding stereoscope enclosed in the book s slipcase, the paired images merge to reveal rounded volumes and a sense of deep, measurable space. Retail price: Hardcover: Size: 40/US$60/CAN$75 280 pages, 500 photographs, slipcased with 3-D viewer 325 x 240 mm Published: October 2013 Rights sold: France ISBN: 978-0-9574246-0-9 11
Already Published History of Photography A Village Lost and Found Brian May and Elena Vidal An annotated tour of the 1850s series of stereo photographs Scenes in Our Village by T. R. Williams 12
A Village Lost and Found Brian May and Elena Vidal This book is the perfect antidote to the stress of life in the 21st century. It portrays the idyll of life in an 1850s village, far from the sound of the train s whistle. The identity of the village was lost to the world for 150 years, and only by a miracle does this magical set of stereoscopic views survive, brought together for the very first time by Brian May and his co-author, photohistorian Elena Vidal. Their research is amazingly in-depth, but the book is utterly readable, and the pictures leap into glorious 3-D, viewed in the new focussing stereoscope which May has designed and produced, to bring the stereos to life, and then fold neatly into the slipcase of the book. The book gives an extraordinary insight into everyday village life at the time with a woman at her spinning wheel, the blacksmith outside his smithy, three men at the grind stone sharpening a tool, the villagers in the fields, bringing in the harvest as well as often taking time to enjoy a good gossip. In every case the original verse which accompanied the view is reproduced. In addition, May and Vidal have researched and annotated all the views, revealing another layer of meaning, by exploring the history of these real characters, this idyllic village and its links with the present day. The result is a powerfully atmospheric and touching set of photographs. A Village Lost and Found brings master pioneering stereographer T. R. Williams s passionate life-work Scenes in Our Village to a new audience in glorious 3-D, as never before. REVIEWS: John Dennis Stereo World T. R. Williams seems to have created Our Village as a labor of love, recording the scenes of his childhood summers and documenting a place and way of life that was already vanishing through the effects of the industrial revolution. His extraordinary dedication to the project and his quest for perfection in stereographic imagery are both honored and mirrored in the years of research, photographic explorations and thoughtful presentation that have made possible this book, A Village Lost and Found clearly another labor of love. Mail on Sunday The effect is amazing. It takes a moment to adjust to the viewer, but once you have got the knack, the villagers and their surroundings seem to leap from the page, bringing scenes such as these to life and helping you appreciate details you might otherwise miss. The book is superbly produced and bound in large format with a separate slipcase for the easy-to-assemble stereo viewer a bygone age indeed but I can assure you one thing: it will rock you. Amateur Photographer A more detailed picture of our forebears rather than a little silhouette of a man! Royal Photographic Society Journal The awesome thoroughness of this book is worthy of a PhD thesis a triumph of scholarship and credit to all concerned. Observer It s like magic and makes me feel like a child again. Retail price: Hardcover: Size: Published: 2009 35/US$50/CAN$60 240 pages, 500 photographs, slipcased with 3-D viewer 325 x 240 mm ISBN: 978-07112-3039-2 13
A How to Guide Practical 3-D Photography Photographing in 3-D David Burder To accompany London Stereoscopic Company s growing list of 3-D photography titles, we are offering a short how to guide, for those who are inspired to take photographs in 3-D for themselves. The author David Burder is one of the world s most respected 3-D photographers, and he has worked in scientific research, advertising, and anaglyph and lenticular imaging. He is also a camera designer, and an expert in 3-D film and television. The book started life as a companion to the 3-D photography course at City University, London. Retail price: Paperback: Size: 10/US$15/CAN$20 64 pages, 60 illustrations, mostly in colour 210 x 150 mm Published: Autumn 2015 ISBN: 978-0-9574246-4-7 14
The OWL Stereoscope Designed by Brian May The OWL, designed by Brian May, is a unique, high quality, stereo focusing viewer, which packs into a space only 6 mm thick, and yet assembles in 15 seconds into a rigid, precision instrument which is equally at home sitting on a page to view stereo illustrations in a book, or used in the hand as the perfect viewer for stereo cards classic or modern. It comes packaged with instructions in a beautifully designed card wallet, with gold blocking. OWL viewer in accompanying envelope. OWL viewer packaged flat. OWL viewer fully assembled, used with a book. Retail price: Weight: Size: Envelope: 15/US$23/CAN$30 120 grammes 291 x 228 mm 317 x 244 mm OWL viewer with 3-D card in place. 15
Stereo Cards For 3-D viewing with the OWL stereoscope. The London Stereoscopic Company publishes sets of stereo cards, as close as possible in format and quality to the original Victorian stereo cards which were the medium of choice for family entertainment for more than half a century, and are now so desirable for collectors worldwide. The cards are presented in authentic boxes, meticulously based on the original boxes from early Victorian times, and the cards fit perfectly in the LSC s OWL 3-D viewer, for the best viewing experience. They are published in the following sets of 12 cards: Astronomical Series 1 and 2 Each set comprises 12 stereo images, all astronomical subjects, created by Brian from various credited sources. Astronomy series 1 3-D cards. Astronomy series 2 3-D cards. Queen Series 1 and 2 This is Queen from the Freddie days, at various times converted from 35 mm film stereos mainly using a Stereo Realist camera I hope they will be enjoyed Brian May Queen series 1 3-D cards. Queen series 2 3-D cards. Retail price: 25/US$40/CAN$50 Weight: 172 grammes Card size: 84 x 177 mm Box size: 86 x 180 x 14 mm Card quantity: 12 16
Stereo Cards For 3-D viewing with the OWL stereoscope. Diableries Series A This set of 12 cards comprises the first 12 cards of the A series of Diableries. There were never any cards numbered 1-12, so this first part of the first series is numbered 13-26. Diableries series A 13-26 3-D cards. Foil stamped reflective eyes. The OWL s nest This unique and highly sort-after Brian May designed high-quality box made of neutral fibre materials is custom built to contain the OWL viewer in platinum colour, with the two sets of classic Queen cards, Series A Diableries cards, and both sets of Astronomical cards. It comes complete with a certificate of authenticity signed by its creator, Brian May! OWL s nest including cards and viewer. 17 Retail price: 125/US$190/CAN$250 Weight: 1500 grammes Box size: 118 x 196 x 140 mm Card quantity: 60
THE LONDON STEREOSCOPIC COMPANY the first Victorian publishing company in the modern era The London Stereoscopic Company Brian May - Publisher twitter: @LondonStereo www.londonstereo.com Contact details: Foreign rights, bulk sales, distribution, publishing queries: Robin Rees Robin@LondonStereo.com Queries about content: Denis Pellerin Denis@LondonStereo.com Individual sales inquiries: Sally Frost Sally@LondonStereo.com Publicity: Nicole Ettinger Nicole@LondonStereo.com USA and Canada: Shelter Harbor Press Info@ShelterHarborPress.com General inquiries: London Stereoscopic Company PO Box 141 Windlesham Surrey GU20 6YW