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The Camera Obscura, John H. Hammond: Hardback: 1st Edition: Photography
The Camera Obscura, John H. Hammond: Hardback: 1st Edition: Photography
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The Camera Obscura: A Chronicle
By John H. Hammond.
Published by Adam Hilger Ltd, Bristol, 1981. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket (unclipped), 182 pages. Black & white illustrations and photography throughout.
CONDITION
Overall good condition, just fading to spine of dustjacket - see photos. No names or writing.
The camera obscura effect - the formation of an image by light passing through a small hole into a darkened room or box-has been known for many centuries. It was probably first noted by Chinese philosophers, and the instrument was later developed by European astronomers for observing sunspots and planetary movements, as well as by magicians and showmen as an entertaining diversion.
The camera obscura reached the height of its popularity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when the portable models were part of every optical instrument maker's stock in trade. They were commonly used by travellers and artists as a drawing aid, and were installed in observatories throughout Britain as tourist attractions.
However, despite its survival as a form of copying machine in modern drawing offices, the camera obscura is today little known or appreciated except among historians or collectors who regard the early instruments as prized artefacts. This chronicle of its long history is told through the writings of those who made or used the camera obscura for scientific or artistic purposes, and also those authors who recorded its varied uses. A separate chapter, within this chronological framework, is devoted to a discussion of its use by artists, a particularly
fascinating aspect of its history.
This highly illustrated, informative book should appeal to those interested in the history of science, astronomy and photography, to museum curators and collectors of early optical instruments, as well as to art historians and to teachers of art.
(Bindery shelves)
