Los 4034

De La Rue, Warren
(1815-1889)Lunar photographs

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Aus dem Katalog
Fotografie des 19. – 21. Jahrhunderts (Katalog nur online verfügbar)
Auktionsdatum 29.11.2025

Lunar photographs. 1858-1859. 7 stereoscopic albumen prints, mounted on red mounts with yellow card stock. Each ca. 8,5 x 17,5 cm. Printed captions on recto with photographer credit and publisher imprint “Enlarged and published by Smith, Beck & Beck” or “Charles Panknin, London”; versos with printed explanatory text on some cards, including series number, date of negative, and in some cases, age of the moon and libration in longitude and latitude.

These remarkable stereoscopic lunar photographs stem from one of the most ambitious scientific imaging projects of the 19th century. Between 1858-1862, British astronomer Warren De La Rue - working at the Kew Observatory - used a custom-designed photoheliograph to capture detailed wet collodion negatives of the moon’s surface. The stereoscopic prints, produced by pairing negatives taken under different libration conditions, created a three-dimensional illusion of lunar topography when viewed through a stereoscope. Issued by leading scientific publishers such as Smith, Beck & Beck and Charles Panknin, the views were intended to make cutting-edge astronomical research accessible to both scientific and lay audiences. These photographs mark a seminal moment in the history of celestial observation and the broader popularization of scientific imagery in Victorian Britain. – Some light scuff marks on some prints and edge wear on mounts, otherwise all in very good condition with strong tonal range.