A CAMERA OBSCURA ASSOCIATED WITH NEVIL STORY-MASKELYNE
A CAMERA OBSCURA ASSOCIATED WITH NEVIL STORY-MASKELYNE

JONES, MID-19TH CENTURY

Details
A CAMERA OBSCURA ASSOCIATED WITH NEVIL STORY-MASKELYNE
Jones, mid-19th century
reflex model, the mahogany body of dovetail construction, with hinged lid, lens in wooden mount and 'push-pull' focusing front section, signed JONES Artist LONDON ; BY HIS MAJESTY'S SPECIAL APPOINTMENT No. 4, Wells Street Oxford Street.
12½in. (32cm.) long
Provenance
Nevil Story Maskelyne (1823-1911).
Thence by descent.
Christie's South Kensington 25 April 2012, lot 69.

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Lot Essay

Nevil Story-Maskelyne (1823-1911) left law for the Natural Sciences in 1847, and was soon lecturing on mineralogy, a field he would come to lead. His research ran from the petrology of Stonehenge to developing the collection of minerals and meteorites at the British Museum into the 'largest and best arranged series ... in existence' (ODNB online). He and his wife Thereza May Llewelyn were both involved in the pioneering of photography. He was close friends of William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-77) -- whose own camera obscura is held at the Science Museum London.

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