EDMUND CULPEPER, CIRCA 1705

Details

An ivory simple microscope compendium
Edmund Culpeper, circa 1705
the ivory tube composed of four compartments containing a fleaglass, a wilson-type screw-barrel simple microscope, a chamber for four numbered lenses and the lens for the fleaglass, a compartment for numbered slides and tweezers, the tweezers punched E C and one slide holder signed E C Fe.
5½in. (14cm.) long in tube

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

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Lot Essay

The Wilson screw-barrel microscope is first described in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1702, a handle is added to later models, examples of which are often seen in fishkin cases. Clay & Court illustrate a similar ivory pocket cylindrical microscope in The history of the microscope in fig. 25, which is signed by Edward Scarlett. Another, with three compartments, was sold as part of the Sir Frank Crisp collection at Steven's in 1925 (lot 7) appearing chronologically before the other screw-barrel types.

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