Lot Essay
The Maker
A design of microscope with some features similar to those described above, notably the universal ball joint at the top of the pillar, is illustrated in an engraving dated 1 May 1829 and published in C.R. Goring and Andrew Pritchard, Microscopic Illustrations (London, 1830). The instrument is entitled: "Goring's Operative Aplanatic Engiscope"; but no maker is mentioned. A microscope also similar to the above, but actually signed: "Ross London" is shown in A.D. Morrison-Low and R.H. Nuttall, Ross Microscopes as used by David Brewster and Richard Owen", Microscopy, 3 (1982), 335-344. The authors refer to three instruments of this type. Recently, another similar instrument, also signed "Ross London", is fully described by M.E. Rudd and D.H. Jaecks, The Rapid Development of the Achromatic Microscope: An Early Example by Andrew Ross", Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society, No. 49 (1996), 17-21. The present example is, therefore, the fifth known, and through certian intercomparisons it seems to be the earliest in the group.
Andrew Ross (1798-1859) was working in Clerkenwell from 1831. From about 1837 he was making objectives to the design of J.J. Lister, and to show the collaboration he named his firm: "Andrew Ross & Co.", with premises in Picadilly from 1839. Thus one may assume that this microscope was made between 1831 and 1839, and possibly in about 1835.
A design of microscope with some features similar to those described above, notably the universal ball joint at the top of the pillar, is illustrated in an engraving dated 1 May 1829 and published in C.R. Goring and Andrew Pritchard, Microscopic Illustrations (London, 1830). The instrument is entitled: "Goring's Operative Aplanatic Engiscope"; but no maker is mentioned. A microscope also similar to the above, but actually signed: "Ross London" is shown in A.D. Morrison-Low and R.H. Nuttall, Ross Microscopes as used by David Brewster and Richard Owen", Microscopy, 3 (1982), 335-344. The authors refer to three instruments of this type. Recently, another similar instrument, also signed "Ross London", is fully described by M.E. Rudd and D.H. Jaecks, The Rapid Development of the Achromatic Microscope: An Early Example by Andrew Ross", Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society, No. 49 (1996), 17-21. The present example is, therefore, the fifth known, and through certian intercomparisons it seems to be the earliest in the group.
Andrew Ross (1798-1859) was working in Clerkenwell from 1831. From about 1837 he was making objectives to the design of J.J. Lister, and to show the collaboration he named his firm: "Andrew Ross & Co.", with premises in Picadilly from 1839. Thus one may assume that this microscope was made between 1831 and 1839, and possibly in about 1835.