Sale 9516
London, South Kensington
|
11 December 2002
Price realised
GBP 470
Estimate
Traveller rollfilm camera James A. Sinclair, London; rollfilm, black-leather covered wood body, metal-fittings, two waist-level viewfinders, two lateral and vertical spirit levels, inset label THE TRAVELLER. SINCLAIR, LONDON, with a Ross, London Compound Homocentric 3½ inch f/6.8 lens no. 82430 in a NS Perfect shutter no. 592, in maker's leather case
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Literature
Eaton S. Lothrop, 'The Sinclair Traveller. A very unusual box camera' in Photographica World no. 80, March 1997, pp. 31-33. The Sinclair Sign-Post, no. VI, June 1911, pp. 47-48.
The Traveller rollfilm camera was introduced by Sinclair from 1909 and disappeared around the mid-1920s after having gone through minor changes to its specification. This example is a later model. Sinclair extolled the principal virtue of the camera as being it's simplicity. In their house journal they stated: 'There are very many people who wish to get records of travel or the home and who are deterred by the thought of any complications in the apparatus. They want a Camera that may be loaded and unloaded in daylight, and which is always ready for immediate use without any trouble of focussing. It is this demand which led us to introduce the Traveller Camera - an instrument which is of the nature of a glorified Brownie Kodak.' Despite it's simplicity the camera was said to 'not only appeal to the novice, but also to the expert'.
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