IMPORTANT GRIFFITH CLUB PRESENTATION OUTFIT, American, c.1881, signed on the rotator/base with a fine presentation "With Regards of the Inventor, to Hon. Lewis Lawrence, Utica, N.Y".; on the main tube "Griffith Club Microscope;" and on the objective "E. Gundlach." The outfit stows compactly in its 7-3/4" x 6" x 3-1/2" (20 x 15 x 9 cm) velvet lined wood case. Extending to a maximum height of 15-1/2" (39 cm) when assembled, the microscope is made of golden lacquered brass with nickel plated fittings. A lever-operated cam acts against a spring to engage the unusual worm and ring gear fine focus action. This unusual instrument is equipped with one ocular, one Gundlach objective, black glass stage with synchronized slide clips, and swinging substage with double mirror, but no condenser provision, allowing extremely oblique lighting both above and below stage. The mirror cell is gutta percha, as employed in early Gundlach designs. The microscope stands on three ball feet to a tapered pillar, with hinged joint 5-1/2" off the table top. This pillar breaks down to permit direct mounting of the microscope to a table, and inverted use of the base as a slide preparation turntable, complete with its adjustable triangular slide grips (see illustration in Padgitt, p. 117). Condition is excellent, with the exquisite original golden lacquer finish.

The evolution of the Griffith Club stand is discussed by R.D. Watson in Rittenhouse 9, 25. The present stand would be his second form; Item 11 in Tesseract Catalogue 47 would be the third form. This "queen of grace and utility amongst microscopes" (as described in his award received at the Columbian Exhibition) was invented by Ezra Griffith of Fairport, N.Y. He made continual modifications and improvements in this innovative design, from its introduction in 1880 until his death in 1894, so there can be detailed variations throughout his production. The manufacture itself was apparently by Bausch & Lomb, then by Ernst Gundlach.

Griffith was a passionate amateur microscopist, and engaged many members of microscopy clubs in the U.S. and abroad (and thus the "Club" microscope). The recipient of the present splendid example, the only such inventor's presentation recorded, was Lewis Lawrence (1806 -1886), prominent businessman of Utica, with interests in lumber, building construction, roads and railroads. Lawrence seems to have been a truly good man, generous and respectful, a dedicated abolitionist, wealthy but unostentatious. His behavior gained him the informal title "Honorable." Having built up his businesses from scratch, he was a master organizer of the funding and execution of large projects. In just one example of logging he bought a large tract in Oswego Country, hired 600 "clean-living" new immigrants in New York City, organized them efficiently, and sent out 280 cords of wood (2-1/2 acres worth) by rail daily. Included with this splendid microscope is the interesting book Lewis Lawrence by T.J. Brown (1887), with its fine steel engraving of Honorable Lawrence.

An important example of this uniquely American microscope. (9096) $12,500.

SET OF TWENTY LARGE WOOD SLIDERS WITH PREPARED SPECIMENS, French, c. early 19th century. Each slider is made of sturdy tan wood 4-7/8" (12 cm ) long, with beveled ends (for insertion in a microscope stage carrier), and with two prepared specimens mounted between glass disks and held in place by brass spring rings. Each specimen is identified in French, directly on the slider in ink writing. Condition is fine throughout except most showing drying and crazing of the mounting cement. The specimens however, which are of various natural history subjects, are still quite visible, and fascinating viewed through a microscope. The set is contained in an associated mahogany box.

These sliders are transitional between the ivory mounts with multiple specimens set between mica disks, which were made throughout the 18th century, and the all glass slides with usually single specimens set under cover glass which became standard by the 1840¹s. (9155) $1450.

THE SWIFT / BROWN MINIATURE POCKET MICROSCOPE WITH STAND, English, c. 1880, signed "J. Swift, 43 University St., London W.C." This exquisite little compound microscope outfit is contained in the original 4-3/8" and 4-1/8" (11 and 10 cm) long matching wood cases bound in red Morocco leather and lined in purple silk. The instrument is made of clear lacquered brass and assembles with three horizontal rods as legs, and vertical pillar with hinged head and dovetail fitting supporting the microscope proper. Twin drawtubes provide coarse focus and fine focus, a particularly convenient system. The optical system uses a choice of two two-element oculars, plus objective. The stage has a spring-loaded clamp plate activated by twin projecting pins. A rear tube accommodates a sliding rod with adjustable yoke-mounted concave substage mirror. There is a paper-bound prepared slide but no other accessories. Condition is very fine throughout.

This charming little instrument was described in the 1883 Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society: "Messrs. Swift and Son have added a stand to their (Brown's) Pocket Microscope, which is one of the smallest Microscopes made having any pretensions to be a serviceable instrument and not a mere toy." Describing one in the R.M.S. collection, Turner (in Great Age of the Microscope) attributes its design to G.T. Brown, that example having been made for Sir Frank Crisp. It is quite a rare miniature pocket microscope, this the first we have had. (9123) $4250.

PURE GOLD NUGGETS ON A MICROSCOPE SLIDE, English, c. 1860. This Victorian microscope slide is beautifully bound in green and red papers, with the printed label of Smith, Beck & Beck, 31 Cornhill, London. It measures 1" x 3" (25 x 76 mm) overall, and displays a cluster of small nuggets of gold, as found in nature. The preparers (the famous microscope manufacturers, James Smith, Richard Beck and brother Joseph Beck) were in triple partnership only from 1857 (when Richard joined) until 1865 (when Smith retired), giving a rather precise dating to this very rare preparation for the microscope. (9103) $325.

FINE ACHROMATIC MICROSCOPE OUTFIT, French, c. 1840's, signed on the oculars "Lerebours a Paris." Contained in its original 11" x 4" x 4" (28 x 10 x 10 cm) beautifully grained fitted wood case, this is an example of the "Microscope Achromatique Simplifie" of N.-P. Lerebours, first published in 1838 and described in detail in his book. The lacquered brass microscope itself is similar in design to that known as the "Oberhauser drum;" it is based on vertical cylinders, the lower cylinder with a cutout for light to reach the rotatable double mirror, with a slot for the wheel of stops, and with a cutout for the specimen stage. The next cylinder carries the triple-jointed arm for the stage condenser, plus the rack and pinion focus to the final cylinder, the optical tube itself. The outfit is complete with two oculars, triple button achromatic objective, opaque ebony / ivory stage disk, a live box / compressor, and specimen forceps. The microscope and all the accessories are described in detail in Lerebours' book. This beautiful example of his top-of-the-line drum model is in very fine condition throughout. (9132) $1450.

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