Edison in 3D

[TinfoilPhono]

Ten years ago I started researching the famous picture(s) of Edison taken at Mathew Brady's studio in April 1878, when Edison was in Washington to present the tinfoil phonograph. Most collectors are aware that there are 4 basic poses known: Edison alone with the phonograph, against a painted backdrop; Edison alone against a plain backdrop; Edison seated with Charles Batchelor standing; and Edison seated with Batchelor and Uriah Painter standing.

The images were not taken by Brady himself, but rather by his nephew, Levin Handy.

In the March 2006 issue of The Sound Box I wrote about that photo session and pointed out a number of variations among surviving prints, proving that multiple exposures of each of the 4 known poses were taken. Differences are often subtle -- position of a hand, different fold in a jacket, etc. But they are definitely there.

In the March 2007 issue I wrote a followup to present some exciting new information. The Library of Congress had just scanned and posted some original glass negatives from the Brady studio. The number of possible photographs taken that day keeps climbing.

But one in particular had captivated my imagination from the very beginning. In the Edison Papers Project book, Vol. 4, page 239, note 3: Paul Israel wrote that "In a 1 May letter Painter stated he would send that evening a copy of a stereoscopic version of one of the pictures, which has not been found." I mentioned that elusive image in my first article. How great would it be to find that? But it hasn't been found.

Until yesterday.

I feel like such an idiot. I saw the stereoview 9 years ago. I published it in an article. And yet, even as someone who shoots stereoviews today using the 19th century wet plate collodion process, I failed to see the obvious. :slaps forehead:

When I was doing that research my attention was entirely focused on the differences among the various images. That blinded me to the similarities. :slaps forehead again: I had looked at the LOC negative with its two side-by-side images of Edison with Batchelor and Painter and immediately noticed that Painter had turned his face slightly between exposures. So I simply chalked them up as two separate photos. Which they are. Except-- they are on the same plate. They were taken in the same camera. One with two lenses, side-by-side. Duh -- a stereo camera. I have one. I know about this. :slaps forehead yet again: It's a tad unusual for a 19th century photographer to take sequential rather than simultaneous images for stereoview, but it is certainly not unheard of. I have lots of stereoviews in my collection which were clearly taken separately.

Yesterday as I looked at the plate again I decided to 'free-view' it -- a technique of squinting in a way that melds stereo images into a full 3D picture without the use of a stereoviewer. It takes practice but is pretty easy. I almost fell out of my chair. There it was-- full, eye-popping, crystal clear 3D. Yikes!!!!!!!!!! The "missing" Edison stereoview!

It was right there in front of me the whole time. I honestly can't believe I missed it before.

I don't know if this is the same image that Painter referred to in his letter to Edison, or if there might have been another taken that day. Either way I consider this to be a major discovery.

Check it out yourselves. You can either try to free-view it, or download and print to size and put it in a stereoviewer, Yes, Painter's face ends up a tiny bit wonky but the rest of the image is razor sharp.

[PeterF]

Super cool, and easily free-viewed. Awesome, Rene!

[fran604g]

That's a little spooky, Rene.

[JohnM]

Incredible discovery! And gives new meaning to the term 'From Tinfoil To Stereo'!

[martinola]

Is that cool, or what?! Now I want one for my stereoptican.

Martin

[TinfoilPhono]

Forgot to mention: if you print this out for a stereoviewer, you should cut the print in half and transpose the images -- left picture on the right and right picture on the left. This maximizes the 3D effect.

[Edisone]

Painter moved his head the most, then Edison, then Batchelor. The phono & Edison's legs stayed still, though ! I have to make stereo pics a certain size on the screen, then remove my glasses & get my nose about 9 inches from the screen; free-viewing is easy for me, after that.

[Schlick]

Mr. Rondeau,

An AMAZING discovery!!! (And quit hitting yourself! Everyone else had the same evidence and yet lacked to make the connection.)

You, sir, are an invaluable contribution to not just this this "hobby" but also to the preservation of history in general.

And this again is a perfect example of today's undying generosity: That the members of this forum give away for free the most valuable asset of all - their hard earned knowledge and wisdom.

Thank you!

-Michael Schlick

(Albeit, I had to try "free viewing" for so long until I got it to work that I'm now a bit queasy!)

[Edisone]

In the largest size pic available from the LOC, you can see that the base & crank look 'aged', as if they had been used for something else before the phono. Also note Edison's skinny / bony hands - he looks malnourished.

[TinfoilPhono]

It's not impossible that the base was recycled from some other purpose -- the Kruesi prototype base certainly was -- but there are no extraneous holes in the Brady base, and the size and shape conform perfectly with the design of the phonograph. I tend to believe it was made specifically for this phonograph, especially since a total of 9 were built. Most likely the chips in the paint resulted from carting this heavy phonograph around from place to place, starting with its first public exhibition in New York over New Year's 1877/1878. By the time the picture was taken it had traveled quite a lot, and had been used extensively both inside and out of the lab.

Interestingly the two surviving machines (one at the Edison site in NJ and the other at the Ford Museum in MI) differ slightly from the one in the Brady photographs. The speaker in the picture has a rib along the front, while the survivors are smooth. The width of the upright supports for the shaft are also slightly different in size. Looking closely at the crank in Edison's hand it shows a fairly normal wooden knob. The surviving machines have small, rounded brass knobs. They also have a slot across the mandrel to tuck the foil in place. That is almost certainly a mid-1878 modification done in Edison's lab to upgrade them, as was also done for most exhibition machines out in the field.

The 2 surviving Brady phonographs match each other exactly, including their painted decorations.