A Brief History of the Stereograph.

Photographic stereographs or stereoviews, developed from research into binocular vision by Charles Wheatstone, who demonstrated his stereoscope in 1838 using paired drawings. Following the introduction of photography, David Brewster developed a compact lenticular stereoscope during the 1840s, allowing paired photographs made from slightly different viewpoints to be viewed as a single image with an impression of three dimensional depth. The format gained widespread attention after stereoscopic photographs were displayed at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. By the 1860s, commercially produced stereographs had become an established photographic medium, commonly consisting of two albumen prints mounted side by side on card and viewed through a handheld or table top stereoscope.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, stereographs were produced commercially in large numbers and distributed internationally by companies including Underwood & Underwood, Keystone View Company and the London Stereoscopic Company. Photographers recorded cities, landscapes, architecture, industry, railways, wars, exhibitions, archaeological sites, natural landmarks and everyday life, allowing publishers to sell individual views and themed sets covering locations throughout the world. Improvements in dry plate photography, printing and mass production expanded the market during the 1880s and 1890s, while home stereoscopes became common viewing devices. The format remained commercially significant into the early twentieth century before declining as illustrated magazines, postcards, cinema and other forms of mass visual communication became increasingly widespread.

Stereoscopy

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Historical Photographic Stereograms, late 19th to early 20th century.
Photographers and publishers vary across the collection.
Source: Wikimedia Commons and contributing archive collections.
Licence: Public Domain where indicated on the individual image record.

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