CATALOGUE

  STEREOSCOPIC VIEWER
 TAXIPHOTO 
Sánchez de Prado Collection


Mahogany wood, glass and metal
h: 124.5 cm; a: 32 cm; e: 32 cm
Early 20th century
 

A mahogany piece of furniture consisting of two prismatic bodies. The lower one is a rectangular cabinet with four ball-and-socket feet and a front door, inside which are fourteen drawers for sorting slides. Each drawer has four compartments in which four trolleys are fitted to hold, vertically, twenty-five stereoscopic slides. In the upper body are installed the machinery and two holes provided with lenses. On the sides are two metal handles in the shape of a knocker. The back has a translucent white glass. Hinged top lid. The piece of furniture appears to be sober and functional in style. It has two plaques; the upper one reads Le Taxiphote. Stéréo-classeur. Distributeur automatique. Breveté. S.G.D.G., and the other explains how it works.
The stereoscopic viewfinder came into fashion in different versions with the western taste for photography. The mechanism consists of placing a carriage inside the upper box. With the action of a crank, each slide is moved forward and raised until it is between the lenses and the rear light inlet. A wheel on the side allows the selection of the desired slide up to a total of twenty-five slides. It has a wheel to adjust the lenses to the user's size and a front indicator for the number of the plate being displayed and a second wheel to display the text annotated by the author of the photos, which is written between the two lenses. Viewing these plates through the viewfinder allows a three-dimensional effect of the image to be obtained.
CS: 12217
Unpublished