Today we take you
on an
informational tour
about the
Magic Lantern.
Entertainment in days gone by, before T.V. and computers. Believe it or not, this led to what we enjoy today. Man is always trying to improve, and we are always reaping the reward of patient endeavour.
The lantern pictured on this page, was some child's delight in an era gone by. The colourful hand painted slides, were gently slid across the lens, lit from behind by a candle, while someone would read or tell the story.
Our magic lantern fits in the original box shown in the picture and there is a place to hold the 'slides'. There is a place below for a candle and a tall chimney for the smoke to escape.
Some say, types of magic lantern showings and story telling were even created as far back in time as ancient Egypt. We hope you will enjoy the whimsical pictures on the slides for this Magic Lantern which is part of the collection of the Whitby Historical Society.
Even though children now have so many interesting things to amuse and entertain, we find that even these simple showings still fascinate the mind.
The Basic features of a Magic Lantern are listed here.
1) Chimney. Tall chimneys were used to provide an updraft for candles or oil burning illuminants.
2) A Slot for the picture slides. These were always placed between the illuminant and a focus lens.
3) A Focus Knob was used to adjust the focus for the focal length of the screen or wall on which the picture was being projected. Moving back or forth until the image on the wall appeared sharp. In early lanterns 1 lens was used to project through and later models had up to 3 lenses and became ever more complicated devices than the one you see here.
Pictures slides consist of A piece of glass with the image painted on it and a cover glass to protect from damage. These were taped together with a binding tape around the edges and hold the 'slide' together as one complete unit.
Every magic lantern show consisted of the showing of slides together with other elements like music, audience participation, or the spoken word.
Especially in the later nineteenth century, as slides began to be produced on a semi-industrial scale, most major slide producers published readings giving a recitation, story or lecture to accompany their slide images.
Printed versions of a story usually accompanied a 'slide' show and, however because they were so cheaply printed, only a few exist in some collections. The Magic Lantern Society has a great deal of information on their web site and you can go there now by following the link.
We hope you will enjoy the pictures of slides on the right, we have no original story, perhaps you can think what they might have been. Some fairy tales, for sure.
Do you know the stories these slides portray?
email your comments or story additions. Please write Magic Lantern Slides in the subject line.
Do you have a tour request, a special interest, let us know.
A Virtual Tour of Historical Items
from our collection
and
their Stories.
More Virtual Tours
Learn about some interesting artifacts of olden days, click on the links below, more will be added as time goes by.
