Need Grubb Lens Expertise

[Willeica]

I mentioned my recent acquisition of photographs of North Wales (Portmadog, Anglesey,Snowdon etc) taken by Francis Bedford c 1870. In the mid 1860s Thomas Grubb was advertising the use of his lenses by Mr Bedford. I like to think that Bedford was using a Grubb lens (or lenses) at the time he captured these splendid landscape images.







William

[Mark J]

Wow , these are great. Look at all the fishing boats at Porthmadoc ; and how big the Dinorwig slate quarry already was in 1870 ( in the last shot ) .
Thanks !

[Willeica]

This might belong properly in a stereo thread, but as it relates to a paper delivered by Howard Grubb in January 1879 to the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) very shortly after his father Thomas had passed away, I think it belongs here. Howard looked at the Stereoscope designs of Charles Wheatcroft (reflecting 1838) and David Brewster (lenticular 1849) and concluded that while the former was superior optically, the latter was a winner in terms of compactness, convenience and cheapness. Howard went on to suggest some improvements in the Stereoscope, but, as far as I know, his firm never produced such an item. They were too busy with building observatories around the world, creating the standard rifle sight, making periscopes for the Royal Navy, as well as making the coelostat which was used to prove Einstein's Theory of General Relativity (last picture below) and many other items. I have enclosed just the first page of his talk, but I have the full talk in a pdf which I can send by email to anyone who wants it







William

[Willeica]

Wow , these are great. Look at all the fishing boats at Porthmadoc ; and how big the Dinorwig slate quarry already was in 1870 ( in the last shot ) .
Thanks !

Thanks, Mark. I really love them. He was a great photographer and whatever lens he was using was not bad either. I have passed through this area many times after travelling from Dublin to Holyhead and Paul (pgk) lived nearby up to a few years ago, so the area is one I can relate to. On a clear day and in particular atmospheric conditions you can see the mountains of Snowdonia from Dublin, where I live.

William

[Willeica]

Wow , these are great. Look at all the fishing boats at Porthmadoc ; and how big the Dinorwig slate quarry already was in 1870 ( in the last shot ) .
Thanks !

Two more by Bedford from c1870, as you like them so much. Can you identify the building beside the mound or just the location?




William

[Steven Tribe]

Thanks Steven. ould you provide dates for the second two please?

The Advert I'd really like to get hold of is the ‘original’ advertisement of April 9th, 1859 in “The Photographic Journal” (No 82) which is referred to in later advertisements as showing the prices of lenses. I believe that this may be the first advert which lists the available early lenses

All three Pages are screen shots of a single advert from 1868.
Found when I was doing a Google search for “Alexis Millet”!

https://books.google.com/books/about...d=UTFkAAAAcAAJ

[Willeica]

My latest discovery, a lovely Howard Grubb Aplanatic No 4009 for 10x8 plates from the 1880s. It has a diaphragm with the range f16-f64, although it does go wider to perhaps f12 or f14 at the wide end. The diameter of the lens is 2.5 inches. There is no sign of any 'rice writing' engraving on the edge of the glass, but there is no patent claim on the lens. This item is part of the collection of the former Photographic Society of Ireland (founded in 1854 as the Dublin Photographic Society) which I am cataloguing at our National Photographic Archive (part of our National Library). Howard Grubb was President of that Society in 1888/1889. The lens is in lovely condition and I am wondering whether Howard might have presented the lens to the Society. The serial number would belong to a pre-diaphragm era, so more research is needed.







Not dissimilar to my own aluminium Howard Grubb lens 5350 for 10x12 (orange coated glass element)



Comments are welcome, of course.


William

[Mark J]

Sorry I missed these. Is that Llyn Dinas in the second shot ?

[Willeica]

Mark, various locations were mentioned in the auction lot, but were not matched with the photos. I will send you the complete set of auctioneer's images and also the list of names given by the auctioneer and maybe you can match and identify them for me? It is great that you can identify locations from how they looked 150 years ago. It says a lot for the unspoilt nature of North Wales.

William

[pgk]

Sorry I missed these. Is that Llyn Dinas in the second shot ?

Looks like Llyn Gwynant to me. The building is still there but had boarded windows last time I saw it. At the vally bottom to the right of the photo is the campsite.