"British" Stereoscopic Camera

"British" stereoscopic bellows plate camera, made by J.T. Chapman 1895 - 1900, with a Dallmeyer stigmatic serial II lens; accompanied by case with plate holders and lens boards.

J T Chapman Limited was established by Josiah Chapman as a medical and photographic chemist in Manchester in 1874, but gradually focused on the photographic side of the business, in which it operated for over a century. After an early emphasis on making photographic emulsions and plates, Chapman began offering his own designs of camera in 1883. These were initially made for them by other firms, but the company may later have had its own factory. Chapman marketed its own cameras until the early decades of the 20th century, but eventually focussed on retailing those produced by others.

Chapman offered a series of different designs under the name “British Camera” from 1888 and for many years afterwards. This particular example probably dates from around 1895 – 1900 and is, unusually, a stereoscopic camera. Each of its photographs was made up of a pair of images of the same subject from taken a slightly different perspective, meaning that when the photograph was viewed with a special viewer it appeared to be three dimensional. This example is complete with canvas case, dark holders for storing the light sensitive glass plates that it used for taking images, and lenses.