Page 67 - All About History - Issue 52-17

Magic lantern

The ‘Magic Lantern Manual’ published in
1878, contained instructions on how to use a
lantern plus advertisements and illustrations

he origins of the optical or ‘magic’ shows were to prove a prime instrument for those delight and awe of someone – especially a child
lantern could not be simpler. Since the wanting to educate, lecture, chastise, convert, – seeing a magic-lantern show for the very first
5th century BCE in China, it had been persuade and entertain. time. True to its roots, the prime focus had been
known that projecting light through a Whether a fishing village in Cornwall, the South first and foremost to entertain. The darkened room
T small hole in a wall onto the opposite Pacific Islands, or an African tribal village, the and the larger-than-life image on the screen was a
wall of a dark room could replicate the scene exploration and recording of an expanding world unique experience to be shared, and the technical
outside, due to light travelling in straight lines. of Empire was at the heart of the Victorian dream. trickery employed by the lanternist was designed
What became known as the camera obscura was to Now it could be shared with a much specifically to thrill and amaze.
develop into both a scientific instrument (for safely wider audience, hungry for a glimpse Starting from the single, glass
observing a solar eclipse) and an essential tool for of the world that lay beyond the slide pushed across the lens,
many famous artists, including Leonardo da Vinci. end of their street. Photographic new techniques were soon
Major advances in lens technology during the 17th slides produced a realism developed. This often involved
century improved the images projected, and from never before seen, and for the ability to mechanically
here it was a short step to introducing a light source the uneducated it was a blank out a section of the
(initially candle or oil lamp) shining through a glass window to the world. slide before revealing a new
slide to project an image completely independent of For those fortunate section, using a short lever
the outside world. The magic lantern was born. enough to have an built in to the slide, giving
During the 18th century, the shows were very education, lessons became the impression of movement.
much a novelty; individual travelling lantern men far more interesting, with By doing so, a ship could be
and women would roam the countryside around schools buying up whole seen tossed on a rolling sea or,
Europe from village to village, town to town, the collections of lantern slides on a A magic lantern the most popular slide of all time,
lantern strapped to their backs, scraping a humble variety of subjects from science to temperance slide from a man is seen to be swallowing rats
living from their performances. Often a musician, geography, history to anatomy. The use the Victorian period in his sleep!
such as a hurdy-gurdy player, accompanied them; of the lantern to inform and instruct moved away But changes to the lantern itself could create
sometimes they themselves provided musical from its entertainment roots, but demonstrated even more ‘magical’ effects. Instead of a single lens,
accompaniment, thereby creating what we today just how adaptable it was as a tool, and how lanterns began to have two or even three. Multiple
would know as a multimedia experience. easily it supported the thirst for knowledge that slides could then overlay one another so that
By the end of the 18th century there had been underpinned the 19th century psyche. scenes could progress from one to the other using
a seismic shift in what people did, where they Looking back from our technological age, it is dissolves and fades, techniques to be later used in
worked and where they lived. The need to roam the perhaps difficult for us to understand the sheer film production. People and objects would appear
countryside became less, and now the population
was swarming together into towns and cities, “Photographic slides produced
creating a ready-made audience for the shows,
all eager to be amazed. The 19th century world a realism never before seen”
seemed full of possibilities, and magic-lantern
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