Catalogue Title:

   1880 Illustrated Catalogue of Optical Instruments Manufactured, Imported and For Sale, Microscopes, Telescopes, etc. 

Details about this publication:

     Replica of the original 1880 trade samples catalog all sorts of optical instruments, apparatus and supplies 
  -- 116 pages, in very good, like new condition.  Flex covers, cloth binding.  
  -- Replica-Reprint published by Portable Trunk Publishers. (undated) Circa 2007.

A delightful look at many different professional optical viewing devices, spectacles, binoculars, and other medical equipment popular in the late 19th century.  This catalog shows various models, and styles available to purchase wholesale for retail department stores, general merchandise, specialty shops, medical suppliers and wholesale jobbers.

Ideal catalog for collectors, restorers, prop and set designers, antiques dealers of finely made optical apparatus, that are now antiques.

Profusely illustrated and descriptive, includes index and original prices.  Thoroughly engaging.

Paper / Soft cover reprint edition in very good condition, flex covers, cloth bound, a sturdy book with typical slight wear to edges and spine from being moved around the shop, stored flat. Overall wonderful copy, informative resource. It would make a great gift for the fan in your life, even if that's you. 

About the company:  

Benjamin Pike was born in London in March 1777. Little biographical or educational information exists regarding his early years. At the age of 21, Mr. Pike moved to New York City, and within a few years established himself as an optician and manufacturer of mathematical and philosophical instruments (a term coined in the eighteenth century for scientific instruments uses primarily for academic or instructional purposes). His youthful enthusiasm and technical precision impressed colleagues and customers alike. Mr. Pike married Sarah and they became the parents of three sons - Benjamin Jr. (1809- May 7, 1864), Daniel, (August 16, 1815-April 16, 1893), and Gardiner (1825-April 13, 1893). His sons also became successful opticians in their own right.

At the age of 22, Benjamin Pike, Jr., became a partner in his father's business originally located at 166 Broadway and renamed Benjamin Pike & Son. A decade later, Daniel joined his father and brother, necessitating a slight name change to Benjamin Pike & Sons. However, the name reverted to 'Benjamin Pike & Son' when the ambitious Benjamin opened his own optical equipment business at 294 Broadway. The junior Pike married Frances Matilda Hope, and together they had three daughters - Catherine, Mary, and Harriet. In 1848, Benjamin Jr. published Pike's Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical, and Philosophical Instruments, an encyclopedic volume of more than 700 pages and 750 illustrations that is regarded as the most comprehensive collection of American scientific instruments and European imports of the mid-nineteenth century. Far more than a mere product/price listing, Mr. Pike Jr.'s catalogue provides detailed descriptions as well as helpful usage instructions for each item. Of particular interest to amateur and professional photographers were such products as the classic daguerreotype camera, a portable camera obscura (recommended for young photographers), a camera lucida for the draughtsman, a graphic mirror and polemoscope for perspective and reflection, a vast inventory of magic lanterns, and a lucernal microscope that could project transparent objects onto a screen or white wall (and, as the text points out, is in many ways superior to the solar microscope because of its simpler construction, ease of portability, and could also be used at night.  -- Source: Historic Camera --

Firmly readable, ideal for reference and collecting.   Very nice.  
            Clean Text.  Very Good condition.  Text is in English. 
            Reproduced directly from the original.

-- Defects: None found.   Please note that some sections from the original source may have used smaller text, thus those sections of the reprint may be a little hard to read.                

Modern, undated replica.    -- Facsimile edition

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