Lancaster, J and Son | Special Instantograph Patent | English | Half Plate
ENGLISH HYBRID FIELD CAMERA. C1885. 'Special' often meant 'made to special order'. Maybe this was, as neither I nor the dealer who sold it to me had ever seen another like it, though I have seen a couple since. The patent probably refers to its unique method of folding which leaves the nice red bellows permanently exposed, whereas the baseboard folds up backwards to cover the ground glass, similar to but different from the Rouch Patent Camera. It is neither a tailboard nor an English front focus style camera, but a hybrid of the two. Very strange.
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