Saugrin Album Magique

France, 1860s

Beautifully crafted with gold detailing, this "Magic Album" was created in 1860s France by photographer Louis François Saugrin. The viewer pops out from its built-in storage space when the album is opened — it's completely removable and can be inserted into slots on the inside of either cover enabling viewing of both sides of the album pages. I was lucky that this album still has one stereoscopic portrait on the first page — the remaining pages have regular, non-stereo portraits. You can find more info on this viewer and Saugrin's patents on page 40 of Paul Wing's book "Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years."