Stereo-Graphoscope, Handheld

United States, 1890s

A “graphoscope” was a popular viewing device that used a large magnifying lens to view non-stereo photos. When stereoscopes became popular, manufacturers began combining the two functions — magnified mono viewing and stereo viewing — in one device. This combo device was called a stereographoscope (sometimes hyphenated as stereo-graphoscope). While the tabletop stereographoscopes and stand-mounted stereographoscopes kept the different types of lenses separate — the large graphoscope lens at the top with the smaller stereoscope lenses underneath — the device shown here was patented in 1899 by H. C. White and combined the stereoscope and graphoscope lenses. To switch between viewing modalities, the lenses could be rotated 180 degrees using small levers on the lens plates on the back of the viewer hood. According to Paul Wing’s book, “Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years,” the design was quite impractical but yet a large number were marketed by and sold through Sears Roebuck Company.