Magic lantern

Phantasmagoria lantern. Carpenter & Westley. In 1821 the English optician Philip Carpenter presented the Phantasmagoria Lantern, a technically excellent lantern that would enjoy great commercial success. It is a black tin instrument that is quite solid, with a long chimney in the form of an angle, an achromatic objective and a top quality condensing lens, using petroleum light with a reflector. A better double model was also manufactured. It has two identical lanterns placed one beside the other, attached with a system of bolts onto a wooden base. In front of the objectives there is a rotating cat’s eye held by a wooden axis set between the two lanterns so as to create dissolving views, changes of images using linked fades.