Oliver Holmes Stereograph Invention

This is a stereograph card with two identical images which can be viewed through a magnifying viewer to make the objects appear 3 dimensional.

In Oliver Holmes' article "The stereoscope and the stereograph" in 1859 he describes the mechanics of the stereograph and the amazing advance it is to be able to take a two dimensional picture and make it three dimensional. The very idea that our eyes can see three dimensional is itself intriguing. Holmes' explains that the very detail that a picture can capture an artist would leave out.

"Form is henceforth divorced from matter. In fact, matter as a visible object
is of no great use any longer, except as the mould on which form is shaped.

"We are looking into stereoscopes as pretty toys, and wondering over a photograph as a charming novelty; but before another generation has passed away, it will be recognized that a new epoch in the history of human progess."

What Holmes is saying in 1859 is that in the years to come the photograph will be mass poduced instead of a novelty for the wealthy. Holmes talks of the nest European war being photographed and how a bulb of light flashing would help increase exposure time for a picture. His thoughts and ideas are ahead of his time and this article expresses his belief that the photograph will bring great things in the future.