THE FAIRY CAMERA
E. & H.T. Anthony & Company, New
York 1884-1898
5x8
The Fairy Camera was an upscale version of
Anthony's Novelette Camera, having nickel-plated fittings and a center-geared
track with rack-and-pinion focusing.
Reportedly introduced in July,1884, advertisements for
the Fairy appear by December,1884 in The
Philadelphia Photographer, and in Anthony's
Photographic Bulletin, Volume XV,1884. Both standard (square front) and
stereoscopic (oval or rounded front) versions were available from the onset. Initially,
the Fairy was offered in mahogany only from 1884 through at least December,
1886. As reflected in Anthony's Illustrated Catalogue of Amateur Photographic
Equipments and Materials, January, 1888, the mahogany construction was now
replaced by Circassian walnut, and this is how the Fairy would be offered
through the end of production in 1898.
Design elements seen in Anthony's Fairy Camera can be found under at least three patents. These same patents also applied to some of
Anthony's other field cameras, most notably to their Novel/Novelette series:
Patent
No. 255,567 was granted to Erastus B. Barker on March
28, 1882, for a rotating front and rear frame design to facilitate both vertical
and horizontal formats, and a center track-mounted fine focusing knob. Barker, of New York and later New Jersey, was
granted at least twelve photographic patents.
Many of these, including this one, were assigned to the E. & H.T.
Anthony & Company of New York:
Source: U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office
Source: U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office
Patent
No. 272,622 was granted to Erastus B. Barker on February
20, 1883 and assigned to the E. & H.T. Anthony & Company of New York.
The patent covered the rotating bellows and a fine focusing mechanism of a
different style:
Source: U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office
Source: U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office
Patent
No. 307,965 was granted to William H. Lewis and Erastus
B. Barker on November 11,1884, and assigned to the E. & H.T. Anthony &
Company of New York. Like Barker, Lewis enjoyed a long relationship with
Anthony, having granted at least eighteen patents to the company over a
ten-year period. This patent covered the brass corner clamps to retain the
ground glass, a revised frame to accept the plate holder and the hook-style clamps
used to secure the folding bed:
Source: U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office
As depicted in the drawings for Patent No. 272,622, the
camera was focused via a rod running from front to back. A connection to the
rod at the base of the rear frame permitted the frame to be slid and fixed for
an approximate focus. Then, rotating a fixed knob that encompassed a threaded section
at the rod's back end, permitted for fine focusing.
This rod focusing design appears to have been abandoned
in favor of a center-mounted rack-and-pinion arrangement, as seen under Patent
No. 307,965. Once the rear frame was racked out, the focus was set with a
binding screw located next to the focus knob. It's this rack-and-pinion design
which is seen in Anthony's advertisements, and on every surviving example of
the Fairy I've ever encountered.
The Fairy is also seen with three different focusing knob
styles. Two of these knobs are large and knurled, of which the first style
having a circular groove is believed to be the earliest version:
The second style knurled knob has a radiused face:
The last style resembles a "ship's wheel":
The knurled knob versions appear to be earlier, especially
the grooved style having been depicted in the first advertisements seen for the
camera in 1884 through at least January,1889. In Anthony's Illustrated Catalogue of Photographic Equipments and Materials for
Amateurs, May,1891, both the grooved knurled knob and "ship's
wheel" styles appear, and would continue to be depicted in their catalogue
engravings for the Fairy through February,1898. Despite the knurled knobs being earlier, they
are the style most Fairy Cameras are seen with today.
Aside from the standard square-shaped lens standard, the
Fairy was also available in a stereoscopic version having an internal
septum. These stereoscopic versions are
readily identifiable by their oval-shaped fronts having a wider lens board to
accommodate stereoscopic lenses or shutters:
From
Anthony's Illustrated Catalogue of Amateur Photographic Equipments and
Materials, January, 1891
An example of a Fairy having the stereoscopic front, can
be found under the "Antique
Cameras" section of this website.
The 5x8 example seen here is constructed of Circassian walnut,
being equipped with a "ship's wheel" style focusing knob and a Gundlach
Optical Company 5x8 lens. This camera's rather
unique feature is the two glass ampule levels mounted to the back frame and to the
lens standard. This style of level was
not depicted in Anthony's catalogues, but they're nicely crafted and quite
functional:
Despite being manufactured for nearly fourteen years, relatively
few Fairy Cameras are seen
today. Their premium features and
beautiful construction rank them highly among collectors.
Another example of the Fairy Camera in 4-1/4 x 6-1/2, can be seen at the bottom of this
web page.
Fairy
Camera 5x8 (Circassian walnut)
Advertisement
from The Philadelphia Photographer, December,1884
From Anthony's Photographic Bulletin
Volume XV 1884 Source:
The Internet Archive
From Anthony's Photographic Bulletin
Volume XV 1884 Source:
The Internet Archive
Fairy
Camera 4-1/4 x 6-1/2 (appears to be
Mahogany with a dark lacquered finish)