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 SFiS SSREAT UTR ¢ RS EROS: eo a

A HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

IN50 CAMERAS SBOE SSS GEILE, ELINA EAR 2

Michael Pritchard FRPS

Pi tf worms
Bo U RY
A History of Photography in 50 Cameras explores the 180-year
story of perhaps the most widely used device ever built.
It covers cameras of all forms, from the daguerreotype
of 1839 to the latest camera-phone, revealing the
origins and development of each model and tracing the
stories of the photographers who used and popularised
them. Illustrated throughout with studio shots of all
fifty cameras and a selection of iconic photographs
made using the cameras, it is the perfect companion
guide for camera and photography enthusiasts alike.
Pua SI RANORSIOA

IN 50 CAMERAS.
A HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Michael Pritchard FRPS

 Bloomsbury Visual Arts
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway

London New York
WC1B 3DP NY 10018
UK USA

www.bloomsbury.com

Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

© Quid Publishing, 2014

Conceived, designed and produced by

Quid Publishing
Level 4 Sheridan House
114 Western Road
Hove BN3 1DD
England

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage
or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action
as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

$
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4725-7538-8

Design by Peter Dawson, Grade Design

Layouts by Luke Herriott
Printed and bound in China
A HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

INSO CAMERAS
REN AT ED IVD SPSTSIESTA SSD SIE LESLIE

Michael Pritchard FRPS

Desi eo meee
se eR ou) oR. <y
Contents

Introduction 6

1 The Giroux Daguerreotype 8

2 The Talbot ‘Mousetrap’ 14

3. Ottewill’s Double-Folding Camera 20

4 Powell’s Stereoscopic Camera 26

5 The Sutton Panoramic 30

6 The Kodak 34

7 The Stirn Concealed Vest Camera 40

8 The Enjalbert Revolver de Poche 44

9 The Rouch Eureka 48

10 The Goerz Anschiitz 50

11 The Thornton—Pickard Royal Ruby 52

12 The Scovill Book Camera 56

13 The Sanderson Hand Camera 58

14 The Kodak Brownie 60

15 TheTicka 66

16 The Soho Reflex 70

17. The Vest Pocket Kodak Ts

18 The Thornton—Pickard Mark IIT Hythe Camera Gun 80

19 The Ermanox 84

20 The Leica I 88

21 The Contax I 94

22 The Voigtlander Prominent 100

23 The Coronet Midget i 102

24 The Canon Hansa 106

25 The Kine Exakta 110

26 The Minox 116

27 The Compass 120

28 The Kodak Super Six-20 124

29 The Kodak Matchbox 128

30 The Pacemaker Speed Graphic 132

31 The Hasselblad 138

32 The Polaroid Land Model 95 142

33 The View-Master Personal Stereo Camera 146

34 The Leica M3 150

35 The Rolleiflex 3.5F 156

36 The Nikon F - 160

37 The Topcon RE Super 166

38 The Kodak Instamatic 168

39 The Pentax Spotmatic 72

40 The Olympus OM-1 178

41 The Pocket Instamatic 182

42 The Polaroid SX-70 184

43 The Konica C35 AF 190

44 The Canon A-1 OD,

45 The Sony Mavica 194

46 The Fuji Quicksnap 196

47 The Kodak Nikon DCS100 200

48 The Apple QuickTake 100 204

49 The Canon EOS 5D Mark III 206

50 The Nokia Lumia 1020 210

The Future 214

Glossary ING

Bibliography and Acknowledgments 218

Index DR

Credits 224
Introduction

The ability to capture a moment in a photograph, where and when photographs were taken and
to freeze it in time, has fascinated us ever since the how they were shared.
daguerreotype process was announced in 1839. These continual improvements and
Back then, photography was the pursuit of a select developments have meant that the type of
few; today, the ubiquity of camera phones has photographs being taken, and the type of people
turned us all into photographers. As these nano- taking them, has been in constant flux too. The
devices attest, the history of photography, perhaps technical skill needed for photography for much
more so than any other art, is also a history of of the nineteenth century ensured that most
technology, one best revealed in the very vehicle people visited commercial portrait studios if they
that makes it possible — the camera. And yet it is also wanted their portrait taken. The resulting pictures
a history of people — the people who invented the were posed and formal, reflecting the long
cameras, the photographers who used them, and exposure times and a style of portraiture dictated
the subjects and events they photographed. by an artistic tradition.The growth of popular
The story of the camera has been one of photography from the later 1890s, with the
simplification, portability and the greater use introduction of more ‘user-friendly’ cameras
of technology to ensure that the user can capture such as the Kodak Brownie in 1900, changed
the image he or she desires. The camera obscura this dynamic. People began to take more pictures
was the simple artists’ drawing aid that, with for themselves. This coincided with, and helped
the development of optics and chemistry, evolved to reinforce, an increasing informality in the
into the photographic camera. The transition types of pictures people took and where
from the daguerreotype and calotype processes to they took them, a trend that continues in
wet-collodion in the 1850s, from collodion to the present day.
dry plates in the 1880s, and the move to film The field of photojournalism has also adapted
from the 1890s, all left their mark on how the! itself to the camera technology available. Robert
camera looked and handled. Then came the Capa, for example, would never have been able to
seismic transformation of photography from take his dramatic images of the Normandy beach
traditional silver-based emulsions to CCD — the landings using plates or the large cameras of the
digital equivalent of film — and other digital 1850s, yet the quiet, deliberately made images of
technology in the mid-1990s, which affected the Crimean War taken by Roger Fenton in 1855
the shape and size of the camera and, crucially, were equally powerful to the mid-nineteenth-

Introduction
century Victorians. Arresting digital images — both Photographs within each chapter show not only
still and moving — from the recent wars in Iraq the cameras themselves, but also samples of the
and Afghanistan were made possible by changing images made with them, giving a flavour of how
technology and, of course, by the skill and bravery each new technology led to new ways of creating
of the photojournalists. Reportage of events such photographs, from early Kodak snaps and 3D
as the Arab Spring, the Haiti earthquake of 2010 View-Master images to the up-close and vivid
and the Japanese tsunami of 2011 has increasingly depictions of war taken on the Contax. The story
relied on images taken by individuals on the ground of each camera is intertwined with those of the
using their camera phones, often within moments people who used it, from Weegee and his Speed
of them happening, with social media sites being Graphic to Cartier-Bresson and the Leica’s role in
used to circulate images of the events themselves. the invention of photojournalism, proving that in
This book seeks to tell the story of the camera the hands of individual photographers, particular
through 50 landmark models, from the first cameras have come to represent unique styles
wood boxes made for pioneers such as Talbot of depiction.
and Daguerre, to today’s digital SLR cameras and In the digital age, where almost everyone owns
camera phones. It is by no means a definitive list, a smartphone that incorporates a camera, there is
nor does it pretend to be. Rather, it is a selection always an opportunity to take a photograph.
to spark the interest of camera enthusiasts and Smartphone apps such as Snapchat, social media
provide fuel for further discussion and sites and new devices such as Google Glass and
exploration. Included are classics such as the others yet to come offer new ways of creating still
Leica, Nikon and Hasselblad used by professional and moving images — and instantly sharing them.
photographers, as well as amateur staples: the For many people, their smartphone is their only
humblest of box cameras, the Brownie, and camera, and this trend looks set to continue. In a
the single-use, or disposable, camera. Alongside world where the best-selling cameras are phones,
these are specialist cameras for stereoscopic or dedicated cameras may seem destined to become
3D photography, panoramic or wide-angle work, speciality tools. Yet the legacy of older cameras and
and the Polaroid for instant pictures. Some of photography’s analogue years lives on, not just in
photography’s oddities have also made the list, museums and collectors’ hordes, but in apps like
with novelty cameras in the shape of books Instagram and Hipstamatic, showing that classic
and guns, and ingenious spy cameras. cameras exert an enduring fascination.
 The Giroux Daguerreotype
PRODUCED: 1839 | counTRY: France | mMaNuractureR: Alphonse Giroux

ABOVE The Giroux he announcement of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre’s daguerreotype process
daguerreotype cameras on 7 January 1839 finally brought to public attention years of
introduced in September
experimentation by Daguerre, his former collaborator Nicéphore Niépce
1839 were the first of a
series of cameras designed
(1765-1833) and the latter's son, Isidore Niépce. A short notice had appeared in
for the world’s first the Gazette de France on 6 January without any details, and news of the process
commercial photographic quickly spread. In particular, it reached London and prompted Henry Fox Talbot
process, the daguerreotype. (see page 14) to bring forward the disclosure of his own process.

AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
The announcement of the daguerreotype process by physicist Francois Jean
Arago to the Académie des sciences eventually led to an agreement between
Daguerre and Isidore Niépce with the French government, dated 14 June
1839, that granted Daguerre a state pension of 6,000 francs (around
£15,500 today), Niépce junior 4,000 francs (around £10,300) for life, and
to their widows half of each sum. In return, Daguerre and Niépce pledged
to give the Ministry of the Interior a sealed package containing full details
of the invention. The process was to be validated by Arago, in his dual role
as a member of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Académie, after which
it would be publicly demonstrated by Daguerre. The bill enabling the
pension and confirming the agreement was passed by the French Chamber
of Deputies on 3 July 1839 and by the upper Chamber on 30 July.

The Giroux Daguerreotype

 Arago reported on the process before an enormous and enthusiastic crowd
on 19 August 1839.The event was hosted jointly by the Académie des
beaux-arts and the Académie des sciences. Following the announcement,
Daguerre was awarded the Légion d’honneur and showered with honours
from around the globe. Despite Daguerre’s professed intent to give his
invention ‘free to the world’, his agent patented the process in England and
Wales on 14 August 1839.

AN EXCLUSIVE DEAL
Daguerre was not only the co-inventor of the daguerreotype; he was also an
astute businessman. Although the process had been given freely to the world
ABOVE Louis Jacques
Mandé Daguerre (1787—
(other than to England and Wales), Daguerre was keen to ensure that he
1851) worked with profited from its commercialisation. On 22 June 1839, two months before
Nicéphore Niépce on the historic announcement at the Académie, Daguerre signed a contract with
developing the his relative Alphonse Giroux to make and sell the first daguerreotype
daguerreotype process,
cameras. The contract gave Giroux’s company the exclusive rights to produce
announced in January 1839.
and sell the camera and the other necessary equipment. From these sales,
Daguerre would receive a payment. The basis on which a second
manufacturer, Susse Freres, managed to produce its camera is unknown.
The Susse Fréres camera, of which only one example survives, went on sale
| some ten days before the rival Giroux camera became available. The Susse
| camera had a lens built by the Parisian optician Charles Chevalier, from whom
Daguerre had bought lenses and materials while he developed the
daguerreotype process. The camera followed the instructions given by Daguerre
and had a plate size of 16.5 x 21.5cm (approximately 6’2 X 8%in), a format
that became known as full or whole plate. The camera was almost identical to
the Giroux camera other than in the wood finish, which was painted black, and
in the brand stamp, which was simply a printed paper label that stated the
camera was made according to the plans of M. Daguerre that were given to the
Ministry of the Interior. The camera sold for 350 francs (around £9,000 today).
Alphonse Giroux et Compagnie quickly launched its own camera,
| Giroux emphasising his close relationship with Daguerre and the fact that
his camera was made under Daguerre’s direct supervision. The contract of
22 June between Daguerre and Giroux allowed for sales of daguerreotype
| equipment in France and abroad, although Daguerre included a clause to
allow him to sell or manufacture equipment in England with the prior
agreement of Giroux. In return, Giroux agreed to divide half the profit of
sales of each daguerreotype outfit with Daguerre and Niépce.
The first advertisement for Gifoux’s daguerreotype manual, camera and
accessories appeared in Le Constitutionnel on 7 September 1839.The Giroux
camera was similar to the Susse, and it too had a Chevalier lens. It was made
from polished wood and bore an oval lithographic stamp signed by
Daguerre himself, with a red wax seal and an inscription noting that the
apparatus was only warranted if it carried the signature of Daguerre and the
seal of Giroux. The Giroux camera sold for 400 francs (around £1,000
today). Today, around 15 Giroux cameras are known to exist.
RIGHT The Susse camera
business was immortalised
in a lithograph by
Théodore Maurisset called
La Daguerréotypomanie,
which satirised the rush
for the daguerreotype
apparatus.
The Susse firm
and its cameras and
associated equipment
are shown prominently
in the print.

The first official description of the daguerreotype process that was available to
the general public came in a handbook written by Daguerre; it included six
plates showing the camera and accessories. The first edition of the manual
appeared under the Susse imprint probably around 7 September 1839, and an
English edition dated 13 September was quickly advertised by the London Globe.
Further revisions and editions in different languages quickly followed
throughout the remainder of 1839.

A STANDARD DESIGN
The Susse and Giroux camera design became the standard for much of the
mid-nineteenth century. It established the standard plate size, which later
was divided down from the ‘full’ or whole-plate size to half and quarter
sizes. The construction, consisting of two boxes, one sliding within the
other, mounted on a baseboard, was widely used, particularly in
photographic studios, where portability was not an issue. It remained
popular through to the 1870s. It used a ground-glass screen to compose a
picture and to focus the lens.
There were, however, other variants. In England and Wales, where
Daguerre had patented his process and photographers were required to buy
a licence to operate it, the Wolcott daguerreotype camera was supplied by
Daguerre’s licence holder Richard Beard. Patented by Alexander S. Wolcott
in the United States on 8 May 1840, it used a concave mirror to focus the
image onto the sensitised daguerreotype plate. George Cruikshank included
the camera in an engraving of Beard’s studio in 1841.

10 The Giroux Daguerreotype

 Charles Chevalier, the Paris optician who made the lenses for the Susse
and Giroux cameras, introduced his own daguerreotype camera in 1840.
Chevalier had supplied optics to Nicéphore Niépce and had also introduced
Niépce to Daguerre; he was probably disappointed not to have been
awarded a contract to produce the daguerreotype apparatus. His design of
camera could be folded down to a quarter of its assembled height. The
camera was more portable than the Giroux, and later camera manufacturers
took up the design for wet-collodion use.
Other daguerreotype cameras were manufactured for particular demands.
In 1841, Alex Gaudin designed a small camera with a short-focus lens that
BELOW L.J.M. Daguerre, allowed for shorter exposures. Short exposures and more sensitive plates
Boulevard du Temple, believed required greater control over the amount of light reaching the plate. Gaudin’s
to have been taken in late
solution was a simple cloth shutter, which gave a little more control over
1838, to demonstrate the
potential of the exposure than the usual system of simply removing and replacing a lens cover.
daguerreotype process. Made by N. P Lerebours, the camera also included a rotating disc with three
The exposure was over ten apertures cut into it — a means of controlling the light entering the lens.At 21.6
minutes and shows a man x 24.2 x 26cm (8% X 9% x 10'/in), the camera was larger than it needed to
having his shoes polished
be to produce the sixth-plate images, but the extra size allowed for the fuming
— the earliest known
photograph ofa person. box, plate holders and accessories to be stored inside it. In 1845 in Paris,
Daguerre made two Friedrich von Martens invented a camera to produce panoramic daguerreotypes.
exposures on the same day. It used curved plates and had an angle of view of 150 degrees.

11
In 1841, Friedrich Voigtlander in Vienna produced a small camera with a
metal body in the shape of a truncated cone. The design meant it could be
easily carried, even with the associated processing equipment. Its lens,
designed by Joseph Petzval the previous year, allowed for exposures of 40-45
seconds in direct sunlight and 3% minutes in overcast conditions or in winter
—much faster than could be achieved by camaras with larger plate sizes.
In the United States, where the daguerreotype was to enjoy its longest
period of use and its greatest success, the Boston daguerreotypist John
Plumbe was one of the first to design and sell his own camera. It was based
on Daguerre’s original design but was smaller and included refinements
such as guide rods to support the two boxes. In the early 1840s, other
cameras made in America had a chamfered front; this feature was retained
even when bellows were introduced in the later 1840s. One of the best-
known manufacturers was William and William H. Lewis of New York, who
were still making daguerreotype cameras into the early 1850s. In general,
American-made cameras were purely functional, compared to their more
decorative and finely built British counterparts.
In the UK, as the daguerreotype began to achieve commercial success
from 1841 with the expansion of portrait studios, scientific instrument
makers, chemists and opticians began to manufacture their own camera
designs. All were variants of the standard box design. Some used a single
box and others were sliding boxes. In contrast to the walnut wood usually
used in continental Europe, and the cheaper woods used in America, the
British designs were generally made from mahogany, with lacquered-brass
BELOW A typical French
fittings and lens mounts. Their construction reflected their origin in the
sliding-box daguerreotype
scientific instrument-making tradition. camera (left), and (right)
The introduction of the wet-collodion process in 1851 and its rapid commercial the same camera’s plate
take-up from around 1854 did not change camera design significantly. holder and focusing screen.

12) The Giroux Daguerreotype

WILLIAM E. KILBURN
The daguerreotype was primarily used for
portraits, although some notable outdoor views
were also captured. One of the most unusual was
taken on 10 April 1848 and shows a Chartist
meeting at Kennington Common, London
(above). It represents one of the first
documentary photographs of a major news
event, taken using a process that was technically
difficult and not suited to recording such scenes.
It was acquired for the Royal Collection by
Prince Albert as a record of a time of threat to
the royal family. The image was taken by William
E. Kilburn, a well-known London commercial
photographer and accomplished daguerreotypist,
established in Regent Street since 1846. He was
noted for his portraits of royalty (such as that of
Prince Albert, 1848, see right), and his
daguerreotypes earned a prize medal at the
Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851.

13
2 The Talbot ‘Mousetrap’
probucED: Late 1830s | country: UK | manuracturer: William Henry Fox Talbot

ABOVE A crudely \A Tilliam Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) invented the negative—positive
constructed camera that process that formed the basis of photography until the rise of digital in
suppouscazalbens the early 2000s. Talbot's ‘photogenic drawing’ process, which he published in
es ke met a paper to the Royal Society on 31 January 1839, was a response to Daguerre’s
development of the announcement of the daguerreotype; it was refined to become the calotype
negative—positive process process, which Talbot patented in 1841.The principle of making*multiple
of photography and tothe | prints from a negative was crucial to the evolution of photography. The
Ce daguerreotype process, in contrast, despite its greater commercial success and
the higher quality of the images produced by it, was a dead end that would
be quickly superseded by the wet-collodion process, announced in 1851.

14 The Talbot ‘Mousetrap’

 ee.

ABOVE Portrait of
William A FRUSTRATED ARTIST
Henry Fox Talbot by John A nineteenth-century polymath, Talbot was an accomplished mathematician
Moffat, May 1864. Moffat
and a Greek scholar, and also worked extensively on deciphering and
invited Talbot to sit for his
portrait at his Princes Street
translating cuneiform. He was introduced to the leading scientific figures of
studio when the two met at the period, including John Herschel and David Brewster, with whom he
a Photographic Society of formed lasting friendships, and was also a member of Parliament and a
Scotland meeting in landowner, managing the estate of Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire, England.
Edinburgh. Talbot was also a frustrated artist, and this provided the catalyst for the
experiments that were to lead to the invention of calotype. In October 1833,
during a parliamentary recess, he visited Lake Como in Italy with his new
wife, Constance, and his sisters, taking along his drawing materials to pass the
time. He quickly discovered that he was not a natural artist and, even with the
help of acamera lucida, an optical drawing aid, his efforts were poor. In his
1844 book The Pencil of Nature, which was designed as a showcase for calotype
photography, he reported that his pencil sketches were ‘melancholy to
behold’. The camera obscura, which produced an image on translucent paper

US
so that it could be traced with a pencil, was also of little help to him. He
reported that his poor draughtsmanship led him to ‘reflect on the inimitable
beauty of the pictures of nature’s painting which the glass lens of the Camera
throws upon the paper in its focus — fairy pictures, creations of a moment, and
destined as rapidly to fade away... the idea occurred to me... how charming it
would be if it were possible to cause these natural images to imprint
themselves durably, and remain fixed upon the paper’
Back in Britain, Talbot returned to his parliamentary duties and it was
not until the spring of 1834 at Lacock that he began to work on a chemical
method to fix images on paper. He was perhaps aware of the earlier work of
Thomas Wedgwood in 1802 and he knew that silver nitrate would darken
in light. This formed his starting point and he quickly produced simple
shadow pictures — or negatives — which he called sciagraphs. Talbot
recognised the concept of using a negative to produce multiple copies; he
also acknowledged the need to ‘fix’ his results to prevent further darkening,
something he achieved using potassium iodide.
The following year, 1835, helped by a particularly bright summer,
Talbot continued his attempts to develop a process that could capture a
scene with tones, and not simply ‘shadows’ of objects. What he needed was
a box to hold sensitised paper, with a lens at the other end was needed —
BELOW A reflex camera
a camera. Talbot had tried to use a conventional camera obscura but the
obscura based on an
poor-quality lenses produced only a dim image, which was fine for tracing illustration in Lardner’s
purposes but required very long exposure times to produce an image on Museum of Science and
specially prepared paper. Art (1855).

16 The Talbot ‘Mousetrap’

 (with 1,Fe GER oe Jlrcu ra )

how oe EB ae
fa la Xf oper 200 om Orecmntre c

oA g whe, bri Th kek

eee.

He therefore designed his own camera. He reasoned that a small image ABOVE W.H. F. Talbot,
produced by a lens oflarge aperture and short focal length would reduce Latticed Window (with a
the exposure time. His ‘mousetrap’ cameras were small boxes, only around camera obscura), August
1835. One of the most
50 or 75mm (2 or 3in) cubes, and roughly made, with large lenses. important photographs
The cameras were placed around the grounds of Lacock Abbey and in the ever made. This is the
Abbey itself. The oldest surviving negative, dating from August 1835, is of earliest negative in
a latticed window in the Abbey. By the end of the summer of 1835, Talbot existence and was made
by Talbot in the South
had largely achieved what he had set out to do, although he realised that the
Gallery, Lacock Abbey,
results could be underwhelming compared to watercolours or engravings. looking out of
His work was recognised by his family and appears to have been appreciated the window. Talbot noted:
and reasonably successful. In letter written on 7 September, Constance “When first made, the
asked: ‘Shall you take any of your mousetraps with you into Wales? — it squares of glass, about
2.00 in number, could
would be charming for you to bring home some views.’ He resolved to
be counted with the
improve his work before publication, but other matters, political and help ofa lens.
scientific, intervened, and he put his work on photography to one side.

THE NAMING OF THE MOUSETRAP unlikely. At least one surviving camera appears
to have been made from a cigar box and still
A story, mostly likely apocryphal, tells that Talbot has the remains of a lock on it. Their appearance
asked the Lacock carpenter Joseph Foden to led his wife Constance to describe them as
make up a series of boxes for him. In reality, the ‘mousetraps’ in a letter to Talbot of 7 September
cameras are so crudely made that this seems 1835 (see above).

17
FURTHER REFINEMENTS ABOVE The Reading
In November 1838, Talbot decided to return to his experiments of 1835 and Establishment, attributed

refine his work into a paper that could be published. The announcement by to Nicolaas Henneman,
1846. One part ofa
Daguerre in January 1839 was unexpected and shocked him. Although he
two-part panorama of
did not know the details of Daguerre’s process, its chemistry or operation, Talbot’s photographic
or whether it differed from his own, Talbot knew he had to publish a paper printing works at
to secure the place of his own work. However, winter was not the best time to Reading, which was run

produce new images. On 25 January, the influential English scientist Michael by Henneman. Talbot is
shown operating the
Faraday displayed some of Talbot's 1835 photogenic drawings at the Royal
camera on the right.
Institution. On 31 January, Talbot published a quickly written paper, Some
Account of the Art of Photogenic Drawing’, which was read before the Royal
Society; three weeks later, he detailed his working methods.
He began to experiment further, and the cameras he had made in early
1839 were professionally crafted. They were larger than his ‘mousetraps'’,
with some taking negatives of up to 127 x 178mm (5 x 7in), and they
incorporated new features. Some of the cameras had a hole in the front
panel above the lens so that the image on the paper could be composed and
focused. A cork or a sliding brass plate closed the hole during exposure. As
Talbot's work progressed towards the development of the calotype in 1841,
he purchased commercially made daguerreotype cameras. In October 1839,
he ordered two daguerreotype cameras with lenses from Alphonse Giroux
via the London optician and instrument maker Andrew Ross at a cost of
310 francs (around £775 today). Ross also reported back to Talbot on the
optical properties of the Chevalier lenses on the Giroux camera.
Talbot's ‘mousetrap’ cameras were crude but supported his experiments
and helped him to achieve exposure times of around ten minutes in bright
sunlight for his photogenic drawings. A key turning point was his discovery
that the sensitised papers contained a latent image that could be chemically
‘developed’. As he refined his work and increased the sensitivity of his
papers in particular, his cameras changed to reflect the need for something
more precisely constructed that would support his work.

> The Talbot ‘Mousetrap’

THE CALOTYPE PROCESS
Talbot patented his calotype process in February 1841, and this obliged
commercial operators to obtain a licence to work it. The calotype was less
well regarded than the daguerreotype: the paper absorbed the light-sensitive
chemicals, resulting in a soft image, compared to the well-delineated image of the
daguerreotype, which was made on a metal plate. In England and Wales, amateurs
could use Talbot's calotype process without a licence; it was easier, and safer,
to work with than the daguerreotype and so it proved relatively popular.
Professionals, however, preferred the better definition of the daguerreotype, so
few bought a licence from Talbot, and those who did failed to make it pay. In
Scotland, Talbot's patent did not apply. There, the calotype was used by more
professionals, in particular David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, who
produced a large body of work together. In France, the calotype was highly
regarded for its artistic properties, and it also found a limited market in America.
A number of calotype cameras were advertised and produced. The differences
between cameras used for the daguerreotype, calotype or wet-collodion processes
were slight, with only the plate holders requiring adaptation to hold the different
metal, paper or glass light-sensitive supports. One of the best-known calotype
cameras was designed by George Cundall, who was:a strong supporter of the
process. In 1844, he wrote the first practical account of the process (Talbot had
always kept the details obscure to discourage those using it without a licence).
The article, which appeared in the Philosophical Magazine in February and was later
published as a separate manual, also described a camera of Cundall’s own
creation. It was a sliding-box design and incorporated several new features. There
were internal baffles to stop light scattering, and the lens was fitted with a hood
to prevent lens flare. Most importantly, given the soft-focus image the calotype
produced, it included a scale that showed the optical and chemical focus. One
would focus the camera for the light, and then the scale would be used to adjust
for the chemical focus. The difference in focus reflected the aberrations in the
lenses of the period; this disappeared as lenses were corrected.
Cundall’s camera was initially supplied by an optical instrument maker,
J.C. Dennis of London, and then by other manufacturers and retailers, including
George Knight and Son, and Horne, Thornthwaite and Wood from 1845. Only one
example of the camera is now extant, in the Royal Photographic Society's collection.

HENRY COLLEN had only used hand-drawn designs to create the

stereoscopic effect. On Christmas Day in 1842,
Henry Collen (1798-1875) was miniature painter to _he was asked by the British Foreign Office to
Queen Victoria. In 1841, he became the first licensee | photograph the Treaty of Nanking, which ceded
for Talbot’s patented calotype process. He also Hong Kong to the British. The document contained
commissioned Andrew Ross, the London optician, Chinese characters and photography was the perfect
to make a photographic lens — the first to be medium to make an exact copy. Collen abandoned
designed in Britain. Collen supplied calotype prints the calotype process in 1844 when it failed to meet
for Sir David Brewster's stereoscope, which until then —_his commercial expectations.
3 Ottewill’s Double-Folding Camera
PRODUCED : 1853 | country: UK | MANUFACTURER: THOMAS OTTEWILL

3
:
a.
i
Hy]
t

ABOVE Ottewill’s Double- any of the early cameras were boxlike and unwieldy, but as most
Folding camera (approx. photographers of the time worked in a fixed studio, portability was not
33 x 25 x 66cm/13 x 10
a primary requirement. Before 1850, few photographers travelled; those who
x 26in) represented the
best of British camera did generally used smaller cameras, while those determined to secure large
manufacturing, with negatives found ways to transport larger cameras that were more at home in
a design that made fora the studio. The French manufacturer Chevalier had introduced a collapsible
more portable camera for camera for daguerreotype use in 1840 and the design was resurrected by the
the wet-collodion process.
London maker Thomas Ottewill in his Double-Folding camera of 1853.The
result was the first portable camera of reasonable size.

A REPUTATION FOR QUALITY

Thomas Ottewill established his business as a ‘photographic & philosophical
apparatus’ manufacturer in 1851. He quickly achieved a high reputation for
the quality of his wood and brass work, and by the end of 1854 he had
supplied a double-folding camera, two dark slides, plate boxes and accessories
at a total cost of £49 11s 6d (£4,000 today) to H. E. Becker, on behalf of the
Royal Household. Ottewill’s business was located at 24 Charlotte Street,
Islington, which was close to Clerkenwell, an area that contained many small

20 Ottewill’s Double-Folding Camera

 manufacturing workshops, including other camera manufacturers. By 1856,
the firm claimed to ‘have erected extensive workshops adjoining their former
shops, and having now the largest manufactory in England for the making of
cameras, they are enabled to execute with dispatch any orders they may be
favoured with’. In 1861, around 20 people were employed in his workshops.
The firm’s reputation was enhanced by cameras such as the Double-
Folding model, the design of which was registered on 25 May 1853.The
camera was a sliding box, with the smaller rear box moving inside the
larger front box. A board at the front held the lens, and a ground-glass
focusing screen slotted into the rear, which also accommodated a plate
holder for making exposures. When the front and back were removed,
hinges running the length of each box allowed them to collapse down.
The design was similar to Chevalier’s camera, and a number of other British
camera makers introduced their own versions. The Journal of the Photographic
Society commented that Ottewill’s design “combined the requisite strength
and firmness with a high degree of portability and efficiency’.
Despite the firm’s reputation and the expansion of the business to offer
collodion and chemicals for photography, Ottewill was made bankrupt in
1861 and again in 1864.The reasons are not clear, but the business was
clearly struggling. New capital in the form of a Mr Collis, who joined
Ottewill from the lens maker Ross in 1867, failed to help and the firm
closed shortly afterwards.
Ottewill’s legacy was not simply a number of beautifully made cameras.
Several of his apprentices went on to establish their own successful
businesses. He was widely respected amongst his peers, but he left few
BELOW Thesamecamera, | traces of his business and personal life beyond the official records of his
closed. bankruptcies, the census and advertisements for his cameras.

Dt
CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON
The Ottewill Double-Folding camera was favoured by Charles Lutwidge
Dodgson, better known today as Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in
Wonderland. Dodgson practised photography for 25 years, making around
3,000 negatives, mainly using the collodion process. Although he is best
known for his photographs of young children, these represent only around
half of his output, with families, adults and a few landscapes making up the
remainder. Amongst his most famous portraits are those he made of the
young Alice Liddell and Alexandra ‘Xie’ Kitchin. As teaching, writing and
family commitments grew, he turned away from photography.
A diary entry by Dodgson describes the purchase of a Double-Folding
camera in 1856, the very year in which he met Alice Liddell and her family.
Dodgson and his friend Reginald Southey, who had taught him photography,
‘went to a maker of the name of Ottewill... the camera with lens etc will come
to just about £15. 1 ordered it to be sent to Ch[rist. Ch[urch]’ (Christchurch
being Dodgson’s Oxford college). Dodgson’s £15 (around £1,200 today)
would not have included the necessary chemicals or processing equipment,
which he purchased additionally from London firm R. W.Thomas of Pall Mall.
The following year, Dodgson immortalised the camera in a parody of rs
Longfellow’s well-known poem ‘Hiawatha’. Dodgson’s ‘Hiawatha’s
Photographing’ (below) described the camera, the wet-collodion process and
the process of making a photograph:

From his shoulder Hiawatha Secondly, my Hiawatha

Took the camera of rosewood, Made with cunning hand a mixture
Made of sliding, folding rosewood; Of the acid pyrro-gallic,
Neatly put it all together. And of glacial-acetic,
In its case it lay compactly, And of alcohol and water
Folded into nearly nothing; This developed all the picture.
But he opened out the hinges,
Pushed and pulled the joints and hinges, Finally, he fixed each picture
Till it looked all squares and oblongs, With a saturate solution
Like a complicated figure RIGHT Alice Liddell as
Which was made of hyposulphite
“The Beggar Maid’ (detail),
In the Second Book of Euclid. Which, again, was made of soda.
by Charles Lutwidge
(Very difficult the name is Dodgson, 1858. Alice
This he perched upon a tripod — For a metre like the present Liddell is thought to have
Crouched beneath its dusky cover — But periphrasis has done it.) been the inspiration for
Stretched his hand, enforcing silence — Lewis Carroll’s Alice in
Wonderland, and was his
Said “Be motionless, Ibeg you!” All the family in order
favourite model. This
Mystic, awful was the process. Sat before him for their pictures: photograph was inspired
Each in turn, as he was taken, by ‘The Beggar Maid’, a
First, a piece of glass he coated Volunteered his own suggestions, poem written by Carroll’s
With collodion, and plunged it His ingenious suggestions. favourite living poet,
Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
In a bath of lunar caustic
Alice would later pose for
Carefully dissolved in water — British photographer Julia
There he left it certain minutes. Margaret Cameron.

27) Ottewill’s Double-Folding Camera

i ig
_"
‘
THE VERY BEST OF ENGLISH WORKMANSHIP ABOVE Bland &
At this time, British camera manufacturers dominated camera making in terms Company’s folding camera
was their version of
of the quality and technical refinements of their cameras. Cameras made in the
Ottewill’s folding design.
United States, France or Germany, although they sold in their local markets, The company was taken
were only exported in limited numbers. Ottewill was one of the best British over in 1864 by Negretti
camera manufacturers during the 1850s and 1860s, and he was still recognised as and Zambra, best known
such in the early twentieth century. He was able to capitalise on the growth of for their scientific
instruments.
commercial portrait and amateur photography resulting from the introduction of
the wet-collodion process in 1851. Ottewill was part of a small group of camera
makers termed ‘the photographic cabinet-makers’, which included George Hare and
Patrick Meagher. At the 1862 International Exhibition, one reviewer, Samuel Highley,
noted that their cameras were ‘of the very best of English workmanship, and contrast
very favourably with the productions of our foreign neighbours’.
At least five camera makers — J. Garland, George Hare,T.Mason, Patrick
Meagher and A. Routledge — all worked for Ottewill before establishing their
own businesses as photographic manufacturers. Each had entered photography
directly rather than having come via scientific instrument making, as was the
normal route. Hare had served an apprenticeship as a joiner before he worked
with Ottewill, Collis and Company, where he stayed for a short period before

24 Ottewill’s Double-Folding Camera

INNOVATIVE DESIGNS portability. It was the first British camera to
use concertina-pattern pleated bellows. Fowkes’s
In addition to his own designs, Ottewill also camera was manufactured from the summer
made cameras designed by Frederick Scott of 1857, with Ottewill securing a government
Archer, the inventor of the wet-collodion contract to supply the camera to the Royal
process, and Captain Francis Fowkes, who in May Engineers. Ottewill also produced a miniature
1856 patented a camera that used cloth bellows camera inspired by Thomas Skaife’s Pistolgraph
rather than wood to save weight and improve of 1859 (see page 46).

LEFT Fowkes’s camera

was the first to use cloth
bellows, rather than a
wood body, between
the lens and plate.

SEI EE TEI Keowee

establishing his own business around 1857. Meagher, similarly, started as a

joiner’s apprentice around 1843 before working for Ottewill and then
establishing his own business by 1859. As a result, they were fully conversant
with photography. Specialisation helped them to develop their customer base,
giving them an advantage over general instrument makers who made everything
from scientific to navigational instruments.
In 1898, the British Journal Photographic Almanac noted that Ottewill ‘may be
regarded as the source to which the best school of English camera-making
traces its origin’. Ottewill and his contemporaries represented the
traditional form of handmade camera construction, producing high-quality
products in limited quantities.
Despite long careers, Hare and Meagher failed to make their later products
innovative or to improve their manufacturing methods beyond simple
workshop machines; the cameras they were producing at the end of their
careers were almost identical to those with which they had started in the 1850s.
Hare had largely retired by 1911 and Meagher died in 1897. Eventually, new
camera designs from the United States and Germany usurped the leading
position that British camera making had held from the mid-1840s.

25
 Powell’s Stereoscopic Camera
PRODUCED: 1858 | country: UK | MANUFACTURER: HorNE & THORNTHWAITE

ABOVE A portable camera he principle behind stereoscopy was that two slightly different images of
designed for taking the same subject would, when combined in a viewer, produce an illusion
stereoscopic photographs;
of three dimensions. Before the announcement of photography, drawings or
part of a long history of
stereoscopy that stretches
printed pairs of images were made to achieve this effect, and stereoscopy
from before the invention remained little more than a scientific curiosity.
of photography to today’s The daguerreotype had been used for producing stereoscopic portraits,
digital 3D cameras, 3D but the introduction of Fox Talbot's calotype process in 1841 gave stereoscopy
television and 3D Imax.
a boost. The first stereoscopic photograph was a portrait of the mathematician
Charles Babbage, made in 1841 by Henry Collen. Talbot produced stereo pairs
of images for Sir Charles Wheatstone, a Victorian scientist with wide-ranging
interests across many areas of science. Talbot did this by simply moving his
camera an appropriate distance between exposures.
Wheatstone designed a reflecting stereoscope in 1838 to combine the
two images, and then in 1844, Sir David Brewster developed his lenticular
stereoscope and a camera With two lenses for taking portraits. This attracted
little attention and it was only when Brewster travelled to Paris in 1850 and
demonstrated it to the opticians Soleil and Duboscq that its value was
recognised. Duboscq began manufacturing the stereoscope and produced a
series of stereoscopic daguerreotypes of statues, still-life subjects and natural
history, as well as portraits.

26 Powell’s Stereoscopic Camera

RIGHT Charles Street Mall,
Boston Common, by John
P. Soule, c. 1870. From the
series ‘Boston and
Vicinity’. Such views from
across the world were
widely sold.

RIGHT Company of Ladies

Viewing Stereoscopic
Photographs, by Jacob Spoel
c. 1860. As shown in this
Dutch painting, viewing
stereoscopic images was
a popular parlour activity.
It provided both
entertainment and
education.

THE STEREOSCOPIC CRAZE

The 1851 Great Exhibition acted as the catalyst that transformed stereoscopy
from a minor scientific interest into a popular one that quickly spread
across the world. This, combined with the introduction of the wet-collodion
process, made possible the mass production of stereoscopic photographs
and slides. As a result, stereo photographs became easier and much cheaper
to produce than hitherto. Photographers, print dealers, booksellers and
companies such as the London Stereoscope Company, which was founded
in 1854, began retailing hundreds of thousands of stereocards of people
and places. By the 1860s, no middle-class home was complete without a
stereoscope and a selection of stereocards.

27
RIGHT The Latimer
Clark was mounted ona
movable parallelogram,
allowing for two
exposures to be made
in quick succession.

The first camera that achieved any great popularity specifically for taking
stereoscopic pairs of photographs was demonstrated by Josiah Latimer Clark
at the Photographic Society of London on 5 May 1853. Prior to this,
photographers had generally used a single-lens camera and simply moved it
between exposures to capture the two images required to make a stereo pair.
The technique limited the photographer to taking still-life subjects or views
where any movement or changes between exposures would be minimal.
The Latimer Clark camera was mounted on a movable parallelogram
frame so that it could be shifted the required distance between exposures.
A string and pulley system connected to the plate holder ensured that the
second exposure was taken on the other half of the sensitised plate. This
arrangement allowed for the two exposures to be made in quick succession so
that any changes in the scene between the two were minimised. The design
remained popular and continued to be advertised well into the 1870s.
Perhaps the simplest and most obvious way to secure the two
photographs required was to have a camera with two lenses mounted side
by side. The first British provisional patent for such a camera was granted in
July 1853, and the first twin-lens stereoscopic camera that was offered for
general sale was made to the design of John Benjamin Dancer, patented on
5 September 1856.The design was a more advanced model of one that he
had first described in 1853.

THE PORTABLE STEREOSCOPIC CAMERA

John Harrison Powell, an optician working in Newgate Street, London,
registered his design for a portable stereoscopic camera on 27 November
1858.The small camera was mounted in a wooden box, the lid of which acted
as part of a track along which the camera moved to make the two exposures.
Adjustments allowed for the internal lenses to converge slightly towards a
subject that was close to the camera. The mahogany camera had hinges along
its sides that allowed it to collapse down — much like the Ottewill camera —
when it was not in use. The camera, with its plate holders and accessories, all
fitted inside the mahogany box, which, at 229 x 140 x 152mm (2x S’%X
6in) and weighing 2.3kg (5lbs), could be easily carried.

pX Seen
< eee ee Powell’s Stereoscopic Camera
 Powell's design was made by the London firm Horne & Thornthwaite, a company
that made and retailed photographic and scientific apparatus. It is likely that
Powell worked for the company. The intention behind the camera was reported in
The Photographic News on 7 January 1859: ‘The object in the construction of this
apparatus has been to make it portable, and at the same time as simple as possible,
so that it may be easily put together; also to avoid the use of loose pieces, which
are objectionable from their liability of being left behind when packing up’.

STEREOSCOPY REVISITED
The public interest in stereoscopy began to wane by the 1870s; although
cameras and stereographs continued to be sold, the mass interest of the 1850s
and early 1860s had dissipated. However, stereoscopy continued to reappear
| at roughly 30-yedr intervals: in the 1900s, the 1930s, the 1950s and the early
1980s. During these periods of popularity, camera manufacturers tended to
| adapt existing cameras by enlarging them and adding an additional lens,
ABOVE The Nimslo camera
of 1980 was a short-lived
thereby turning a regular model into a stereo camera. In some cases, they
attempt to resurrect stereo designed a completely new model to meet public demand. Manufacturers
photography. The cameras | of sensitised goods — plates and papers — produced appropriate sizes,
are now collectible and standardised at 6 x 13cm or 45 X 107mm (2% X 5’4in or 1'/6 X 4/Ain), to
continue to be used
support the taking of stereo pairs and the printing of them onto paper, or for
by a dedicated group
of enthusiasts.
turning into slides for viewing by transmitted light in a stereoscope.
The revived interest in stereoscopy in the early 1980s followed the
| introduction of the Nimslo camera in 1980, with which lenticular prints were
made from four negatives. These used tiny lenses on the surface of the print to
help create the three-dimensional (3D) effect. However, that interest was
short-lived and the Nimslo company collapsed in 1989.There has since been a
| renewed interest focused on digital techniques for producing 3D images. In July
| 2009, the Japanese Fuji company launched its W1 camera.This was followed by
the W3 in August 2010, which was a stereoscopic compact point-and-shoot
camera with the ability to capture 3D images and videos. The camera featured a
| rear screen that showed the 3D image, and Fuji also offered a printing service, as
| well as a 3D digital photo frame in which to display the captured images.

TOWARDS A 3D FUTURE? 2010 to 41.45 million in 2012. However,

ia ee ae development ofa 3D television set that
New digital techniques are now widely available functioned without the need for special glasses
to allow photographers with single-lens cameras _ (autostereoscopy) intended for the consumer
to combine a pair of images for a 3D effect, and market was abandoned by Philips in 2011
this has coincided with a renewed interest in 3D because customers were slow to move from 2D
television, 3D films and 3D Imax. Public to 3D. The recurring problem of having to
imagination has once again been stimulated and provide a special viewer or glasses and the need
it seems that 3D may yet achieve a permanent to provide 3D digital content for public
breakthrough. Sales of 3D-enabled televisions consumption may yet delay mass take-up for
have grown, rising from 2.26 million units in another 30 years.

US)
5 The Sutton Panoramic
PRODUCED : 1859 | country: UK | ManuracTurER: Thomas Ross

ABOVE Thomas Sutton’s espite the limitations and complexity of the daguerreotype and wet-
panoramic camera of 1859. IDR processes, landscape and outdoor photography was a popular
The flap shutter has been
pursuit for photographers, and one that offered significant commercial
removed to show the
distinctive water-filled lens.
opportunities for the sale of photographs. As early as 1842, the French
photographer Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey was touring the Mediterranean
taking pictures of places using the daguerreotype process. But the conventional
camera lens gave an angle of view of only 40—5S0 degrees, and so in order do
justice to the landscape views they were shooting, photographers would take
multiple photographs and either show them in sequence or mount them together.
Once the wet-collodion process and more portable cameras were
introduced, photographers were able to take pictures of remote places.
Increasing tourist travel meant that there was a growing market for such
photographs, and the panoramic photograph could command a higher price
than a single image. Other than joining separate photographs together,
photographers had three ways of making such pictures in a single operation
using their camera: the lens could be rotated to cover an elongated plate; the
light-sensitive plate or film could be moved across the projection of the lens (in
both these cases there would have to be a slit over the plate); or they could use a
camera with a wide-angle lens. All of these methods were employed from the
mid-1840s onwards. The first two methods required complex mechanisms
such as strings and pulleys to effect the movement in an even and controlled
way. The third was simpler but required the use of new lens designs.

30 The Sutton Panoramic

THE FIRST WIDE-ANGLE LENS
The first panoramic camera with a wide-angle lens was Thomas Sutton’s
camera, which used a lens that he patented on 28 September 1859.
The British patent described ‘improvements in the construction of
apparatus for taking photographic pictures, consisting of and entitled
an improved panoramic lens for taking photographic pictures’. The lens
design was distinctive in that between the glass elements a liquid was
added, most commonly water. This changed the refractive index on the
lens. The glass plates onto which the light-sensitive emulsion was coated
were curved to conform to the irregularities in the optical performance
ABOVE Sutton’s
of the lens. This ensured that the scene was sharply focused across its width panoramic lens was
and from top to bottom. initially made by Frederick
Sutton was a photographer, an opinionated commentator on Cox, and then by the
photography and the editor of his own periodical, Photographic Notes. In the London optician Thomas
Ross. It gave an angle of
15 December 1859 issue of Photographic Notes he wrote a lengthy description
view of 120 degrees.
of his camera and the equipment needed to make panoramic photographs.
He explained the problem: ‘The most serious trouble which the BELOW Taken from
photographic tourist has hitherto encountered arises from the circumstance Thomas Sutton’s
that his lens will only include small angle of view.’ He noted that his lens publication, Photographic
would ‘include more than one-third of the entire horizon, and an angle of Notes, the illustration
shows the camera and
from 30° to 40° vertically’. Full of self-confidence, he concluded: ‘Such is
associated apparatus
the construction of the Panoramic Lens; an instrument which opens a new including a stereoscope
and important field to photographers, and will, no doubt, amply repay any for viewing panoramic
artist of energy and ability who takes it up at once.’ pictures.

PANORAMIC LENS AND APPARATUS

31
 landscape photography. He even invented his own
camera to take panoramic images, which was
Camille Silvy (1834-1910) was a minor French demonstrated with a photograph of the Champs
diplomat whom Cecil Beaton named the Elysées in 1867. Silvy retired due to ill-health in
‘Gainsborough of commercial photographers’. He 1868 and moved back to France. As well as being a
took up photography in 1857 to supplement his commercial photographer, he considered himselfan
poor drawing skills and moved to London in 1859, artist. His River Scene (1858), taken near Nogent-le-
setting up a portrait studio with a clientele from the Rotrou, France, which made use of multiple
upper classes and royalty. He was probably the first negatives to produce the final image, was widely
photographer in London to make cartes-de-visite exhibited and praised. He also made still-lifes in the
(‘visiting cards’, small photographs mounted on old master painting tradition and a series of street
card). Silvy was one of the first photographers to scene studies which, although posed, were almost
purchase Thomas Ross's ‘Sutton’s Patent Panoramic documentary in nature. He experimented with
Lens’, as in addition to his practical photography, transferring photographs to ceramics and making
both commercial and artistic, he was interested in them permanent with printing ink.
q

TER
TEAPTS SAN TS UT TL OO SED LL LE A LT RSTO ORME VDL NT PN ES CH eI IS NA EN ESD a AEA eae |

RIGHT River Scene,

Camille Silvy, 1858.
The photograph was
highly praised for its
artistry and widely
exhibited at the time.

A CAMERA TO FIT THE LENS

Sutton commissioned the London photographic and scientific instrument
maker Frederick Cox to manufacture the camera that would carry his globe
lens. The first model was produced taking 6 X 15in (15.2 x 38em, but always
sold in inches) plates, and in April 1860, a second model was made in two
sizes for 3 x 7 and 10 x 25in (10.6 x 17.8cm, 25.4 x 63.5cm) negatives. By
November, it was being advertised in four sizes: 134 x 3%, 3 x 7%4,4 x 10%
and 6 x 15in (4.5 x8.3, 7.6 x 19, 10.1 X26.7 and 15.2 x 38cm). Only five
or six examples were manufactured by Cox, who was encountering difficulties

32 The Sutton Panoramic

 LEFT The Sutton camera
is rare and negatives made
with it are even rarer as
their curved shape made
them susceptible to
breaking unless handled
and stored carefully.
This example is 25.4
x 12.7cm (10 x 5in).

in finding suitable glass for the lenses. In January 1861, Sutton announced that
Thomas Ross, the London optician and instrument maker, would take over the
manufacture of the camera and lens. By the beginning of May 1861, Thomas
Ross had made his version of Sutton’s panoramic lens, which was a
considerable improvement on Cox’s. The panoramic lens was the first
significantly wide-angle lens to be offered for sale and gave an angle of
view of 120 degrees.
Ross purchased the rights to Sutton’s patent in August 1861, and by
November he was advertising cameras in three sizes: 5 x 9, 6 X 12 and 8 x
16in (12.7 x 22.9, 15.2 x 30.5 and 20.3 x40.6cm). His first customer was
the London society and studio photographer Camille Silvy, who was to
patent a roll holder for the camera. Sutton’s panoramic camera does not
seem to have been advertised after 1862.
In practice, the camera seems to have been used only to produce
wet-collodion negatives on glass. The curved glass plates required curved
plate holders, as well as curved printing frames in which to produce the
prints. The camera made use of curved plate holders to hold either paper,
glass or mica as the support for the emulsion. It was not very practical, but
it did what it was intended to do. Although few cameras and lenses were
made, it did travel and at least two of these cameras ended up in Australia,
where they were used to record the growing towns and settlements.
Kilmore, a small settlement near Melbourne, was photographed between
c. 1861 and 1865 with a Sutton panoramic camera.
Although there were some competitors to Sutton’s wide-angle lens, such
as Harrison’s Globe lens of 1860, it was not until new optical glasses and new
methods of calculating lens design appeared in the 1890s that wide-angle
lenses began to be developed more widely. Cameras designed only for taking
wide-angle, or panoramic, photographs have appeared right through to the
present. Today, panoramic features on digital cameras show that the demand
for wide-angle views by tourists remains, and single-use panoramic cameras
are still manufactured for both amateurs and professionals.

33
fo The Kodak
PRODUCED: 1888 | country: USA |
MANUFACTURER: The Eastman Dry-Plate and Film Company

ABOVE A landmark he introduction of the Kodak camera in 1888 is frequently seen as the
camera that changed start of popular photography. The reality is more nuanced. Although the
photography, not so much
Kodak camera was a milestone on the road to mainstream photography, it is
for its design but for the
more important for some of the innovations that the camera successfully
system of photography
that it introduced. introduced: simplicity of operation, celluloid roll film, and a develop-and-
print service. Later cameras from Eastman Kodak Company were to build on
these new measures and, arguably, do more for the growth of amateur
photography than did the original Kodak.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROLL HOLDER

The glass plate and wet-collodion process constrained camera development;
it also limited photography to those willing to expend considerable effort and
time in operating cumbersome equipment and manipulating a complicated
process. The development of a reasonably sensitive dry plate in 1871 and its
commercialisation and acceptance from the later 1870s opened up
opportunities for new camera designs. Glass plates were still limiting, and
efforts were made to find.an alternative base to carry light-sensitive emulsion.
In the 1850s, there had been several attempts to use a sensitive paper band to
allow a photographer to make images consecutively. None of the designs had
amounted to much. In 1875, Leon Warnerke, a Russian living in London,
described a roll holder that used a paper roll coated with a film of gelatine or
collodion onto which a light-sensitive emulsion was applied. After exposure

34 _ = The Kodak
ABOVE The Kodak the emulsion was stripped from the paper backing for processing.
camera. On the left is The Eastman—Walker roll holder was patented in 1884 and placed on the
the roll holder, through
market the following year. It was invented in Rochester, New York, by George
which the stripping,
later celluloid, film was
Eastman, who had achieved considerable success selling sensitised glass plates,
threaded and wound to and William H. Walker, a camera manufacturer. The holder carried Eastman’s
make the 100 exposures. negative paper, which was threaded through the device. It was made in a
The camera made variety of sizes and was designed to fit most standard plate cameras.
distinctive 70mm
Roll holders offered immediate advantages to the photographer. They
(2 %-in) circular images
that were mounted
allowed multiple exposures to be made without the need to carry heavy
onto cards. glass plates and processing equipment, and they would fit existing cameras.
They were popular, and a number of designs were introduced by a variety
of manufacturers, although the Eastman design saw the greatest success.
During the summer 1888 outing of the Camera Club, one of the larger
London photographic societies, some 35 per cent ofits members’ negatives
were made using a roll holder.
Camera design evolved to incorporate a fixed roll holder as part of
the camera body. Eastman saw the potential of incorporating a roll holder
directly into a camera, and in 1886 he was granted a patent with Franklin
M. Cossitt for such a camera. The design was difficult to make, and only
50 cameras had been completed by June 1887. However, Eastman
learned from the experience and designed a simpler camera that would
prove revolutionary.

35
THE COMPLETE PACKAGE ABOVE Unknown
On 9 May 1888, in England, Eastman was granted patent number 6950 for photographer, c.1890.
The subject is shown with
‘Cameras; shutters; roller slides’.
The patent stated: ‘Consists of a rectangular box,
his portable darkroom
in one end of which an instantaneous shutter is fitted, and in the other a roller and would have made
slide’ Eastman had combined a roll holder with a simple camera and shutter tintype ‘instant’ portraits.
mechanism. It was sold as the Kodak camera. The Kodak used a paper-backed This photograph was made
stripping film, on which 100 negatives, each 6.4cm (2/Ain), were made. Stripping with a Kodak camera and
is a good example of the
film was Eastman’s first attempt to develop a flexible film and consisted of a paper
new style of informal
backing for the film, which was removed or ‘stripped’ during processing The lens photography that the
was such that subjects more than one metre (3ft 3in) away would be in focus. All Kodak helped
the photographer had to do was point the camera, set and fire the shutter, and to introduce.
wind on the film for the next exposure. Simple!
But the camera was only part of the package. Eastman recognised that
his market extended beyond amateur photographers with some interest in
the technical side of photography to anyone who simply wanted to make
pictures of family and friends and the places they visited — soon to be
termed ‘snapshooters’. Eastman’s revolutionary idea was to provide the
Kodak ready-loaded, and for it to be returned to the factory or dealer for

36 a The Kodak
the film to be processed and printed. The camera was then reloaded and
returned immediately to the customer, followed by the prints.
Eastman wrote in The Kodak Primer: ‘The principle of the Kodak system is
the separation of the work that any person whomsoever can do in making a
photograph, from the work that only an expert can do... We furnish
anybody, man, woman or child, who has sufficient intelligence to point a
box straight and press a button... with an instrument which altogether
removes from the practice of photography the necessity for exceptional
facilities, or in fact any special knowledge of the art’.
The photographic press was fulsome in its praise. Amateur Photographer
magazine described it as ‘the most beautiful object that has ever been offered to
the public in connection with photography’. The British Journal of Photography called
it ‘a little marvel of constructive skill’ and the Photographic News foresaw that it
would bring in to photography ‘those who do not wish to devote the time and
attention which is necessary to really practice photography, but who desire to
obtain records of a tour, or to obtain views for other purposes’.
Commercially, the Kodak camera was less successful. After an initially
enthusiastic response, sales softened so that no more than around 10,000 were
sold worldwide. It was expensive at $25 or five guineas (around £360 in today’s
money) for the camera, and the reloading and printing cost $10 (around £150)
for the 100 exposures. A new model, the No. 2 Kodak, was introduced in 1889
and at the end of that year celluloid — a far more practical carrier for the
sensitive emulsion — replaced stripping film.

AL GAD TLL STL NLL RAYTEED SEL TDIT I A LAL SAN TE LN SL

GEORGE EASTMAN |
George Eastman (1854-1932, pictured left)
was a bank clerk by profession; he practised
wet-collodion photography as a hobby and in
1878 started making his own dry plates, which
he sold commercially from 1880. His roll holder
of 1884 introduced a flexible emulsion support,
and the launch of the Kodak in 1888 began the
company’s inexorable growth, which continued
until the 1980s. He recognised the importance
of selling film (not only cameras) to succeed in
the industry, and played a key role in planting
photography at the forefront of popular culture.
As the Chicago Tribune observed in 1891, “The craze
is spreading fearfully... when amateur
photography came, it came to stay: Eastman
introduced innovative products and dynamic
ways of marketing them, and also recognised the
importance of research and development.

37
 ‘niet PAL ASAD A ol
THE KODAK EFFECT
The overall effect of the Kodak camera was threefold. The camera and the ideas
piace that underpinned it were quickly copied by rival companies in the United
States, Britain and Europe, although none of the competing designs had the
finesse of the Kodak, and none had the extensive infrastructure to provide the
develop-and-print service that would make the company profits. Competition
within the market resulted in new designs and lowered prices.
Secondly, the Kodak introduced new methods of marketing to the
photographic industry. These were underpinned by methods of mass-production
and by the idea that sales of the camera would generate sales of film, where the
real profits were to be made. The focus of marketing shifted from the camera to
{Sasfeinpages
the taking of photographs. Eastman’s company introduced these ideas and
realised them more rapidly than any of its rivals. As a result, it quickly made
ABOVE The Kodak camera significant profits that funded further expansion of its factories and retailing They
was advertised widely also supported what economists term ‘vertical integration’. The Eastman
from its introduction.
Dry-Plate and Film Company began manufacturing its raw materials, or bought
This advert from the
1889 British Journal
companies that could supply them; it set up a series of shops to retail cameras,
Photographic Almanac sensitised materials, and developing and printing services. In addition, it
shows the steps needed established a dealer network, which it supported through generous trade
to operate the camera discounts, and also attempted to monopolise aspects of the photographic trade.
and process the film.
The third effect was on the type of photographs being taken. The Kodak
camera and its successor models helped to introduce an informality to
photography. Subjects were frequently more relaxed, laughing and smiling; they
were candid; babies and children were portrayed playing; and they showed
people caught unawares, informal groups in parks and on beaches, picnicking,
holidaying, travelling, or simply at home in domestic settings or undertaking
domestic chores. These were a world away from the formal studio portrait with
its stern faces, and reflected the fact that they were being taken by people who
were not photographers — exactly as Eastman had expected. The trend towards
informality continued throughout the twentieth century. Even high-street
studios adopted less formal styles of portraiture. The revolution in photographs
started by the Kodak has now found its ultimate expression in the informality
and immediacy of today’s camera-phone pictures.

~
e FR ELDER WEALD PS TRAE TIE be m

‘YOU PRESS THE BUTTON, WE DO THE REST”

The Kodak system of photography was ground- produce. New models of Kodak cameras were
breaking in its concept and Eastman supported it regularly introduced, each with new features and
with an extensive advertising campaign under all supported by what were seen as American
the headline: “You press the button, we do the methods of marketing and advertising. Eastman
rest. Advertisements appeared not only in the targeted women, whom he saw were more likely
photographic press but also in popular titles such to take photographs, and children, too, were used
as Punch and newspapers such as The Times. Dealers in advertising. Photography was no longer the
were supplied with supporting literature and largely male pastime it had been since its
examples of the photographs the camera could introduction some 40 years previously.

38 The Kodak
ABOVE LEFT Frances FRANCES BENJAMIN JOHNSTON
Benjamin Johnston Often referred to as America’s first female photojournalist, Frances ‘Fanny’
pictured with one of her Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) was given her first Kodak camera by
studio cameras.
George Eastman, a close family friend. After studying painting in Paris,
ABOVE TOP RIGHT
Johnston returned to Washington, determined to make her own living and
Johnston surrounded forge a photographic career. She opened a portrait studio — where she
by children, who appear captured many well-known faces, including Mark Twain, Admiral Dewey and
fascinated by her Alice Roosevelt — and earned herself important commissions at the White
Kodak camera. House. She ventured underground to photograph coalminers, and aboard the
USS Olympia in 1898 to show the world the sailors who had helped to win
ABOVE BOTTOM RIGHT
the Battle of Manila Bay. More unusual were her efforts to photograph
Portrait of Alice Roosevelt
on her wedding day, 1906, educational establishments, including the Hampton Normal and Agricultural
by Johnston. Institute — a school set up to educate former slaves. Although she never
joined a feminist campaign, the independently minded Johnston encouraged
other women to pick up a camera as a means to earn money, and went to
great lengths to support the work of other female artists, even arranging
exhibitions of their work for the 1900 Paris Exposition.

39
7. The Stirn Concealed Vest Camera
PRODUCED: 1888 | couNTRY: Germany | MANUFACTURER: Western Electric Company

ABOVE A Stirn Vest he introduction of dry plates brought about changes to camera design,
camera contained within in particular with the release of smaller and more compact cameras.
its wooden travelling box. Around the same time, various novelty cameras came onto the market.
The box could also be
Many, such as the Scovill Book camera (see page 56) and the Enjalbert
mounted directly onto a
tripod for taking pictures.
Revolver de Poche (see page 44), saw limited sales. The Stirn Vest camera
was to prove an exception.
The practice of hiding a camera within, or incorporating it as part of, an
item of clothing was popular. Several designs for hat cameras were invented
during the 1880s and 1890s, and the French Photo-Cravate, patented by
Edmund Bloch in 1890, concealed a camera containing six 25mm (lin)
diameter glass plates within a gentleman’s cravat. Ladies’ handbags, parcels
and attaché cases were also used to conceal cameras.
The Concealed Vest Camera, patented separately by Robert D. Gray and C. P
Stim, was an exception to most designs in that it was commercially successful
at a time when there were many novelty and disguised cameras available.

40 The Stirn Concealed Vest Camera

 CONCEALED UPON THE PERSON
The Vest camera was patented by Gray on 27 July 1886. United States patent
346,199 described a portable photographic camera ‘to be carried concealed
upon the person’ and ‘a camera which shall be wholly concealed under the
clothing, and yet admit of being readily brought into proper focus for
obtaining the image of an object or person’. Gray first showed his camera
on 22 December 1885 at a meeting of the New York Amateur Association.
His prototype was in a slightly different form to the camera design that
eventually went on sale from 1886. It was slightly bulkier and came complete
with a false shirt front. The camera lens mount was in the shape of a tie-pin and
it protruded through a special opening in the vest, or waistcoat. Six exposures
were taken on an octagonal glass dry plate. The Photographic News, reporting on
the camera, noted that ‘a man wearing it would look so remarkable as to attract
some attention; but possibly a flat-breasted woman might wear a concealed
camera in a similar way without being noticed’

RIGHT The French

Photo-Cravate, patented
by Edmund Bloch in 1890.

4]
 The final design of the camera dispensed with the accompanying false shirt.
The lens would protrude through a buttonhole in a normal waistcoat.
Exposures were made on a circular plate. These changes reduced the
bulkiness and weight of the camera, making it easier for the photographer
to use. Gray described it thus: ‘I have constructed a camera... to be worn as
a vest, concealed under the outer garments, the lens being brought to the
centre of the chest to facilitate directing it toward an object, and made to
serve the secondary purpose of a stud or button for the outer vest and coat,
and thereby to pass unobserved as a lens. Gray’s camera was manufactured
for him by the Western Electric Company and sold in America by the Scovill
Manufacturing Company.
In the middle of 1886, C. P. Stirn commenced negotiations to purchase
the rights for the camera from Gray. A deal was struck and Stirn went on to
patent the camera under his own name in Britain on 27 July 1886, and in
Germany on 28 July 1886. Stirn’s brother, Rudolf, working in Berlin, had
begun production of the camera by October 1886.The camera, as sold,
showed only minor differences to Gray’s model, with a hinged back instead
of a fully removable one, and an improved shutter mechanism. It was sold
under a variety of names such as the Secret, Geheim and Waistcoat.

A COMMERCIAL SUCCESS
The Stirn brothers made the camera a major commercial success. At least
four models were produced, the original making six exposures of 40mm
(1%cin) diameter on a plate and a second making four 140mm (5 in)
exposures; a third was made for 60mm (2%in) exposures and another for
BELOW In Britain, the
Stirn Vest camera was four 40mm (1%«in)square plates. Although intended to be hung on a cord
sold by J. Robinson & around the photographer’s neck, it could also be mounted on a tripod when
Sons of London as The contained in a mahogany box, with the camera’s lens peeping through an
Secret Camera for 35 opened door. A range of processing accessories were also produced to help
shillings (around £150
the photographer to develop and print from the circular plates.
in today’s money). This
advertisement is from The The design was popular and as a result it was copied by other
Photographer's Indispensable manufacturers, despite the protection conferred by the patent. In France, the
Handbook, 1887. Fetter Photo-Eclair appeared; it was patented in Britain on 7 September
1886. The design closely resembled the Stirn camera. By 1890, Stirn was
advertising that some 18,000 examples of the camera had been sold since
its introduction in October 1886, which was a remarkable achievement for
any camera at that time.
tea gage
| Onitinige Qaatir
a The reaction of the photographic press was generally positive, with
THE LAST NOVELTY 18 PHOTOGRAPHY, reviews commenting on the quality of the negatives possible with the camera.
THE SECRET CAMERA, |
Or Pocket Photograpliic Apparatus
? par 1 Writing in The Photographers’ Indispensable Handbook (1887) about the Secret
camera, which was J. Robinson & Sons’ branded version of the Stirn camera,
Walter Welford noted that ‘the prices are low enough to enable every amateur
FiatAs toibraetoen shew
to try it. Complete in case, with plates, 35s.
“Aryaratsfrinto

42 The Stirn Concealed Vest Camera

AT WAIST LEVEL
Although the waistcoat camera did not last beyond the Stirn design, it did
highlight the fact that a camera held against the body at chest or waist
level gained a certain amount of stability. Pictures taken with the camera
braced in this way were less susceptible to camera shake from the use
of slow shutter speeds.
The idea of using hand cameras (during the 1880s and early 1890s
these were known by the term ‘detective’ cameras) at waist level, supported
against the body, came to be widely adopted by amateur photographers.
The Kodak, box and later folding cameras were all used in this way well
into the twentieth century, with such cameras being fitted with a viewfinder
designed to be looked into from above. It was not until the introduction of
the reflex camera and rangefinder cameras, Which were held at eye level,
that this changed for most photographers. Many amateurs continued to use
the hand camera held at waist level until the shift away from box cameras
in the 1960s, with the introduction of the Kodak Instamatic and its
competitors, which were designed to be used at eye level. With the arrival
of digital cameras featuring LCD screens, including camera phones, cameras
have again become devices to be held at arm’s length.

REDE GEE SIRE

SL OLDIE LE TEINNIS GE ELIT EPL ID DIE ELSA IPEDS STOEL DILL AOSEGIREBNE ELITE ILE.EI LEOL ICE LERE ELGEA ELAS DL LIL EE EDEL LEAL DES DELLE LIS! POLE LEAVE ELEM

FREDRIK CARL STORMER_

Fredrik Carl Stormer (1874-1957) wasa
Norwegian mathematician and physicist and an
amateur street photographer. In his professional life
he became best known for being the first to
photograph the Northern Lights, but he had honed
his photography skills much earlier during his high
school and university years. Oslo’s National Library
is home to 40 volumes of Stormer’s covert
photography — taken in the 1890s with his Stirn
Vest ‘spion’ or ‘spy’ camera. During the summer
months he would walk along the main streets of
Kristiana (now Oslo) with the camera concealed
beneath his topcoat, the lens protruding through
his buttonhole. He managed to photograph artists
and celebrities such as Henrik Ibsen (see right), as
well as university professors, the prime minister
and even King Oscar II.

43
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
 Nieves
Baila muy
apretao.

Serafín
Es la base cuarta
que ha puesto el Jurao.

Todos
La re-do-
la-re do-
etc., etc.

——

Melquiades
No tié fin
pa bailar
Serafín.

Todos
¡Qué pillín!

——

Melquiades
Otra pareja.
(Se retiran a la izquierda los que bailan, y avanzan Benita y Avelino,
que bailan ridículamente.)

Avelino
Ya usté verá,
mi dulce amor,
 cómo al final
es pa usté
el chato de honor.

Benita
¿De verdá?
¡Ay, qué bien!
Pues si es así,
ya verá usté
que pongo yo
tó lo que sé.

Todos
¡Hay que ver
qué marcao!
Si el premio al fin
no lo han ganao,
cualquiera ya
les quitará lo bailao...

——

Avelino (Cambiando de manera de bailar.)

¡A la demimondaine!
(Bailan todas las parejas.)
¡Eso es!
(Jaleándose.)
¡Mi mamá!
Un grupo así
es pa un Kodak.
¡Diga usté que
venga Kaulak!
 ——

Todos
La-re-do-
la-re-do-
La Redowa
tié más de una arroba
de sal y pimienta y tal,
y se ha bailado en la Bombi,
y en el propio palacio Real.

——

Viriato
Estos dos, han bailao tal cual.

Melquiades
Muy mal.
Otra pareja.
(Dejan de bailar todos y avanzan Onofra y el Tuliqui.)

Tuliqui (Bailando a su modo.)

Creo que de esta manera
no se nota la cojera,
y hasta puen premiarme
por mi gallardez.

Onofra
Tal vez.

Tuliqui
Comprímase
pa que vean que bailamos yo y usté
 sobre un cacahué. (Bailan todos.)

Todos
La re do-
la re do-
La Redowa,
etc., etc.

Melquiades (Interrumpiendo.)
Vayan ustedes a la coda.

——

Todos
Pues digan ya
los del Jurao,
pa terminar,
quién ha ganao.
(Al terminar el baile, aplauden los que no han bailado.)
Hablado

Todos.—¡Bravo! ¡Bravo!
Melquiades (Después de una pequeña conferencia con los del
Jurado.)—Señores: el Jurao ha acordao por unanimidaz, conceder el
chato de honor, a la insuperable pareja, Nieves-Serafín.
Todos (Aplaudiendo.)—¡Muy bien, muy bien!
Avelino (Rabioso.)—Eso es una injusticia.
Viriato.—¡Orden!
Todos.—¡Que se calle! (Avelino afligido, se retira hacia la derecha,
acompañado de Benita.)
Melquiades.—¿Se acepta este fallo?
Todos.—Sí, sí.
 Melquiades (A Nieves y Serafín.)—Pues podéis beberos el premio
sorbito a sorbito, pollos. (Dándole la copa a Nieves.) Cuando
quieras, nena.
Nieves.—Con mucho gusto. (Coge el vaso.) A la salú de mi pareja.
Todos.—¡Olé! (Vuelve Higinio por el foro izquierda lentamente y se
acerca al grupo poco a poco.)
Serafín.—¡Gracias, Nieves!
Nieves (Va a beber y se detiene con coquetería.)—¡Ay, pero se va
usté a enterar de mis secretos!
Serafín.—Pué que me convenga.
Nieves.—A mí no; pero en fin, lo dicho. (Bebe la mitad del vino y
deja la copa en la banqueta.)
Serafín (Sin coger el vaso.)—Señores: antes de posar mis labios
donde los ha imprimido esa boca que parece talmente un clavel
encarnao que se le ha caído del pelo, tengo que manifestar que me
embarga el júbilo, que me embarga la emoción y que me embarga...
(Va a coger la copa, pero se interpone Higinio, que enérgicamente la
coge.)
Higinio.—Pues no se moleste usté, yo me lo beberé, que no tengo
na embargao. (Bebe y tira el vaso contra el suelo.)
Todos.—¡Eh! (Movimiento de estupor; Higinio trata de agredir a
Serafín, pero los sujetan los hombres, apartándolos, quedando en
medio Melquiades.)
Benita (Aplaudiendo.)—¡Muy bien, muy bien y muy bien!
Viriato.—Eso no vale.
Melquiades.—Pero, ¿qué has hecho?
Higinio.—Lo que me ha parecido; ¿qué hay?
Benita.—¡Muy bien y muy bien! ¡Ja, ja; qué chasco! (Ríe; sus
padres la amenazan.)
Rafael (A Higinio.)—Pero, ¿no ves que era una broma?
Nieves (Sujetando a Serafín; con ira a Higinio.)—Has metío la
pata.
 Serafín (Con tranquilidad.)—Hombre, ¿no se le ha ocurrido a usté
otra gansada en el rato que hace que está usté ahí haciendo el
orangután?
Higinio.—Si se me ocurre otra, la hago.
Serafín.—Pues a ratos no crea usté que estorba una mijita de
educación, amigo.
Higinio.—Tengo la que me hace falta.
Melquiades.—Pues la pué usté llevar en la funda de un cacahué y
no se le llena; palabra.
Higinio.—Lo que yo tengo es... (Vuelve a acometerle.)
Serafín (Sonriendo.)—Lo que tiene usté son deciséis señoras al lao
y un sujeto de miramientos vis a vis; pero también tiene usté un
carrillo y yo una mano, y la vida ocasiones. Na más.
Melquiades.—¡Hablas, que esculpes! Y terminao el incidente,
señores, que no le vamos a estropear el día a la señá Damiana.
Serafín.—Se continuará, pollo.
Higinio.—Cuando usté quiera.
Melquiades.—¿Vamos ahí, al sotillo, a jugar a prendas?
Todos.—Sí, sí; vamos. (La gente se va con Melquiades,
murmurando y hablando entre sí, por el foro izquierda. Quedan en
escena: la Trini, al fondo; Nieves, junto al árbol de la izquierda;
Benita, hacia la derecha, y en el centro Higinio, Rafael y Damiana.
Avelino hace mutis por la derecha.)
Serafín (A Trini.)—¿El perro de usté, embiste también, joven?
Trini (Con coquetería.)—Ni perrito que me ladre tengo.
Serafín.—Pues cuelgue usté su hermosura de esta escarpia, que
ha encontrao usté un lebrel. (Se cogen del brazo y hacen mutis por
la lateral izquierda, pero bajando al proscenio para pasar por delante
de Nieves que, como es natural, queda contrariada al ver que se van
juntos.) ¡Y a ver si va a poder ser que pueda uno hablar con una
mujer guapa!
 ESCENA V
Benita, Nieves, Damiana, Higinio y el señor Rafael

Rafael.—Te has ocecao, Higinio; te has ocecao.

Nieves (Con ira.)—Ha metío la pata, dígalo usté claro.
Higinio.—No, señora.
Damiana.—Sí, señor; que si hubiese hecho algo malo aquí estaba
su madre pa regañarla.
Benita.—¡Ha hecho muy bien, muy bien y muy bien!
Damiana.—Cállate tú ahora.
Higinio.—Es que no podía más, Nieves; hazte cargo.
Nieves.—Si toa la vida serás lo mismo; un celoso, un primo sin
correa pa na.
Higinio.—Porque te quiero pa mí solo.
Nieves.—Pues por éstas, que no me vuelves a poner en ridículo;
hemos acabao.
Higinio.—¿Que hemos acabao?
Nieves.—Hemos acabao, sí, señor, pero pa siempre, ¡por éstas!
(Besando la cruz de los dedos.) Hemos acabao.
Rafael.—¡Calma, hijos! ¡Válgame Dios!
Higinio.—¿Y qué he hecho yo pa esto, señor Rafael? ¿Qué he
hecho yo pa esto? Quererla y na más. ¡Y luego dicen! Si debía ser
uno como todos: un sinvergüenza pa las mujeres: esos tién suerte y
no los primos como yo, que se cuelan de buena fe. ¡Maldita sea!
Nieves.—Pues se acabaron los primos; puedes marcharte cuando
te dé la gana.
Higinio.—¿Que me marche? Pero, ¿estás en lo que dices?
Nieves.—No tengo más que una palabra.
Higinio.—Está bien. No me lo dirás dos veces. Me voy. Pero antes
de irme, escucha una cosa, Nieves. No serás mía, pero de ese
hombre tampoco lo eres. Mialás: jurao; al tiempo. (Vase fondo
izquierda.)
 Benita (Aplaudiendo.)—Muy bien, muy bien y muy bien.
Damiana.—Pero, ¿quieres callarte y no agriarlo más, tonta del
bote?
Benita.—Pues no me callo y no me callo, porque tié razón; sí,
señora, y sí, señora.
Nieves (Airada.)—¿Y de qué tié razón, vamos a ver?
Benita.—De todo, sí, señora; que lo que hay es que tú quiés ser
señorita y tener lujo y por eso despachas a Higinio, porque es un
pobre, y en cambio te has enguirlotao con un tío pinturero que crees
que te va a dar el oro y el moro; eso es.
Nieves (Contenida por sus padres.)—Pero ¿no es pa darla una
bofetá?
Rafael.—Pero ¿qué estás diciendo ahí contra tu hermana?
Damiana.—Dejar a esa tonta.
Benita.—Sí; tonta, tonta; porque las canto claritas. ¡El lujo, el lujo!
¡Eso, eso es lo que os pierde a muchas! El gabancito de moda, el
zapatito de charol y la faldita estrecha y a pintarla por ahí andando a
saltitos (Remedando lo que va diciendo.) como pollos trabaos. Pues
no señora; hay que agarrarse al jornalito y ayudar al marido y
chincharse; esa es la obligación de una pobre. Y si hay que llevar un
pingo, se lleva y se aguanta una, que después de todo, siempre será
mejor llevar un pingo que serlo. Eso es.
Nieves.—Pero ¿oye usté? ¡Desvengonzá! ¡Mala hermana!
¡Suélteme usté, que la arañe! (Quiere pegarla pero sus padres la
contienen, llevándosela poco a poco por la primera izquierda.)
Damiana.—¡Hija, por Dios, que vamos a dar un escándalo!
Rafael.—¡Entre hermanas, válgame Dios! ¡Vamos, vamos!
Damiana (A Nieves.)—¡No llores, hija, no llores!
Nieves.—Envidiosa, más que envidiosa. (Mutis.)
Benita.—¡El lujo!... ¡el lujo!... Eso, eso; que os da miedo ser
pobres, ni más ni menos. (Al quedarse sola, con gran energía.) Pues
no señora: mi hermana, no. Ella pué que me arranque el moño, pero
yo la juro que la quito de ese tío. Todo, antes que verla por esas
calles sola y pintá de rubio, haciendo de reir a la gente. Mi hermana,
no. ¡Por estas cruces! (Se sienta en el tronco del árbol de la
izquierda, llorosa y agitada, limpiándose los ojos con el delantal.)

ESCENA VI
Benita y Avelino, que sale por el fondo derecha, ocultándose, entre
los árboles.

Avelino.—¡Sola! ¡Yo la exploro! ¡Me gusta a mí esa tontita de una

manera avasallante! ¡Tiene un no sé qué así, bobo, que engolosina!
Yo voy a ver si la enloquezco por un medio poético que me se ha
ocurrido. (Saca una navaja de muelles, no muy grande, y la abre.)
Un poco grande es para mi ojepto, pero no he encontrao otra. Me
tiembla el corazón que parece que voy a cometer un crimen. ¡Ánimo!
(Llamando desde donde está.) ¡Benita!... (Avanzando.) ¡Benita!
Benita (Se vuelve.)—¿Qué? (Al verle se levanta aterrada.) ¡Jesús!
Avelino.—Perdone usté que venga a cortarla...
Benita (Retrocediendo asustada.)—¿A mí?
Avelino.—Que venga a cortarla el hilo de sus cavilaciones nada
más; que esta navaja es para hacerla a usté una cosa muy
agradable.
Benita.—¿Qué me va usted a hacer?
Avelino.—¿Que qué la voy a hacer? (Avanza con pasos trágicos y
cogiéndola de una mano, la trae hasta el centro de la escena. Ella
avanza con miedo.) ¿Cómo se llama usted?
Benita.—¡Ah! pero ¿es el padrón?
Avelino.—Es otra cosa más de adorno. ¿Cómo se llama usté?
Benita.—Benita.
Avelino.—Digo de apellido.
Benita.—Baranda.
 Avelino (Sonriendo.)—¡Baranda! ¡Hombre, qué casualidad! Usté
Baranda y yo, Escalera. ¡Nos completamos! (Mirándola con
arrobamiento.) ¡Baranda! (Muy meloso.) ¡Con qué gusto me
asomaría!
Benita.—¿Dónde?
Avelino.—Nada, nada; es una cosa pa mí solo. De forma que las
iniciales de usté son, B. B.
Benita.—Creo que sí; B. B.
Avelino.—Bueno; pues la voy a hacer a usté un B. B. entrelazao,
en el tronco de un árbol, con letra de adorno, que se va usté a
quedar visueja.
Benita.—¿Y pa eso me ha dao usté este susto?
Avelino.—Y debajo de su enlace pondré mis iniciales: Avelino
Escalera Jordán. A. E. J. (Muy fino.) ¿Me permitirá usted que por lo
menos toque la J en su enlace?
Benita.—Como si quiere usted tocar la muñeira.
Avelino.—Ni una palabra más. ¿Lo grabo en aquella encina (Foro.)
u en este chopo? (1.º derecha.)
Benita.—Pero ¿me quiere usted dejar en paz, hombre?
Avelino.—Lo grabaré en el chopo. ¡Y Dios quiera que algún día no
tenga yo que coger el chopo y recordarla dónde empezó nuestro
idilio! Manos a la obra. (Se pone a grabar con la navaja en el tronco
del árbol.)
Benita.—¡Tan bien como estaría usted durmiendo la siesta,
hombre!
Avelino.—Benita.
Benita.—¿Qué?
Avelino.—Tié usté una mirada que eleztrocuta.
(Se oyen risas y rumor de voces de hombres hacia la primera
izquierda.)
Benita.—¡Chist!... ¡Silencio!
Avelino.—¿Qué pasa?
Benita (Fijándose.)—El señor Melquiades y Serafín, que vienen.
 Avelino.—¡Esos sinvergüenzas!
Benita.—¿Tramarán algo contra Higinio?
Avelino.—Si quiere usté, podemos escondernos y oirlos.
Benita.—Sí; mejor será. Calle usté; por aquí. (Se esconden detrás
de un matorral alto en la primera derecha, de forma que los vea el
público.)

ESCENA VII
Dichos, Serafín, Melquiades, Virutas, Tuliqui, y Bernabé, por la primera
izquierda. Vienen riendo escandalosamente. El último trae un frasco
de vino y dos copas, y colocándolo en el banco de la izquierda va
sirviendo a sus amigos, que beben formando semicírculo.

Serafín (Saliendo.)—¡Calla, que me tronzo de risa!

Todos.—¡Ja, ja, ja!
Melquiades.—Que sí, hombre, no reirse.
Tuliqui.—¡Pero si es pa reventar!
Virutas.—¡Tienes unas cosas!
Melquiades.—Señor, que sé lo que me digo, hombre. Oirme y
veréis. (A Serafín.) ¿Cuál es aquí la única cosa que nos es hóstil p’al
logro de tus fines benéficos con la Nieves?
Serafín.—La Benita.
Melquiades.—Pues la hago yo el amor, primo, y tóo resuelto.
(Todos ríen.)
Benita (Estupefacta.)—¡A mí!
Tuliqui.—¿Tú con esa mema? (Riendo.) ¡Ja, ja, ja!
Melquiades.—¡Natural, señor! Como ese cacho de tonta no ha
tenido nunca quien la diga “por ahí te pudras”, pues en cuanto yo la
insinúe tanto así, la incendio, cae en mis brazos, se pone de nuestra
parte y cuando tú haigas lograo tu ojeto con su hermana, yo
abandono a esa renacuaja y que se tome dos pastillas de sublimao,
si le gusta. ¿Qué os parece?
Virutas (Riendo.)—¡Eres diabólico!
Serafín.—Oye, pero que de primera.
Tuliqui.—¡A ver si te da calabazas!
Melquiades.—¿A mí? ¡A las dos palabras, la pelo al rape si me da la
gana! (Siguen hablando en voz baja y bebiendo. Avelino sale del
escondite, abre la navaja y avanza en actitud amenazadora. Benita
le sujeta.)
Avelino.—¡Suelte usté! ¡Suelte usté, que le voy a traer dos filetes
de cerdo! ¡Miserables! ¡Canallas!
Benita.—¡Chist!... ¡quieto! Déjeme usté a mí sola, que yo sé lo que
tengo que hacer con estos bandidos. Lárguese usté pronto.
Avelino.—Si hago falta, me da usté una voz.
Benita.—Bueno. (Vase Avelino por la primera derecha.) Por mi salú
que os acordáis de esta mema pa toa la vida. ¡Deshonrar a mi
hermana y tomarme a mí el pelo! Veremos quién puede más, si una
tonta o cinco granujas. (Vase tercera derecha.)
Melquiades (A Serafín.)—De manera que tú a seguir dándola
achares a la Nieves con su amiga, y yo a buscar a esa pitusa, y de
que la encuentre...
Benita (Por el foro derecha, lejos y quejándose.)—¡Ay! ¡Ay! ¡Ay!
Serafín.—¿Quién se queja? (Todos miran al sitio indicado.)
Melquiades.—¡Calla!... ¡Pero si es la Benita!
Tuliqui.—¡Y viene cojeando!
Melquiades.—¿Se habrá caído?
Virutas.—¡Qué ocasión!
Melquiades.—Dibujada. Dejarme solo.
Serafín.—Duro con ella.
Melquiades.—Sus la brindo. (Vanse los cuatro riendo por la primera
izquierda.)
 ESCENA VIII
Melquiades y Benita, por el fondo derecha. Viene cojeando y se apoya
para andar en una sombrilla.

Benita.—¡Ay! ¡Ay! ¡Ay! (Sale quejándose.) ¡Ay, señor Melquiades

de mi alma!
Melquiades.—Pero, ¿qué es eso, rica, qué te ha pasao?
Benita.—¡Ay, que me he torcido un pie! ¡Ay!... ¡Agárreme usté,
que no puedo!
Melquiades (Yendo hacia ella.)—Pero, ¿es que te has resbalao?
Benita.—Y me he caído, sí, señor. ¡Ay! ¿Me quiere usté llevar a
aquel tronco? (El de la izquierda.)
Melquiades.—Con mil amores. (Cogiéndola de la cintura.)
Benita (Saltando a la “patita coja”, hasta llegar al banco.)—¡Ay!
¡Ay! ¡Ay! (Se sienta a la izquierda.)
Melquiades (De rodillas, reconociendo el pie lesionado.)—¿Y dónde
te duele, rica?
Benita.—Aquí, un poquito más arriba del tobillo. (Levantando la
falda y dejando ver un poco la pantorrilla.)—¿Lo tengo hinchao?
Melquiades.—No, pero... (¡Camará, qué pantorrilla!) A ver, ¿te
duele al tazto? (Toca con el dedo repetidamente.)
Benita.—No, señor; me hace una punzadita nada más.
Melquiades.—Eso no es nada; descansando aquí un poquito
conmigo, te se pasa. (Se sienta a su derecha, pero sin dejar de mirar
la pantorrilla.) Oye, rica, ¿y sabes que vas muy bien calzadita?
Benita.—¡Regular! ¡Cada una presumimos de lo que podemos!
Melquiades.—Yo no me había fijao, pero, sabes que tienes un
nacimiento que...
Benita (Haciéndose la tonta.)—¡Je, je! Lo mismo me dijo el otro
día el chico de la tienda de sedas. (Ruborosa.)
Melquiades.—¿Te dijo que vaya un nacimiento?
 Benita.—Sí, señor; que vaya un nacimiento y que si se lo quería
dejar pa una Nochebuena.
Melquiades.—¡Anda diez!
Benita.—Y luego, se puso así en jarras y me añidió: ¿Le falta a
usté una figurita pa ese nacimiento? Y yo enfadada le dije: “Sí,
señor, me falta el buey.”
Melquiades (Riendo.)—¡Muy salao! ¿Y qué te dijo?
Benita.—Pues... me dió las señas de su casa de usté. (Se ríe
tontamente.)
Melquiades (Quedando de pronto serio.)—¿Y por qué no te dió las
de su padre político?
Benita.—Se le pasaría. (Levantándose rápidamente.)—Y en fin, yo
me voy, que no quiero que me vean aquí sola.
Melquiades (Obligándola a sentarse.)—No tengas prisa, mujer.
Benita.—No, si yo estoy muy a gusto, pero... ¡ay!, no quiero ni
pensarlo, si me viesen aquí sola con usté, con las bromas que me
dan.
Melquiades.—Bromas, ¿de qué?
Benita.—Nada, que como a veces, cuando hablamos así de
hombres con mis amigas, yo siempre le saco a usté, pues se han
maliciao tonterías, que... Bueno, yo me voy. (Como antes.)
Melquiades.—Aguarda, mujer aguarda. (Cada vez más
acaramelado.) ¿Y qué es lo que hablas de mí con tus amigas, si pué
saberse?
Benita.—Yo, nada; tonterías de chicas.
Melquiades.—Y dime, Benita, ¿tú no has tenío nunca novio?
Benita.—Novio, novio... lo que se dice novio, no, señor. Tonteos na
más. ¡Como soy tan tonta!...
Melquiades.—Y escucha: ¿no te gustaría a ti tener un novio
formal?... Vamos a ver.
Benita.—Formal u chirigotero, que me gustase a mí, que lo
demás... es lo de menos.
 Melquiades.—¿Qué te parecería un sujeto como yo, pongo por
caso? (Poniéndose de pie y engallándose.)
Benita (De pie también.)—¿Cómo usté? ¡Ay!
Melquiades (Cogiéndola la mano.)—¿Te gustaría? ¡Dilo!
Benita (Fingiendo.)—¡Ay, por Dios, señor Melquiades, suélteme
usté!
Melquiades.—Dímelo ya.
Benita.—¡Ay, por Dios, que nos pueden ver!
Melquiades.—Dame un abrazo, anda.
Benita (Soltándose y echando a correr hacia el fondo derecha.)—
¡Ay, eso no, Melquiades! Ahora no, que vienen.
Melquiades.—¿Quieres que hablemos luego?
Benita.—Luego, sí.
Melquiades.—¿Dónde te espero?
Benita.—Aquí mismo, a la hora de irnos. Adiós. (Medio mutis.)
Melquiades (Llamándola.)—¡Benita! ¿Me quieres?
Benita (Con rubor.)—Cuando yo me vaya, venga usté a leer lo que
dejo escrito aquí en la tierra. (Escribe en el suelo con la punta de la
sombrilla.) Ya está. Dispense la urtugrafía. Adiós. (Mutis fondo
derecha.)
Melquiades.—¡Adiós, vida! Yo le he preguntao que si me quería.
¿Qué habrá puesto? (Va y lo lee.) “Un porción.” (Riendo.) ¡Camará
con la niña! No, pues se pué pasar el rato con la tontita esa mejor
de lo que yo me figuraba. ¡Y por lo visto, me venía camelando hace
tiempo! ¡¡Y habrá tantas así!! ¡Que uno no puede estar en todo!
(Vase contoneando por la primera izquierda.)
 ESCENA IX
Por el foro izquierda aparecen del brazo, Serafín y la Trini, muy
amartelados. Hablan bajito; ella ríe locamente. Atraviesan la escena,
haciendo mutis por la derecha. Les sigue Nieves, recatándose entre
los árboles, nerviosa, jadeante. Falta luz. El cielo empieza a
nublarse. Después Rafael y Damiana. Al final, todos los invitados de
ambos sexos (Coro general).

Nieves (Celosa y a punto de llorar.)—¡La Trini!... ¡La Trini con él... y

haciéndole cara! (Se escuchan, ya lejanas, las risas locas de Trini.)
¡Cómo ríe!... ¡Ella!... ¡A la que me he confiao... después que le he
abierto mi corazón!... ¡Infame! Si debí figurármelo. Y se van lejos...
y solos... y una aquí, atá por el qué dirán, sin poder desahogar la
rabia. ¡Maldita sea! (Se apoya, llorosa, en el tronco del árbol de la
derecha, primer término.)
Una voz (De hombre, dentro izquierda.)—¡Virutas, diles a esos que
vayan al merendero por paraguas, que se ha nublao del todo y va a
caer un chaparrón!
Otra (Ídem, ídem, en la derecha.)—Ya vamos.
Nieves (En lo suyo.)—¡Por allí van! ¡Y más juntos y más
amartelados! Tenía que ser ella; esa infame. ¡Sabiendo lo que yo le
quiero! (Queda llorando.)
Música

Voz hombre (En la izquierda.)—¡Oye, que se ha nublao y va a caer

un aguacero!
Voz hombre (En la derecha.)—Llamar a esos, que vengan a coger
cestas, guitarras, mantones y tóo. Venir.
Voz hombre (En la izquierda.)—¡Pues no va a caer nada!
 Uno (Pasa corriendo de izquierda a derecha, acompañado de una
mujer.)—¡A casa que llueve!
Coro (Dentro, repartido en ambos lados.)
Que llueva, que llueva,
la Virgen de la Cueva.
Los pajaritos cantan,
las nubes se levantan.
Que sí, que no,
que llueva chaparrón.

Hablando sobre la música.

(Salen Damiana y Rafael, muy deprisa, por la primera izquierda. Ella

saca su mantón de crespón negro y él un paraguas.)

Rafael (Dirigiéndose al árbol donde merendaron, que es en el que

está apoyada Nieves.)—Vamos deprisa, que va a caer un chaparrón.
(Al ver a Nieves.) Anda, ¿pero estás tú aquí?
Damiana.—Cogeré mi cesta y la guitarra. (Coge lo que indica.)
Rafael (Acercándose y abrazándola.)—Pero, ¿qué es eso, hija?
¿Pero lloras?
Nieves.—No es nada, padre.
Rafael.—¡Válgame Dios! (A Damiana.) Pero, ¿no ves la nena
llorando?
Damiana.—Déjala. El disgusto de antes... los nervios... que ella es
así. Está como el día. (Vase por donde salió.)
Rafael (Conduciendo abrazada a su hija y haciendo mutis tras
Damiana.)—¡Ay qué hija ésta! ¡Lagrimitas de los veinte años, lluvia
de primavera; paece que se desgaja el cielo y luego na! (Vanse.)
Cantando.

Voz mujer (Dentro.)

 Empezó el día con sol
y acaba el día lloviendo.
Alegre estaba mi alma
y estoy llorando de celos.
(Entre risas y algazara, salen Invitados e Invitadas. Ellos se doblan
los pantalones, se suben el cuello de la americana; ellas se ponen
abrigos y mantones, recogen cestas y guitarras, y al fin se cobijan
bajo los paraguas, que abren los hombres. Empieza a llover.)

Ellos
Anda ya; cógete de mi bracero.
Vámonos no descargue aquí el nublao;
que dirán, si me cala el aguacero:
va-calao, va-calao, va-calao.

Ellas
Tápeme; pero no me apriete tanto,
que si no me separo yo de usté;
que pa mí, que aunque jure usté que es santo,
le-calé, le-calé, le-calé. (Abren los paraguas.)

Ellos
Pues vamos juntos
bajo el paraguas,
pa que te diga
con ilusión,
que en los encajes
de tus enaguas
llevas prendido
mi corazón. (Llueve más fuerte.)

Ellas
Aunque se ponga
 muy zalamero,
no me convence
de su querer,
que son los hombres
muy embusteros;
y ande a casita
que va a llover.
(Empieza a llover con violencia. El Coro hace mutis por la lateral
izquierda.)

Todos
Tápeme, etc...
Anda ya, etc...

ESCENA FINAL
Melquiades, el Tuliqui, el Virutas y Bernabé, primera izquierda. Luego
Benita, fondo derecha. Por último, Avelino por el mismo sitio.

(Melquiades se resguarda de la lluvia con su paraguas y los otros

tres con uno solo.)
Hablado

Tuliqui.—¿De modo que la Benita?...

Melquiades.—Dos palabras y cayó en mis brazos; y aquí me ha
citao.
Todos (Riendo.)—¡Ja, ja, ja!
Virutas.—¡Gachó, no eres tú nadie!
Tuliqui (Mirando fondo derecha.)—¡Mirarla; por allí viene a tóo
correr!
Melquiades.—Buscándome como una loca. Veréis qué chifladura le
ha entrao por mí.
 Tuliqui.—Vamos a escondernos. (Se ocultan detrás de un árbol del
fondo izquierda.)
Melquiades.—No reiros muy fuerte, no se escame.
Benita (Sale corriendo, muy remangada, con un paraguas, abierto
chorreando.)—¡Hola, señor Melquiades! ¿Ha visto usté que
chaparrón?
Melquiades.—Te estaba esperando, vida.
Benita.—¿A mí? ¡Ay, cuánto lo siento!, porque el caso es que
tengo un compromiso con... con un joven... (Llamando.) Avelino:
aquí.
Avelino.—Aquí estoy. ¡Vaya un diluvio! (Sale con un pañuelo sobre
el hongo, todo mojado, y los pantalones muy subidos, igual que el
cuello de la americana.) ¡A casa, que llueve! (Se cogen del brazo, y,
muy tapados con el mismo paraguas, se van riendo por la primera
izquierda y despidiéndose con la mano, guasonamente del señor
Melquiades, que queda estupefacto. Al mismo tiempo aparecen por
detrás del árbol donde se ocultaron, las caras rientes y burlonas de
Tuliqui, Virutas y Bernabé.)
Melquiades.—¡Mi madre!
Tuliqui.—Oye tú: ¿y era esa la locura?
Virutas.—¿Y decías que en tus brazos?
Bernabé.—¡Ja, ja! ¡Valiente chasco!
Los tres.—¡A casa, que llueve! ¡Ja, ja, ja! (Se van muertos de risa
por la primera izquierda.)
Melquiades (Indignado.)—¡La panocha! Pero, ¿qué es esto?
Tomarme el pelo a mí una mequetrefa, ¡que no levanta del suelo un
metro treinta y cinco! ¡¡A mí!! Vaya; pues ahora es cuando está
empeñao mi amor propio. Que me trufen, si no la vuelvo loca.
(Tropieza con una cesta que ha quedado olvidada.) ¡Calla!... ¡una
cesta! ¿Quién se habrá dejao esto? (La coge y se la cuelga del
brazo.) Me la llevaré. ¡Miá que al final tener yo que llevar la cesta!
Pues sí que me han preparao el mutis. ¡Maldita sea! (Vase primera
izquierda con el paraguas abierto y la cesta al brazo.)
(Música en la orquesta.)
Mutación
 CUADRO SEGUNDO

La Glorieta de la Ronda de Valencia frente a la calle de Embajadores, entre la

Veterinaria y la Fábrica de Tabacos.

ESCENA PRIMERA
El lugar está desierto; anochece. Pasa un farolero encendiendo los
faroles; a poco, a lo largo de la calle, brillan las lucecitas del
alumbrado público. Se escucha el pregón, muy lejano, de un
vendedor ambulante, y, mucho más lejana, la música, casi
imperceptible de un organillo. En una taberna próxima, en cuyos
cristales resplandece una luz rojiza, se oye un desacordado
guitarreo. Un borracho, con su voz incierta y ronca canta dentro:

Eche usté cuatro botellas

y aquí me dejo la capa,
que aluego vendrán por ella.
(Un coro de voces infantiles canta lejísimo como un eco perdido:)
Ramón del alma mía:
del alma mía, Ramón;
si te hubieras casado
cuando te lo dije yo.
(Vuelve a quedar todo en silencio. Se acentúa la obscuridad; en las
fachadas de las casas lejanas, van brillando tenues lucecitas.
Aparecen por el primer término izquierda, Nieves, envuelta en un
mantoncito de crespón negro, muy repeinada, con su faldita
estrecha y sus zapatitos de charol, acompañada de una Vieja,
astrosa, con cara de bruja, encorvada, que lleva mantón raído y un
pañuelo viejo a la cabeza.)
 Nieves (Con inquietud.)
¡Virgen de la Paloma,
me salta el corazón!

Vieja (Con voz cascada.)

Mujer, ni que vinieses
por una mala ación.

Nieves
No puedo remediarlo;
estoy muy asustá.

Vieja
El sitio está muy solo
y nadie nos verá.

Nieves
Me ahoga la angustia.

Vieja
Deja ya ese apuro
y siéntate un poco
aquí que está oscuro.
(Nieves se sienta en un banco de la Glorieta. La Vieja queda en
pie a su lado. Dan ocho campanadas en el reloj de una iglesia
distante. Vuelve el guitarreo en la taberna. Canta una voz de
hombre.)
Hay que querer a las hembras
con los pensamientos malos,
que al que no lo hiciese así,
ellas le darán el pago.
Hablando sobre la música.
 Vieja (A Nieves.)
¿Oyes? Las ocho.

Nieves
¡Las ocho! (Pausa.)

Vieja
Cantan bien en la taberna. (Pausa.)

Nieves
¿Tardará mucho su hermana?

Vieja
¡Qué ha de tardar! ¡Buena es ella!

Nieves
¿La dijo usté lo que quiero?

Vieja
Que te eche las cartas, prenda,
que tú no vas a su casa
porque no quiés que te vean,
y que viniese a las ocho
a un banco de la Glorieta.

Nieves
¡Cuánto tarda!

Vieja
Estás nerviosa.

Nieves (Levantándose.)
 ¿No viene allí?

Vieja
Sí; es aquella.
(Sale fondo derecha la señá Celes, otra vieja, echadora de cartas,
más bruja que la anterior. Esta viste de obscuro. Lleva un gabán
cortito y un manto negro raído. Se apoya en una muletilla.)

Nieves (Yendo a su encuentro.)

¡Señá Celes!

Celes
¡Hija mía!
¡Cuánta gana que tenía
de verte! ¡Qué hermosa estás!
¿Qué te pasa?

Vieja
No habléis fuerte.

Nieves
Que quiero saber mi suerte,
señá Celes.

Celes
La sabrás.
Cantando.

Nieves
Que mi vida ya no es vida;
que tiran de mí, a la vez,
de un lao mi casa y mis padres;
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