8 x 10"
Label, metal, top of front standard, engraved: "Blair
Tourograph & D.P. Co., Boston"
Date Introduced: - ;
Years Manufactured: c.1884
Construction: front focus
via rack and pinion (two gear tracks on top of base rails);
single or double swing; reverse by removable back; three-piece lens
board
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base;
black fabric bellows; nickeled hardware
Sizes Offered: 4¼x5½; 5x7; 5x8/6½x8½;
6½x8½/8x10; 8x10/10x12
Notes: two section base; front section
removes for storage. This camera is rather bulky, even when
broken down, due to the relatively long length of the
base. Apparently, the combination
part of the name refers to the ability to place more than one back on
the camera, as above. The reversible part of the
name comes from the ability to switch from horizontal to vertical format
by removing and repositioning the back. The ordinary
Combination
Camera also reverses, but only by taking the camera off the
tripod and re-attaching it by its second tripod mount.
The
Combination Camera, Reversible Back,
Variation 1 has a peculiar giant front standard extension, while
Variations 2 and
3 have a normal front standard. The
Combination Camera, Reversible Back, Variation 2 has metal
reinforcement of the front standard while
Variation
3 has a similarly shaped, all-wood version (the same variation
in front standard can be seen in the
Champion).
Variation 3 also sports wing-shaped bottom brackets for retaining
the back and a dual right-side thumbscrew. Since Variation 3
is known from the 1886 reference, Variation 2 may be the earlier
of the two. The photographs above show an 8x0 camera with a second 5x8
back.
References:
Photographic
Apparatus Manufactured by The Blair Camera Company, Blair Camera
Co. (Boston, MA), distributed by C.R. Selee (56 Bromfield St., Boston,
MA), dated 1886, pp. 5-7.
The International Annual of Anthony's Photographic Bulletin, Vol. I,
1888, W. J. Harrison and A. H. Elliot, eds., E. & H. T. Anthony & Co.
(New York, NY), July 1888, ads, p. 11 (in an engraving within an
advertisement for L. M. Prince - appears to be a Reversible Back
Combination Camera, Var. 2 or Var. 3.
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