Buchanan's
Complete Illustrated Catalogue, W.P. Buchanan (Philadelphia, PA),
1893, p.43
R. Dempster
catalog, 1897,
p. 39
5 x 7"
Bottom
Top
Label of seller, celluloid, top of rear standard: "The Obrig Camera Co.
/ Photo Materials / 163 Broadway, N.Y."
5 x 8"
Bottom
Top
10 x 12",
with probably the original carrying case
Date Introduced: - ;
Years Manufactured: c. 1893 - c.1897
Construction: front focus
via rack and pinion (two gear tracks on top of base rails);
single swing; reversing by removable back
Materials: mahogany, brass, black
fabric bellows
Sizes Offered: 5x7; 5x8; 6 ½x8 ½; 8x10;
10x12; 11x14; 14x17; 17x20
Notes:
I call this camera the Ak-Sar-Ben because I first ran into it in the Robert Dempster Co., Omaha, NE catalog, c.1897 in which it is the Ak-Sar-Ben. The Robert Dempster Co. is only known from a few references. He places a small advertisement in the 1891 Annual of Anthony's Bulletin (see references below), ads, p.62. This ad gives an address of "411 Court Ave., Des Moines, IA". A "R. Dempster" catalog, c.1897, that looks to have been xeroxed in the 1970's, gives the address as Omaha, NE, as do several newspaper ads that come up in a google search. Subsequently, I found the camera in the 1893 Buchanan catalog, named The Rochester View. Since I was calling this the Ak-Sar-Ben for 40 or maore years, I am going to continue that name, despite the possibility that the 1893 Rochester View name may have chronological precedence over the 1897 Ak-Sar-Ben name.
The large, wooden side plates are quite distinctive and unique, as are the folded brass springs holding the ground glass frame. At least five examples exist, one of which was spray-painted black, which is resisting being restored to a varnished state. In case you were wondering, Ak-Sar-Ben is the name of a certain state spelled backwards.
In the W.P. Buchanan 1893 catalog, the camera is identified as the Rochester View Camera. None of the Rochester-related camera manufacturing companies, i.e., Rochester Optical Co., Rochester Camera Mfg. Co., etc. (see http://www.piercevaubel.com/cam/roc.htm), ever advertised such a camera as theirs. Mayber Buchanan made a mistake, but maybe he knew something. It may be significant that the Dempster catalog featured three other view camera, all manufactured by the Rochester Optical Co. The catalog also featured what looks like the full array of R.O.C. premo cameras, and the only other cameras of any kind in the catalog are Kodaks.
The relatively common and long lived view camera called The Rochester View does not appear in catalogs until 1895 (Rochester View Variation 1), in a catalog from the Rochester Camera Mfg. Co., and continued to be manufactured by various successors to R.C.M.Co. until 1918. The history of Rochester, NY camera companies is that in 1891, two Carlton brothers, both of whom worked for the Rochester Optical Co., split into two rival camera manufacturers, W.F. Carlton retaining control of the Rochester Optical Co. and H.B. Carlton starting the Rochester Camera Mfg. Co. Since this Rochester View Camera (identical to the 1897 Ak-Sar-Ben) was advertised in 1893, two years before the Rochester View Variation 1 was advertised, it may very well be that it was made by H.B. Carlton and the R.C.M.Co. prior to the more conventionally metal strutted Variation 1.
As normal for cameras of the 1800s, knowing the history of this design is hampered by too few entries in too few catalogs. Specifically, the earliest non-Rochester Optical Co. catalog that I have owned has been from 1895, leaving 3-4 years of H.B. Carlton products unknown. In this case, one of the catalogs, Buchanan 1893, is on the internet from the kind folks at Internet Archive ( https://ia904705.us.archive.org/29/items/gri_33125013853631/gri_33125013853631.pdf), so I hesitate to add it to the catalogs that I have online that I have personally owned and scanned ( http://www.piercevaubel.com/cam/catalogs.htm). Likewise, the 1897 Dempster catalog is not included in my online catalogs because it is a reprint from the 1970s, for which I do not have the right to reproduce.
References:
The Internation Annual of Anthony's Photographic Bulletin", Vo. IV,
June, 1891, E. & H.T. Anthony & Co. (New York, NY), ads p.62 (Dempster
Co. store only, not the Ak-Sar-Ben camera)
Buchanan's Complete
Illustrated Catalogue, W.P. Buchanan (Philadelphia, PA), 1893,
p.43
Hand Cameras, Kodaks and Supplies, R.
Dempster (Omaha, NE), 1897, p. 39
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