Square magic lantern LAPIERRE - with 4 glass plates circa 1845

Square tinplate magic lantern

One of the oldest, it can be dated to 1845 thanks to the tubular feet which would later be worked on and patented.

With 4 glass plates illustrating the story of Little Thumb.

Lapierre was the first manufacturer of toy lanterns in France in the second half of the 19th century.

The magic lantern is the ancestor of projection devices; it allows images painted on glass plates to be projected through a lens, using the light of a candle or an oil lamp.