Ø A FOLDING PIN SIMPLE BOTANISTS MICROSCOPE RETAILED BY WILL...

Hammer

£140

Ø A FOLDING PIN SIMPLE BOTANISTS MICROSCOPE RETAILED BY WILLIAM RUSHBY, CIRCA 1780

of typical form with turned ivory handle, and sliding specimen pin, contained in card case, stamped Rushby, Cherry Tree Hill -- 2¼in (5.5cm.) wide, IDN: D6PMDSXM

Dr. Mill notes:

No Gentleman was well equipped at the end of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth unless he carried one of these in his pocket. The design first appears in Jones’ second edition of Adams “Essays on the Microscope” 1798. Essentially a single lens on a small brass frame with an ivory handle and a sliding spike to hold an impaled specimen in focus. The spike here is simple brass whereas later models used a steel needle held in a brass chuck. The microscope folds up to slip into a tiny leather covered case (55x26x21mm).

The case is of card with a decorative marbled paper. The case carries tooling including two stylised helical shells.

Fine overall condition.