£380
A 1½IN. THREE DRAW ACHROMATIC TELESCOPE BY WILLIAM STORER, CIRCA 1785
parallel wooden main tube signed and inscribed on the draw cuff Storer Professor of Optics to his Majesty No., objective with lens cap and eyepiece with dust slide -- 9¾in. (25cm.) closed
Literature: de Clercq, Dr. P: Bulletin 98, (pp37-8) September 2008, Scientific Instrument Society (copy enclosed with lot)
'Professor' William Storer came from Norwich, worked in London between 1778-1789 and was made bankrupt in 1784. He is most famously associated with a portable camera obscura but was also involved with optical schemes and devised an elaborate 'subscription' telescope which was the subject of the article referenced below and for which he claimed to have invented a new type of doublet lens. Only six examples of this instrument have been found thus far, the highest number being '188' suggesting Storer was attempting to magnify his market reach with what must have been an expensive and over-complicated instrument. The example included in this lot is of conventional design but is the only example known to date. It seems plausible he was using up spare 'subscription' instrument optics after being declared bankrupt in 1784; Latterly he worked as a 'chinaman' (porcelain retailer) in Piccadilly; he died in 1805.
Good optics and condition overall.
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