Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

Library telescope from Newton & Co (c. 1880)

 

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Telescope engraved with ‘Newton & Co, Opticians to the Queen, 3 Fleet Street, London’, England’. This instrument should be dated to c. 1880 (Figure 1). When originally bought in an auction, the instrument was fully covered with a dense dark nice patina but suffered also of extended corrosion, and so was disassembled and fully cleaned and restored. During the restoration process, four screws had to be replaced by modern ones, and the respective threads were redone, but all other original pieces were maintained. Frederick Newton formed a partnership with his distant cousin William in 1851, producing microscopes, telescopes, cameras, globes, and other apparatus. The partnership ended by the end of 1856 or early 1857, with Frederick continuing an optical business as Newton & Co. It looks that Newton & Co. mostly focused in producing magic lantern projection systems and cameras by the 1880s.

 

 

 

Figure 1. Thirty-inch astronomical microscope from Newton & Co as engraved in an 1870s catalogue of the firm.

 

LAST EDITED: 12.03.2022