Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

Reproduction of Moreau’s toy gentleman microscope

This is an unusual microscope reproduction, based on the gentleman microscope by M. Moreau in Paris during the second half of 19^th century. This reproduction has a height of approximately 32 cm, but the original Moreau’s gentleman microscopes were much smaller, and only few exemplars are known from other collections (Figure 1). Moreau was best well known for his monkey microscopes.

Figure 1. Moreau’s gentleman microscopes as featured in the French collection Histoire du Microscope (https://histoiredumicroscope.com/moreau-gustave-1840-inv-593/) (A), and Science Museum in London (https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co118504/toy-microscope-with-stand-formed-from-a-statuette-of-a-man) (B).