This one goes out to all the armchair Van Leeuwenhoeks out there. You think you can draw better than this? I kid. Seriously, the Camera Lucida has drawn an interestingly recent and sudden spike in attention. The NeoLucida being among the more famous examples.
The old art school kid in me would like to believe that it's because people still enjoy drawing, despite whatever hangups we might succumb to regarding talent, identity, and artistic endeavor. The camera lucida has a nice way of cutting through that emotional garbage. You get to the fun part of drawing right away. Sure this is the microscope-specific edition, but either way you get to ink up some paper. -T
Disclaimer: Articles in Work: The Illustrated Weekly Journal for Mechanics describe materials and methods that would not be considered safe or advisable today. We are not responsible for the content of these magazines, and cannot take any responsibility for anyone attempting projects or procedures described therein.
The first issue of Work was published on March 23rd, 1889. The goal of this project is to release digital copies of the individual issues starting on the same date in 2012, effectively republishing the materials 123 years to the day from their original release.
The original printing was on thin, inexpensive paper. There are many cases of uneven inking and bleed-through from the page behind. Our copies of Work come from bound library volumes of these issues and are subject to unfavorable trimming, missing covers, etc. To minimize harm to these fragile volumes, we've undertaken the task of scanning the books ourselves. We do considerable post processing of the scans to make them clear but please bear with us if a margin is clipped too close, or a few words are unreadable. We would like to thank James Vasile and Karl Fogel for their help in supplying us with a book scanner and generally enabling this project to get off the ground.
You are welcome to download, print, and pretty much do what you want with the scan for your own personal purposes. Feel free to post a link or a copy on your blog or website. All we ask is a link back to the original project and this blog. We are not answering requests for commercial downloads or reprinting at this time.
After watching "Tim's Vermeer" (see the trailer on youtube) I built a reflecting mirror tool. It worked, but it was hard to master. Then I found the link above to an app for your iphone or ipad. It's a bit awkward as well, but it "really catches fish!" It becomes modern tracing paper.
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After watching "Tim's Vermeer" (see the trailer on youtube) I built a reflecting mirror tool. It worked, but it was hard to master. Then I found the link above to an app for your iphone or ipad. It's a bit awkward as well, but it "really catches fish!" It becomes modern tracing paper.