Sliding Box Wet Plate Camera

England
ca. Mid-1850s

Of the cameras in my collection, this English sliding box wet plate camera strikes a chord in me more than many others. It is among the oldest cameras that I own (circa 1850s), and the identity of the maker is unknown. The sliding box construction was the earliest style of camera, reminiscent of those used for Daguerreotypes and camera obscuras. It took quarter-plate photographs and utilized ground glass focusing. The polished wood (possibly walnut or elm) has dovetail joints.

While the camera itself has no maker’s mark, which is not uncommon for cameras of this era, the brass rack and pinion lens is marked E. Mander, 98 Snow Hill, Birmingham (England). The literature indicates that the lens was made by Ferdinand Colas, a Frenchman who worked in England from the 1840s. In England. Colas lenses were sold by Elisha Mander.