Stereoscopic Photograph (Collodion Glass Negative) of Magdalen College, Oxford, c.1850

Collodion glass negative of unusual plate size, 5 by 8 inches. Stereoscopic view (two images on one plate) within the front quadrangle of Magdalen College, Oxford. The images have unsymmetrically arched tops, which resolve into a symmetrical arch when viewed stereoscopically. However the images appear to be too greatly offset from one another, the tree at right barely appearing on the other image and the staircase turret at left not appearing at all on the right-hand image; the stereoscopically resolved image is thus much narrower. Retouched with black paint in top corners and sky, latter to give cloud effect. The number 583 is scratched in both top corners, and a paper label with pencil lines is across the top right corner. The unusually large format may suggest that it was intended to produce prints for viewing in a Wheatstone stereoscope, rather than the Brewster-type that became standard; in which case it is a very early example of a single-plate stereoscopic negative.