Alphonse GIROUX Lampascope

Rare hexagonal cardboard Lampascope magic lantern. Strengthened and covered in red paper with gilded geometric pattern. Would have been mounted on household oil lamp for projection of magic lantern slides. Alphonse GIROUX was known to have sold this type of lantern at N°7 de la rue du Coq-Saint-Honoré in Paris, long before the announcement of the invention of photography. This example has a label reading "Lampascope Breveté S.G.D.G." (patented) with a signature that may be Lefèvre, who was known to have patented lampadoramas and lampascopes in the 19th C.