New Orleans Alligators Stereoview c1880 Louisiana Southern Farm Photo Card B1909 For Sale

"Live Alligators, New Orleans, La." (1559)

Published by Charles Warren Woodward (1836-1894). Woodward began his career as a picture frame maker and a dealer of fine arts before becoming one of the most prominent stereoview publishers of the 1870s. Over the course of Woodward's life, he had parts in several stereoview-related businesses, including Rochester Picture Frame Depot, Union View Company, Woodward and Albee, and Woodward Stereoscopic Company. In his later years, Woodward was a travelling salesman of fine arts.

This is a stereoview (also known as a stereograph or stereoscope card). It was one of the first forms of 3D photography. The images were captured with a special stereoscopic camera, which had two lenses - simulating the view of our left and right eyes. The two, nearly identical pictures were then mounted next to each other (most commonly on a piece of cardstock, glued on as photographs or printed as lithographs). The image could then be seen in three dimensions when viewed through a device known as a stereoscope, stereopticon, and/or televiewer.

Imperial-size stereograph, measuring about 4.25 x 7 inches.