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luxuries—such things as are no better for practical uses, but add to the convenience and perfection of life.
    The sentiment is commendable, and, for those who can afford it, is not only a proper but a wise indulgence. [The infant consumer society still required moral lectures at this point.]
    For that class [appeals to snobbery were useful also] we have constructed our Electro Radiant Lanterns, with fittings of various kinds, which, though they make the picture on the screen very little if any better, add very much to the convenience of handling and the the general appearance of an outfit, and increase the cost accordingly. [Today this is known as “ergonomics” and “industrial design.” In 1886 this practice required an apologia.]
    For instance, the price of OUR MOST POPULAR LANTERN, No. 2, is $12; but with additional conveniences the price is $15.00, $20.00 and $24.00, respectively. The $15.00 Lantern is fitted with Colt’s patent Brass Spun Thread Focussing Tube, with lenses to make an eight to nine foot picture. This focussing tube is the best improvement that has been made in years. It is perfect in working, adjustable by simple turning; there is no loss of light through uneven fitting, it does not catch or hitch, and is as easily and nicely adjustable as the highest price Rack and Pinion Tube made. [One cannot help but marvel as this sudden revelation of an entire peripherals industry for Magic Lanterns. Could this be the same “Colt” who created the Colt revolver?]
    For use with a nine-foot screen we recommend the $15.00 No. 2 LANTERN ABOVE ALL OTHERS.
    The $20.00 No. 2 Lantern may be used with a twelve or fifteen foot screen, and therefore may be operated in a room that will hold more people.
    The $24.00 Magic Lantern is precisely the same as the $20.00 one, except that it has the lenses set in a rack and pinion focussing tube, made of heavy cast brass with milled head adjusting connection, which makes a very stylish and handsome appearance.
    Price List of No. 2 Electro Radiant Magic Lanterns
    No. 2. With Piano Convex Lenses...$12.00
    No. 2A. With Piano Convex Lenses in Colt’s Pat Spun Thread Focussing Tube.........$15.00
    No. 2B, Double Achromatic Lenses in Colt’s Pat Spun thread tube $20.00
    No. 2C, Double Achromatic Lenses in heavy brass rack and pinion focussing tube....$24.00
    12 Slides are packed with each No. 2 Lantern.
    P E C K & S N Y D E R, 126, 128 & 130 Nassau Street, New York.
    Importers and Dealers in English, French and German Magic Lanterns, at prices from $2.00 to $50.00 each, and also in those of the best American make, prices $5.00 to 75.00 each.
    [It must be noted in concluding that the “Electro Radiant,” illustrated with a burning gas lamp, has nothing “electro” about it. The Electro is entirely rhetorical, a futuristic fillip for a cutting-edge device which has already killed off the unlucky “Electro Radiant No. 1.”]
    Source: Peck and Snyder’s Catalog (aka Price List of Out & Indoor Sports and Pastimes) 1886, reprinted 1971 by Pyne Press (LC# 75-24886, ISBN 0-87861-094-4)
     

The scale of the Magic Lantern market
    From Bruce Sterling
    Mssrs Peck and Snyder offered at least 47 distinct varieties of magic lantern (as well as the Polyopticon and the Megascope, intriguing variants of magic lantern technology).
    The large variety of Peck and Snyder’s own product rose from clever recombination of the magic lantern’s basic elements: the body, the base, the reflector, the condenser, the lens tube, the smoke-stack and the lamp. The materials could be cheap japanned tin, or luxuriant brass; the lenses cheap or precise; the lamps powerful and dangerous, or weak and relatively safe.
    Some few magic lanterns were imported: “Wrench’s Celebrated London Make Magic Lanterns”, the “Favorite German Lantern,” and the “New Style French Magic Lantern.” The following sample excerpts from Peck and Snyder advertising copy will show how these manufactured variants addressed