Holmes Stereoscope Advertisement (Cyanotype) Postcard

This vintage advertisement was restored and enhanced by Scenesfromthepast.net. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894), was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author.About 1860, Holmes invented the "American stereoscope", a 19th century entertainment in which pictures were viewed in 3-D. He later wrote an explanation for its popularity, stating: "There was not any wholly new principle involved in its construction, but, it proved so much more convenient than any hand-instrument in use, that it gradually drove them all out of the field, in great measure, at least so far as the Boston market was concerned." Rather than patenting the hand stereopticon and profiting from its success, Holmes gave the idea away.