Catalog of the workshop of light paintings for magic lanterns "Nauka".

Catalog of the workshop of light paintings for magic lanterns "Nauka".
Warsaw. The printing house of Lippert and Co., 1904. - 287, [1] p.Publisher's cover, regular format (14.5 x 22 cm). The cover is worn and dirty, has tears, losses, including on the spine, was carefully restored; the back side of the cover is covered with pencil.

["Magic lantern" (Latin: Laterna magica; magic lantern, fantascope, skioptikon, lampascope, fog pictures, etc.) — an apparatus for image projection, common in the XVII—XX centuries, XIX century. — in widespread use. It is a significant stage in the history of cinema development.

The invention of the "magic lantern" probably belongs to the Dutch scientist Christian Huygens; the Danish mathematician Thomas Walgensten first coined the term Laterna magica and became the main popularizer of the device, traveling with shows in European cities.

Initially, the magic lantern was used to entertain princes and nobles. However, it soon became very popular among the General population.

Too much popularity of the magic lantern made it a laughing stock in the eyes of many people. Now they show it on the streets and entertain children and people with it. 

In the early period of using the lantern, the organizers of performances hid the lantern from the eyes of the audience. Images were projected onto clouds of smoke, walls, or screens and had a small format, due to weak light sources. Demonstrators often used so-called "optical boxes" on wheels. Their walls were made of transparent material, on which the pictures were shown. 

Hiding the lantern and projecting images on the smoke, demonstrators achieved the effect of the presence in the darkened hall of luminous phantasmagoria (from Greek. φάντασμα-a Ghost and ἀγορεύω-I speak publicly, ), which caused a fit of fear in the audience of that time and gave the device the name "lantern of horror". This was facilitated by the use of magic lanterns by the Jesuits for religious purposes, showing the faithful the horrors of the underworld.

At the end of the XVIII century, the lantern was used for more scientific purposes.

In 1779, Jean-Paul Marat used a "solar microscope" - a version of a magic lantern that allowed objects to be projected in color and motion.[2] 

In 1838, the performance of the optician Soleil, dubosque's father-in-law, and the Jesuit Abbot Moignot, which consisted of projecting images explaining basic optical phenomena, was very popular in England. The performance was conducted with the approval of Dominique Francois Arago and Jean-Baptiste Dumas.

In 1848, in England, a Clerk used a magic lantern to illustrate his course of lectures at the Polytechnic Institute.

In 1864, some courses at the Sorbonne were accompanied by projections.  

The greatest success of the magic lantern was in England, where in the second half of the XIX century there were halls where special effects were used to demonstrate an image from a variety of lenses to clouds of smoke produced by machines (hence: "fog pictures", "smoke machines"). 

The invention and development of photography contributed to the emergence and mass production of plates with photographic images, thus partially replacing hand-drawn subjects. With the advent of cinema, the magic lantern lost its significance, marking the beginning of all projection techniques. Magic lanterns remained only in music halls as the theme of abramanov or shadow. A well-known European shadow artist and magician, Truy was a personal friend of Antoine Lumiere. The slide projector is the closest in principle and design to the magic lantern.

The repertoire of magic lanterns on the eve of the invention of cinema was complex and diverse.]