Jules Richard (19 December 1848 - 18 June 1930) was a French photographer, businessman and instrument maker. Trained in part by his father, an instrument maker, Richard took over the family's business on his father's death. Richard was the inventor and manufacturer of the Verascope and Glyphoscope stereographic cameras, and also the Taxiphote stereographic viewer.

Early career

Richard's father Félix Richard was an instrument maker in Paris; his uncle was the electrical instrument maker

Paul-Gustave Froment Paul-Gustave Froment (born March 3, 1815 in Paris, died 1865) was a French mechanic, instrument maker and inventor. Life He was born in Paris and was educated at the Collège Sainte-Barbe and the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Having demonstrated fro ...

. After training in the his father's workshop, he worked outside the family company in the 1870s, manufacturing telegraphy equipment. Following his father's death in 1876, he returned to the family business in 1877, working in partnership with his younger brother Max starting in 1882. During the 1880s they built a reputation for manufacturing scientific barometers, and other environmental recording devices such as

anemometer In meteorology, an anemometer () is a device that measures wind speed and direction. It is a common instrument used in weather stations. The earliest known description of an anemometer was by Italian architect and author Leon Battista Alberti ( ...

s, pyrometers, aneroid barographs and dynamometers. Until 1891 when they split up, they were known as the Richard Frères; the 'RF' monogram persisted as the company's symbol. From 1893 the company produced stereoscopic cameras. After 1891 the company was named ''Jules Richard''.

Photography

In 1893 Richard introduced the Verascope, a

stereographic Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

camera. The Glyphoscope, a cheaper version of the Vérascope, followed, and between the two models Richard's company sold 120,000 cameras between 1894 and 1935. In 1899 Richard patented and introduced for sale the Taxiphote, a tabletop viewer for the glass stereo slides produced by the Vérascope. An example of his Taxiphote camera is included in the collection of the

Museum of Fine Arts Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

. The

George Eastman Museum The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

holds over 1,100 of his cameras, camera prototypes and stereographic photos. The

History of Science Museum, Oxford The History of Science Museum in Broad Street, Oxford, England, holds a leading collection of scientific instruments from Middle Ages to the 19th century. The museum building is also known as the Old Ashmolean Building to distinguish it from th ...

holds examples of Verascope and the Taxiphote. The

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...

, Washington, holds an aneroid barometer manufactured by the Richard Freres. Examples of the Verascope are held by the

National Museum of Cinema The National Museum of Cinema (''Museo Nazionale del Cinema'') located in Turin, Italy, is a motion picture museum fitted out inside the Mole Antonelliana tower. It is operated by the ''Maria Adriana Prolo Foundation'', and the core of its collect ...

, Italy.

Gallery

Jules_Richard_-_Nude_Study,_1900s.jpg, Nude Study, 1900s. Jules Richard - The Atrium; The Desbonnet Method, c.1912.jpg, The Atrium; The Desbonnet Method, c.1912. Jules Richard -812jr6430.jpg, Female nude, c. 1900–1920. Publicité Glyphoscope.jpg, Glyphoscope advertisement, 8 July 1916 Visore stereoscopico portatile, con messa a fuoco manuale, per vedute su lastra - Museo scienza tecnologia Milano 08888 01.jpg, Portable stereoscope viewer, c. 1910–1930. Pont et quai St Michel 27-2-1906.tif, Gyphoscope stereographic image of the St Michel Quay and Bridge, Paris, 27 February 1906. Jules Richard -903jr135624.jpg, Nude women photographed by Jules Richard, c. 1900–1920. CD 47 Gd Palais, Gd escalier en fer.tif, Stereographic image of the Grand Staircase in the Grand Palais, Paris, c. 1900.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richard, Jules 1848 births 1930 deaths 19th-century American photographers 20th-century American photographers 19th-century French inventors 20th-century French inventors