Curious: The Craft of Microscopy

Not quite Victorian photography per se, but might be of interest to the more technically minded BPH-bloggers out there keen on the science of microscopy.

As part of the Royal Society's 350th anniversary celebrations for 2010, there is an exhibition at the Hunterian Museum by artist Susanna Edwards who was inspired by a collection of Victorian microscope slides she found in a second hand shop. Using nine different microscopes dating back to the 18th century, Ms Edwards has photographed a collection of Victorian slides to create a stunning series of natural images. Each photograph, taken as the eye would see through a microscope, documents how developments in microscopy have changed the way we see the world. (This practice dates back to the earliest days of photography whereby Fox Talbot who, using a solar microscope, photographed an insect's wing, magnified some 15x.)

The exhibition will include large-scale photographic prints alongside the historic instruments used to capture them, the oldest of which is a 1730s Culpeper microscope. The slides contain a range of natural materials gathered for their aesthetic, scientific and educational qualities. The exhibition provides an opportunity to view objects that are rarely or never seen by the public.

For your info, the Hunterian Museum houses one of the oldest collections of anatomical, pathological and zoological specimens in the UK and is based on the items assembled by John Hunter, surgeon and anatomist (1728-1793). Some other items housed in the Museum which might wet your appetite include the skeleton of the 7ft 7in tall 'Irish giant' Charles Byrne, a collection of surgical instruments dating from the 17th century, carbolic sprays used by Lister, the pioneer of antiseptic surgery and Winston Churchill's dentures.

Qvist gallery
Until Saturday 3 July 2010
Open Tuesday – Saturday 10.00am – 5.00pm.
Free and open to all