Blair Camera Co.

Reversible Back, Improved, Variation 2

Blair-Foss catalog, 1890, p. 3

5x8



 

Date Introduced: - ; Years Manufactured: c.1890-1894
Construction: front focus via rack and pinion (two gear tracks on top of base rails); single or double swing; reverse by removable back; three-piece lensboard
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base; black fabric bellows; nickeled or brass hardware
Sizes Offered: 1500=4x5; 1501=4¼x5½; 1502=5x7; 1503=5x8; 1504=6½x8½; 1505=8x10
Notes: The base is in three sections, the first is removable; cases came in two sizes; trim could be made to order.  The illustrated camera above has a 5x8 back, but is big enough to fit a 6½x8½ back.  The Blair 1895 catalog states that the Reversible Back Camera, the Combination Camera, and the Champion Reversible Back Camera are superceded in design.  Reversible Back, Improved, Variation 1 has a simpler base design and a center pivot rear swing.  Reversible Back, Improved, Variation 3 merely has different hardware than Variation 2.  A Variation 2 having non-nickeled hardware is shown below.

6½x8½

References:
Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of Photographic Apparatus and Supplies, Section A, Blair Camera Co. (Boston, MA), distributed by Oscar Foss (San Francisco, CA), 1890, pp. 3-5
Anthony's Photographic Bulletin XXV No. 5, May 1 1894, p. xi

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