Scovill Mfg. Co.

Mignon Bicycle Camera

Date Introduced: - ; Years Manufactured: c.1886-1894
Construction: front focus via rack and pinion (gear tracks on top of base rails); single swing; non-reversing;  shifting lensboard
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base; black fabric bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: 3¼x4¼
Notes: This is a high-end small camera, "consisting of a finely polished mahogany camera, with swing back, vertical shifting front, hinged ground glass back, folding bed, with patent latch,  rack and pinion movement (front focus)."  It is four times the price of the low-end Bicyclist's Pocket Photo-Outfit.  Without the universal joint bicycle attachment, it is also part of the No. 3 1888  Instantaneous Outfit.  With its shifting lensboard and reference to the 1888 Instantaneous, this camera would look similar to the 76 Camera (for which the literature also references the 1888 Instantaneous), but for the smaller size.

References:
Scovill's Photo. Series No. 20, Dry Plate Making for Amateurs, Scovill Mfg. Co. (New York, NY), 1886, p. a17
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, Scovill Mfg. Co. (New York, NY), distributed by C.H. Codman & Co. (Boston, MA), September 1888, p. 36
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), January 1889, p. 34
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), distributed by Horgan, Robey & Co. (Boston, MA), June 1891, p. 14
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, The Scovill and Adams Co. (New York, NY), January 1892, p. 14
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1893, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), 1892, ads p. 84
The American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1894, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), 1893, p. 125

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