Blank Bottom

We were excited to come across this unique variation of the Imperial. Besides having no text on the bottom, it has quotation marks around the word “Imperial” and a lighter font style — neither of which we’ve seen before.

Germany - Fixed Focus

This version of the German Imperial stereo viewer has fixed focus. It carries the German registration #157580 and came in a boxed set with all 3 series of Harz images from the publishing house of Carl Hildebrand. It also has the tiny NPG logo in the lower left corner on the bottom of the viewer.

There are 2 different versions of the German adjustable-focus Imperial. Most of the graphics and text are the same on both but the top portion of each viewer is slightly different. Like the fixed-focus version, they both carry the German registration #157580 and have the tiny NPG logo in the lower left corner. The German text on both translates to “pictures of landscapes and genre things suitable for this apparatus are always available.”

Adjustable Version 1:

Has a graphic underneath the word “Imperial” instead of text.

Adjustable Version 2:

Has additional text underneath the word “Imperial” that describes Neue Photographische Gesellschaft (NPG) as a “joint-stock company.” This one came as part of a boxed set with stereoviews for a Paris museum.

France - Fixed focus

The fixed version of the French NPG viewer has the standard “flower” design but the styling of the word “Imperial” is different from any of the other NPG viewers we’ve seen.

The adjustable focus French NPG viewer has yet another unique styling of the word “Imperial”. But the graphic pattern is the same as the adjustable German Imperial viewer.

Spain - Adjustable focus

This Spanish version of the Imperial viewer is the only one we’ve seen with the word in “Imperial” in a mix of upper & lower case.

United States - Fixed focus

This U.S. version of the Imperial stereoscope carries Arthur Schwarz’s U. S. patent #720849 and advertises the Rotograph Company of New York. Bromide “rotograph” paper was a product of Neue Photographische Gesellschaft (NPG) as early as August of 1899 when they advertised it in The Photo-Miniature magazine. Later, the American branch of NPG merged with National Art Views Company to form the Rotograph Company sometime around 1904. Printed on the inside of the box lid are both the U.S. patent number and Schwarz’s German registration #157580 for the stereoscope, the address of the Rotograph Company, and the names of the various series of Imperial stereoviews. This particular set came with the 25-card “Beauties” series. Right now it’s a mystery why some cards are printed with Series II and some with Series III since Series III is listed as a comic series. From looking at the stereoviews, it seems the only difference between the two series is that Series II has solo “beauties” and Series III features multiple women in one scene.