HENRY CLAY STEREOSCOPIC
SPECIAL
ORDER 5x8
American
Optical Company, Scovill & Adams, Proprietors 1895-1896
The Henry Clay
Stereoscopic in 5x8 format, was available as a special order item in 1895
at least, appearing on Scovill & Adams' bargain list in their The American Annual of Photography and
Photographic Times Almanac for 1896 (copyright 1895). Many factory advertisements over the years
stated that Henry Clays could be made to order in sizes other than 4x5 and 5x7.
This heavier 5x8 version differs from the Henry Clay
Stereoscopic 5x7, being notably larger in size with an elevated base at the
rear, an L-shaped side access door as seen on earlier Henry Clays (as opposed
to a flat panel door on the Henry Clay Stereoscopic 5x7), a wider lens standard
track and some revised lens standard hardware. Here are their respective dimensions
for comparison:
Henry
Clay Stereoscopic 5x7
Height 7-5/16"
Width 9-1/8"
Depth 5-9/16
Track Width (outside
of rails) 3-15/16"
Henry
Clay Stereoscopic Special Order 5x8
Height 8-5/16"
Width 10-1/2"
Depth 6-1/8"
Track Width (outside
of rails) 4-11/16"
Note that the bed struts are hinged on this example of
the Special Order, versus solid struts seen on the standard Stereoscopic shown below,
and elsewhere on this website:
The hinged struts also appear on a known 4x5 example of
the Henry Clay Regular from 1896, and
on at least one example of Folmer &
Schwing's Improved Henry Clay (another example has solid struts), also believed
to have been built by the American Optical Company. This may suggest that American Optical was either
using or experimenting with hinged struts during this time. However, most of the previous and subsequent models
of the Henry Clay have been found with solid struts.
This example has no swing or tilt adjustments and is
equipped with a Rochester Optical Company-badged Bausch & Lomb Stereo Automatic Shutter:
Bausch & Lomb Automatic
Shutter ("Automat")
This "Automat"
shutter wasn't standard issue for the camera, having been introduced about 1904
and later installed on the camera. Henry
Clay Stereoscopics from this era would have come from the factory with Double Rectilinear
lenses fitted in a Bausch & Lomb
Stereoscopic Shutter, or equipped with a Unicum Triplicate Shutter, a stereo version of the Unicum:
Bausch
& Lomb Stereoscopic Shutter
Bausch & Lomb Unicum Triplicate Shutter
For more information on these shutters, see the "Shutters" section of this
website.
This Stereoscopic Special Order example is missing its
lens standard-mounted viewfinder (screw holes evident at top), carry handle and
handle mounting straps. An
ivoroid label tacked to the folding bed reads "American Optical Company,
New York, Scovill & Adams, Prop."
Today, all models of the Henry Clay Camera are considered
rare. The Stereoscopic Special Order, or any other special order Henry Clays,
are especially hard to find. Very few
were made and in all likelihood even fewer survive.
Henry Clay Stereoscopic
5x7 Henry Clay Stereoscopic Special Order 5x8
Henry Clay bargain list from
Scovill's The American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for
1896