Lewis Daguerreotype Camera
C.C. Harrison Radial Drive Lens

William & William H. Lewis
New York, NY
Ca. Early 1850s

Ex-collection Michael Kramer

This handsome half-plate Daguerreotype camera received a patent in 1851 for a Daguerreotype camera with a bellows positioned between the front and rear sections. Several sources state that this was the first camera in America to use a bellows. The rear section of the camera slid forward and backward on the grooved wooden bed. The edges of the rosewood-veneered camera were chamfered in the style of the cameras that were popular at the time. It has a brass C.C. Harrison radial drive lens. The ground glass holder and plate Holders were inserted through a hinged door at the top of the camera. The half-plate and quarter-plate holders are stamped W. & W.H. Lewis, New York. The Lewis-style cameras were made toward the tail-end of the Daguerreian period.