Diableries: Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell - Hardcover

May, Brian; Pellerin, Denis; Fleming, Paula

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0957424604 ISBN 13: 9780957424609

Publisher: London Stereoscopic Co, 2013

Synopsis

A devilish 1860s sensation - finally unleashed on the 21st century! In France, around 1860, from the loins of a traditional national fascination with all things diabolical, was born a new sensation - a series of visionary dioramas depicting life in a strange parallel universe called ENFER - Hell - communicated to an eager audience by means of stereoscopic cards, to be viewed in the stereoscopes which had already become popular in the 1850s. This 3-D phenomenon, which fascinated a nation for 40 years, is now yours to share. This book, the fruit of half a lifetime's study by three impassioned authors, brings every one of the published Diableries into the 21st century for the very first time. Some of them are so rare that at the time of writing there is no known complete collection of the originals of these masterpieces. But this book enables all but two of the 182 scenes to be enjoyed just as their creators intended, in magnificent 3-D, using the high-quality patent OWL stereoscopic viewer supplied.

About this title

About the Author:

Brian May, CBE, PhD, FRAS is a founding member of Queen, a world-renowned guitarist, songwriter, producer and performer. Brian postponed a career in astronomy when Queen's popularity first exploded, but after an incendiary 30 years as a rock musician, returned to astrophysics in 2006, when he completed his PhD and coauthored his first book, Bang! The Complete History of the Universe, with Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott. Stereoscopy has been a life-long passion, and his second book, A Village Lost and Found, written with Elena Vidal, introduced the genius of Victorian stereo photographer T. R. Williams to a global audience.

Denis Pellerin, dedicated photo historian, was a teacher for over 30 years and has been interested in photography since the age of ten. He was bitten by the stereo bug in the 1980s, has been fascinated by the, Diableries for over 25 years and has written several books and articles on 19th-century stereo photography for various magazines, institutions and museums. He graduated as an MA in Art History at the Sorbonne in 1999 and has since been specializing in French and British Victorian genre stereo views. He is also currently working on his PhD.

Paula Richardson Fleming is a photographic historian with a special interest in stereo photography. She is the retired Photo Archivist of the Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, and a Fellow and former member of the Board of Directors of the National Stereoscopic Association. Her credits include publications on 19th-century photography, as well as the curation of many photographic exhibits. Her association with Brian and Denis came naturally from their mutual appreciation of the Diableries.

Review:

FromJacket Copy: Books, Authors and all things Bookish

The devil was close at hand in Victorian-era France, particularly if you had a stereoscope. A series of double-image cards, Diableries fit into a wooden viewer and leaped into 3-D, with witty, racy, frightening visions of hell. One hundred and eighty images are collected in the new book Diableries: Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell, which comes with a sixteen layer lenticular fronted slipcase and a fold-out stereoscope viewer. The book is written by Brian May, the Queen guitarist,(who has a doctorate in astrophysics and is a life long stereo photography collector), Denis Pellerin and Paula Fleming. It contains detailed context for each Diablerie, explaining political references, pointing out jokes and illustrating technical accomplishments. The images were created by photographing hand-sculpted scenes. They look sepia-toned in daylight and fill with color when backlighted, which is particularly frightening when the eyes of the damned glow red as the green devil parades by.

Los Angeles Times October 23, 2013 --Los Angeles Times

Who says dinosaur rockers can't raise hell? In the poshly published Diableries; (London Stereopticon Company, 280 pages, $60), Brian May, lead guitarist of Queen, shares his longstanding passion for 19th-century stereopticon images he bought his first pair of these 3-D cards over 40 years ago from a psychedelia vendor at Portobello Road Market in London. In this nearly complete set of a phantasmic French stereopticon series from the 1860s, skeletons enact an elaborate danse macabre curiously, Satan bears a striking resemblance to King Louis Philippe in a fiery underworld, prefiguring the aesthetic of many an album cover. When viewed through the nifty folding stereoscope enclosed in the book's slipcase, the paired images merge to reveal rounded volumes and a sense of deep, measurable space. --Wall Street Journal Holiday Gift Guide November 23, 2013

About this edition

• Publisher: London Stereoscopic Co
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0957424604
• ISBN 13: 9780957424609
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 280