A grouping of 17 antique stereoview cards spanning astronomical, scenic, genre, portrait, and world's fair subjects, from publishers including C. Bierstadt, B.W. Kilburn, Griffith & Griffith, Keystone View Company, Underwood & Underwood, James M. Davis, The World Wide View Co., and The "Modern" Series of London.
The astronomical subject is a standout: a "Full Moon" stereoview printed from negatives taken by Prof. H. Draper using his silvered glass telescope, published by C. Bierstadt, Niagara Falls, New York, with distribution by Underwood & Underwood of Baltimore, Maryland and Ottawa, Kansas. The same publisher's imprint appears on an 1884 card captioned "Ice Palace, Montreal, Feb. 4, 1884" (no. 1464), depicting a large ice structure with figures in the foreground plaza. Keystone View Company of Meadville, Pennsylvania is represented by three cards: the monumental arched entrance to the 1900 Paris Exposition captioned "La Porte Monumentale — Chief Entrance to the Exposition, Paris, 1900" (no. 11708, copyright 1900 by B.L. Singley); a foliage garden and wireless telegraph tower at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis (no. 15033); and an elevated panoramic view captioned "Godesberg from the Castle, Showing the Seven Mountains, Germany" (no. 10345). Underwood & Underwood is represented by a portrait card captioned "Mrs. McKinley in the Conservatory of the Executive Mansion, Washington, Copyright 1900 by Underwood & Underwood," showing a seated woman in a full white dress amid potted plants, and by a Scottish landscape captioned with a Walter Scott quotation referencing Loch Katrine and the Trossachs, copyright 1896 by Strohmeyer & Wyman.
B.W. Kilburn's copyright appears on two cards: "Royal Gorge, Grand Canyon of the Arkansas, Col., U.S.A." (no. 4377, copyright 1891), depicting a locomotive and passenger cars dwarfed by sheer canyon walls; and "Bacchant Awaking" (no. 10081, copyright 1886), a reclining female figure framed by a floral arch, distributed by James M. Davis of New York, St. Louis, Liverpool, Toronto, and Sydney. Griffith & Griffith of Philadelphia, Chicago, London, Hamburg, and Milan published a studio portrait of a young woman with long hair, holding playing cards, posed against a leopard-skin backdrop. The World Wide View Co. of 200 Monroe Street, Chicago issued a hand-colored card from "The World Wide Series" captioned "No. 24. The Road to Calvary, as it is today," depicting a large crowd gathered before a stone structure. The "Modern" Series of Stereoscopic Slides (London, initialed F.M.) contributed a view of a half-timbered building with an iron fence, with handwritten script on the reverse consistent with a Shakespeare's birthplace identification. A comic genre card on a decorated mount bearing ribbon banners reading "American and Foreign Scenery" and "Religious Comic and Miscellaneous Subjects" is captioned "Every Kiss Has Its Sting," depicting two men at a porch with beehive boxes. The grouping further includes a "Popular Series" yellow-mount card of the Swiss city of Berne, Valley of the Aar (no. 2344); a Centennial-themed studio scene with children posed around spinning wheels and rope rigging with a sign reading "1776–1876"; an unmounted yellow-mount card depicting an inclined railroad track through wooded hillside terrain with no publisher identification; and a yellow-mount studio portrait of a barefoot young woman posed in a rocky pastoral setting with painted backdrop, also without publisher markings.
Condition varies across the grouping, with most cards showing expected toning, edge wear, and minor soiling consistent with age; the Road to Calvary card presents tears and creasing to the mount edges.
