Magic lantern - Merry Christmas, part 4

		Vrolijk Kerstfeest Joyeux Noël Merry Christmas Fröhliche Weihnachten Feliz Navidad
4

A terrible Christmas Eve. A series of 24 magic lantern slides that was released by W. Rider & Co. England. The plates below come from a number of different sets. A series of plates was almost always sold in a relatively cheap black and white version. In addition, more expensive series were sold that had been coloured by various artists who all chose the colours that they found beautiful and appropriate. This explains why the protagonist in the series below regularly changes clothes and why a number of plates are not coloured.


1. And on this night fast fall her scalding tears.	2. So with fond kisses and words tenderer still.	3. Stands by the door, her baby on her arm.

4. The mother shudders, hope has almost fled.	5. And oft she gazes from the cottage door.	6. But 'when the night is darkest comes the dawn'.

7. And, joyful morn! the postman brings a greeting.	8. 'Tis Christmas Eve, Nellie makes up the fire.	9. One awful moment of suspense and doubt.

10. Swiftly she lays her little sleepy boy.	11. No thought of any covering for her head.	12. But staggers back, e'en at the very porch.

13. Yet, on she goes, so fragile, yet so brave.	14. She stops and manages her torch to light.	15. She waves the torch - her strength is almost past.

16. The cold takes hold of her, the cruel snow.	17. The coastguard and the village folk are near.	18. But someone cries 'Where is the hand that waved?'


19. One of them has found the slender figure in the snow.	20. The torch beside her black and smoking lies.	21. Home to the humble cottage gently borne.

22. ''T's Jack,' and now indeed the young wife wakes.	23. Oh, joy! to think she saved his precious life.	24. 'Tis Christmas morn! all hearts are filled with joy.
A trio of motto-slides on Christmas and New Year.

Four slides from a life model series on a Christmas gathering, maybe at a Sunday school. 8,2 x 8,2 cm. Maker unknown.




Two magic Lantern Slides from the Kansas City Public Schools, Department of Visual Instructions. Santa Claus with bag of toys, and Santa Claus, checking list with little girl, in front of fireplace. 3 1/4 x 4 inches (10 x 8 cm).
Angels.



Hark the herald-angels sing. Use of the magic lantern for religious applications came into existence in the second half of the 19th century. Evangelical religious societies like the Salvation Army, Band of Hope and many other temperance movements, recognised the magic lantern as a potential weapon in their struggles against the evils and intemperance of modern life. Sometimes projection formed part of a sacred service held in a church, but it would also be used to illustrate Sunday school stories, lectures, or a prayer meeting. Popular were illustrated hymns like above, and hymn lyrics for projection, which encouraged the congregation to sing along.

At the end of this page two beautiful lithophanes. The lithophane can be seen as a sibling of the magic lantern slide. That's why.
Lithophanes are three-dimensional images engraved or cast in a thin, translucent material. They have in common with the magic lantern slides that they only fully come into their own when light shines through them from behind. The lithophane below is based on the engraving 'Martin Luther amidst his family at Wittenberg' in Sartain's Magazine and is made by PPM (Schierholz factory in Plaue). The lithophane on the right is made by Meissen and is based on the famous painting 'Holy Night' by Antonio Correggio.

Photos by Andy Cook, a passionate collector and researcher of lithophanes based in the U.K., who previously presented this subject at one of the meetings of the Magic Lantern Society.
	Don't forget to visit...... Magic lantern slides after the famous stories of Charles Dickens.