Summary

Rackwork mechanical magic lantern slide featuring a cartoon illustration of a rat crawling or leaping into a sleeping man's mouth.
Rackwork used for climbing rat effect; centre pivoted glass for man's moving jaw effect; glasses held by brass flange; in solid wood mount; hand-printed over printed outline.

This lantern slide is part of the Francis Collection of pre-cinematic apparatus and ephemera, acquired by the Australian and Victorian Governments in 1975. David Francis was the curator of the National Film and Sound Archive of the British Film Institute as well as being a co-founder of the Museum of the Moving Image in London, which was operational between 1988 and 1999.

Slides like this were used for popular entertainment.

Physical Description

Coloured illustration printed on glass, mounted in wooden frame with brass crank handle at side.

More Information

  • Collection Names

    Francis Collection

  • Collecting Areas

    Images & Image Making

  • Acquisition Information

    Loan & Subsequent Donation from Australian Film Institute (AFI), Mr David Francis, by Nov 1990

  • Format

    Lantern Slide - Rackwork Type, Wooden Framed - Single Image, Hand Coloured

  • Classification

    Recreation & tourism, Amusements, Optical devices

  • Category

    History & Technology

  • Discipline

    Technology

  • Type of item

    Image

  • Overall Dimension

    226 mm (Width), 11 mm (Depth), 110 mm (Height)
    Width including crank handle

  • Overall Dimension

    164 mm (Width), 19 mm (Depth), 110 mm (Height)
    Width does not include crankle handle

  • Keywords

    Humour