British Vintage Stereoscopy — Viewer
VISTASCREEN
A catalogue entry from the collection
| Name | Vistascreen |
| Manufacturer | Vistascreen Company Ltd, London |
| Date Period | c. 1956-59 (approx) |
| Materials | Plastic |
| Format | Black and White Gloss Print 11cm x 4.5cm |
Vistascreen viewer
Packaging
Reverse of included sales leaflet
Vistascreen is one of the cheapest and most well known of the vintage British stereoscopes of the 20th Century.
Dating from the mid 1950s, it was a white plastic folding viewer primarily designed as a tourist souvenir. The viewer took its design inspiration from the British Coronet viewer of a few years earlier (a stylised version of that appears in the header of this very website). However, in order to keep manufacturing costs down a simpler moulded plastic body was created fitted with rectangular plastic lenses; these can bring a little edge distortion to images. The views consisted of ten black-and-white stereoscopic photographs printed on glossy card, mostly of UK based tourist attractions and themes - seaside places, stately homes, model villages, towns and cities. The viewer sold for 2/6d in 1950s pre-decimal currency (12.5 pence in today’s money).
Cards (and viewers) could be sold at local attractions, some of which even commissioned site-exclusive editions with the viewers themselves having the name of the attraction stamped on the base. Sets came with mail order forms too, allowing those interested enough to buy more and expand their collections by buying directly from the company.
Vistascreen was set up by 2 brothers, Jack and Jeffrey Spring of the Capital Paper Company (for some reason Wikipedia records Jeffrey incorrectly with the surname Leigh) in conjunction with Stanley Long, a former Royal Air Force photographer. They had already offered him space in their offices in Soho, London as part of another money making venture - taking and selling “artistic nude” photographs, which were pretty popular at that time. View-Master and stereoscopy was popular at the time too, so their aim was to tap into that, while focusing on mainly British subjects which View-Master did not.
The photographic work for Vistascreen was largely carried out by Long, using his 1920s Rollei Heidoscop stereo camera with a 6×13 cm plate back. He traveled the country producing hundreds of image sets during the company’s relatively short lifespan - often visiting several locations in a day to keep costs as low as possible. A natural hustler, it seems - if he drove past a holiday or caravan park while out shooting, he would often talk the management into allowing him to take photos they could then sell on site. How many sets were made altogether? Well, I understand there are over 350 - my own attempt to catalog them from various sources so far has 334 listed. So far (I added 3 more just during my time drafting this post!).
Despite the UK-centric focus, not all were UK locations; locations in Italy, France and the Republic of Ireland also appeared, along with some subjects aimed at children - aeroplanes, trains, puppets etc. However, many of the most valuable (going by eBay prices) are the 17 packs of stereo photos of women in various states of undress; even topless in some cases. Yes, Vistascreen also had a “sold under the counter” element! These were also taken by Long, who had already been specialising in this area and would continue doing so after his involvement in Vistascreen ended. These are very tame by today’s standards but still sought after, nonetheless. Incidentally, most Vistascreen views have curled a little over time; the curling doesn't stop them fitting in the viewer, happily - but if you do find a set that's still flat after nearly 70 years, well done!
Vistascreen only lasted a few years. Around 1958, after a dispute with the other partners, Long left the company and eventually became very wealthy with a long career in the film industry. Vistascreen closed not too long after. The rights to the viewer design were sold on by the Spring brothers to cereal company Weetabix - click on the link to read more about that.
The viewer itself was, as said, made to a budget and the lenses weren't the best. However, the format of views remained 100% compatible with the earlier Coronet viewer (with its far superior glass lenses). These are still relatively inexpensive (if not quite as common) and are certainly worth picking up; they make looking at the many Vistascreen views far more enjoyable.
Further Reading & Web Links
Image Sets To View (More to be added over time)
- Title of Views Set 1
- Title of Views Set 2
- Title of Views Set 3
