The Thaumatrope is a disc, usually of cardboard, with one component of an image on each side. When twirled the disc is twirled on a string fixed to either side, the two images combine to form a complete picture. The usual example is a bird (or in this example, a rat) in a cage. Attributed to Dr. Paris, it first appeared in 1825 - sold in sets, by the Royal Institution of London, as an expensive philosophical novelty - but cheap toy versions soon followed. The first examples included mottoes as well as pictures, usually with a pun on the word 'turn'. Some versions of the thaumatrope comprised two phases of a movement, and gave a very primitive motion effect. The thaumatrope encouraged the development of similar optical devices, such as the later phenakistiscope for true moving pictures.
Jack and Beverly's Optical ToysNow spin
THE PHENAKISTISCOPE |
