Foreign stereographers / publishers - Ferrier P. & F. & Soulier

Many fine stereoscopic views were produced by the successive working arrangements that led from Claude Marie Ferrier to Léon and Lévy, spanning a period that covered the whole golden age of stereo photography. According to Darrah, Ferrier father (Claude Marie), followed by Ferrier Père & Fils (Jacques Alexandre) & Soulier, produced "the world's finest glass stereographs" [Darrah 1997, p. 113]. Isaac Lévy later joined the firm, which became "Ferrier P. & F. & Soulier, I. Lévy". Altogether with the card-mounted images, the company produced more than 40,000 titles. The stereoscopic business of Ferrier P. & F. & Soulier continued under the direction of Léon and Lévy, ensuring the availability of glass and card-mounted images from this rich archive — compare for example the glass view #11237 and Léon et Lévy's card #37f, both captioned as "Cour du Château de la Pégna. Cintra." (the images are slightly different, but clearly made at the same time). The company identification is not always easy to see, due to the small letter print and to its location, as shown in the example below:

	"Standard" size (17.1 x 8.4 cm, 6.7'' x 3.3'') positive glass views. Image number and caption printed horizontally on the lower left. The company identification is printed horizontally on the lower right and is reproduced below.
	Enlarged representation of the company logo (Ferrier P. & F. & Soulier, I. Lévy?) on the view above.

A few of the glass views listed under this category may not have been produced by Ferrier and Soulier, directly or through one of their various working associations. However, and before a better identification is available, all these images are considered as "Ferrier P. & F. & Soulier". The complete listing presented here was kindly provided by Professor John B. Cameron, Department of Art and Art History, Oakland University (USA), who has been interested in the history of the company for many years. I include John's own words: "J'étais surpris de découvrir que le Portugal ne figurait dans les trois premiers grands catalogues (1859, 1864 et 1870) dont M. Voignier et Pierre Marc Richard ont publié une concordance. En effet, la première parution du Portugal est dans le catalogue général de 1880 (...)".

Further reading:

[Darrah 1997]
William C. Darrah, The World of Stereographs, Land Yacht Press, 246 p., 1997 (second edition of the book originally published in 1977), ISBN 0-9650513-1-5.

(see the views)

ANTIQUE STEREOVIEWS OF PORTUGAL
Copyright © 2003 J. M. Martins Ferreira. All Rights Reserved.