Offered for sale and a rare opportunity to obtain an interesting set of 4 professionally prepared microscope slides showing diatom and other animal specimens by Victorian zoologist and slide preparer Arthur C. Cole.  The slides are in decent condition considering their age and still perfectly usable.  I’ve tried to capture some high magnification images and there is some yellowing of the mounting medium, but not that bad in reality.

 

The set will date to the late Victorian period and contains slides of diatom samples as well as other animal specimens.  All four slides bear the details “Prize Medal Paris 1867” and carry the red crest COLE DEUM – probably dating to around 1880 – 1890.

 

Background:

 

Arthur C. Cole (1821-1900) was a professor of music and an organist in Liverpool before moving to London around 1879. He mounted slides of diatoms and histological subjects of the highest quality. Each was beautifully labelled with a light blue label that indicated his prize medal at the 1867 Paris Exhibition. Most of his slides also carry a small red crest with the head of a deer and the words ‘Cole Deum’, meaning ‘Worship God’ which is also play on his surname. Cole mounted for research and commercial purposes. Many of his mounts survive, some of them carrying notations with ‘set’ and ‘number’ delineations that recall his technique of accompanying his slides with printed illustrations and descriptions.  This et of 4 is no exception to that general rule.

 

The slides will be shipped in a protective container and sent by Royal Mail.

 

Thanks for looking.