Georg Friedrich Brander, circa 1760

Details

A MICROSCOPE COMPENDIUM
Georg Friedrich Brander, circa 1760
The fishskin case lined with green felt with fitted recess for accessories with ivory parts, the compass and screw-barrel microscopes both signed G.F. Brander fecit. Aug. Vind. beneath tray of four lenses a compartment for cocus wood microscope slides, one handle missing else seemingly complete.
7½ x 5 x 2in. (19 x 12.5 x 5cm.)

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Lot Essay

Georg Friedrich Brander was born at Regensburg in 1713, and studied mathematics at the university of Altdorf. He founded his workshop at Augsburg, and from 1737 until his death in 1783 he manufactured every type of philosophical, mathematical, and optical instrument. He began to make glass micrometers from 1761, for which he became famous. These were used in microscopy, and also in astronomy. It is thought that Brander's interest in making microscopes was due to the publication at Augsburg in 1754 of the German translation of Henry Baker, Employment for the Microscope (London, 1753).

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