[M] A CUFF-TYPE MICROSCOPE BY DOLLOND, CIRCA 1800

A CUFF-TYPE MICROSCOPE BY DOLLOND, CIRCA 1800

signed on the cruciform stage Dollond London, the square mahogany base supporting the brass body of the microscope, constructed from a tapered pillar with two screws for adjustment and focussing, with a scroll finger holder to the base, and a plano-concave mirror, the drawer below containing a number of a accessories including five additional numbered objectives, a brass fishplate, forceps and funnel stop, the microscope is contained within a pyramidal deal case, with draw to the base containing six bone specimen slides -- 18½in. (47cm.) high

Sotheby's London, 15th June 2004, lot 2.

Dr. Mill notes:

Dollond and Co were founded in about 1750 and located at 59 St Paul’s Churchyard until 1869, and survive today as the opticians “Dollond & Aitchinson”. They were important makers of optical instruments but their microscopes were not generally of innovative forms. Their importance lay in the extremely high quality of their manufacturing and their excellent lenses.

However the design is another matter. John Cuff was a famous innovator in microscope design. He produced this microscope in response to complaints from users that the Culpeper form made it difficult to manipulate specimens - because the legs surrounded the stage. This in turn had been produced because still older designs lacked the rigidity to hold tube and specimen steady. Cuff’s new design fulfilled both needs and is seen as the forerunner of modern microscopes. Cuff himself was a better designer than artisan and his own models were somewhat crude. He was a still worse business man and sadly went bankrupt. His design was copied by a number of makers, amongst whom Dollond produced some of the finest instruments.