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The secret world of Victorian microphotography: shrinking images to the size of a pencil tip

Popkin
Jun 19, 2025
∙ Paid

An erotic Stanhope microphotograph from Alfred Kinsey’s collection, ca. 1920s

In 1853, a Liverpool photographer achieved what seemed impossible at the time. He shrunk a 680-letter memorial plaque to the size of a pencil tip while keeping every character crystal clear under magnification.

John Benjamin Dancer was an optical instrument maker in his mid-twen…

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