Books#10 Diableries by Brian May

Having voiced my enjoyment of an earlier book of stereoscopic photographs ('A Village Lost and Found') by Brian May, I felt compelled to invest in this latest volume, 'Diableries'.

The Diableries (don't pronounce the letter 's' at the end) were a series of stereoscopic images that were produced in France in the 1860s. Originally produced in monochrome long before the advent of colour photography, the images when viewed from the front appeared in shades of sepia.

However, when they were lit from behind, the images sprang to life in extraordinary ways. Chandeliers and lanterns shone and fires glowed, as did the demonic eyes of some of the characters within the pictures.

The scenes were painstakingly created using miniature sculptures and each scene represented a vision of Heaven, Hell or Purgatory. However as time went on, the artists began to incorporate satirical messages relating to the social or political events of the times.




Several series of Diableries were produced between 1860 and 1890 and these are all reproduced and explained within this fascinating book. Written by Brain May, Denis Pellerin and Paula Richardson-Fleming, the book lavishly lays out each of the images with a wealth of explanatory notes to help the reader more fully understand what is going on within each image.








And of course, as with May's previous book, the package also includes a stereoscopic viewer which can be assembled within seconds and can then then used to view the pictures and allow the reader to gain the most from these fantastic images.








The photographs reproduced in this blog cannot possibly do justice to the wonders inside the book. Personally I am still only a short way into the book but find it something I am regularly drawn back to and I am sure that it will keep me amused and entertained for many years to come.

If you have any interest in 3D photographs, then I wholeheartedly recommend this book.


Here are links to Wikipedia on the subject of Diableries,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Diableries

and to the Diableries website.
http://www.diableries.co.uk/