Goerz Anschütz Detective Camera

9x12cm, exposures on dry plates, walnut body with metal plaque engraved: PATENT ANSCHÜTZ C.P.GOERZ BERLIN, the interior stamped 23, brass-bound lens engraved No.8528 C.P. GOERZ Berlin EXTRA RAPID LYNKEIOSKOP Serie C No.1., original focal-plane shutter (needs some sevice), handwritten stamp Ottomar Anschütz Lissa / Posen / almost illegible, camera in original condition and is extremely rare with an original darkslide. Designed by Ottomar Anschütz a talented inventor and photographer associated with the introduction of the focal plane shutter. He experimented during the early 1880's by attaching a cloth focal plane shutter to a standard camera so he could use its 'stop action' to capture moving subjects. By the late 1880's a production model of this camera had been designed. This was later manufactured by Goerz who used his name and reputation to market the camera. Goerz later went on to employ the Anschütz shutter to their Klapp cameras which became the standard camera style of most press photographers and was widely used throughout Europe during the early part of the 20th century. Amongst his many other achievments was projecting a series of moving images onto a ceiling in Berlin with self-designed apparatus some time before the Lumiere brothers launched their Cinematographe. His contemporaries included Muybridge and Jules Marey. He also set up the first association to protect to the rights of professional photographers. Literature: Michel Auer (1990) The Guide to Antique Cameras no.622, Abring I p.40, Lothrop (1973), A Century of Cameras, p.49.