Lennie

Photographic equipment, including magic lanterns and cameras has been sold in Edinburgh, from the 1860s onwards,  by Lennie, trading under different Lennie names. ©    © The following extracts of the company's business are taken from the Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directories: 14 Leith Walk 1840 J Lennie establishes his business: -  jeweller and perfumer 1843 The business becomes J Lennie: - jeweller and optician 1854 J Lennie dies.  The business passes to his widow Eliza Lennie, but continues to trade as J Lennie 46 Princes Street 1857 The business becomes E Lennie: -  optician 1862 The business becomes E Lennie: - optician and manufacturer of photographic apparatus. 1865 The business becomes E Lennie, optician and Jeweller 1873 The business becomes E Lennie: - optician and spectacle maker 1902 The business becomes J & J Lennie. One of the owners (Joseph C Lennie) was President of Edinburgh Photographic Society, 1900-01 1907 The business becomes Lennies 1923 The business becomes E & J Lennie: - optician and spectacle and eyeglass maker. 5 Castle Street 1954 The business continues as E & J Lennie 1959 The business closes ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The trade directory details above have been taken from the book 'Brass & Glass' (TN Clarke, AD Morrison-Low and ADC Simpson) published by the National Museum of Scotland.  ISBN 0-948636-06-8 This book gives fuller details of the business of Lennie and of many other scientific instrument making workshops in Scotland.

 

19th Century Magic Lantern Shows

Magic lantern shows were popular in the late nineteenth century. EPS (Edinburgh Photographic Society) held several Popular Meetings each year from the 1860s until around 1900. These were usually Magic Lantern shows. They attracted attendances of up to 1,000 members of the public.