John Benjamin Dancer (1812–87)

Abstract The name of John Benjamin Dancer, inventor in 1851–1852 of both microphotography and the twin-lens stereoscopic camera, largely disappeared from photographic history for almost a full century. There were a couple of articles in 1927 and 1938, largely based on an interview with Dancer's octogenarian son and examination of some of the artefacts in the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, plus a p~eliminary survey by me in 1940. But a full review of his priority in making the first microphotograph finally appeared in the winter of 1950–1951.1