Imagine a Victorian parlor. Next, imagine a family gathered around a screen, transfixed by an image. A Victorian television? No. This family is enjoying an evening of magic lantern entertainment.

Magic lanterns were early slide projectors that could be found in many Victorian homes. They played a similar role to that of televisions today, providing entertainment, information and education through images. Public magic lantern shows were also a popular Victorian pastime, and are considered to be a precursor to modern cinema.

From the most basic to the most complex, all magic lanterns utilize: a light source; a glass lantern slide containing an image; a condenser lens, which focuses the light onto the image; and a projection lens. The lantern was called “magic” because early audiences could find no other explanation for the mysterious apparitions emanating from the device.

According to Jack Judson, founder and president of the Magic Lantern Castle Museum in San Antonio, Texas, the history of magic lanterns in use spans 300 years, beginning in the 17th century and lasting into the 20th century. “The magic lantern was the audiovisual of the day,” Judson explains, “And 300 years, that’s a pretty good day.”

The 17th century was a time of great interest and experimentation in optics. Many individuals were working on similar projects at once, and no one can say for certain who invented the magic lantern. According to Judson, the first published work referring to a magic lantern was Ars Magne Lucis et Umbrae (The Great Art of Light and Shadow), written by German Jesuit priest and scholar Athanasius Kircher in 1646. The Dutch scientist Christian Huygens (1629-1695) is also recognized to have made significant contributions to magic lantern development.

During the 18th century, magic lanterns were increasingly used for entertainment purposes. Itinerant lanternists traveled the European countryside staging live shows with projectors and hand-painted slides they had typically made themselves, bringing popular tales and Biblical stories to life.

Magic lantern entertainment took on greater proportions in the late 1700s. Showmen such as Belgian Etienne Gaspard Robertson staged Phantasmagoria shows, predecessors of today’s horror movies. In an abandoned monastery outside of Paris, Robertson used a magic lantern propped on wheels to project images of spirits and demons that could grow and recede as the lantern moved, thrilling and chilling his audiences.

The magic lantern industry flourished in the 19th century. “Magic Lantern shows were a major form of wonder and entertainment throughout the 1800s and were presented to all types of audiences,” explains Michael Lawlor. Lawlor is a collector who performs his own magic lantern shows, which he describes as “a composite exhibition of slides produced for the Canadian Pacific Railroad between 1885 and 1930 to advertise Canada.”

This type of publicity was just one of the many uses for magic lanterns. Lantern projections were also used, says Lawlor, to disseminate current events and to rally support for a cause, such as temperance and women’s rights. With magic lanterns, scientists gave illustrated lectures and secret societies demonstrated teachings to members. Nearly all sectors of society seem to have thought of ways to exploit magic lantern technology.

The second half of the 19th century is considered the heyday for magic lanterns. Advancements in industry and the invention of photography contributed to the magic lantern boom, explains Judson, allowing for production on a greater scale.

Companies and showmen with ever-increasing audiences clamored to outdo one another, spurring rapid development in projectors, light sources and slides. Projectors were developed with multiple lens systems that allowed showmen to produce special effects such as dissolves. Slides were made with moving parts such as levers that created the effect of movement on the screen.

More powerful light sources were used for professional lantern shows, such as limelight. Limelight, explains Judson, is the brilliant light produced when hydrogen and oxygen burn against a block of lime. “It’ll put spots in your eyes,” he says. Limelight could project an image up to roughly 30ft high, which Judson compares to IMAX movies today.

Demand increased for home-use lanterns, as well, including toy magic lanterns for children, which were highly popular in the United States and in Europe.

The invention of cinema in the 1890s precipitated a decline in the magic lantern’s popularity, particularly in the realm of public entertainment. Magic lanterns nonetheless remained common in homes until well into the 1900s, when they were replaced by the modern slide projector. Yet there is no question, says Judson, as to the importance of magic lanterns in the history of visual technology. They are, he says, the “father of motion pictures” and the “grandfather of television.”

Due to the large number of lanterns and slides produced over time and the wide range of purposes for which they were employed, these items are highly collectible. “You can collect scientific magic lanterns, lodge lanterns, school lanterns, or mostly home-use children’s lanterns, and slides to go with any or all of the above. Or paraphernalia and ephemera, paper goods such as show bills, catalogs, and more,” suggests Judson. Some collectors are particularly keen on porcelain figurines depicting lanterns or lanternists.

Magic lanterns and their accessories are cross-collectible, also appealing to collectors of optical toys and items related to pre-cinema, pre-animation and photography, among other categories.

Determining the value of a projector or slide is far from a precise science. “There could be all kinds of motivation for an individual,” explains Judson. Cross-collectibility is one factor that influences magic lantern price ranges. A slide with Disney characters, for example, could be worth more to Disney collectors than to collectors of magic lanterns alone.

Nonetheless, you can find one of the more common projectors on eBay for between $25 and $100. These are mostly home and children’s lanterns, which are accessible to new collectors due not only to their affordability, but also to their small size.

Some of the most rare and sought-after projectors today are decorative models and those in unusual shapes, such as a pagoda, the Eiffel Tower, and a Buddha. One of these models in good condition could cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The price range is typically higher for the larger lanterns used for public entertainment or education purposes. “Probably the most expensive lanterns that you can buy, depending of course on condition, are the ones with multiple lenses,” says Judson, many of which were made out of mahogany and brass. “Generally the top of that crop are those with three lenses or more, which are excessively rare and can go for up to many thousands.”

Indeed, a J.H. Steward triunial, triple lens, lantern sold at a Christie’s auction in 2007 for over $16,000. A nice biunial, double lens, magic lantern recently sold by auction for $5,000.

Size is another thing to keep in mind when purchasing a large professional lantern. “They could weigh around 500 pounds,” explains Judson.

Magic lantern slides are particularly collectible; thousands were produced, resulting in a plethora of collecting categories. Also, slides can be purchased for under $1, although some of the rarer slides can go for hundreds of dollars.

The general categories for collecting are type and topic. Wood-mounted slides and moving and lever slides in good condition are particularly sought after by collectors.