Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

Microscope 187 (C. Baker; c. 1900)

The business of Baker was founded in London in about 1765, Charles Baker, who was born in 1820, giving his name to the company from about 1851. When Charles Baker died in 1894 the firm continued under the same name but run by the Curties family until it became, in 1936, Charles Baker & Co. and subsequently, sometime in the 1940s, C. Baker Ltd. The firm’s address mostly given as 244 High Holborn, London (but sometimes 243 and 245, sometimes in combination). The firm produced optical and surgical instruments. In 1963, Vickers acquired the C Baker Ltd microscope factory and a new company called Vickers Instruments was formed. Microscope 187 is signed with ‘Baker, 244 High Holborn, London’ and the foot is labelled with the number 3167. The instrument should be dated to c. 1900. The microscope came with its original wooden box. A version of this instrument was featured in the 1898 Jabez Hogg’s book entitled ‘The microscope: its history, construction and application’ (Figure 1), where it was designated as a histological microscope.

Figure 1.  Baker’s histological microscope as featured in the 1898 Jabez Hogg’s book entitled ‘The microscope: its history, construction and application’

References

Charles Baker (https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Charles_Baker), last accessed on 12.08.2020

LAST EDITED: 14.06.2021