[buron] - Achromatic Microscope - C. 1840

[BURON (Noël), attributed to]. Compound microscope with achromatic lenses, unsigned, Paris, circa 1840-45. Brass, steel, glass, mahogany and purple velvet; box: 26x15x9cm. French achromatic microscope unsigned but attributable to the work of the engineer-optician Noël Buron. He succeeded his father in 1818 and remarkably developed the family business, becoming one of the main French manufacturers of scientific instruments from the 1830s to the 1850s. Very few instruments bearing his signature are known. Buron's business model was based on export, particularly to the United States from manufacturers such as Pike or MacAllister, but also on resale in France and Europe to other manufacturers. In 1844, Buron published a major catalogue of his entire production of scientific instruments, illustrated with over 300 figures. The present microscope is accurately described there (see illustration below) as a: "Compound microscope with achromatic lenses. [It is] enclosed in the drawer of a mahogany box on the top of which it is fixed by means of a nut screw. Compound microscope mounted on a cylindrical copper column with rack, with three achromatic lenses, light magnifying glass for the observation of opaque objects and variable diaphragm under the object holder." A good example, complete and having preserved a dissection point, some glass slides and two preparations.