Details
This compact set contains a folding viewer together with a series of small glass stereoviews published by Éditions S.T.L. / Lavelle of Issy, near Paris. The cuboid stereoscope can be stored inside the lid of the wooden box when not in use. The plates are marked S.T.L., R.C. Seine 180.135, and Éditions Lavelle – Issy (Seine). Subjects include French and European landscapes, monuments and places of interest.
The precise manufacturer of the stereoscope is not marked. Its construction places it very close to stereoscopic sets produced by Mattey during the 1920s. Mattey manufactured a number of compact viewers and also produced the Educa and Alternascope systems developed in collaboration with Louis-Jean Lavelle. The present set was therefore very likely produced within the same technical and commercial context, although a contemporary catalogue entry identifying this exact model has not yet been found.
Historical Context
S.T.L. was a trademark used by the French photographic publisher Lavelle et Cie, based in Issy-les-Moulineaux. The company was active from at least the early twentieth century and published postcards, photographs and stereoscopic views. A commercial directory from 1921 lists Ch. Lavelle, 37 rue du Parc, Issy, together with the designation Marque S.T.L.. The firm remained active well beyond the interwar period; photographs of the Liberation of Paris issued in 1944–45 still carry the S.T.L. and Lavelle names.
A particularly interesting connection exists between Lavelle and the stereoscope manufacturer Albert Mattey. In 1926, Mattey and Louis-Jean Lavelle jointly patented a stereoscopic system that formed the basis of the Educa and related Alternascope viewers. These systems used unusually small stereoscopic image pairs arranged on 13x18cm glass plates. Mattey also manufactured the Mignoscope, a compact viewer using similarly combined miniature stereoscopic images.
The glass views in the present S.T.L. set follow the same basic principle, but each plate contains only a single stereoscopic pair. This leaves a central area available for the title and publisher’s information. The format therefore appears to belong to the same family of miniature stereoscopic systems developed and marketed in France during the 1920s.
The exact relationship between Louis-Jean Lavelle, co-inventor of the Mattey system, and Ch. Lavelle, associated with the S.T.L. publishing company, has not yet been established. Nevertheless, the shared name, period, field of activity and technical similarities make a direct connection between the Mattey and Lavelle enterprises highly plausible.
In later decades the Lavelle publishing business used the name ESTEL. This appears very likely to be a phonetic rendering of the earlier initials S.T.L.
