anamorphoscope

[David Morris]

On 5/17/07, Jasper <jasper.fidget at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> anamorphoscope
> The text is accurate, and it's a real device: An instrument for restoring a picture or image distorted by anamorphosis to its normal proportions. It usually consists of a cylindrical mirror.

http://www.unipd.it/vallisneri/en/instruments/6.html

http://ghettodriveby.com/anamorphoscope/

http://www.oozandoz.com/007_custom_morph.shtml

http://www.oozandoz.com/013_history.shtml

People all over Europe and the Orient were enchanted by
anamorphoscopes from 1550 -1850. Artists and spies even used
anamorphosis to disguise dangerous messages, and they zealously
guarded the secret methods of constructing their amazing images - some
of which took a many months to produce.

Anamorphoscopes need good quality mirrors. Up to this time, for
thousands of years, all mirrors were made of polished stone or metal.
They were very small and rather dark. Looking into one was like trying
to see your face in the bathroom mirror with only a night light on.

How lucky that when anamorphoscopes arrived in the Mediterranean,
glass makers of Venice , Italy had just learned how to create
excellent, bright glass mirrors. People throughout the world were
willing to pay a lot for such fine mirrors. In fact, a Venetian mirror
the size of the one on your closet door would have cost as much as a
new car!

Venice 's government protected this special, highly profitable
technology, by moving the glass artisans to an island, Murano. The
artisans, themselves, were so fierce about monopolizing their
marvelous craft, that only family members could know the formulas, and
no one was allowed to leave the island with even a small piece of
broken mirror. Some who did leave were tracked down and killed!

What a difference there is today. Now, the entire world enjoys
wonderful, inexpensive mirrors of glass, aluminum, or even flexible
plastic. Today, computers can generate wacky distortions in seconds.
Today, anamorphosis is part of virtually every video game, animated
movie, and commercial. And today, you can get really cool new
MIRROR-aculous art toys, activities, and party fun games from OOZ &
OZ.