Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

Microscope 533 (assigned to J Parkes & Son; improved school microscope; c. 1860)

Based in Birmingham, England, Parkes produced good quality microscopes and other scientific equipment and supplies from the mid-1800s until well into the twentieth century. Recognizing the burgeoning market of students and middle-class amateurs, they focused on inexpensive instruments. James Parkes began his business in 1815 as a manufacturer of small items such as jewellery cases and other metal devices. James’ only son, Samuel, became a partner in about 1846, forming J Parkes and Son. By the 1850s, J. Parkes and Son were producing a variety of microscopes. Their 1857 catalogue prominently featured microscopes and prepared slides. Large numbers are known of later microscope models that were manufactured by J Parkes and Son but sold by other retailers. Samuel continued the business under the same name after his father’s death in 1877. Samuel had only one son, also named Samuel. That son, and a nephew, James Moulton, continued the business after the elder Samuel died in 1896. Moulton left the partnership in 1908, and Samuel T.H. Parkes continued alone for a number of additional years, at least until the late 1920s. Microscope 533 is not signed but is identical to a Parkes & Son instrument named as improved school microscope in an 1862 catalogue of the firm (Figure 1). This simple compound microscope should be dated to c. 1860 and came with its original wooden box.

Figure 1. Improved school microscope as engraved in a J Parkes & Son’s 1862 catalogue.