English, c. 1877, boldly engraved to the back of the foot ‘JAMES SWIFT, 43 UNIVERSITY ST, LONDON W.c. PATENT’, standing on a large brass lacquered tripod base with trunnions to the top with wheel operated friction clamp to the side, at the base is the large plano-concave mirror held in a gimbal on an articulated arm on a sliding collar, above is the fully mechanical stage with screw X & Y adjustment, crown and gear rotation control, rack and pinion focusing, edge with engraved silver scale, goniometer stage with silvered engraved scale rotation via gear and pinion, Tully-type stage with full X & Y control, large course focusing wheels to the rectangular bar, the bar limb is shaped to support the body tubes at the nosepiece and the top of the binocular bodytube with a Swan neck support, the bar-limb incorporates a fine focus mechanism, the body tube incorporates a Wenham prism in a slide in/out drawer and a Nicol prism analyser in a slide in/out drawer, The microscope comes with two cases of accessories which include; a 3in objective in a can, can signed ‘J. Swift London’, a 2/3in objective in a can, can signed ‘J. Swift London’, a 4/10in objective in a can, can signed ‘J. Swift London’, a 1/4in objective in a can, can signed ‘J. Swift London’ A 1/8in objective in a can, can signed ‘J. Swift London’, a pair of low power binocular eyepieces marked ‘A’, a pair of medium power binocular eyepieces marked ‘B’, a pair of high power binocular eyepieces marked ‘C’, a pair of high power binocular eyepieces marked ‘D’, a pair of high power binocular eyepieces marked ‘E’, a micrometer eyepiece engraved ‘Micrometer’, a complete Swift achromatic condenser with stops and selenites, a set of mineral forceps and other items, the main case contains a large bulls-eye condenser and a small Sorby-type microspectroscope. Case measures 47cm tall inc handle. Note: We have been unable to find another example of this microscope ever having been sold at auction. This microscope suggests a date of 1877 as it carries the Swift trade mark which was introduced in 1877 and is signed ‘James Swift’, in 1878 the company became James Swift & Son. Microscopes after this period would have been signed Swift & Son. Provenance: The microscope comes with small archive of copies of period photographs of the owner, Mr James Sendall of Oak Lodge, Thorpe, Norwich, taken in 1900.