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I hope you enjoy visiting my website, and exploring these fascinating Antique Microscope Slides from a bygone era. They offer a unique glimpse into an earlier age, although many are as relevant to our lives today as they were back when they were originally prepared.  I find them interesting from many different perspectives... including the inherent Scientific Interest of many of them, their undeniable beauty as Works of Art and Craftsmanship, and certainly their significance as important Historical Scientific Artifacts worthy of preservation and study.

My name is Howard Lynk, and this website has been a wonderful opportunity for me to bring together and focus several of my longtime interests. These include amateur microscopy, science history, photography, and computer technology. The site originally started as a way to introduce my grandsons to the wonders hidden within my antique microscope slide collection. I  was encouraged by several associates to consider sharing it with other interested individuals via an open website. You are viewing the result!  While antique Victorian Microscope Slides may be considered a somewhat arcane or esoteric interest by many, the work and insights of the original makers, represented by these slides, truly helped lay the foundation of our modern world and culture. The remarkable advances that followed in science, technology, and medicine, and the resulting enhanced quality of life, can be traced back, and are all directly related to these pioneering individual's contributions and efforts.
The antique slides shown on the site are from my own collection, as well as those of several other interested collectors. Research into these slides and the individuals who made them is an ongoing pursuit, with any new insights being documented and made available through several publications, including the pages of this website. My thanks to the individuals who have been willing to share their knowledge and resources in the continuing effort to further the identification, preservation, and documentation of these scientific artifacts.
For those interested in such details, the tools and equipment I use include the following: My microscope is a vintage Leitz Orthoplan from the late 1960s, fitted out with a variety of useful lenses and accessories (all patiently accumulated over a number of years... mostly from eBay). Macro photography of the slide groups is primarily accomplished using a Nikon Coolpix 990 digital camera on a modified B&L stereo microscope boom stand. Some macro slide images (specifically, engraved label all glass mounts) have also been acquired using an HP Scanner with black background paper to enhance the engraving. Photomicrographs are taken using a Nikon Coolpix 5000 digital camera mounted to the photoport of the Orthoplan using a Leitz 30mm 10x Periplan WF ocular. A "pencil" type fibre-optic illuminator is used for additional reflected light illumination of specimens, when needed. Images are cropped and prepared using Photoshop if necessary, although I try to keep photo modification and manipulation to a minimum.
Thanks again for your interest, and please contact me via email if you have questions or comments