That period in French history isn’t ever taught at the world at large, and it’s hardly ever taught in France either,” he says. “It was a dark time, a time of great censorship and great oppression.” The cards are dark and devilish but also very funny, said May. “There is a wonder and magic about them. They are really and truly stereoscopic gems and the more you handle them the more astonishing they become.” publish stereoscopic books and this is one of them. The “Diableries” book and it’s the first time that the complete collection of 187 I think it is, Diableries, ever have actually been in one book. Diablerizing the soul of a Cainite is one of the few ways of lowering one's Generation, for if the victim possessed more potent blood then the diablerist's Generation drops by one, possibly more if the victim was of notably lower Generation. However, there is the risk of some portion of the victim's soul living on within the diablerist. Rumors abound of diablerists taking on the mannerisms of their victims, and even stranger tales speak of the victims consuming their assailants from within and taking over their bodies. Some Antediluvians and Methuselah are believed to have survived their death in this manner.

Diableries were born in France in the late 1850s out of a general fascination for everything diabolical. They are tabletop clay tableaux depicting life in this underworld we call Hell and which bears a very strong resemblance to Paris. In addition to the beautiful images of the complete set of over 70 stereo cards which can be seen in 3D using the viewer provided, Brian and his fellow authors and researchers Denis Pellerin and Paula Fleming provide an explanatory text for every card to unravel its meaning – the satirical nature of the cards is hidden to modern eyes. Paula Richardson Fleming is a photographic historian with a special interest in stereo photography. She is the retired Photo Archivist of the Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, and a Fellow and former member of the Board of Directors of the National Stereoscopic Association. Her credits include publications on 19th-century photography, as well as the curation of many photographic exhibits. Her association with Brian and Denis came naturally from their mutual appreciation of Diableries. Uncover the stories behind the Diableries and follow their journey through the underworld using the full size OWL stereoscopic viewer, neatly housed in a storage envelope and inserted alongside the book in a protective slipcase. My conclusion, in spite of many attempts to dispute Charles Wheatstone’s originality (including, rather disgracefully, David Brewster in his day) is that the moment of genius in which mankind finally discovered what is now called “3-D” belongs entirely to Wheatstone. I doubt if any evidence will surface to seriously challenge that belief.I was again fascinated. That fascination never left me,” he says. “I was really passionate about this. I was always looking for this stuff. It was a mission.” Two 19th-century artists were principally responsible for these images. One was called Louis Alfred Habert; the other was Pierre Adolphe Hennetier, who started as a sculptor for the Church, producing pretty straight illustrations of what life would be like for sinners in hell. “Gradually, though, a little bit of dark humour started to creep in,” May explains, “as well as references to current events and figures in authority. In fact, although a lot of the scenes are taking place in hell, most of the skeletons and other characters seem to be having a fair amount of fun.” The sculptures are so wonderful and the compositions are so adventurous,” May tells The Post. “I love the fact that, magically, they transform when you hold them up to the light.” NOT in Wiki, you’ll be pleased to hear, but by someone who clearly has researched the subject himself in great detail !) Brunelleschi is usually credited with the first clear insight into perspective, and certainly Raphael and Leonardo were completely familiar with the concept. But, even with all these insights, perspective drawings or paintings are still flat representations of in-depth scenes … they’re just better than non-perspective ones (though even then, there are plenty of painters who achieved realism of a different kind by deliberately ignoring perspective, Picasso among them). It’s interesting that photographs include all the lighting and perspective without us even trying. But they’re still flat !

In France, around 1860, from the loins of a traditional national fascination with all things diabolical, was born a new sensation – a series of visionary dioramas depicting life in a strange parallel universe called ENFER – Hell – communicated to an eager audience by means of stereoscopic cards, to be viewed in the stereoscopes which had already become popular in the 1850s. This 3-D phenomenon, which fascinated a nation for 40 years, is yours to share. D photography is based on a phenomenon called Stereopsis. Stereopsis happens in everyday life when our brain fuses two slightly dissimilar (flat) pictures from two slightly different viewpoints, one from each eye, and miraculously, instantaneously, creates a solid image in our heads. The two pictures are different because our eyes, positioned a few inches apart, see slightly different amounts of an object partially hidden behind another, and slightly different views of any solid object. These differences are called parallax. Our brains cleverly interpret these parallax differences as depth information. It’s happening all the time for most of us whenever our eyes are open, without any conscious thought. The benefits of this to our survival in a predatory world must have been enormous in the evolution of our species. It gave us an instant awareness of how close any potential danger (or food source) was to us.Pellerin, May and Fleming spent 3 decades collecting these rare Diableries stereocards and pieces of information about them. The mysterious and fascinating tableaux depict in glorious 3-D life in Hell (bearing a striking resemblance to life in Paris during and after the reign of Emperor Napoleon III). The scenes are bursting with demons, skeletons, pretty women and, of course, M. Satan himself. In all, there are seven series of Diableries, produced between 1859 and the mid 1890s, all reproduced in the book. The earliest series, completely assembled by 1874, is mostly the work of two wildly imaginative and skilful sculptors, Adolphe Hennetier, and Louis Habert.