La Stéréoscopie Universelle was a trademark of Paul Rolland. His company was one of the largest manufacturers of glass and paper card stereoviews, featuring images from the First World War. Rolland’s company was located at 51, Boulevard Saint-Martin in Paris and had been in business for more than 30 years. The first war stereoviews that can be definitively attributed to Rolland were released towards the end of 1917. However, the trademark La Stéréoscopie Universelle might not have been introduced until c. 19221.
Starting from March 1925, Rolland ran the company Rolland et Cie in collaboration with Albert Dollberg. The Archives Commerciales de la France described the business activities of Rolland et Cie as follows2:
The manufacturing, acquisition and sale of devices, stereoviews, projections, film and all related items… publishing, buying and selling of artistic paintings.
The collaboration with Dollberg came to an end in 19283. After the dissolution of Rolland et Cie, Rolland remained active as a stereoview publisher, with the last known advertisement dating back to 19494.
The company manufactured glass stereoviews in the 45 x 107 mm and 6 x 13 cm formats, as well as paper card stereoviews. Numerous slides featured the abbreviation “LSU” and were numbered using different numbering schemes. A conservative estimate suggests that approximately 3,000 war stereoview titles were manufactured. They were also distributed through resellers such as Photo-Plait and the Service des Ventes de l’U.N.C (SDV).
References
- Le Petit Champenois (24-11-1922). Via: data.inpi.fr ↩︎
- Archives commerciales de la France (11-03-1925), p. 510. Via: data.inpi.fr ↩︎
- Le Courrier (15-06-1928), p.4. Via: data.inpi.fr ↩︎
- L’École et la vie (23-04-1949). Via: retronews.fr ↩︎