Editing Magic lantern (section)

===Dissolving views===
{{main|Dissolving views}}
[[File:Magiclantern.jpg|thumb|Advertisement with picture of a triple lantern / dissolving view apparatus (1886)]]
The effect of a gradual transition from one image to another, known as a [[Dissolve (filmmaking)|dissolve]] in modern filmmaking, became the basis of a popular type of magic lantern show in England in the 19th century. Typical dissolving views showed landscapes dissolving from day to night or from summer to winter. This was achieved by aligning the projection of two matching images and slowly diminishing the first image while introducing the second image.<ref name=luikerbew1/> The subject and the effect of magic lantern dissolving views is similar to the popular [[Diorama]] theatre paintings that originated in Paris in 1822. 19th century magic lantern broadsides often used the terms ''dissolving view'', ''dioramic view'', or simply ''diorama'' interchangeably.<ref name=HuhtamoReview/>

The effect was reportedly invented by phantasmagoria pioneer [[Paul de Philipsthal]] while in Ireland in 1803 or 1804. He thought of using two lanterns to make the spirit of Samuel appear out of a mist in his representation of the [[Witch of Endor]]. While working out the desired effect, he got the idea of using the technique with landscapes. An 1812 newspaper about a London performance indicates that De Philipsthal presented what was possibly a relatively early incarnation of a dissolving views show, describing it as "a series of landscapes (in imitation of moonlight), which insensibly change to various scenes producing a very magical effect."<ref name=Mirror1842>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LUMFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA98|title=The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, And Instruction|page=98|year=1842}}</ref><ref name=Heard2006/>

Another possible inventor is [[Henry Langdon Childe]], who purportedly once worked for De Philipsthal.<ref name=Heard2006/> He is said to have invented the dissolving views in 1807, and to have improved and completed the technique in 1818.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MvBeAAAAcAAJ&q=%22henry+langdon+childe%22&pg=PA372|title=The Art-journal, New Series, Volume XIII|year=1874}}</ref> The oldest known use of the term "dissolving views" occurs on playbills for Childe's shows at the [[Adelphi Theatre]] in London in 1837.<ref name=HuhtamoReview/> Childe further popularized the dissolving views at the Royal Polytechnic Institution in the early 1840s.<ref name=Mirror1842/>

Despite later reports about the early invention, and apart from De Philipsthal's 1812 performance, no reports of dissolving view shows before the 1820s are known. Some cases may involve confusion with the Diorama or similar media. In 1826, Scottish magician and ventriloquist M. Henry introduced what he described as "beautiful dissolvent scenes", "imperceptibly changing views", "dissolvent views", and "Magic Views"—created "by Machinery invented by M. Henry." In 1827, Henry Langdon Childe presented "Scenic Views, showing the various effects of light and shade," with a series of subjects that became classics for the dissolving views. In December 1827, De Philipsthal returned with a show that included "various splendid views (...) transforming themselves imperceptibly (as if it were by Magic) from one form into another."<ref name=HuhtamoReview/><ref name=Heard2006/>

Biunial lanterns, with two projecting optical sets in one apparatus, were produced to more easily project dissolving views. Possibly the first horizontal biunial lantern, dubbed the "Biscenascope" was made by the optician Mr. Clarke and presented at the Royal Adelaide Gallery in London on 5 December 1840.<ref name=Mirror1842/> The earliest known illustration of a vertical biunial lantern, probably provided by E.G. Wood, appeared in the Horne & Thornthwaite catalogue in 1857.<ref name="The Magic Lantern Society p. 21-22"/> Later on triple lanterns enabled additional effects, for instance the effect of snow falling while a green landscape dissolves into a snowy winter version.<ref name="LivingPictures"/>{{Rp|13}}

A mechanical device could be fitted on the magic lantern, which locked up a diaphragm on the first slide slowly whilst a diaphragm on a second slide opened simultaneously.<ref name=Heard2006/>

Philip Carpenter's copper-plate printing process, introduced in 1823, may have made it much easier to create duplicate slides with printed outlines that could then be colored differently to create dissolving view slides.<ref name=Heard2006/> However, all early dissolving view slides seem to have been hand-painted.<ref name=HuhtamoReview>{{cite journal|title=Ghost Notes: Reading Mervyn Heard's Phantasmagoria. The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern|journal=The Magic Lantern Gazette|volume=18|issue=4|first=Erkki|last=Huhtamo|url=https://library.sdsu.edu/pdf/scua/ML_Gazette/MLGvol18no04.pdf}}</ref>