Scovill Mfg. Co.

Favorite (A-EEE)

Date Introduced: - ; Years Manufactured: c.1886-1898
Construction: back focus via push-pull; single swing; reversing by two tripod mounts
Materials: white wood (e.g. basswood) body; cherry bed; black fabric bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: #A=4x5 (shown in photos above); #B=5x8 (shown in photos below); #C=5x8 stereo; #D=6.5x8.5; #E=8x10; all sizes and letters have folding beds
Notes: a basic no-frills camera; came w/ a nickeled Waterbury lens w/ insertable stops (by 1889, the stops were revolving), plate-holder and wooden case. #'s AA-DD add a dark cloth, plates and ruby lantern. #'s AAA-EEE add what's in the AA's and a developing outfit and a printing outfit.  One of the few vertical 4x5 format cameras made.  The Ne Plus Ultra cameras sometimes used the same letter designations for the same sizes, but some of them had non-folding beds, while all of the Favorites fold.  Very similar offerings to Tourist Amateur Outfits, and may be a re-naming of the same, since they ceased being advertised about the time the Favorite started being advertised.  A minor variation: the above camera has a non-hinged ground glass frame (must be removed to insert a plateholder), while the below camera has hinges.  Some Putnam Marvel cameras are the Favorite re-stamped by Putnam.
References:
Scovill's Dry Plate Making for Amateurs, 1886, p. 3-5 (A-DD only)
Obrig Camera Co. (New York, NY) Catalog, 1886
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, C.H. Codman & Co. (Boston, MA), April 1887, pp. 25-27
Scovill Mfg. Co. Catalog, July 1887
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, C.H. Codman & Co. (Boston, MA), September 1888, pp. 10-12
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, Scovill & Adams Co. Catalog, January 1889, pp. 10-12
Buchanan, Bromley & Co. (Philadelphia, PA) Catalog, 1888 (A-E)
Buchanan, Bromley & Co. (Philadelphia, PA) Catalog, 1889 (A-E)
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1890, p. 93
Photographic Material, Catalogue O & P, James W. Queen & Co. (Philadelphia, PA), 1891, p. 35-36 (as Standard Cameras)
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, Scovill & Adams Co. Catalog, January 1892, pp. 4-6 (A-EEE)
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, Scovill & Adams Co. Catalog, April 1892 (A-EEE)
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1893, p. 146
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, Scovill & Adams Co. Catalog, 1896, p. 23-25 (A-EEE)

Back to Scovill Mfg. Co