Jacques Kubler, 1834 - 1871

by Brian Stevenson
last updated February, 2024

Jacques Kubler sold optical and scientific equipment at 32 Passage du Saumon, Paris, from 1860 until his death, although the business was continued under his name until 1878. He probably manufactured some of those items himself, such as eyeglasses and binoculars (“jumelles”). Several microscopes are known that bear Kubler’s name, but they were most likely acquired from wholesale manufacturers, as discussed below.

Figure 1. Two “furnace” drum microscopes. Kubler’s name on their case lids date their manufacture to before 1878, and sale between 1860 and 1878. The small drum microscopes stand approximately 5 mm / 3 inches tall. For ease in use, the instrument can slip into a groove in the lid of its wooden box (which measures approximately 86 x 47 x 36 mm / 3 3/8 x 1 7/8 x 1 1/2 inches). Numerous other examples of this model of microscope are known, all of which are either unsigned or bear other seller’s names, suggesting that Kubler and others acquired them from a wholesale manufacturer(s) such as Joseph Molteni (see Figure 2). Images adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes from internet auction sites.

Figure 2. An excerpt from Joseph Molteni’s 1859 catalogue, indicating that he retailed “furnace” microscopes at that time. Molteni manufactured microscopes, suggesting that he may have been the actual maker of the “furnace” microscopes that were sold by Kubler between 1860 and 1878. I note that the authors of “The Billings Microscope Collection” attributed this type of microscope to a person named “Bertrand” and suggested manufacture in 1839; however, they provided no evidence for either the name or date. Indeed, the only person named "Bertrand" who is known to have been associated with making microscopes in Paris during the nineteenth century was the mineralogist Emile Bertrand (1844-1909), who designed polarizing instruments late in the 1900s. Additionally, this design does not resemble those of French drum microscopes that were produced during the 1830s or 1840s.

Figure 3. An advertisement from an 1873 issue of “Youth’s Companion”, an American magazine. The pattern is the same as made by Molteni and sold by Kubler, further indicating the breadth of distributors for these small instruments.

Figure 4. Another pattern of microscope, engraved with Kubler’s name and address. Additional microscopes of this pattern are known that have other optician’s names or are unsigned, suggesting that Kubler and others acquired them from a wholesale manufacturer(s). Adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes from an internet auction site.

Figure 5. Opera glasses by Kubler. He may have manufactured this type of instrument. Adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes from an internet auction site.

Figure 6. Jacques Kubler’s entry in the 1872 “Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration”, which was published just before his December, 1871 death. Note that he advertised “microscopes d’anatomie” for 10 Francs.

Jacques Kubler was born on May 19, 1834, in Geneva, Switzerland. He was a son of Jacques Kubler and Charlotte Goy.

The next record that we have of Kubler’s life is his August 11, 1860 marriage to Marguerite Schwab. His address was given as 32 Passage du Saumon. Most likely, he had recently taken over the optical business at that location.

Previous to Kubler’s occupation of the Passage du Saumon shop, it had been operated by Jean Alexandre Cassagnade (ca. 1823 - 1878), and before him, by Antoine Louis Lemaire (died 1855). As discussed below, there is evidence that Cassagnade retained ownership of the business during the time that it was operated by Kubler.

It is not clear whether Antoine Lemaire was related to the Lemaire family who operated a major Parisian optical equipment business throughout the nineteenth century. Antoine began his optical business around 1831, at 4 Passage de l’Ancre. During the mid 1840s, he moved to 32 Passage du Saumon.

Antoine Lemaire is generally credited as the inventor of an optical device called the “Polyorama Panoptique” (Figure 7). It was later improved and manufactured by several other French opticians.

Around 1852, Lemaire produced a series of stereoscopic daguerreotypes of statues carved by the celebrated sculptor James Praddier (1790 - 1852) (Figure 8).

Lemaire’s daughter, Marie Amele Lemaire, married Jean Alexandre Cassagnade on July 3, 1849. Cassagnade evidently worked for his father-in-law. When Antoine died on January 2, 1855, Cassagnade took over operation of the business. A sundial/compass by Cassagnade is shown in Figure 9.

As noted above, Jacques Kubler lived at 32 Passage du Saumon when he was married in August, 1860. Cassagnade was listed as the business operator in the 1860 Paris Annuaire et Almanach, while Kubler was listed in the 1861 edition. Thus, Kubler took over the business during 1860. That financial advance likely enabled him to get married.

Jacques and Marguerite had four children during the next decade. The youngest, also named Jacques, died at the age of 5 months. The others, a girl and two boys, survived into adulthood.

Jacques Kubler died on December 27, 1871, at the age of only 37.

However, the business continued under the name of “Jacques Kubler”. It last appeared in the Paris Annuaire et Almanach under that name in 1878. In 1879, an optician named Christophe was occupying the shop at 32 Passage du Saumon. Those dates lead me to suspect that Cassagnade had operated the business after Kubler’s death, since Cassagnade died in August, 1878. Consistent with that conclusion, Cassagnade was listed in editions of the Paris Annuaire et Almanach as being a “propriétaire” (business owner).

Thus, items labeled as having been retailed by Jacques Kubler were produced between 1860 and 1878.

Figure 7. Examples of “Panorama Panoptique” viewers and images of a picture card. To use, one places a picture card in the rear of the box, then views through the eye-sized lens (it is not a projector, although it is designed to look like one). When the top lid is opened, light shines on the front of the card, and the image is viewed. By closing the top lid and opening the back of the box, then pointing toward a light source, one sees a different view as light shines through the semi-transparent picture. Images adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes from http://diaprojection.fr/2010/12/26/polyorama-panoptique

Figure 8. A ca. 1852 daguerreotype stereoview by Antoine Lemaire, and distributed by Salvatore Marchi (1788-1859). Adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes from http://www.codex99.com/photography/4.html

Figure 9. A marine sundial with compass, signed “Cassagnade, Passage du Saumon optician”. Adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes from an internet auction site.

Acknowledgement

Thank you to Joe Zeligs for sharing ideas and information.

Resources

Almanach Bottin du Commerce de Paris (1842) “Lemaire, optician, pass. de l”Ancre, 4”, page ccxlvi

Almanach Bottin du Commerce de Paris (1845) “Lemaire, optician, pass. du Saumon, 38”, page 267

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1832) “Lemaire, optician, passage de l'Ancre”, page ccviii

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1847) “Lemaire, opticien, passage du Saumon, 32”, page 182

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1855) “Lemaire (Cassagnade, successeur), optician – fabricant, grand assortiment de lunettes a lire, don’t une nouvelle pour voir de pres et de loin, pince-nez en or, argent, acier, email et buifie, commis. Exportat., pass. du Saumon, 32”, page 751

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1857) “Lemaire (Cassagnade, successeur), jumelles de spectacle, lunettes a lire pour voir de joinet de pres, longues-vues, barometres metalliques, pass. du Saumon, 32”, page 761

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1859) “Cassagnade, pass. du Saumon, 32”, page 778

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1860) “Cassagnade, spec. de lunettes, verres en cristal de roche, neauveau microscope, prie Reduit, grossissant 25,000 fois, usage facile, stereoscopes, iprecuves, longues-vues, bottes de compass, pass. du Saumon, 32”, page 877

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1861) “Kubler, optique, pass. du Saumon, 32”, page 332

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1862) “Kubler (J.) (maison Lemaire), spec. de lunettes, lorgnons, jumelles, longues-vues en tous genres, pass. du Saumon, 32”, page 909

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1870) “Kubler (Jacques), appariels electriques en tous genres, moteurs et sonneries electro-medical depuis 12 fr., bobines Ruhmkorf depuis 10 fr., passage du Saumon, 32”, page 914

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1872) “Kubler (Jacques) (maison Lemaire), feb. speciale de jumelles a grand portee pour marine, courses et theatres a 3 changements, brev. s.g.d.g., jumelles, lunettes et pince-nez en nickel et aluminium (metaux inoxydables), longues-vues astronomiques et terrestres, microsocpes d’anatomie, a 10 fr., groississant 1,200 fois, verres en cristal de roches tailles dans l’axe, montes en pince-nez ou lunettes 10 fr;, electricite medicale et amusante, barometres de toutes sortes, pass. du Saumon, 32”, page 1211

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1878) “Kubler (Jacques) appareils de demonstration pour le jeunesse, passage du Saumon, 32”, page 975

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1878) “Cassagnade, propriétaire, Passy, 93”, page 192

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1879) “Christophe, optique, passage du Saumon, 32”, page 219

Annuaire et Almanach du Commerce, de l'Industrie, de la Magistrature et de l'Administration (1882) “Christophe, thermometres et saccharimetres, passage du Saumon, 32 (envoi du catalogue sur demande)”, page 854

Birth record of Jacques Henri Ernest Kubler (1861) accessed through ancestry.com

Birth record of Marguerite Léontine Eugénie Kubler (1862) accessed through ancestry.com

Birth record of Georges Alexandre Kubler (1865) accessed through ancestry.com

Birth record of Ernest Fernand Lucien Kubler (1868) accessed through ancestry.com

Buerger, Janet E. (1989) French Daguerreotypes, University of Chicago Press, page 221

Death record of Antoine Louis Lemaire (1855) accessed through ancestry.com

Death record of Jacques Henri Ernest Kubler (1862) accessed through ancestry.com

Death records of Jacques Kubler (1871) accessed through ancestry.com

Death records of Jean Alexandre Cassagnade (1878) accessed through ancestry.com

Hansen, J.L., W.A. Schrader, W.R. Cowan, J.E. Henderson, O.W. Richards, H.R. Purtle, and J.A. Ey (1974) The Billings Microscope Collection, second edition, pages 36, 37, 42, 43, and 193

The Lemiare Stereo Daguerreotypes (accessed February, 2024) http://www.codex99.com/photography/4.html

Marriage record of Antoine Louis Lemaire and Marie Modeste Désirée Hubert (1828) accessed through ancestry.com

Marriage record of Jean Alexandre Cassegnade and Marie Amele Lemaire (1849) accessed through ancestry.com

Marriage records of Jacques Kubler and Marguerite Schwab (1860) accessed through ancestry.com