"Modern media machines are the latest addition to a long line of captivating instruments for the augmentation of perception. In Devices of Wonder, Barbara Stafford weaves an array of such sense-extending inventions into a provocative analysis of the social and cultural intersections between old and new technologies. Complementing her wide-ranging investigation are Frances Terpak's thirty-one short essays tracking the complex and often surprising links among individual items.

An unusual catalog for an unusual exhibition, Devices of Wonder reframes the history of the beautiful "eye machines" humans have created out of our desire to see more, better, farther, and in a different way."--BOOK JACKET.