It's a Bulls-Eye season

After the disappointment of not buying the wooden 3.5 x 3.5" Boston Bulls-Eye I suddenly stood eye to eye with a very close relative of this landmark camera: the 4 x 5" Boston Bulls-Eye, also with D-shaped window, frontroll design, daylight loading film and arrows on the shutter blade. The regular Bulls-Eye is a rare camera, but this bigger brother is virtually unknown. Not so long ago I wrote an article about the Boston Bulls-Eye cameras, but the only illustration I could find of the 4x5 model was a drawing from a 1894 booklet.
Thanks to the article I have written, I recognized the camera at once. It was a buy-it-now item on eBay and after a quick look at all the pics I bought it without hesitation. So here it is:

The camera was introduced after the regular Bulls-Eye (1892). It was described in a promotional booklet in 1894 and in the May 1895 issue it was reviewed in the American Amateur Photographer (page 230). On Augsut 23, 1895 Eastman bought the Boston Camera Mfg. Co. and that was probably the end of the model. The regular Bulls-Eye was not a great commercial succes and is not much seen now. The 4x5 model was produced during a shorter period and is even rarer. In its day it cost $ 15, with case and one roll of film.