Library
The texts described below are documents of various kinds on the production, reception and appreciation of early and silent films. All of the texts are freely available for downloading from the sources indicated.
Bennett, Colin, The Handbook of Kinematography
London: Kinematograph Weekly, 1911
Source: The Internet Archive
This is one of the standard technical manuals of the period, and a boon to many a film historian ever since. Bennett was a cameraman, inventor (he devised a colour cinematograph process, Cinechrome, in 1914) and regular contributor on technical subjects to the Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly. This handbook, published by the Kinematograph Weekly in 1911, is a thorough and handsomely illustrated account of early motion picture technology and the practicalities of producing and exhibiting films. Some of Bennett’s understanding of film history is askew (particularly his patriotic championing of William Friese-Greene’s nebuous achievements), but for the motion picture technologies of the day his knowledge is prodigious, leavened with a lot of practical commonsense, and the illustrations alone (along with some contemporary advertisements) are a rich source of information. The book is available from the Internet Archive, in DjVu (16MB), PDF (44MB), b/w PDF (19MB) and TXT (689KB) formats.
Bevans, George Esdras, How Workingmen Spend Their Time
New York: Columbia University, 1913
Source: Internet Archive
This is a doctoral thesis from 1913. Its subject is use of the spare time by the working men of New York, with sociological analysis across professions, hours worked, wages earned, and kinds of leisure activity, including motion pictures. The data is presented in tabular form, with acompanying analytical text. It is a marvellous source of information on cinema-going, audience leisure tastes, and the relationship of earnings and work-time to leisure, with a wide range of evidence demonstrating the prime position of cinema in the public mind just before the First World War. It is available from the Internet Archive in DjVu (3.7MB), PDF (11MB), b/w PDF (4.3MB) and TXT (184KB) formats.
Boughey, Davidson, The Film Industry
London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1921
Source: Internet Archive
This British publication is a relatively short but knowledgeable and helpful account of film production techonology and techniques, from a British perspective. It was much used by Rachael Low in her classic work, The History of the British Film 1918-1929. Boughey covers the history of film production (with an emphasis on British legislation), the manufacture and use of cinematograph film, the cinematograph camera, developing film, printing, tinting and toning, titling, the set-up of a motion-picture studio (particularly useful for the picture of British conditions, which were somewhat behind Hollywood), the production of films (again very informative on British practice), fiction films, travel, topical and scientific films, distribution, publicity, projection and exhibition. Boughey also provides useful figures on cinema attendance, the numbers employed by the cinema industry, and investment in film. It’s available from the Internet Archive in DjVu (3.5MB), PDF (11MB) and TXT (179KB) formats.
Cameron, James R., The Instruction of Disabled Men in Motion Picture Projection
New York: The Red Cross Institute for Crippled and Disabled Men, 1919
Source: Internet Archive
Cameron was Instructor of Projection at the Red Cross Institute for Crippled and Disabled Men, in New York. The Institute sought to instruct soldiers disabled during the First World War in suitable professions, and motion picture projection was one of them. Cameron tells of the success of most of those undertaking the course, their earnings, and the elements of training that they received. The remainder of the booklet is then concerned with the practicalities of motion picture projection, with illustrations, terminology and lengthy question-and-answer sections, all presumably derived from the course itself, though little further mention is made of disability. The booklet therefore serves as a standard technical guide to projection at this period. It is available from the Internet Archive, in DjVu (4.3MB), PDF (14MB) and TXT (161KB) formats.
The Cinema: Its Present Position and Future Possibilities
London: Williams and Norgate, 1917
Source: Internet Archive
This is a report and summary of evidence taken by the Cinema Commission Inquiry, instituted by the National Council of Public Morals, in 1917. Essentially, it is a thorough investigation into the cinema in Britain and what its effects might be on the viewing public. As the introduction states, the National Council on Public Morals was “deeply concerned with the influence of the cinematograph, especially upon young people, with the possibilities of its development and with its adaptation to national educational purposes”. The report is an unmatched treasure trove not only of opinions, fears, hopes and prejudices regarding the cinema and its audience, but of evidence relating to the production and exhibition of films in Britain at this time. Those supplying evidence included Cecil Hepworth, J. Brooke Wilkinson, A.E. Newbould, Gavazzi King and F.R. Goodwin, all key figures from the film industry, teachers, policemen, magistrates, social workers, and school children, whose verbatim evidence is a particular treasure. There is also much useful statistical information on film distribution and cinema-going in Britain. It’s available for download from the Internet Archive in DjVu (28MB), PDF (69MB), black-and-white PDF (21MB), and TXT (1.3MB) formats (the latter essential for word searching).
New York/London: Harper and Brothers, 1920
Source: Internet Archive
George Creel was a journalist and campaigner on social issues who was put in charge of the Committee on Public Information in 1917. The CPI was America’s official propaganda outfit during the First World War, tasked with ’selling the war’ to Americans. As such was responsible for American official films such as Pershing’s Crusaders, America’s Answers, Under Four Flags, and the newsreel Official War Review. After the war, Creel published the controversial How We Advertised America, which called for the use of the methods in commercial advertising to be used for official promotion of America. It’s an important source for understanding the context in which propaganda films were produced during the First World War, the first time the medium had been used extensively by national governments as a tool of mass persuasion. The book is available as a free download in PDF (65MB), DjVu (21MB), b/w PDF (20MB) and TXT (906KB) formats.
Dench, Ernest A., Advertising by Motion Pictures
Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Company, 1916
Source: Internet Archive
A fascinating, if discursive guide to the potential of the motion picture for purposes of advertising. Dench covers the selling of railroads, food products, agricultural machinery, shoes, real estate, newspapers and dry goods through motion pictures. He covers different approaches for different kinds of audience (working classes, farmers), and different media, with particular attention given to the use of advertising slides. Some of it is aimless speculation, like the chapter on naming soda fountain concoctions after movies, but its enthusiasm is appealing and it paints a useful picture of they ways in which the cinema industry engaged with the American audience in the early years of cinema. It’s available from the Internet Archive in DjVu (5.2MB), PDF (23MB) and TXT (207KB) formats.
Dench, Ernest A., Motion Picture Education
Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Company, 1917
Source: Internet Archive
The 1910s saw much interest in the use of motion pictures as an educational medium, something which led a great outpouring of educational films in the 1920s and the growth of the Visual Education movement. In the 1910s, all was speculation and experiment, as indicated by this wide-ranging guide by enthusiastic motion picture journalist Ernest Dench. He considers the potential for film to teach history, arithmetic, natural history, domestic science, even handwriting. There is some grasp of the theoretical side, and warnings that film is no substitute for text. Dench reveals how the great passion for films among young audiences was taxing authorities, which sought to master a medium they did not fully understand. Available from the Internet Archive in DjVu (5.3MB), PDF (43MB) and TXT (351KB) formats.
London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1907
Source: Internet Archive
This is an account of a journey through the states of Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Servia (as the book has it), Bulgaria, Rumania and Russia in 1907. This was the area that was soon to experience conflict through the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, then to be the powder keg that helped start off the First World War. Of interest here is that the author, journalist and adventurer Harry de Windt, took a motion picture cameraman with him, John Mackenzie of the Charles Urban Trading Company. Though relatively little is said of Mackenzie’s actual work (he left before de Windt went on to Russia), the interest is in his very presence, in the tie-up with a British newspaper (the Westminster Gazette), and in the Balkans as a topic of sufficient interest to audiences at home to justify the expense of organising such a venture. Through Savage Europe is available from the Internet Archive in DjVu (14MB), PDF (38MB), b/w PDF (17MB) and TXT (439KB) formats.
Esenwein, J. Berg and Arthur Leeds, Writing the Photoplay
Springfield, Mass.: The Home Correspondence School, 1919 (orig. 1913)
Source: Project Gutenberg
This is a standard ‘how to’ guide to writing a screenplay. It goes into great detail about the process of producing a screenplay, covering its component parts, how a script should look, the mechanical production of a film script, devising a scenario, delineating characters, the use and misuse of titles, and how to market a screenplay. There is an example of a completed screenplay, Everybody’s Girl (1918). There is also amusing advice on what not to try and include in your screenplay (expensive scenes like the sinking of ships, ‘trick animals’, special costumes), and advice on what not to include in your screenplay owing to the attentions of the censor. It’s all sensible stuff, with interesting insights throughout and plenty of incidental comments on the routine of film production that is useful to the researcher now. There are some good photographs on studio production, and most helpfully hyperlinks are provided not only for chapters and illustrations, but for the index at the back. Available from Project Gutenberg in HTML (747KB) and plain TXT (624KB).
Ellis, Don Carlos and Laura Thornborough, Motion Pictures in Education: A Practical Handbook for Users of Visual Aids
New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1923
Source: Internet Archive
The enthusiasm for the idea of motion pictures as an education medium which arose in the 1910s was followed by exploration of the theoretical issues, practical usage guides, and recommendations of particular titles or series. All of these combine in Ellis and Thornbourgh’s book, which is one of the standard guides of the period. It is designed as the essential handbook for the teacher needing to the how and why of using film in the classroom. In good common-sense fashion it covers the history of educational film, the objections raised against its use, the advantages of using the medium, the kinds of films available, the practicalities of exhibiting them, and examples of their successful use. This is a fascinating history which calls for much further investigation. Available from the Internet Archive in DjVu (7.2MB), PDF (34MB) and TXT (515KB) formats.
Gehrts, Miss M[eg]., A Camera Actress in the Wilds of Togoland
Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1915
Source: Internet Archive
This is account of the production of The White Goddess of the Wangora (Die weiße Göttin der Wangora) and other dramas and documentaries of African life, made in Togo in 1913/14 by the German explorer and sometime big game hunter Major Hans Schomburgk. The films starred his future wife, Meg Gehrts, whose experiences are recorded in the book. It is fascinating in detail, patronising towards the ’savages’ they work with, but also filled with sympathetic observations, particularly on the drudgery experienced by the Togo women. It also tells us much about the indignities and privations the filmmakers suffered. It is an observant text, with plenty of interest if you can steer around the period attitudes, and it is well illustrated. It is available in DjVu (17 MB), PDF (51MB), b/w/ PDF (20MB) and TXT (492KB) formats.
Grau, Robert, The Theatre of Science: A Volume of Progress and Achievement in the Motion Picture Art
New York: Broadway Publishing Company, 1914
Source: Internet Archive
Grau’s book, published in 1914 in a limited edition of 3,000, has become a standard reference source for the early cinema period. It proovides an extraordinary amount of detail on the history and development of motion pictures in America to 1914 - their technological, economic, social and artistic changes, and the key events and personalities involved. Grau (a theatrical agent) was witness to much of the history he describes, and if his understanding of the development of the pictures towards the ideal of the theatre, he was a keen observer who provides hugely useful factual information on histories such as the rise of the nickelodeons and the emergence of a film trade press which scarcely exist elsewhere. He champions the names of pioneers of the industry who would otherwise be forgotten, the run-of-the-mill performers as well as the stars, and the book is rich in portrait photographs. It has much information on the leading and not so leading film companies of the period, and is at all points particularly interested in the business of making pictures. It is thrilled with how motion pictures were made, sold and exhibited, and for that enthusiasm alone it is strongly recommended. It’s available from the Internet Archive in DjVu (21MB), PDF (66MB), b/w/ PDF (23MB) and TXT (711KB) formats.
Hanssen, Eirik Frisvold, Early Discourses on Colour and Cinema
University of Stockholm, 2006
Source: Author’s site
This doctoral thesis is an historical and theoretical examination of motion picture colour processes 1909-1935. It focusses in particular upon Kinemacolor, the colour system invented in 1906 by George Albert Smith and sold to the world by the ebullient Charles Urban. It was first exhibited in May 1908, given the name Kinemacolor in 1909, and for five or six years it was the sensation of film exhibitions worldwide, until it was brought down by a court case and then rival colour systems, such as Technicolor. Hanssen’s thesis contextualises Kinemacolor within a broader history and analysis of colour, while remaining very sound on the purely technological side of things. Its centrepiece is a detailed study of the 1912 Kinemacolor catalogue and its representation of the idea of colour. The thesis can be downloaded as a PDF (1.47MB); it has also been published as a book.
Hendricks, Gordon, The Edison Motion Picture Myth
Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1961
Source: Internet Archive
Gordon Hendricks was a determinedly independent film historian who was driven to investigate the history of Edison’s development of the motion picture to overturn the “morass of well-embroidered legend” which existed at that time for the beginnings of American film, especially in the biographies of Thomas Edison. Hendricks wanted also to champion his own hero, William Kennedy-Laurie Dickson, Edison’s chief technician on the motion picture project. The book is a meticulous exploration of the history of the Edison experiments 1888-1894 which led to the Kinetoscope peepshow viewer, the Kineotgraph camera, and the world’s first successful motion picture films. Hendricks made an intensive trawl through the archives at the Edison National Historical Site, overturning myth after myth, and producing solid information which has been gratefully turned to by succeeding film historians, but it has to be said the book is not an easy read. It is available to download from the Internet Archive in DjVu (13MB), PDF (16MB) and TXT (589KB) formats.
Hopwood, Henry V., Hopwood’s Living Pictures; their history, photo-production, and practical working, with classified lists of British patents and bibliography
London: Hatton Press, 1915 [original edition 1899]
Source: Internet Archive
Henry Hopwood (1866-1919) was Custodian in the Library of the Patent Office in Chancery Lane, London. His Living Pictures is a comprehensive history and handbook on the technology of the new science of motion pictures, published first in 1899 and then in a revised edition by his colleague R.B. Foster in 1915. It is a thorough, knowledgable account of the subject, based around patent applications, but expressed in an engaging and sometimes philosophical style which makes it a pleasure to read today. It still used as a standard reference source.The 1915 revision is available for downloading in DjVu (16MB), PDF (45MB) and TXT (570KB) formats.
Jones, Bernard C., The Cinematograph Book: a complete practical guide to the taking and projecting of cinematograph pictures
London: Cassell, 1915 (1916 reprint)
Source: Internet Archive
This is one of the classic guides to the practicalities of motion pictures in the silent era. It aimed at clarity with usefulness, and achieved it. The chapters cover the history of the ‘invention’ motion pictures, the operation of a camera and projection equipment, developing and printing films, cinema screens, what to do in case of fire, cleaning and preparing films, producing trick films, and making films for the home. It also has a special section on natural colour cinematograph pictures, focussing on Kinemacolor. Finally there is a guide to the relevant acts and regulations (as they related to the UK). It’s available from the Internet Archive in DjVu (5.6MB), PDF (18MB) and TXT (330KB) formats).
Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers
1916-1954
Source: The Internet Archive
The Society of Motion Picture Engineers (SMPE) (later the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) was founded in 1916, and continues to this day as the “leading technical society for the motion imaging industry”. The Society’s journal, known know as SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal, also goes back to 1916, and so far the Internet Archive has made available the annual volumes 1930-1954, plus a volumes of synopses of papers published 1916-1930.
There are numerous classic papers relating to the silent cinema period, and not just those published before 1930. The various volumes come with indexes to aid searching, but here are some noteworthy papers:
Merritt Crawford, ‘Pioneer Experiment of Eugene Lauste in Recording Sound’, October 1931, Volume 17
Oscar B. Depue, ‘My First Fifty Years in Motion Pictures’, December 1947, Volume 49
W.K. Laurie Dickson, ‘A Brief History of the Kinetograph, the Kinetoscope and the Kineto-phonograph’, December 1933, Volume 21
Carl Gregory, ‘Early History of Motion Picture Cameras for Film Wider than 35-mm’, January 1930, Volume 14
Louis Lumière, ‘The Lumière cinematograph’, December 1936, Volume 27
Robert W. Paul, ‘Kinematographic Experiences’, November 1936, Volume 27
E. Kilburn Scott, ‘Career of L.A.A. LePrince’, July 1931, Volume 17
The individual volumes can be downloaded in DjVu, PDF and TXT formats.
Knowlton, Daniel C. and J. Warren Tilton, Motion Pictures in History Teaching: A Study of the Chronicles of America Photoplays as a Aid in Seventh Grade Instruction
Yale University Press, 1929
Source: Internet Archive
The Chronicles of America was a 1923-24 series of educational film series produced by Yale University Press. The series included such earnest and traditionalist titles as Jamestown, Yorktown, Daniel Boone and The Declaration of Independence. These three-reeler dramas were relatively lavishly produced, helping to pay their way by getting theatrical screenings. But their target audience was in the classrooms of America, and this study of the series examines its pedagogical value. It looks at how the series contributed to ‘the learning of fundamentals’, and the degree to which they contributed to enrichment, retention and creation of interest’, through a meticulous system of testing groups. The painstaking methodology is as fascinating as the underlying assumptions of the films’ photo-historical validity. It is also handsomely illustrated with stills from the films. It’s available from the Internet Archive in PDF (48MB), DjVu (5.4MB) and TXT (326KB) formats.
Krows, Arthur Edwin, Motion Pictures - Not for Theaters
The Educational Screen, September 1938-June 1944
Source: Internet Archive
The Prelinger Archives is putting up a 1922-1962 run of the journal The Educational Screen on the Internet Achive. The particular importance of this is that between September 1938 and June 1944 The Educational Screen published Arthur Edwin Krows’ vast history of the non-theatrical film, Motion Pictures - Not for Theaters. It was published one chapter at a time, issue by issue, though it was never completed. It would probably never have found a publisher as a book, being of such length, rambling in style, and specialised in theme, but it is a fabulous store of information on filmmakers, films and film businesses working to make films that instructed, advertised, propagandised or educated, which simply cannot be found anywhere else. Sometimes the history is dubious, or too bound up with anecdote, and relevant information on people is often scattered across the chapters (the word-searchable text files supplied on the Internet Archive is a huge help). Nevertheless it is a marvellous source when used with discretion, and invaluable for the study of the non-theatrical and educational film in the silent era. The individual volumes can be downloaded in DjVu, PDF and TXT formats.
Lang, Edith and George West, Musical Accompaniment of Moving Pictures
Boston: The Boston Music Company, 1920
Source: Internet Archive
This is a guide for pianists and organists in the silent era, with plenty of musical detail (’Musical Characterisation’, ‘Transition and Modulation’, ‘Improvisation’) and practical advice (”The player will do well, first of all, to ’size up’ his audience”), with repertoire suggestions. It is also wide-ranging in the kinds of films it advises on - not only feature films, but animation, slapstick comedies, newsreels, travelogues and even educational films. There is particular discussion, with music cue sheet, of the Maurice Tourneur five-reel film Rose of the World (1918). The book gives special attention to the theatrical organ. It’s available from the Internet Archive in PDF (27MB), DjVu (2.6MB) and TXT (139KB) formats.
Lescarboura, Austin C., Behind the Motion-Picture Screen
New York: Scientific America/Munn and Company, 1921
Source: Internet Archive
This a voluminous history and guide to the production of motion pictures. As the subtitle puts it, its covers ‘how the scenario writer, director, cameraman, scene painter and carpenter, laboratory man, art director, property man, electrician, projector operator and others contribute their share of work toward the realization of the wonderful photoplays of today; and how the motion picture is rapidly extending into many fields aside from that of entertainment’. With some rather fanciful chapter titles it cover the work of the director (’The Artist Who Paints the Film Subjects’), producer (’The Generals of Shadowland’), actors, cinematographers, screenplays, camera technology, special effects, newsfilming, scientific cinema, animation, colour, and and a prescient chapter on the coming of sound. It is also richly illustrated with photographs of the various stages of the production process. It’s available in DjVu (24MB), PDF (62MB), b/w PDF (39MB) and TXT (529KB) formats.
Lindsay, Vachel, The Art of the Moving Picture
New York: Macmillan, 1915 [1922 revision]
Source: Project Gutenberg
The American poet Vachel Linday (1879-1931) wrote this celebrated study of the motion picture as an art form at a time when such a notion was generally considered ludicrous, though the grander works of D.W. Griffith were starting to change minds. It is an extraordinary work, categorising film by such grand phrases as Sculpture-in-Motion, Painting-in-Motion, Architecture-in-Motion and The Motion Picture of Fairy Splendour. It aims at the visionary, and recognises the importance of the medium in its time. It is often as foolish as it is insightful, and it has not worn well as a work of serious study, but its enthusiasm is unstoppable. It is also rich in information on films, performers and scenes that impressed themselves on Lindsay’s hyperactive imagination. It is available in ebook form as HTML (404KB) or plain text (180KB).
McClung, Hugh C., Camera Knowledge for The Photoplaywright
Los Angeles: Palmer Photoplay Corporation, 1920
Source: Internet Archive
This pamphlet offers a simple guide to the technology and practice of cinematograph for the would-be writer of screenplays. McClung was a cinematographer himself, with Gaston Méliès, Willian Fox, Triangle, Douglas Fairbanks and Famous Players-Lasky. The chief intent of the booklet is to make writers “think in pictures,” and in between the general pleas for appreciation of the hard work that went behind the making of pictures, there are some interesting anecdotes which bring to life the practicalities of the business. Available from the Internet Archive in DjVu (604KB), PDF (2.2MB) and TXT (37KB) formats.
Malins, Lieut. Geoffrey H., How I Filmed the War: A record of the extraordinary experiences of the man who filmed the great Somme battles etc.
London: Herbert Jenkins, 1920
Source: Internet Archive
Geoffrey Malins was one of two British Official cameramen who filmed the Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916 (the other was J.B. McDowell). The film that they shot was considered so outstanding that it was compiled into a feature length documentary (earlier Official war films had been much shorter), entitled The Battle of The Somme. It was first shown in London in October 1916 and was unquestionably a sensation. It is estimated that half the British population saw its unprecedented scenes of life for British troops on the Western front, with scenes of battle, troops going over the top, and the wounded. Malins’ book is vainglorious but rich in detail, a unique document of the making of what Nicholas Hiley has called the most socially significant British film of the twentieth century. It’s available from the Internet Archive in PDF (24MB), DjVu (6MB) or TXT (532KB) formats.
Marey, Etienne-Jules, Animal Mechanism
New York: D. Appleton, 1879
Source: Internet Archive
Etienne-Jules Marey’s La machine animale was first published in 1873, and in English as Animal Mechanism in 1874. This was the published expression of Marey’s ‘methode graphique’, where, by a variety of graphical devices devised for the measurement of animal motion, Marey was able to demonstrate diagrammatically the walking motion of humans and horses, and the the flight of birds and insects. By this publication, Marey opened up a world of study not previously imagined, and inspired Eadweard Muybridge and Leland Stanford to undertake their investigations, photographing the horse in motion. Marey did not use photography for Animal Mechanism, but, inspired in turn by Muybridge’s work, would go on to experiment extensively with sequence photographs, developing the science of chronophotography, and through it the mechanism for cinematography. The Internet Archive has both the 1879 American edition, in DjVu (9.9MB), PDF (20MB), b/w PDF (12MB) and TXT (582KB) formats, and the English third edition (not so well scanned), in DjVu only (33MB).
Washington: Library of Congress, 1951
Source: Internet Archive
Rick Prelinger, of the Prelinger Archive, has made the Library of Congress Motion Picture Catalogs available for download from The Internet Archive. Five volumes have been put up, covering 1894 to 1969. This includes all 1,256 pages of the 1912-1939 volume, which is sensational news for anyone interested in the study of silent film. The Library of Congress Catalogs of Copyright Entries list all motion pictures registered for copyright in the USA (i.e. films not just made in the USA but shown in the USA). The entries give title, year, company, length, date of registration, and sometimes some credits. The printed volumes have long been the first port of call for anyone seriously engaged in identifying films from the silent period, but they have been restricted to a handful of research libraries. Suddenly they are available to all. The PDF is a huge size (157MB), but there is a 9MB text file of the word-searchable uncorrected OCR.
The 1894-1912 volume is also available, in DjVu (4.9MB), PDF (12MB), b/w PDF (5.8MB) and TXT (621KB) formats).
Münsterberg, Hugo, The Photoplay: A Psychological Study
New York/London: D. Appleton & Co., 1916
Source: Project Gutenberg
Hugo Münsterberg (1863-1916) was Professor of Experimental Psychology at Harvard University. His short book The Photoplay: A Psychological Study is regarded as being the first serious work of film theory, a text which remains a key text for the study beyond its purely hisorical interest. Münsterberg was interested in the psychology and the aesthetics of motion pictures (chiefly fiction films), which he rooted in human thought processes and emotions. He argues for the legitimacy of film as one of the arts (a highly controversial position at the time) by arguing for the special ways in which it transforms the world through the act of transferring it onto the screen. It is stimulating read, and has a fascination simply for the details it gives of the cinema-going process and his responses to specific films. It is available in ebook form as HTML (289KB) or plain text (274KB).
Musser, Charles, Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991
Source: California Digital Library
Charles Musser’s biography of Edwin S. Porter is very much more than a biography. He places the story of the Edison filmmaker, producer of The Great Train Robbery and Life of an American Fireman, within the context of film production and exhibition at the end of nineteenth century and into the twentieth, and within broader socio-cultural contexts. The result is a rich, multilayered account of the birth of American film with Porter as the key with which to unlock the history. This modern classic has been hugely influential on modern early film studies. It is also handsomely illustrated and very readable. It is freely available as chapterised web pages, complete with illustrations, notes and hyperlinked index, from the California Digitial Library’s e-Scholarship Editions.
Philip, Alex J., Cinematograph Films: Their National Value and Preservation
London: Stanley Paul & Co., 1912
Source: Internet Archive
This booklet is a call for the preservation of films as historical records. It argues the necessity of making visual records of our time for the benefit of future generations, not just of major historic events but of the arts, crafts and customs of the nation which one day must pass. After giving a short history of the development of the cinema, Philip makes practical proposals for a National Cinematographic Library. He considers selection, preservation, film handling, classification, and cost. Philip was a librarian, and his arguments are generally that looking after films will be little different to looking after books. There is no mention of the fire hazard presented by nitrate film. He also proposes matching motion picture records to sound recordings, with particular reference to a Voice Museum established at the Paris Opéra in 1907.
Rogers, Gustavus A., The Law of the Motion Picture Industry
New York: 1916
Source: Internet Archive
This is the text of a lecture given by a New York lawyer to the College of the City of New York on 28 November 1916. The legal side of early film may not seem to have that much appeal, but it is a crucial subject to grasp. Laws existing and laws which had to be devised for the purpose not only governed but helped define the new medium. Gustavus A. Rogers proves to be a helpful guide, with a clear-sighted view of his subject and much case law that he is able to cite as milestones in the development of cinema as a social entity. There is a particularly helpful section on patent law and the formation of the Motion Picture Patents Company, which sought to restrict trade to those businesses which recognised Edison’s film patents. Out of this history Rogers draws some fascinating and helpful definitions of what motion pictures actually were (in law), what the technology was there to achieve, and how a motion picture production was to be defined. There is useful discussion of trade marks, copyright law, censorship (with comparisons of the state of things in America, Britain and France), Sunday legislation, and an overview of the laws regarding motion pictures in various European countries. It’s available from the Internet Archive in DjVu (1.6MB), PDF (5MB), b/w PDF (1.5MB) and TXT (122KB) formats.
Stillman, J.D.B, The Horse in Motion: as shown by instantaneous photography
Boston: James R. Osgood, 1882
Source: Internet Archive
The true author of this work should not have been J.D.B. Stillman, but the rather better-known Eadweard Muybridge. The book, commissioned by Muybridge’s patron, the railroad baron Leland Stanford, was based on Muybridge’s now famous photographic studies of a horse galloping. But master and reluctant servant had fallen out, and the book was published under Stillman’s name, giving Muybridge negligible credit. The book contains detailed description of the studies into the motion of the horse (and other quadrupeds), with five of Muybridge’s photographs and ninety-one lithographs based on his photographs, plus line drawings. The book’s publication caused considerable embarrassment to Muybridge at the time, as his contribution to the scientific studies was now questioned by several authorities, but it is an important publication nonetheless in the history which took us from sequence photography (or chronophotography) to the successful creation of cinema. It’s available from the Internet Archive in DjVU (6MB), PDF (67MB) and TXT (279KB) formats.
Talbot, F.A., Practical Cinematography and its Applications
London: W. Heinemann, 1913
Source: Internet Archive
Practical Cinematography and its Applications was written by F.A. Talbot, who wrote various popular science guides, including the much-cited Moving Pictures: How They Are Made and Worked (1912). This plain person’s guide to the practical aspects of cinematography covers operating the camea, film development, scientific applications of cinematography, military uses, education films and (rather oddly) how to write screenplays. Odd, because Talbot’s concern is oyherwise about the motion picture as a tool of discovery, not entertainment. There is also an intriguing call for national cinematograph laboratories. It’s available for free download in DjVu (9.6MB), PDF (29MB) and TXT (357KB) formats.
West, Alfred J., A Synopsis of the Life-work of Alfred West
Portsmouth: Wessex Press, 1912
Source: Wessex Film and Sound Archive
Alfred West (1857-1937) was the man behind ‘Our Navy’ and ‘Our Army’, hugely popular multi-media shows comprising films, photographs, songs and dramas. West was active as a filmmaker from 1897-1912, based at Southsea, Hampshire, UK. His patriotic, militaristic and sentimental shows were popular across Britain and the Empire, and for many who came to see the shows they were their first experience of motion pictures. This text is a catalogue of his entire film output. It is available in PDF format (5.2MB), with a word-searchable transcription (178KB).
Young, Donald, Motion Pictures: A Study in Social Legislation
Philadelphia: Westbrook Publishing, 1922
Source: Internet Archive
Young’s subject is the influence of motion pictures upon the American people, particularly children. As a piece of supposedly scientific social investigation it is remarkably partisan. It takes as read reports conducted by various groups with an interest in the morals of society which found motion pictures to be generally pernicious in their effects, and comes down on the side of legalised state censorship (by 1922 eight American states had instituted film censorship laws). This is therefore not the social study that it claims to be, but rather an expression of fear. The value of the text is firstly the period attitudes that it demonstrates, with the evidence that it calls on to support this. Secondly, it provides a rich picture of the various forms of municipal and state regulation that existed, their operations and aspirations. Thirdly, there are the several appendices with useful background information. It is available in DjVu (3.1MB), PDF (9.4MB), b/w PDF (3.4MB) and TXT (232KB) formats.
August 18, 2007 at 9:54 am
Maybe others are having the same problem that I am experiencing. I want to download some of the texts listed in the Library (eg. the Malins) and would prefer to save as Djvu as the file sizes are smaller than PDF. The file will open in a firefox/Djvu window with navigation icons, etc, but there is no icon to save the document to disc (as the ‘help’ file claims there should be). I have tried downloading several programmes from Lizardtech but nothing helps. Any advice?
August 18, 2007 at 11:27 am
On the Archive.org page, click on the FTP option. The URLs of the various versions of the document appear. Right click on the DjVu option and choose Save As (Firefox doesn’t offer a Save As option, so use Internet Explorer), and it’ll download to your hard disk. You’ll then need to download a DjVu viewer, which you can get from LizardTech. And then you’ll be able to view it offline. Just tried it and it works.
August 20, 2007 at 4:20 am
That does indeed work. Thank you very much. I just hadn’t thought to click on ‘FTP’. I also found that it can work with Firefox too if you have already downloaded the DJVU software. The secret is clicking on ftp first. This is what you do for Firefox: After clicking on FTP, a list of the various types of files for that particular book come up, and you click on the one you want - in this case the one with extension .djvu. Then the djvu window opens in Firefox, but (unlike if you hadn’t clicked ftp, but instead clicked one of the other document types in the Internet Archive window) now the djvu window has a ‘Save’ icon. So you click that. Then a query comes up asking if you want to save as ‘bundled’ or ‘indirect’ (I go for ‘bundled’ — hey, that’s the kind of chap I am). Then it asks where you want to save the document. Find the folder you want on your hard-drive, click ’save’ and then just wait. Here in the wilds of Asia things are slow and a 5 MD download took about 7 minutes. Over there where most of you live I guess it would be nearer a minute. And our esteemed Mr Bioscopic in central London can probably download that much in the time is takes to say ‘Charles Urban Trading Company’. Thanks again, Mr B.
September 20, 2007 at 12:01 pm
A couple of small additions to the above. I’d slightly retract what I wrote in that the download does seem to work better with Explorer rather than Firefox, and it seems to ‘kick off’ any download manager that you have loaded, such as Free Download Manager, which makes the process faster. I’ve also found a viewer online, the so-called WinDjviewer, which is a remarkavbly small download, but which offers some significant advantages over the Lizardtech viewer. It offers more control over printing and copying and even lets you highlight text. It’s at:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/download/WinDjView/1137752329/1