Set of four flipbooks showing seven experimental film sequences shot by the Edison Laboratories in the earliest days of motion pictures. Each book is printed with a sequence on both sides of each page, so that flipping the book from front to back will show you one movie, and from back to front will show you another one. The books are a large 3 x 5 inches. Except where we felt there is historical value, all the images of the sequences have been painstakingly edited to present as clear an image as possible.
Each book comes with historical insights by Charles Musser of Yale University, who has written extensively about Edison’s work and is the world’s most widely respected contemporary Edison scholar.
The flipbooks included in this set:
► Sneeze flipbook 1894. This flipbook shows one of the first copyrighted film sequences on record. It has one sequence presented in its original unedited form, and on opposite pages there is a "cleaned up" sequence with the majority of scratches and dust marks removed. 45 frames, 3 x 5 inches (76 x 127 mm)
► Newark Athlete 1891 and Annie Oakley 1894 flipbook. Newark Athlete shows one of the earliest of film experiments of a young boy swinging a pair of "Indian clubs". The warped images show how primitive this early experiment was, but is a very exciting view into this early film success.
Annie Oakley one of the earliest films to show a celebrity “at work” as she shoots at a target. This is an excerpt of a slightly longer film sequence. 103 frames each sequence, 3 x 5 inches (76 x 127 mm)
► Men Boxing 1891 and Dickson Greeting 1891 flipbook. This flipbook shows two very early film experiments from 1891: members of Edison’s film crew clowning for the camera, and two very rare short sequences of W.K.L. Dickson, the working genius behind the inventions, greeting the new film audience. This book is a glimpse at the seminal period of motion picture history. 64 frames, 3 x 5 inches (76 x 127 mm)
► May Irwin Kiss 1896 and Annabelle Butterfly Dance 1895. This flipbook shows two highly staged theatrical sequences that were extremely popular of their time: the first cinematic kiss which was taken from a stage play of the time, and a costumed woman dances a rather wild and evocative “butterfly dance” that was based on the craze for serpentine dances of spinning white sheets. Each sequence is 135 frames, 3 x 5 inches (76 x 127 mm).