The Lantern Image. Iconography of the Magic Lantern 1420-1880

The book records almost 300 pictorial representations of the magic lantern that appeared between 1420 and the last quarter of the nineteenth century. We have aimed for completeness, knowing that we never could and never will attain it. The task is Augean. Even while the final proofs were being corrected, a score of hitherto unrecorded images turned up, and others will continue to do so. It is likely that if we could trace every printed image of the lantern from this period, the list would be at least twice as long as it is now. But we have to begin somewhere and set down what we already know.The present listing has been achieved by making a grand sweep of all accessible publications and major collections in Britain, France, and elsewhere. We have tried as far as possible to illustrate everything we catalogue, though in some cases we only have access to the record and description. The starting point of 1420 was adopted as being the documented date of the drawing by Giovanni da Fontana which is now accepted as representing a germinal notion of the magic lantern. The terminal date of 1880 has been chosen for reasons which are explained at the end of the Introduction, along with an apology for a few later entries whose inclusion proved irresistible. Essentially, we have limited ourselves to printed representations (excluding paintings and drawings), except for the very earliest and rarest by da Fontana, Huygens, and Petit.While aiming to include all significant representations, we have not felt obliged to include rudimentary thumbnail sketches from every minor German encyclopedia or school popular science manual between 1780 and 1880. Another class of illustration which we have consciously excluded are the chromo-lithographed trade cards that appeared in France in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Decorative though uninformed as they are, these cards represent a very specialized field of collecting and we feel that they are adequately catalogued elsewhere.The book is intended to be both enjoyable and useful—enjoyable as a vivid visual survey of the evolution of the many-faceted optical device which is the most direct forerunner of cinema; useful as a first point of reference for collectors and students endeavoring to identify an engraving or the progression of some particular style of lantern illustration.The bibliographic annotations are merely basic, and the more scholarly researcher is advised to use the references in this catalogue in conjunction with the much more detailed entries in Hermann Hecht's great Bibliography of Pre-cinema History, which, after long gestation, was published, by happy coincidence, on the same day as this incomparably more modest endeavor.As already stated, this is a publication that can never be truly completed. However, it is intended to publish periodic supplements in the Magic Lantern Journal; and the editors will always be grateful for reports of errors and omissions and new discoveries so that these may be recorded.The book would not have been possible without the collaboration of many members and friends of the Magic Lantern Society. Above all, gratitude is due to Laurent Mannoni who was inexhaustible in his research and his willingness to put the resources of his own fine collection at our disposal. John and William Barnes, Richard Balzer, François Binétruy, David Francis, Jonathan Gestetner, Stephen Herbert, Janet Morris, Lester Smith, and John Townsend have generously made available their knowledge and items from their collections; and we are grateful to the institutions referred to in the individual catalogue references. Finally, the physical realization of the book (as with all other MLS publications) was only made possible by the skill and singular patience of Dennis Crompton. [David Robinson]