Before the Movies, livre ebook

Before the Movies is the first book about American screen entertainment in the pre-movie era. A groundbreaking study, lavishly illustrated with 330 color pictures, it is a comprehensive survey of the American artists who created early magic-lantern stories and songs for the screen. The book emphasizes the work of Joseph Boggs Beale, a pioneer in the field and demonstrates that Beale almost single-handedly created American-made screen entertainment for the generation before the movies. His lifetime output was 2,073 images in 258 sets—the screen-time equivalent of 14 full-length films—which millions enjoyed every year. The provenance, attribution, and dates of Beale's lantern slides are discussed in detail, and a comprehensive catalog of his lantern images makes Before the Movies an essential reference volume.

Foreword
1. The Magic Lantern
2. Provenance, Attribution, Dating—An Introduction to Beale's Catalogue Raisonné
3. The Larger Context of Beale's Work
4. Other American Magic-Lantern Artists
5. Assessing the Screen Art of Joseph Boggs Beale
Appendix 1. Notes to The Condensed Catalogue Raisonné of Beale's Magic-Lantern Slides
The Condensed Catalogue Raisonné of Beale's Magic-Lantern Slides
Endnotes for Condensed Catalogue Raisonné
Appendix 2. Chronological List of Beale Sets and Groups
Appendix 3. Slides Possibly by Beale
Appendix 4. Lantern Slide Companies Distributing Beale Slides
Appendix 5. The Beale Method for Dating Catalogs
Appendix 6. Illustrated Song Slides Containing Beale Images
Appendix 7. List of Books Illustrated by Beale
Appendix 8. Selected Bibliography
Index