LA FOTOGRAFIA ANIMATA OTTENUTA COL CINEMATOGRAFO DEI SIGNORI LUMIÈRE. [Cover Title]
[Lyon: Freres Lumière, 1896]. Small 4to., [4] pp. Printed on a thick woven stock in blue ink with gold border rules and decorations. Moderate toning and light foxing, with evidence of a prior horizontal fold. Very good. Enclosed in a four point pamphlet case of paper over boards with a printed title on the upper board and spine. Item #51861
The Lumière brothers presented their first public viewing of several of their films on 28 December, 1895 at the Salon Indien du Grand Café, Paris. The public approval was quick and within weeks the Lumières dispatched "operators" to Lyon, London, Madrid and other European cities.
The cover title of this program is in Italian while the "Programme des Projections" is in French and lists screenings in Lyon, Paris, London, Milan Venice, etc., naming particular films for each location, as well as several which were shown at every screening. By July of 1896, Pierre Chapuis, a 17 year old operator from Lyon was dispatched to Milan to present a series of Lumière films which included one of their first, "Repas du Bébé", and the monumental, "Pellicules du Couronnement du Czar", the first feature length film made in Russia, 14 May, 1896, with its public release on 26 June 1896. From the known dates of release of several of these films at particular locations, ( see, Rittaud-Hutinet, Jacques. AUGUSTE ET LOUIS LUMIÈRE: LES 1000 PREMIERS FILMS. Introduction by Philippe Nèagu. [Paris]: Philippe Sers éditeur, 1990), the imprint, "Milano - Tip. Economica", and the arrival of Pierre Chapuis in Milan, we can establish the date of this program as no later than July, 1896.
No copies of this program, can be located in WorldCat or other databases. It is our assumption that this is the earliest surviving program for a public screening by the Lumières.
Price: $4,000.00