In 1888, Thomas Edison announced that he was experimenting on "an instrument which does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear, which is the recording and reproduction of things in motion." Just as Edison’s investigations were framed in terms of the known technologies of the phonograph and the microscope, the essays in this collection address the contexts of innovation and reception that have framed the development of moving images in the last 100 years. Three concerns are of particular interest: the contexts of innovation and reception for moving image technologies; the role of the observer, whose vision and cognitive processes define some of the limits of inquiry and epistemological insight; and the role of new media, which, engaging with the domestic sphere as cultural interface, are transforming our understanding of public and private spheres.

The 17 previously unpublished essays in Moving Images represent the best of current research in the history of this field. They make a timely and stimulating contribution to debates concerning the impact of new media on the history of cinema.

Contributors include: William Boddy, Carlos Bustamante, Warren Buckland, Valeria Camporesi, Bent Fausing, Oliver Gaycken, Alison Griffiths, Christopher Hales, Jan Holmberg, Solveig Jülich, Frank Kessler, Jay Moman, Sheila C. Murphy, Pelle Snickars, Paul C. Spehr, Björn Thuresson, and Åke Walldius.