referencebooks (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} referencebooks) wrote,@ 2006-05-18 13:17:00 |
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| Entry tags: | film, history |
Encyclopedia of Early Cinema
Encyclopedia of Early Cinema
Edited by Richard Abel
Published by Routledge, 2005.
This is a 7" by 10" hardcover book running to 791 pages including the bibliography and rich index, plus 30 pages of preferatory material. The book is well-manufactured, as Routledge books usually are. Its pages are printed in two columns using a not-very-big font.
This book is an example of a highly specialized and deep subject encyclopedia. The period of cinema covered is around 1890 to the mid 1920's, so you can imagine how deep the encyclopedia can get into the subject in its nearly 800 pages.
Here is a list of the first fifteen entries in the "P" sequence:
- Pagano, Bartolomeo or Maciste
- PAGU/AKGT
- painting and the visual arts
- palace cinemas
- Palestine
- Paley, William ("Daddy")
- Parnaland, Ambrose-François
- Pasquali & C. (1908-1921)
- Pasquali, Ernesto Maria
- Pastrone, Giovanni
- Patankar Friends & Company
- Pathé (Australia)
- Pathé, Charles
- Pathé Cinematograph
- Pathé Film (Sweden)
Most of the entries are for people and companies involved in film in its earliest days, but there are also entries for aspects of film and the film industry of the time. Those latter entries tend to be the longer ones. Entries range in length from a paragraph to a few pages. The entries focus on telling the history of early film. Accordingly, the writing doesn't involve a lot in the way of concepts in film theory; little or no specialized background knowledge is required to use the book.
The editor does not shy away from politically-related topics in the history of early film. For example, there are lengthy entries on the imperialism of the American film industry in its quest for new markets (that article is titled, "imperialism: USA") and on the labor movement in Europe and the United States in its relation to the film industry.
This is a deep, high-quality encyclopedia on a narrow topic. It's potentially of great use to anyone studying early film.
