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1888 in film

overview of film-related events during the year of 1888

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 26, 2025
Entity authorityQ1066848 ↗
Source-derived summary

The following is an overview of the events of 1888 in film, including a list of films released and notable births.

Events

George Eastman files for a patent for his photographic film.

Thomas Edison meets with Eadweard Muybridge who proposes a scheme for sound film (27 February, West Orange, New Jersey).

Étienne-Jules Marey starts work on his chronophotographe camera with 90 mm wide roll paper film.

Charles-Émile Reynaud patents his Théâtre Optique which uses a kind of perforated film to create an animated show.

Films

Roundhay Garden Scene, Accordion Player and Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge, filmed by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince in Leeds, United Kingdom, using paper "stripping" film and paper negative film.

Horse and Rider Jumping Over an Obstacle (Pferd und Reiter Springen über ein Hindernis) and other sequences, shot by Ottomar Anschütz in Germany.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “1888 in film” as overview of film-related events during the year of 1888. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around film, overview and film-related.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1888—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with film, overview and film-related providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “1888 in film”, the useful work is to connect “overview of film-related events during the year of 1888” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 26, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1066848. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1888.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “1888 in film”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow 1888 in film primary sources, 1888 in film archive and film research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “1888 in film”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “1888 in film” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.