DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures

A True Tale of Obsession, Murder and the Movies

Paul Fischer author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Faber & Faber

Published:7th Apr '22

Should be back in stock very soon

The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures cover

The 'thrilling' true story of the mysterious disappearance of Louis Le Prince'



In 1890, weeks before the public unveiling of his camera and projector - a year before Thomas Edison announced that the had invented a motion picture camera - Le Prince stepped on a train in France - and disappeared without a trace.

A Radio 4 Book of the Week.

'Fascinating . . . filled with lively historical digressions.' New York Times 'Best True Crime of 2022'

In 1888 Louis Le Prince shot the world's first motion picture in Leeds, England.

In 1890, weeks before the public unveiling of his camera and projector - a year before Thomas Edison announced that the had invented a motion picture camera - Le Prince stepped on a train in France - and disappeared without a trace. He was never seen or heard from again. No body was ever found.

Le Prince's family were convinced Edison had stolen Louis's work, and so they sued the most famous inventor in the world. By the time the lawsuit was over, Le Prince's own son was dead under suspicious circumstances - and modern Hollywood was being born.

Paul Fischer's new book excavates one of the Victorian age's great unsolved mysteries, and in the process offers a revelatory rewriting of the birth of motion pictures.

ISBN: 9780571348640

Dimensions: 234mm x 153mm x 30mm

Weight: 655g

416 pages

Main