An old engraving of a praxinoscope. It is from Victorian book of the 1890s on sports, games and pastimes. The praxinoscope was an animation device, the successor to the zoetrope. It was invented in 1877 by Frenchman Charles-Émile Reynaud. It used a strip of painted still pictures, usually of someone in motion, placed around the inside surface of a spinning cylinder. The praxinoscope had an inner circle of mirrors, placed around the centre, illuminated by a lamp above. The reflections of the ‘moving’ pictures appeared as the device was turning. Someone looking in the mirrors would see a rapid s
An old engraving of a praxinoscope. It is from Victorian book of the 1890s on sports, games and pastimes. The praxinoscope was an animation device, the successor to the zoetrope. It was invented in 1877 by Frenchman Charles-Émile Reynaud. It used a strip of painted still pictures, usually of someone in motion, placed around the inside surface of a spinning cylinder. The praxinoscope had an inner circle of mirrors, placed around the centre, illuminated by a lamp above. This was a big improvement on the zoetrope’s viewing slits. The reflections of the ‘moving’ pictures appeared as the device was turning. Someone looking in the mirrors would see a rapid succession of images producing the illusion of motion, brighter and less distorted than a zoetrope. Reynaud introduced the Praxinoscope-Théâtre in 1879. This was basically the same device, but it was hidden inside a box with the moving figures amongst added theatrical scenery.
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Photo credit: © M&N / Alamy / Afripics
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