The biograph in battle
Subtitle: its story in the South African War related with personal experiences
By: W.K.-L. Dickson ; with a new introduction by Richard Brown.
Edition: Facsim. reprint ed.
Series: Studies in war and film,; v. 2
Publisher: Flicks Books; Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England; Madison
Language: eng
Number of pages: 296
Subjects: Dickson, W. K.-L. 1860-1935.; South African War, 1899-1902 -- Personal narratives, British.; South African War, 1899-1902 -- Pictorial works.; South African War, 1899-1902 -- Motion pictures and the war.
Description: "First published in 1901 and now a rare collector's item, this is cameraman Dickson's diary kept during the Biograph Company's filming on the battlefields of the Boer War. The book is being republished in a facsimile edition, with a specially commissioned introduction from film historian Richard Brown." "It tells of one man's absolute determination to bring back - against great odds - a filmed record of war, at a time when the medium itself was in its infancy. Dickson's huge machine, designed by himself, weighed nearly half a ton and had to be transported everywhere in South Africa by horse-drawn cart, requiring the combined efforts of several strong men each time it had to be set up." "The book is exceptional among the handful of written accounts produced in the first years of the cinema. It is a human document, written not in a mood of quiet reflection after the event, but as a vital diary recording dangerous and difficult conditions at the Front."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. viii).
"Originally published by T. Fisher Unwin, London, in 1901"--T.p. verso.