Heading: (Muybridge, Eadweard)
Author: Stillman, Jacob D.B.
Title: The Horse in Motion as Shown by Instantaneous Photography, with a Study on Animal Mechanics founded on anatomy and the revelations of the camera, in which is demonstrated the theory of quadrupedal locomotion
Place Published: Boston
Publisher:James R. Osgood
Date Published: 1882
Description:

Edited by Leland Stanford. Illustrated with 106 of 107 plates including 5 heliotypes after photographs by Muybridge, 9 chromolithographs & 45 lithographs; tissue guards. (Small folio) original gilt-lettered and pictorially stamped brown cloth, top edge gilt. First Edition.

Lacking frontispiece. First edition of the official account of the famous investigation of animal movement made by Leland Stanford and Eadweard Muybridge (whose name does not appear on the title page). Muybridge's photographs were reproduced as line drawing silhouettes (with the exception of five heliotype plates in the book), but they still challenged all preconceived notions of animal movement, arousing the anger and ridicule of numerous artists who did not want to acknowledge the truth when they saw it. Boni, Photographic Literature, p.175; Gernsheim, History of Photography, p.437. Previous owner's name on front preliminary blank.

Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) was an English photographer important for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He is known in particular for his work on animal locomotion, commencing in 1872, which used multiple cameras to capture motion in stop-motion photographs, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the ?exible perforated ?lm strip used in cinematography.

The work presented here is Muybridge's groundbreaking depiction of the locomotion of horses using a series of still photographs. Muybridge was hired by race-horse owner Leland Stanford to settle the public debate and Stanford's private bet over whether all of a horse's hooves left the ground at the same time during a gallop. Muybridge arranged cameras down a length of track, rigged to take still images as the horse passed. The experiments were successful, proving that horses brie?y raised all four feet while running. Muybridge and Stanford fell out, however, when Stanford published the results without crediting Muybridge, who later sued unsuccessfully.

Muybridge's work was a signi?cant leap in the study of locomotion. He continued his efforts by photographing the movements of humans and other animals. The zoopraxiscope, which he invented to display the images in sequence, inspired the ?rst motion picture systems.

Chips and tears at spine ends, front joint starting; hinges cracked, leaves toned a bit; very good overall.