The Kinora: Pioneer Of Edwardian Home Movies
Patented in France in 1896 and invented by cinematography pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière, the Kinora was a smaller and portable version of the mutoscope, known in the United Kingdom as ‘What-the-butler-saw machines’. Unlike the mutoscope, the Kinora would not be associated with amusement arcades, beach piers, and a means to view early erotica, rather it pioneered home movies... How does the Kinora work? Like a flip book, a sequence of monochrome photographic prints was attached to strong but flexible cards and fixed in a circular reel. The user would revolve the reel using a manual handle, where the images would flip against a static pin and produce the moving image. The user would view the moving images via an eye piece. Customers could purchase or rent commercial films, commission a motion…