Beschreibung:

MUYBRIDGE, Eadweard (1830-1904). Animal Locomotion . An Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements. 1872-1885. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1887. First edition of a ground-breaking investigation into human and animal movement. Muybridge's pioneering work depicts a range of animals and people captured mid-movement in consecutive phases of a single action, from bowling a cricket ball, to skipping with a rope or riding a horse. To achieve the desired results, Muybridge used multiple cameras activated by an automatically triggered electronic shutter. His achievement was at the forefront of contemporary photographic and scientific experimentation, leading directly to the development of the modern film industry, and to a new artistic understanding of the moving body: 'perhaps nothing since Daguerre had so unsettled the painter's certainties' (John Szarkowski Looking at Photographs ). Although the complete set of images for Animal Locomotion totalled 781 plates, only 37 complete sets were produced; the work was issued by subscription, with each copy containing 100 plates selected by the subscriber. A list of the plates in the present set is available upon request. Oblong broadsheets (485 x 611mm). Letterpress title printed in red and black, 93 collotype prints (of 100), of which 42 depict animals and 51 depict humans, each with a letterpress plate number and copyright information in the lower margin (variable spotting). Loose in a contemporary brown morocco portfolio, lettered in gilt on upper cover (rubbed, covers detached, flaps torn).