The birth of cinema coincided with the heyday of the short story. This book studies the relationship between popular magazine short stories and the very early British films. It pairs eight intriguing short stories on cinema with eight new essays unveiling the rich documentary value of the original fiction and using the stories as touchstones for a discussion of the popular culture of the period during which cinema first developed. The short stories are by authors ranging from the notable (Rudyard Kipling and Sax Rohmer) to the unknown (Raymond Rayne and Mrs. H.J. Bickle); their endearing tributes to the new cinematograph chart its development from unintentional witness to entertainment institution.

Reading the Cinematograph: Introduction, Andrew Shail

Story 1: Our Detective Story (24 January 1897) by Dagonet [George R. Sims]

Chapter 1: George R. Sims and the Film as Evidence, Stephen Bottomore

Story 2: The Awful Story of Heley Croft (20 May 1899) by A.S. Appelbee

Chapter 2: Cinema Re-Mystified: A.S. Appelbee's Technological Ghost Story, David Trotter and Chris O'Rourke

Story 3: Colonel Rankin's Advertisement (December 1901) by Raymond Rayne

Chapter 3: The Great American Kinetograph: News, Fakery and the Boer War, Andrew Shail

Story 4: Mrs Bathurst (September 1904) by Rudyard Kipling

Chapter 4: "The Very Thing": Rudyard Kipling's 'Mrs Bathurst', Tom Gunning

Story 5: The Green Spider (October 1904) by A[rthur Henry] Sarsfield Ward, a.k.a. Sax Rohmer

Chapter 5: 'Only from the Senses': Detection, Early Cinema and a Giant Green Spider, Stacy Gillis

Story 6: Romantic Lucy (Summer 1911) by Alphonse Courlander

Chapter 6: "She Had So Many Appearances": Alphonse Courlander and the Birth of the 'Moving Picture Girl, Jon Burrows

Story 7: Love and the Bioscope: A Heart-Thrilling Story of a Deserted Bride (8 June 1912) by Mrs H.J. Bickle

Chapter 7: Melodrama, Sensation and the Discourse of Modernity in 'Love and the Bioscope', Lise Shapiro Sanders

Story 8; The Sense of Touch (December 1912) by Ole Luk-Oie [Ernest Dunlop Swinton]

Chapter 8: A visit to the cinema in 1912: 'The Sense of Touch', Andrew Higson

Andrew Shail is Lecturer in Film at Newcastle University.