Edison Poster (ca. 1900). One Sheet (21" X 28")....

Description

Edison Poster (ca. 1900). One Sheet (21" X 28"). This is a rare find indeed. This extremely early movie poster is not dated, but several suppositions can be made to place it into an historical context. Thomas Edison, whose name is mentioned on this poster, began distributing short films in 1890. These earliest films typically focused on scenes of everyday life, such as blacksmiths at work, workers leaving a factory, and a watermelon eating contest. As time went on, Edison expanded his scope, and included a Sioux ghost dance, the Leonard-Cushing fight, and Fatima's famous Cochee-Cochee dance, to name just a few. During these early days, the novelty of pictures that moved were enough to pack in the paying customers. By 1910, however, Edison, and other distributors, were promoting specific stories, such as the first film version of "Frankenstein." It's also worth noting the odd size of this poster. In December 1908, Edison, along with several other studios, formed the Motion Picture Patents Company, also known as the Edison Trust, in order to control the licensing of films and film equipment, effectively putting the squeeze on the smaller, independent studios and virtually controlling the market. Another effect the Trust had was the standardization of poster sizes, including the one sheet, the three sheet, the six sheet, and the 24 sheet. The off-size of this poster, and the fact that it promotes general "Motion Picture Subjects" instead of named features, along with the fairly simple silk-screen type process used to create this image, leads us to believe it was produced during the first decade of the twentieth century. The poster, with its buxom sirens beckoning to passersby, has never been folded, and displays some very slight edge wear, along with a small chip and a slight tear in the top middle border. These minor issues have all been addressed during the restoration process, resulting in a beautiful, and very intriguing, piece of film history. Very Fine+ on Linen.

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