Century Magazine/Volume 48/Issue 2/Edison's Invention of the Kineto-Phonograph: Introduction

In the year 1887, the idea occurred to me that it was possible to devise an instrument that should do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear, and that by a combination of the two, all motion and sound could be recorded and reproduced simultaneously. This idea, the germ of which came from the little toy called the Zoetrope, and the work of Muybridge, Marié and others has now been accomplished, so that every change of facial expression can be recorded and reproduced life size. The kinetoscope is only a small model illustrating the present stage of progress but with each succeeding month new possibilities are brought into view. I believe that in coming years by my own work and that of Dickson, Muybridge, Marié and others who will doubtless enter the field, that grand opera can be given at the Metropolitan Opera House at New York without any material change from the original, and with artists and musicians long since dead.

The following article which gives an able and reliable account of the invention has my entire endorsation. The authors are peculiarly well qualified for their task from a literary standpoint and the exceptional opportunities which Mr. Dickson has had in the fruition of the work.