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USEFUL RESOURCES ON EARLY TELEVISION AND RADIO
BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS
The following books were written in the 1920s and 1930s, and are well worth tracking down:
Barton-Chapple H. J., 1933, Television for the Amateur Constructor, Pitman, London, UK.
Collins, A., Frederick, 1932, Experimental Television: How to Make A Complete Home Television Transmitter and Receiver, Lathrup, Boston, USA, Reprint 1991, Lindsay Publications, Bradley, Illinois, USA, ISBN 1 55918 079 X
Dunlap Jr. Orrin Elmer, 1932, The Outlook for Television, Harper & Rowe Publishers, Reprint 1971, The Arno Press series History of Broadcasting Radio to Television, Arno Press Inc., USA, ISBN 0 405 03564 0
Eckhardt, George H. Electronic Television. Goodheart-Willcox, 1936; reprinted by Arno Press, 1974
Jenkins, C., Francis, 1925, Vision by Radio: Radio Photographs, Radio Photograms, Jenkins Laboratories, Washington DC., USA, Reprint 1989, Lindsay Publications, Bradlley, Illinois, USA, ISBN 1 55918 020 X
Moseley, Sidney A., and H.J. Barton-Chapple. Television To-Day and To-Morrow. Pitman, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1940 (with a Foreword by John Logie Baird)
Moseley, Sydney Alexander and McKay, Herbert, 1936, Television: A Guide for the Amateur, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
Scroggie, M.G., 1935, Television, Blackie and Son, London, UK
Tiltman, Ronald Frank, 1933, Baird of Television: The Life Story of John Logie Baird, Seeley Service & Co., Ltd., London, UK., Reprint 1974, The Arno Press series History of Broadcasting Radio to Television, Arno Press Inc.,
In addition Christopher H Sterling of George Washington University recommends the following:
Bohringer, Arthur J. THE A. B. C. OF WIRELESS TELEVISION. London: Taunton Bros, 1924, 33 pp., illus. First booklet publication in English; includes facsimile.
Dinsdale, Alfred. TELEVISION: SEEING BY WIRE OR WIRELESS. London: Pitman, 1926, 62 pp.; and as TELEVISION, Television Press, 1928 [2nd ed.], 180 pp. Appears to be the first English-language book devoted to television (two German volumes appeared the same year–see Shiers, 1-018, p. 103). Focused almost entirely on Baird’s system; second edition adds work of AT&T. Photos, diagrams. See also the same author’s 12-019.
Secor, H. Winfield, and J. H. Kraus. ALL ABOUT TELEVISION. New York: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, 112 pp. Largely compiled from articles in RADIO NEWS and SCIENCE AND INVENTION, this is a survey of both phototelegraphy (facsimile) and television, much of it focused on Baird’s work. Extensive photos and diagrams.
Tiltman, Ronald F. TELEVISION FOR THE HOME: THE WONDERS OF “SEEING BY WIRELESS.” London: Hutchinson, nd but 1927, 106 pp. Primarily about Baird’s work with numerous extracts from magazines and newspapers. Photos, no index.
Lane, Henry M. THE BOSTON POST BOOK ON TELEVISION. Boston: Post Publishing, 1928, 35 pp.
Larner, Edgar T. PRACTICAL TELEVISION. London: Ernest Benn / New York: van Nostrand, 1928, 175 pp.; 1929 [2nd ed.], 223 pp. Historical material includes facsimile and mechanical television systems, including European and American work. Emphasis on Baird’s work. Photos, diagrams, index.
Jenkins, C. Francis. RADIOMOVIES, RADIOVISION, TELEVISION. Washington: Jenkins Laboratories, 1929, 143 pp. Details of the author’s own equipment, experiments, and demonstrations. Photos, diagrams. See Jenkins, 13-000 [13-b] for his earlier work on facsimile.
Sheldon, H. Horton, and Edgar Norman Grisewood. TELEVISION: PRESENT METHODS OF PICTURE TRANSMISSION. New York: D. van Nostrand, 1929, 194 pp. Historical background includes facsimile. Chapters review key elements of all mechanical systems. One chapter each devoted to the systems of Baird, Bell Labs, Jenkins and Alexanderson (GE). Photos, diagrams, index.
Yates, Raymond Francis. ABC OF TELEVISION, OR SEEING BY RADIO: A COMPLETE AND COMPREHENSIVE TREATISE DEALING WITH THE THEORY, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF TELEPHOTOGRAPHIC AND TELEVISION TRANSMITTERS AND RECEIVERS. New York: Norman Henley / London: Chapman & Hall, 1929, 210 pp. A popular exposition on both facsimile and mechanical television, with light technical treatment “written especially for home experimenters, radio fans, and students.” Theory, construction, and operations. Photos, diagrams, index.
Benson, Thomas W. FUNDAMENTALS OF TELEVISION. New York: Mancall Publishing, 1930, 145 pp. Includes discussion of Baird, AT&T, and Jenkins systems. Photos, diagrams, index.
Hutchinson, Robert W. EASY LESSONS IN TELEVISION. London: University Tutorial Press, 1930, 175 pp. How to build a mechanical receiver. Diagrams.
Moseley, Sydney A. and H. J. Barton Chapple. TELEVISION TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW. London: Pitman, 1930, 130 pp.; 1931 [2nd ed], 163 pp.; 1933 [3rd ed.], 198 pp.; 1934 [4th ed.], 208 pp.; 1940 [5th ed.], 179 pp. Important book, intended for general reader and amateur constructor, which through its editions helps to trace the development of British television. Almost wholly about Baird and his system in early editions. Photos, diagrams, index. Final edition reflects electronic television developments, and includes fold-out map of television service area of Alexandra Palace station.
Philip, Charles G. TELEVISION FOR ALL. London: Percival Marshall, 1930, 82 pp.
Focused on mechanical systems, chiefly the work of Baird.
ROMANCE AND REALITY OF TELEVISION. Boston: Shortwave & Television Corp., 1930, 31 pp.; [2nd ed.] 63 pp. A manual for the construction and operation of short-wave and mechanical television receiving sets. Diagrams.
Stranger, Ralph. SEEING BY WIRELESS. London: Newnes, 1930, 63 pp. Mechanical television.
TWO-WAY TELEVISION AND A PICTORIAL ACCOUNT OF ITS BACKGROUND. New York: Bell Telephone Laboratories, 1930, 16 pp. Details mechanical system experiments of 1927-30 in photos and captions. See Ives, 12-056
Felix, Edgar H. TELEVISION: ITS METHODS AND USES. New York: McGraw- Hill, 1931, 272 pp. A general account of contemporary mechanical television systems with some history and a view of future problems and prospects. Photos, diagrams, index.
Collins, A. Frederick. EXPERIMENTAL TELEVISION: A SERIES OF SIMPLE EXPERIMENTS WITH TELEVISION APPARATUS ALSO HOW TO MAKE A COMPLETE HOME TELEVISION TRANSMITTER AND TELEVISION RECEIVER.Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1932 (reprinted by Lindsay Publications, 1991), 313 pp. One of the earliest American practical guides for home constructors of mechanical receivers. Chapters devoted to experiments with different aspects of television. Diagrams, index.
Dinsdale, A.A. FIRST PRINCIPLES OF TELEVISION. New York: John Wiley, 1932 (reprinted by Arno Press “History of Broadcasting,” 1971), 241 pp. Invaluable contemporary technical survey of developments which is largely devoted to mechanical systems including those of Baird, AT&T, Jenkins and others. Perhaps the most inclusive and thus important early book on television. Photos, diagrams, references, index.
12-021 Hathaway, Kenneth A. TELEVISION: A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH THE DEVELOPMENT OF TELEVISION IS BASED.. Chicago: American Technical Society, 1933, 174 pp.; 1935 [2nd ed., without sub-title], 170 pp. Elementary treatment chiefly on mechanical systems. Photos, diagrams
Solymar, Laszlo, Getting the Message (A History of Communications), Oxford University Press, 1999
Standage, Tom, The Victorian Internet (The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's Online Pioneers), Weidenfield & Nicolson, 1998
Chapuis, RJ & Amos, EJ Jnr, Electronics, Computers and Telephone Switching (A Book of Technological History) as Volume 2: 1960-1985 of 100 Years' of Telephone Switching, North-Holland Publishing Company, 1990
BOOKS USEFUL FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ON EARLY TELEVISION:
EARLY TELEVISION: A BIBLIOGRAPHIC GUIDE TO 1940 by George Shiers assisted by May Shiers (New York: Garland--now handled by Routledge, 1996, 616 pp.) This is the definitive survey of the early literature and much of it is annotated.
HISTORY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY by Christopher H Sterling,. and George Shiers (Scarcrow Press, 2000) of which chapter 12 is focused on television. This, too, is annotated. This volume is also still in print. £55 from Amazon
Films from the Home Front – Website Launch
A new website featuring films of life on the home front in Britain during the Second World War is launching today.
http://www.movinghistory.ac.uk/homefront Screen Archive South East, at the University of Brighton, in partnership with six other English Regional Film Archives, is launching the site as part of a £225,000 film archive project which forms part of the Big Lottery Fund’s £10 million Their Past Your Future (TPYF) programme, and was created with funding distributed by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.
Over the last year all of these archives (London Screen Study Collection, Media Archive for Central England, Northern Region Film and Television Archive, Screen Archive South East, South West Film & Television Archive, Wessex Film & Sound Archive, Yorkshire Film Archive) have researched and digitised significant World War Two films from their collections for integration into this new online historical resource. The site, ‘Films from the Home Front’, offers free public access to these selected films, the majority of which are being made available to the public for the very first time.
This new lifelong learning resource is dedicated to giving people of all ages the opportunity to discover more about the impact of the Second World War and the immediate post-war period on everyday life. It offers a unique perspective on the lives of ordinary people in Britain on the home front as seen through amateur films and home movies and alongside more ‘official’ sources such as newsreels and government films.
updated book and reference list is now in preparation
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