A comprehensive history of photographic technique and practice, based on one of the world's foremost private collections of photographica. S. F. Spira, founder of Spiratone, collected more than twenty thousand individual objects relating to the history of photography--a collection of unusual substance and depth, including many items extremely rare and not duplicated among the holdings of any museum in the United States. Spira's collection is remarkable in that it clearly illustrates the connection between one phase in the development of photography and the next, and the complex relationships between photography and other disciplines such as painting and scientific research. This book's comprehensive chapters cover the pre-history of photography, the advent of dry plates and roll film, and stereo photography and the motion picture. While particular focus is given to historic technical achievements and pioneering advances in design, objects such as books, magazines, cartoons, photo-related toys, darkroom supplies and original film add value and dimension to this scholarly but accessible volume.