Series of photographs of the transit of the planet Venus across the Sun in 1874.

The clip shows a jockey, Domm, riding a horse, Sally Gardner. The clip is not filmed but instead consists of 24 individual photographs shot in rapid succession, making a moving picture when using a zoopraxiscope.

A frame sequence featuring a man walking around a corner.

A shot of people walking on The Leeds Bridge.

In the garden, a man asks his friends to do something silly for him to record on film.

A very brief film of a man playing the accordion.

A horse with rider jumping over an obstacle. A scientific film made for the Prussian army to help their soldiers improve their horseback riding technique.

One of W.K.L. Dickson's laboratory workers horses around for the camera.

In an experiment that follows up on the results of 'Monkeyshines, No. 1', an Edison company worker again moves around in front of the motion picture camera.

A shot of Trafalgar Square.

William K.L. Dickson brings his hat from his one hand to the other and moves his head slightly, as a small nod toward the audience. This was the first film produced by the Edison Manufacturing Company to be shown to public audiences and the press.

Two men wearing boxing gloves prepare to spar in the Edison Company studio.

An athlete swings Indian clubs.

One night, Arlequin come to see his lover Colombine. But then Pierrot knocks at the door and Colombine and Arlequin hide. Pierrot starts singing but Arlequin scares him and the poor man goes away.

Three men hammer on an anvil and pass a bottle of beer around.

Performing on what looks like a small wooden stage, wearing a dress with a hoop skirt and white high-heeled pumps, Carmencita does a dance with kicks and twirls, a smile always on her face.

A man (Thomas Edison's assistant) takes a pinch of snuff and sneezes. This is one of the earliest Thomas Edison films and was the first motion picture to be copyrighted in the United States.

A charming representation of the Mikado dance by three beautiful Japanese ladies in full costume. Very effective when colored.

Eugen Sandow, who claims to be the strongest man in the world, appears in the Edison Company's film studio.

"Firemen in working uniform, rubber coats, helmets, and boots. Thrilling rescue from burning building. Smoke effects are fine." - from the Edison Catalog

Annabelle (Whitford) Moore performs one of her popular dances. For this performance, her costume has a pair of wings attached to her back, to suggest a butterfly. As she dances, she uses her long, flowing skirts to create visual patterns.

A scene from Charles Hoyt's 'A Milk White Flag': A brass band marches out, led by bandmaster Steele Ayers. When Ayers reaches his position, he turns around and directs the musicians as they take up their own positions.

Customer gets a lightning-fast shave.

Two gamecocks fight in the Edison Company film studio. This feature was remade later in the same year, with additional detail added.

Two gamecocks are fighting inside a wire cage, while two spectators look on in the background. The two men agree to make a bet on the outcome. One of them shows his money to the other, who is commenting on the fight.

A scene representing Southern plantation life before the war. A jig and a breakdown by three colored boys.

Lee Martin, one of the cowboy stars in 'Buffalo Bill's Wild West', rides a bronco as a crowd looks on. While the horse is trying to throw Martin off its back, another cowboy stands on top of a fence rail and occasionally fires his six-shooter, to spur on both horse and rider.

Hadji Cheriff, a performer known for a variety of unusual abilities, demonstrates part of his act in the Edison studio.

From Edison films catalog: One of the most peculiar customs of the Sioux Tribe is here shown, the dancers being genuine Sioux Indians, in full war paint and war costumes. 40 feet. 7.50. According to Edison film historian C. Musser, this film and others shot on the same day (see also Buffalo dance) featured Native American Indian dancers from Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, and represent the American Indian's first appearance before a motion picture camera.

Pre-cinematograph colour animation of a woman and man at the beach.

Three Sioux Indians perform a 'buffalo dance', while two others use drums to supply a rhythm. The three dancers move around in a circle as they perform the various actions that are part of the dance.

William K.L. Dickson plays the violin while two men dance. This is the oldest surviving sound film where sound is recorded on the phonograph.

Annie Oakley was probably the most famous marksman/woman in the world when this short clip was produced in Edison's Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey. Barely five feet tall, Annie was always associated with the wild west, although she was born in 1860 as Phoebe Ann Oakley Mozee (or Moses)in Darke County, Ohio. Nevertheless, she was a staple in the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and similar wild west companies. Because of her diminutive stature, she was billed as "Little Sure Shot." The man assisting her is this appearance is probably her husband, Frank E. Butler. Annie had outshot Butler (a famous dead-eye marksman himself) in a shooting contest in the 1880's. Instead of nursing his bruised ego because he had been throughly outgunned by a woman, Butler fell in love, married Little Sure Shot, and became her manager.

"A glove contest between trained cats. A very comical and amusing subject, and is sure to create a great laugh." (by Edison Films)

James J. Corbett and Peter Courtney meet in a boxing exhibition.

Directed by Étienne-Jules Marey, a French scientist, this is believed to be the first cat ever filmed in cinematic history. Jules Marey created the chronophotographic gun in 1882, a device which looked like a short barrelled shotgun with a magazine on top. It was capable of taking twelve consecutive frames a second. He used this to study various animals, the most famous study in what was called Marey’s ‘animated zoo’, was the one involving a cat which was dropped from a height of a few feet in order to see if it always landed on its feet.

Workers leaving the Lumière factory for lunch in Lyon, France in 1895; a place of great photographic innovation and one of the birth places of cinema.

The photographers who need to participate in the congress of Lyon get off a boat in Neuville-sur-Saône, dividing to the right and left.

An impudent child plays a prank on a gardener innocently watering his plants.

In very bad weather and a stormy sea, a small boat manned by two men is trying to leave the harbor of La Ciotat, while several people are watching them from the nearby pier.

Two children, Ploetz and Larella, perform an Italian peasant dance.

A man and a kangaroo stand up in front of each other with boxing gloves, and simulate a boxing match on a theatre stage.

Two blacksmiths work while the vapors rise in the air. Later, another man arrives and offers a drink.

Several little boys run along a pier, then jump into the ocean.

Pedestrian and horse-drawn vehicles traffic, across the Place des Cordeliers, in Lyon.

A baby held by his father dips his little hands into a water jug and he can' t catch the goldfish .

As part of a maiden public film screening at the Salon Indien, on December 28, in Paris, Auguste Lumière pivots the centre of attention around his baby daughter, as he tries to feed her from a spoon.

Four men stand holding what appears to be a blanket, while one wearing a hat stands watching. A sixth man then runs towards them and attempts to jump into the blanket.

A young woman dancer with large, flowing robes, swirls round herself quickly, making her light robe flow around her like a butterfly's wings.

A man tries to get on a horse , but he climbs to one side and falls from the other, until he manages to stay in balance.

The two inventors of the Bioskop, a sort of magic lantern that projected images so fast as to give the illusion of movement, bow to the camera at both sides of an empty screen. The scene was shown in continuity, at the end of the session, as if the producers and directors of the session were beading the public a farewell.

Annabelle (Whitford) Moore performs one of her popular dance routines. She uses her dance steps and her long, flowing skirts to create a variety of visual patterns.

A policeman catches a pickpocket, who slips from his jacket but is caught by a sailor.

Bookmaker struggles with police and is arrested.

A butcher puts a full-grown live pig into his large box-like machine. Moments later, he draws out a full range of pork products, many already packaged for sale.

[…] by shooting the fish in a globular bowl, the Lumières effectively use a fisheye lens, which offers distortions. The history of cinema has witnessed a struggle between the objective and subjective camera and the optically distorting lenses like the fisheye lens has been a powerful tool for the subjective camera. Here it is at the start. (from IMDB)

The transformation of the same character in six different characters. A vision of the act of transformation.

The pursuit of Hop Lee by an irate policeman.

Princess Ali, of Barnum and Bailey's circus, performs an Egyptian dance in the Edison Company's studio. As she dances, some musicians perform in the background to provide accompaniment.

Two men in white leotards and tights, and black slips over it, wrestle on a theatre stage.

A man performs tricks on a theatre stage with a bowler hat and a billiards ball in equilibrium on his arms and body.

Three dancers do a Russian folkloric step dance, facing the camera, in traditional clothes, fur hats and leather boots.

Part of the Wintergartenprogramm.

The surf pounds against a breakwater on which are visible several people standing. The wall looks to be about 20 feet above sea level and extend at least 100 feet into the water. A large wave rolls picturesquely along the wall toward the shore. Smaller waves follow. Then the scene changes to river water flowing. We see both shores: in the foreground a log and tree branch are visible; on the far shore, there appears to be a low wall with trees beyond it. The camera is stationary in both shots.

Eight circus performers known as the Grunato family perform their famous balancing act.

A short film depicting the execution of Mary, Queen of the Scots. Mary is brought to the execution block and made to kneel down with her neck over it. The executioner lifts his axe ready to bring it down. After that frame Mary has been replaced by a dummy. The axe comes down and severs the head of the dummy from the body. The executioner picks up the head and shows it around for everyone else to see. One of the first camera tricks to be used in a movie.

Different species of fish and frogs, inside an aquarium.

A train arrives at La Ciotat station.

Two men play cards, as a third watches and a waiter brings drinks. The third man pours drinks as the waiter laughs.

This lost film presumably features a train arriving at Vincennes station.

A series of short black and white films from director William K.L. Dickson which chronicle the adventures of Rip Van Winkle.

The Boxing Kangaroo is an 1896 British short black-and-white silent documentary film, produced and directed by Birt Acres for exhibition on Robert W. Paul’s peep show Kinetoscopes, featuring a young boy boxing with a kangaroo. The film was considered lost until footage from an 1896 Fairground Programme, originally shown in a portable booth at Hull Fair by Midlands photographer George Williams, donated to the National Fairground Archive was identified as being from this film.

Two bill posters argue as an incompetent guard patrols the area.

Auguste Lumière directs four workers in the demolition of an old wall at the Lumière factory. One worker is pressing the wall inwards with a jackscrew, while another is pushing it with a pick. When the wall hits the ground, a cloud of white dust whirls up. Three workers continue the demolition of the wall with picks.

As an elegant maestro of mirage and delusion drapes his beautiful female assistant with a gauzy textile, much to our amazement, the lady vanishes into thin air.

A series of short black and white films from director William K.L. Dickson which chronicle the adventures of Rip Van Winkle.

With the help of a magic cauldron, Mephistopheles conjures up a variety of supernatural characters.

A series of short black and white films from director William K.L. Dickson which chronicle the adventures of Rip Van Winkle.

A series of short black and white films from director William K.L. Dickson which chronicle the adventures of Rip Van Winkle.

A man tries to get a good night's sleep, but is disturbed by a giant spider that leaps onto his bed, and a battle ensues in hilarious comic fashion.

Three friends are playing cards in a beer garden. One of them orders drinks. The waitress comes back with a bottle of wine and three glasses on a tray. The man serves his friends. They clink glasses and drink. Then the man asks for a newspaper. He reads a funny story in it and the three friends burst out laughing while the waitress merely smiles.

"A family revelling in a feast of the favorite food of their race."

The water beats relentlessly against the Hell's Mouth (Boca do Inferno), one of the main natural attractions of Lisbon's west coast, filmed from above almost in a vertical plunge onto the deep, rocky ground.

In a medium close-up shot of the first kiss ever recorded on screen, two fervent lovers cuddle and talk passionately at hair's breadth, just before the love-smitten gentleman decides to give his chosen one an innocent peck.

A burning wagon is dragged from the barn by the firemen, and four horses are rescued from the flames by the stablemen. Thick volumes of smoke pour from the doors and windows. (Edison catalog)

A woman and a young girl each carry containers of bird feed, and they toss occasional handfuls to the chickens and doves in the farmyard. Most of the chickens stay nearby, but the doves occasionally fly off and then return to eat more.

A fellow in a wide-brimmed hat, with a willowy stick for a rod and a baited hook, sits down on a plank hanging over a bridge above a stream. He sticks the rod under his seat and picks up his bottle to take a swig. Behind him creeps a joker who removes the large flagstone that's holding the fisherman's plank in place (IMDb)

Two babies are shown seated next to each other, in high chairs, apparently enjoying themselves. Suddenly one snatches a toy from the other and they indulge in hair-pulling.

This picture was taken at one of the curves on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, along the beautiful Susquehanna River. The train is seen rapidly approaching in the distance, clearly outlined against the grey mountains. Smoke can be seen pouring in volumes from the stack of the locomotive, and as the train approaches closely, she sounds a whistle, warning some section men, who are working on the tracks in the foreground. As she rushes by the camera, the swing motion of the train gives a vivid idea of the lightning speed at which she is traveling. (Edison film catalog)

Formed by the junction of Broadway, Sixth Avenue and 35th Street. The picturesque low roofed Herald building is plainly shown; also the passing crowds and group of idlers.

A short black and white film which documents the performance of a juggler.