Brian Coe (Stephen Herbert collection)
Sadly, last month saw the death of Brian Coe, one of the most important figures in the preservation and documentation of the UK’s screen heritage in the last century. Brian was Curator of the Kodak Museum 1969-1984, then Curator at the Royal Photographic Society in Bath, before joining the Museum of the Moving Image in 1989 as its special events co-ordinator. He instituted several important exhibitions on photography and cinematography, and his many publications in the field have remained standard works. In particular his book The History of Movie Photography (1981) is the indispensible guide to its subject. It is a clear and authoritative guide to optical toys, magic lanterns, chronophotograph, professional and sub-standard film formats, colour cinematography, home movies, sound recording etc. Published twenty-six years ago, it is much relied upon by archivists and museum curators, and strongly recommended to anyone seeking a reliable, single guide to cinema technology before the digital age.
