Victorian Popular Culture: Moving Pictures, Optical Entertainments & the Advent of Cinema

This section of Victorian Popular Culture explores the pivotal era in entertainment history when previously static images came to life and moved for the first time. It features printed ephemera, programmes, sheet music, cigarette cards, postcards, games, toys and other merchandise from the pre – and early-cinematic years. It also features – for the first time – a virtual exhibition entitled "Optical Delights" which showcases a selection of the most interesting optical entertainment artifacts and even some video clips of the devices in action!

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