Le Film vierge Pathé. Manuel de développement et de tirage.

[PATHÉ. DIDIÉE, Louis]. Le Film vierge Pathé. Manuel de développement et de tirage.
Paris, Pathé Cinéma, 1926.

(25 x 16 cm). XII, 155, [1] pp. and 6 tables, bound as 3 folding (as issued), with 107 film samples, frontispiece portrait of Charles Pathé and numerous photographs in the text. Publisher's quarter goat over marbled-paper boards, smooth spine in gilt with title. Spine with some rubbing at the head and tail, yet a wonderfully preserved and fresh copy. The examples of prints on Pathé filmstock includes color film.

This important well-illustrated early manual describes in great detail the technical methods and procedures for motion picture film development and printing as established by the Pathé film company. By 1920 the Pathé Brothers were well established and produced all the necessary equipment for filmmaking: cameras, film stock, laboratory equipment, studios, and projectors—this manual codified a number of industry standards (cf. Jenkins, History… [1920]).

The manual remains an important resource for film scholars and technicians today, such as the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation, which in 2012 set out to produce a new digital color restoration of The Cabinet of Dr. Calgari. One of the manuals they used for the color analysis and understanding the manner in which the original film stock had been tinted was Le Film vierge Pathé (cf. Flueckiger, 2015).

Complete description: pathé 1926