Lumière Cinématographe

35mm Lumière Cinématographe camera/ projector/ printer, serial no 254, with 3 external feed magazines, 2 printing magazines, 2 internal take-up magazines, taking lens, projection lens, crank handle and case. Claw mechanism designed for Edison perforations. With wooden box. Made by Jules Carpentier, c. 1896.

Around 450 Cinématographes were made. This particular model, from the Sarosh Collection, was purchased by an Indian photographer, Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatwadekar (known as 'Save Dada') at a cost of 21 guineas, after seeing a demonstration by a Lumière agent in Bombay.

In 1901 Bhatwadekar used the camera to make what is thought to be the first Indian news film - showing an Indian student's return from Cambridge University. Bhatwadekar went on to film the 1903 Delhi Durbar, organised to celebrate the Coronation of Edward VII.