
4 0 c m
31cm
actual image size: 23cm x 32cm
Description
Kodak camera that uses 127mm film and has a bakelite body, made in UK. George Eastman marketed the original Brownie to be an inexpensive camera for the mas market; when first introduced in 1900, the price of the camera was just $1(5 shillings in UK). As well as being cheap, the camera was extremely simple to use, even for children. The Brownie made photography accesible to the mases in a manner similar to how the introduction of the Model T Ford popularised motoring. Designed by Frank Brownell, the camera was literally a cardboard box with a wooden end, yet it took perfectly good photographs. Eastman named the camera after characters popularised by the Canadian children's author, Palmer Cox.
Image Details
Image Ref.
10439492
© Kodak Collection / National Science & Media Museum / Science & Society Picture Library