There is no one book that covers the entire history of animation, but a good book that covers a lot of American animation history is "Of Mice And Magic" by Leonard Maltin.
Hollywood Cartoons - by Michael Barrier - might be a good place to start.
It covers the same ground as Of Mice and Magic, but costs less and contains nearly twice as much information. Of Mice and Magic contains more pictures, though.
Before Mickey covers the origins of animation and the silent era pretty thoroughly. I wish that it was twice as long, but - as the author explains - there weren't many animation historians around - cataloging and interviewing - back then. It's fun to read about an era when the world was literally awestruck by the invention of animation, and assumed it was achieved by some advanced form of puppetry.
Finally, Canemaker's Felix: The Twisted Tale ... relays one of the greatest and most tragic stories from animation history. It's currently out-of-print, but I've seen used copies online.
There is no one book that covers the entire history of animation, but a good book that covers a lot of American animation history is "Of Mice And Magic" by Leonard Maltin.
DSB is correct. There's so much history that no one book quite covers the entire history of animation . You need to read widely and benefit from the different viewpoints presented by different authors.
For "Hollywood Cartoons" (even those made in New York by Fleischer, Terrytoons, VanBeuren , Otto Messmer, etc.) Leonard Maltin's "Of Mice and Magic" is a great place to start.
Almost any book by animator/animation historian John Canemaker is worth reading .
Michael Sporn (an animator/director in New York) has a fine sense of history and has recently posted recommendations of various animation history books on his blog . Here's the link (scroll down the page to find the specific posts about animation history books. He also has a discussion of animation "how-to" books. ) --- [B]Animation Book Recommendations .
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There has been a veritable explosion of Animation History oriented blogs over the past year-and-a-half .
Check out the aforementioned Michael Sporn (who often writes about lesser known East Coast animators he has worked with, such as the wonderful Tissa David... who by the way was the one time assistant/protege of Grim Natwick , so we're talking about a link going back to almost the dawn of the character animation era as we know it, extending back through Michael, to Tissa, to Grim Natwick who started animating in 1921. )
These are just a few of the best "history oriented" blogs (they're not only about animation history, but have a lot of unique material about animation's past that you won't necessarily find in any commonly available books) . Happy reading.
There is no one book that covers the entire history of animation, but a good book that covers a lot of American animation history is "Of Mice And Magic" by Leonard Maltin.
Before Mickey covers very early animation but stops when sound begins, as the title suggests. A good read nonetheless.
Hollywood Cartoons - by Michael Barrier - might be a good place to start.
It covers the same ground as Of Mice and Magic, but costs less and contains nearly twice as much information. Of Mice and Magic contains more pictures, though.
Before Mickey covers the origins of animation and the silent era pretty thoroughly. I wish that it was twice as long, but - as the author explains - there weren't many animation historians around - cataloging and interviewing - back then. It's fun to read about an era when the world was literally awestruck by the invention of animation, and assumed it was achieved by some advanced form of puppetry.
Finally, Canemaker's Felix: The Twisted Tale ... relays one of the greatest and most tragic stories from animation history. It's currently out-of-print, but I've seen used copies online.
"Cartoons, One hundred years of cinema animation" by Giannalberto Bendazzi
It's the most complete animation history book I ever read.
DSB is correct. There's so much history that no one book quite covers the entire history of animation . You need to read widely and benefit from the different viewpoints presented by different authors.
For "Hollywood Cartoons" (even those made in New York by Fleischer, Terrytoons, VanBeuren , Otto Messmer, etc.) Leonard Maltin's "Of Mice and Magic" is a great place to start.
Almost any book by animator/animation historian John Canemaker is worth reading .
Michael Sporn (an animator/director in New York) has a fine sense of history and has recently posted recommendations of various animation history books on his blog . Here's the link (scroll down the page to find the specific posts about animation history books. He also has a discussion of animation "how-to" books. ) --- [B]Animation Book Recommendations .
[/B]
There has been a veritable explosion of Animation History oriented blogs over the past year-and-a-half .
Check out the aforementioned Michael Sporn (who often writes about lesser known East Coast animators he has worked with, such as the wonderful Tissa David... who by the way was the one time assistant/protege of Grim Natwick , so we're talking about a link going back to almost the dawn of the character animation era as we know it, extending back through Michael, to Tissa, to Grim Natwick who started animating in 1921. )
Mark Mayerson's Mayerson On Animation
Jenny Lerew's The Blackwing Diaries
Hans Perk's A-Film L.A.
Mark Kausler's CatBlog
These are just a few of the best "history oriented" blogs (they're not only about animation history, but have a lot of unique material about animation's past that you won't necessarily find in any commonly available books) . Happy reading.
"EustaceScrubb" has left the building