Introduction

The first edition of The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography was published in 1956 at a time when innovations in silver halide technology, photographic tools, and practices were growing exponentially. Reading the Introduction to the First Edition published by Hungarian author Andor Kraszna-Krausz, the first chairman of the editorial board, provided an interesting chance to compare how much imaging technology has changed since that time while the applications have changed more slowly. In fact some things have actually stayed the same. I might also add that it is an achievement for this, or any, book to be available 50 years after its initial printing.

Various covers and title pages from 50 years of editions.

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