When Amazon's e-book Kindle device was unveiled in 2007 it was hailed as a new dawn for publishing and a death knell for the printed book, but the idea of the e-reader may not be as revolutionary as first thought - the technology was first designed in 1935.
It would not slip into your pocket, but a drawing from a science magazine published almost 80 years ago under the caption 'the book reader of the future', shows a design for a remarkably similar - although armchair based - device.
The invention, from the April 1935 edition of 'Everyday science and mechanics' show a device with a glass screen and buttons to turn pages
Amazon's latest Kindle, the paperwhite, is significantly more portable than the 1935 version - but performs the same task
It shows a man sitting in an armchair reading a book on a glass screen that has been enlarged via a projector. The man is able to turn pages with a remote control and adjust a focus with a lever. The drawing carries the explanatory labels: 'miniature film carries photographs of book pages', 'page reproduced (enlarged)', 'ground glass screen', 'button turns leaf', 'adjusting focus' and 'swing screen to proper angle.'
It is not known whether the device was ever developed.
The design was carried in the magazine, 'Everyday science and mechanics' in its April 1935 edition.
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