A telephonoscope was an early concept of videophone

Videophone

A videophone is a telephone with a video screen, and is capable of full duplex video and audio transmissions for communication between people in real-time...

 and television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

, conceptualized in the late 1870's through the 1890's. It was mentioned in various early science fiction works such as Le Vingtième siècle. La vie électrique

Le Vingtième siècle. La vie électrique

Le Vingtième siècle. La vie électrique is a science fiction novel written by the French author Albert Robida. It describes various aspects of life in France as it is supposed to take place in 1955. At the center of the plot are the scientific work and technological advances made by the illustrious...

 (The Twentieth Century: The Electrical Life) and other works written by Albert Robida

Albert Robida

Albert Robida was an illustrator, etcher, lithographer, caricaturist, and novelist. He edited and published La Caricature magazine for 12 years. Through the 1880s he wrote an acclaimed trilogy of futuristic novels...

. It was also sketched in various cartoons by George du Maurier

George du Maurier

George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier was a French-born British cartoonist and author, known for his cartoons in Punch and also for his novel Trilby. He was the father of actor Gerald du Maurier and grandfather of the writers Angela du Maurier and Dame Daphne du Maurier...

 as a fictional invention by Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...

 including one made on December 9th, 1878 in Punch

Punch (magazine)

Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...

magazine.

Robida also forecast the era of television broadcasts, with concept art drawn of a televised opera performance, and of a live battlefield report.