  We present new, accurate positions, spectral classifications, radial and
rotational velocities, H-alpha fluxes, equivalent widths and B,V,I,R magnitudes
for 579 hot emission-line stars (classes B0 - F9) in the Large Magellanic Cloud
which include 469 new discoveries. Candidate emission line stars were
discovered using a deep, high resolution H-alpha map of the central 25 deg2 of
the LMC obtained by median stacking a dozen 2 hour H-alpha exposures taken with
the UK Schmidt Telescope. Spectroscopic follow-up observations on the AAT,
UKST, VLT, the SAAO 1.9m and the MSSSO 2.3m telescope have established the
identity of these faint sources down to magnitude R~23 for H-alpha (4.5 x
10^-17 ergs cm^2 s^-1 Ang). Confirmed emission-line stars have been assigned an
underlying spectral classification through cross-correlation against 131
absorption line template spectra covering the range O1 to F8. We confirm 111
previously identified emission line stars and 64 previously known variable
stars with spectral types hotter than F8. The majority of hot stars identified
(518 stars or 89%) are class B. Of all the hot emission-line stars in classes
B-F, 130 or 22% are type B[e], characterised by the presence of forbidden
emission lines such as [SII], [NII] and [OII]. We report on the physical
location of these stars with reference to possible contamination from ambient
HII emission. Along with flux calibration of the H-alpha emission we provide
the first H-alpha luminosity function for selected sub-samples after correction
for any possible nebula or ambient contamination. We find a moderate
correlation between the intensity of H-alpha emission and the V magnitude of
the central star based on SuperCOSMOS magnitudes and OGLE-II photometry where
possible. Cool stars from classes G-S, with and without strong H-alpha
emission, will be the focus of part 2 in this series.
