Equipment
The most important pieces of advice we can give to a beginner looking at getting their first telescope are;
1: Go and speak to your local astronomy club. We're a friendly bunch, more than happy to share our experience and advice on all sorts of equipment and accessories.
2: Always purchase from dedicated astronomy equipment shops rather than eBay or Amazon and the like.
Telescopes
The main idea behind a telescope is to gather light so we can see feint objects. A simple pair of 8x30 binoculars (8 is the magnification, 30 is the diameter in mm of the lens) collects around 20 times as much light as your eye. You may see adverts for small telescopes saying "massive x300 magnification"
Mounts
Along with the tripod you sit it on, the mount is possibly the most important part of your set up. In the description of your chosen mount there will be a weight capacity, this is the maximum weight in telescope, eyepiece and accessories the mount can take and operate correctly. If you want to take pictures, then the general rule is half of this.
Cameras
If you want to take pictures of the objects in the night sky, you will need a camera.
Here at least there is good news. If you have a DSLR camera you are already pretty much set to go. All you will need in addition to the camera is a good, sturdy tripod (like mounts, the sturdier the better) and a means of remotely triggering the shutter, a programable intervalvometer is a good option.