"Paper" Leica I

[Pecole]

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It was a Leitz' marketing team brilliant idea, in the late 1920s, to emphasize the then revolutionary characteristic of the Leica - its size - in publishing a "leaflet" under the form of a photo of the Leica I cut to the exact size of the actual camera. The few still existing so-called "paper" Leicas are now sought-after items by Leica collectors: Next to the Leica I, "paper" Leica III are also known, both versions either in German or in French (at least).

The "paper" (in fact, "cardboard" would be righter) Leica I and III in the Fontenelle Collection, both French language, are illustrated here. Interesting is the fact that on the Leica I, the camera is referred to as "LA LEICA", the article "LA" being feminine and consistent with the meaning of LEItz CAmera (camera is feminine in French). But in the Leica III "leaflet", published six years later, it becomes "LE LEICA" with a masculine article, the name Leica having been popularized and its origin "forgotten".

Photos of both German and French versions of the "paper" Leica I are to be found on page 92 of the extraordinary work "Die 10 Varianten der klassischen Leica I A mit Elmar 1:3,5 F=50 mm" by Angela and Henning von Einem.

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[dkCambridgeshire]

I have a paper Leica S1 … cut it out and assemble and glue into 3D Leica S1 … but it would be shame to cut it up.

 

dunk