Recommended books on history of Leica and on various models, markings, etc.

[TXGR]

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I see this as potentially two different books, one on the history of  Leitz/Leica the company, and one on the cameras. For the company history, I am primarily interested in the period from Barnack's first experiments circa 1914 through the introduction of the M3, maybe even the M6.

For the cameras, I am interested from the prospective of a casual collector to learn about markings, variations in design, etc. for the film cameras, especially pre-war.

The "Leica - an Illustrated History" by James Lager, in 3 volumes, seems totally inaccessible (over US$1000 on Amazon, US$350 on eBay for English version, just volume 1). So, apart from that, any recommendations will be very helpful. 

Note: I am sure this question was asked many times over the years, and I did do a search through the forum, but after several pages I found nothing directly on point.

Thanks,

[sandro]

One of the books I very often use is: Dennis Laney, Leica Collector's Guide, 2nd. ed. A nice overview is also Günter Osterloh, 50 Jahre Leica M. For lenses interesting is Erwin Puts, Leica Compendium. Very interesting is: Knut Kühn-Leitz (ed.), Ernst Leitz II "Ich entscheide hiermit: Es wird riskiert". ...und die Leica revolutionierte die Fotografie (2014).

Of course there is a wealth of Leica-literature which you should be able to find here at the LUF as well.

Lex

[TXGR]

Thanks for the suggestions.

The 2nd edition of the Laney book is also showing at US$995 on Amazon in the US. The 1992 edition is far more accessible. I found the "Ernst-Leitz II..." book on Amazon.de and ordered it. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Pyrogallol]

Several books here at not too much money.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=leica+laney&_sacat=0&_sop=10&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=2

[Anbaric]

The Leica Pocket Book, now in it's ninth edition, is one of the few books of this sort currently in print, and so can be had for a very reasonable price. It may be worth going for the 'Big Pocket Book' (the same thing, printed larger):

https://www.reddotcameras.co.uk/203-books

This edition is edited and updated by Frank Dabba Smith, best known for his work on the 'Leica Freedom Train'. Dennis Laney was the previous author, and Erwin Puts contributed his take on the lenses, so there's a lot of Leica expertise packed into a compact volume.

You might want to pick up some contemporary publications, too. Various editions of the Morgan and Lester 'Leica Manual' from the 1930s onwards are readily available, mostly for very reasonable prices. The 12th edition from the early 50s has a particularly strong roster of contributors, which varied from edition to edition. You can preview various editions on archive.org:

https://archive.org/search?query=morgan+lester+leica

[Martin K]

Depending on whether you can read German, there are some interning ones:

Leica im Spiegel der Erinnerung - Emil G Keller (translation of the original English version)

Die Leitz-Werke in Wetzlar - Rolf Beck (contains many historical photos of factory activities from about 1849 to 1972)

Leica: Positionen der Markenkultur/Views of brand culture - Volker Albus, Achim Heine (this one has both German and English texts)

Die Geschichte der Kleinbildkamera bis zur Leica - Erich Stenger (book published by Ernst Leitz Wetzlar for their 100 year celebrations in 1949 - very rare)

[jc_braconi]

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I highly recommend the 3 volumes of James A Lager : Cameras, Lenses and Accessories.

[Anbaric]

1 hour ago, jc_braconi said:

I highly recommend the 3 volumes of James A Lager : Cameras, Lenses and Accessories.

I wonder why they haven't been reprinted? From the prices they go for (you could buy a real Leica, lenses and accessories for what some people are asking!) you'd think there'd be a market for them. And I believe Jim Lager is still active in the Leica community?

Ditto for the second edition of the Laney Collectors Guide. I did ask about this at the Red Dot stall at London Photographica once (Red Dot have reprinted other Hove books) but I think they felt that it would need too much updating, and their efforts on those lines were going into the updated Pocket Book.

Edited June 20, 2024 by Anbaric

[TXGR]

@Martin K - unfortunately, I am not smart enough to read German, just Spanish, English, a little Tagalog, and I used to be able to read and write Thai, but didn't know what I was reading or what to write (phonetic languages are easy that way). 

Based on the recommendation above by @sandro, yesterday I received Ernst Leitz II "Ich entscheide hiermit: Es wird riskiert." Today, I read through some sections using my phone with a translate app. This is no way to read a book, but it is much better than not being able to read it at all. I do the same with a Polish book on the Ihagee Exacta SLR line.

Of particular interest to me were the actions of Dr. Leitz, the entire Leitz family and many senior admins within Leica, to rescue people before and even during the war. Even his daughter was arrested in 1943. After the chapter recounting much of this period, there is a separate chapter on the stories of scores of individuals and entire families they saved. These include short summaries of the survivors -- many very near escapes -- and some are followed with post-war "thank you" letters back to Dr. Leitz. This was exactly the historical information I was most interested in, and the details and documentation are superb.

I really appreciate the recommendation. Thank you very much.

I have a line on some older editions of the Lager books, and the Laney book. If I can get those, that will be easier than handheld translation.

Thanks again for everyone's replies and help.

[Anbaric]

3 hours ago, TXGR said:

Of particular interest to me were the actions of Dr. Leitz, the entire Leitz family and many senior admins within Leica, to rescue people before and even during the war. Even his daughter was arrested in 1943. After the chapter recounting much of this period, there is a separate chapter on the stories of scores of individuals and entire families they saved. These include short summaries of the survivors -- many very near escapes -- and some are followed with post-war "thank you" letters back to Dr. Leitz. This was exactly the historical information I was most interested in, and the details and documentation are superb.

You may already have come across the work of Frank Dabba Smith, mentioned above as the editor of the Pocket Book, who has researched this extensively (his PhD thesis is on this subject!).

If not, here is one good article:

New life through a lens

And here is a conference presentation by Frank Dabba Smith:

Leica, Jews and Germans

See also:

Nemeng FAQ

The Greatest Invention of the Leitz Family: The Leica Freedom Train

(currently out of print and hard to find)

Elsie's War: A Story of Courage in Nazi Germany

Documentary: The Nazis, The Rabbi, and The Camera

(not currently commercially available, but has been streamed on arte.tv in the past).

Edited June 20, 2024 by Anbaric

[jc_braconi]

On 6/16/2024 at 2:55 AM, TXGR said:

I see this as potentially two different books, one on the history of  Leitz/Leica the company, and one on the cameras. For the company history, I am primarily interested in the period from Barnack's first experiments circa 1914 through the introduction of the M3, maybe even the M6.

For the cameras, I am interested from the prospective of a casual collector to learn about markings, variations in design, etc. for the film cameras, especially pre-war.

The "Leica - an Illustrated History" by James Lager, in 3 volumes, seems totally inaccessible (over US$1000 on Amazon, US$350 on eBay for English version, just volume 1). So, apart from that, any recommendations will be very helpful. 

Note: I am sure this question was asked many times over the years, and I did do a search through the forum, but after several pages I found nothing directly on point.

Thanks,

It depends of what you search, in any cases you can have a look on my web site who is linked under my signature

[sandro]

About Jim Lager's books: I talked about it with him last fall. He feels prices are ridiculous  but a reprint apparently would imply quite a bit of work which he doesn't want to do again. He also felt they should be updated which is not the job anymore for a man his age, he told me smiling.

The third volume is still available for a reasonable price, but the prices of the first two volumes have become ridiculous, as is the case with Laney's 2nd edition, as was remarked earlier as well.

As Anbaric said, the Leica manual by Morgan & Lester has had many editions since 1930, all rather interesting but you probably don't want to collect them all. I also bought the 15th editon, edited by Morgan's son Douglas O. Morgan and others, 1973. 

Lex

[Almizilero]

Just yesterday, I found an interesting book at Fotografiska Berlin: Augen auf – 100 Jahre Leica. It's in German and a big beast of a book. But it looked really interesting and seems to cover the history of Leica quite well. Lots of pictures AND lots of (seemingly) comprehensive texts.

There is also a fictionalised history version of the Leitz Family: Das Licht im Rücken by Sandra Lübke. Havents read it yet, but reviews are favourable.

Edited June 23, 2024 by Almizilero

[TXGR]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions, and especially to @Anbaric for that set of links. That's very helpful.