[W&B] Marion and other camera retailer's catalogues

[David Silver]

Marcel,

Good idea, and noble effort.  The problem I see with this endeavor is the
posiibility of too much material, ie. pointless reproduction of ads that
basically remain unchanged over several years.  You also need to make sure
everybody who wishes to volunteer to make copies from their catalogs does
so in as common a format as possible.  Frankly, I think plain paper copies
are the way to go and by far the easiest to deal with, and avoid any sort
of electronic imaging until or if it deems a worthy venture later.
Further, as you are already obviously asking for volunteers, you need to
coordinate who shall copy what.  Just off the top of my head, these
problems are solved by having someone serve as a text coordinator (center
of communication, the person to whom volunteers offer to make copies, and
he in turn acknowldeges what is or isn't needed as the project proceeds)
and eventually an editor (gathers the copies together, makes necessary
cuts, and compiles the copies into a workable logical text).  These can be
the same person, but I know from my experience in the publishing field
that it is far more efficient to seperate the tasks.  Yes, there is the
necessity for the coordinator to regularly communicate with and send
things to the editor, but when left alone one person eventually gets
swamped by the work load and tends to try editing on the run.  Never a
good thing.  So one person should coordinate WHAT gets copied, and another
person actually ASSEMBLES the copies.  I hope that makes sense.  Marcel,
it sounds like you're already well into both sides of the job.  I'd be
happy to take on some part of it.  Suggestions from anybody?  I have to
agree, this is definitely the sort of resource we need, and it would
represent a major improvement, whether in part or whole or simply as a
bibliographic influence, for any further editions of Channing & Dunn or
similar book.

Best wishes,

David Silver--President
International Photographic Historical Organization
E-mail: silver at well.com  Telephone: (415) 681-4356
Webpage location: http://www.well.com/user/silver/


On Mon, 22 Jan 2007, Marcel Safier wrote:

> Hello Brian
>
> Marion produced a number of books on photography and from what I have
> seen all carry at least some sort of catalogue section.  There are two
> editions of the book Matt refers to on bookfinder.com but they are both
> listed at over US$100. I haven't seen many Marion cameras, mostly just
> their Soho reflexes which I gather they badged rather than made.
>
> In the past I have floated the idea of us setting up a collective for
> the sharing of such literature and at that time  Bernard responded
> favourable. I live in Brisbane, Australia and my personal interest is in
> British cameras and lenses so limiting myself to that country means I
> might not find abundant fertile ground on this list. I have made an
> appeal in the journal fo the Photographic Collectors Club of GB and got
> practically no response.
>
> Following recent contact with Eric I intend pushing forward with a local
> friend to begin scanning the old catalogues in our collections. I am not
> yet sure how to take things onwards from there. It would be great to see
> a resource such as the Channing and Dunn book corrected, updated and
> expanded and made more widely available, perhaps on line. Another of my
> interests is tracing the lives of British camera and lens makers
> themselves and I have been accumulating files on a number including for
> instance the Beck family. I would be happy to hear from others with
> similar interests.
>
> Cheers!
>
> Marcel
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: woodandbrass-bounces at kjsl.com
> [mailto:woodandbrass-bounces at kjsl.com] On Behalf Of Brian Coope
> Sent: Monday, 22 January 2007 8:38 AM
> To: woodandbrass at kjsl.com
> Subject: [W&B] RE: Woodandbrass Digest, Vol 67, Issue 49
>
> Hi all,
>
> Thanks for the suggestions. Regarding the Marion's Practical Guide to
> Photography 1887, I carried out a book search of booksellers and nothing
> came up. I'll have to search on ebay.
>
> Thanks
> Anyway.
>
> Regards
>
> Brian
>
> Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 13:49:12 EST
> From: MATTRI at aol.com
> Subject: [W&B] Re: Woodandbrass Digest, Vol 67, Issue 48
> To: woodandbrass at kjsl.com
> Message-ID: <d3f.665f81.32e50fa8 at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Concerning the quest for information on Marion and Co.
> In my library I have the volume Marion's Practical Guide to Photography
> 1887
>
> published by the company. The first 229 pages are the Guide. The last
> 111
> pages are a catalogue of what I think is the complete Marion line. There
> are
>
> wonderful illustrations on many of the page. It is not a hard book to
> find. I hope
> this helps you.
> Matthew R. Isenburg
>
>
>