Early Leica Literature 1925-1929

[Jim Lager]

Leitz literature prepared between 1925-1929 traces the availability of the Leica A.

In January 1925 Leitz Literature proudly proclaimed the wonders of the LECA camera! WooHoo! So far, we have yet to find a LECA engraved camera.

By mid 1925 the name had been changed to Leica. The illustrations show a sampling of early advertising.

As Lindbergh flew the Atlantic in 1927 and the Graf Zeppelin completed a round the world trip in 1929, the Leica began to gain acceptance.

Pre 1930 literature can be considered rarer than the Leica itself. Many early cameras have survived but most advertising material has been lost over the past nine decades.

1925 LECA Camera

1926-1927

1927 Notice Leitz offices already in New York, San Francisco and Manila!

1927

November 1927

March 1928

December 1928

1928

1929

1929

 

[CameraQuest]

folks,
notice the original 1925 LECA camera!

 

[BillBingham2]

folks,
notice the original 1925 LECA camera!

I did, LOVE the periscope style rangefinder!

Way cool stuff Jim, thank you.

B2 (;->

 

[rbiemer]

Interesting to see these!
Would those early cameras have had a dealer label or something identifying who sold them? How were they packed/boxed for sale?

Rob

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[spaceistheplace]

Very interesting to read, Jim!

I have a question somewhat related to this, a couple of months ago I visited an exhibition called 100 years of Leica photography, in Madrid, and there they showed some early documents with prints and a chart next to them indicating lens, film, developer, etc.

I found these very interesting and can't seem to find them online, do you know anything about them?

Thank you and welcome to RFF!

 

[Richard G]

I have always loved the bald guy with his specs propped on his forehead squinting into his Leica.

 

[mcfingon]

He was very stylish, the graphics guy who did that. I think he was one of the artists who fell out of favour with the regime after 1933...

 

[Out to Lunch]

Very interesting! Here some information on Nicolas Haz (Martin Munkacsi) - second publication: http://broadway.cas.sc.edu/content/nicholas-haz

 

[Dralowid]

And from what was then Palestine:

img019 by dralowid, on Flickr

FODIS, FOKUN or even FOCUX anyone?
leaflets4207 by dralowid, on Flickr

By 1929 the cover on the left had changed...Jim's is 1925. Now the name has settled on Leica and we have a Leica logo (which of course wasn't on the cameras.

leaf204 by dralowid, on Flickr

I enjoy this literature, particularly the bits of equipment that we never hear about these days, after all, if you are promoting 35mm you need to be able to supply everything related.

Michael

 

[megido]

Very interesting to read, Jim!

I have a question somewhat related to this, a couple of months ago I visited an exhibition called 100 years of Leica photography, in Madrid, and there they showed some early documents with prints and a chart next to them indicating lens, film, developer, etc.

I found these very interesting and can't seem to find them online, do you know anything about them?

Thank you and welcome to RFF!

I saw the same exhibition. The quality of the prints were outstanding!

 

[Carey M]

1927

This looks familiar. I've been meaning to scan my copy and post it online, as it's very nicely done.

Didn't know these were that rare 😱

 

[Erik van Straten]

AFAIK is the first time that the Leica was mentioned in a Dutch publication was in the fourth printing of Idzerda's "Handboekje der Praktische Fotografie", Amsterdam Sloterdijk 1928. Idzerda was wrong about the format of the negatives of the Leica however.

On the same page other interesting cameras are shown, such as the Krauss Eka, the first small camera of Cartier-Bresson.

Erik.

 

[furcafe]

Shows that Leica has kept the same core customer demographic from the start!

I have always loved the bald guy with his specs propped on his forehead squinting into his Leica.

 

[Davidhel]

Welcome to the forum Jim - great to have you here!

Leica ad 1 by David Helmore, on Flickr

Leica Ad 2 by David Helmore, on Flickr

Leica Ad 3 by David Helmore, on Flickr

Leica Ad 4 by David Helmore, on Flickr