Found Three interesting Little books today..

Dave Parker · Feb 4, 2006

I was out and about today, and stumbled upon three small hardback pocket books about photography, they are quite interesting, one is called:

"Darkroom Handbook and Formulary" Copyright 1940 by Ziff Davis, Author - Morris Germain, A.R.P.S.

No 2 is called:

"Manual of Correct Exposure" Copyright 1941 by Ziff Davis, Author - H.P. Rockwell, JR.

No 3 is called:

"Color in Photography" Copyright 1939 by Ziff Davis, Author - Ivan Dmitri

All three of them seem to be 1 in a compete series of books on photography, and they have Little Technical Library, Ziff Davis publishing, I have done some searching around the net and found very little information on these.

The Darkroom book is quite interesting, as it has many, many formulas for developers, fixers, and such..

I was wondering if anyone here has any of these books or knows how many were in the series.

Thanks.

Dave

reellis67 · Feb 5, 2006

I have - they are very small, but very interesting. There were something like 20 or 30 volumes as part of the "Little Technical Library" series as you stated. They can be found for cheap sometimes and outrageously expensive other times, typicaly at used books stores and library sales. I was trying to collect the series myself! Lots of interesting stuff in them. I only have a few at the moment, but it seems we have different titles. I have one on filters and another on lenses.

- Randy

Dave Wooten · Feb 5, 2006

I think Ziff Davis Publishing is still in business?

Dave Parker · Feb 5, 2006

Dave Wooten said:
I think Ziff Davis Publishing is still in business?

Morning Dave,

I was able to find Ziff Davis, but there main stuff now a days seems to be in the electronics industry and tech books for the computer programmers and that type of stuff, they didn't have any reference to this series anylonger..so I figured if anyone would know about this series, someone here would be good.

Dave

Dave Wooten · Feb 5, 2006

If they are from the 40's and before I wonder if the 54 year copywrite has expired, they would then be in public domain? If they are good or of current interest would they then merit a re-pub project?

Dave Parker · Feb 5, 2006

Dave Wooten said:
If they are from the 40's and before I wonder if the 54 year copywrite has expired, they would then be in public domain? If they are good or of current interest would they then merit a re-pub project?

Dave,

That would be interesting to find out, the formulary book is quite interesting and has quite a few different formulas that in this day and age, may again be of use to those in the traditional markets...

Dave

Dave Wooten · Feb 5, 2006

I had a professor in grad school that would go to D.C. in the summer and research public domain books pertaining to music, for the express purpose of finding a new publisher and then marketing etc. Las year I purchased on e bay a pamphlet, one of a series published in London on gum printing, it is nearly 100 years old, might be interesting...I have always thought the manual of photography, later the Ilford Manual of Photography would be a good candidate...it is a gem of a book if you can get your hands on one...I am going to keep an eye out for you on the Ziff Davis photo series, your post is the first I have heard of it.

Dave Parker · Feb 5, 2006

Dave,

It could be an interesting project, as Randy said he thought there were something like 20-30 volumes, and if the three that I picked up are any indication they are quite well written and could be of value in a future of traditional photography.

Joe Lipka · Feb 5, 2006

My wife's grandfather had an Ilford Manual of Photography and it contains a lot of wisdom not only on composition but some very old formulae for various processes, plus some of those killer engravings of obscure darkroom equipment. I tried to find out what date it was, but there is no copyright or other publishing data on this slim volume. Still a fun read.

reellis67 · Feb 6, 2006

I have seen the Ilford Manual in the library at one of the local colleges and their copy does not have any info either. It must have been printed on a small scale press, or perhaps by the company itself.

- Randy

Dave Wooten · Feb 6, 2006

FYI

The Ilford Manual of Photography

1. First published in 1890 (that would be an interesting one to add to the collection)

2. 5th edition Published in May 1958 (reprinted 8 times!-so they are out there)

3. The Manual of photography-6 th edition (formerly the Ilford Manual of PHotography) Published in April 1971 in Great Britain by Lund Humphries 12 Bedford Sqyare London WC1 at Bradford

596 pages including Contents page and index.

Dave Wooten · Feb 6, 2006

Addendum,

Apparently there is a 1978 edition of the Manual as Amazon has it listed...from less than 5 bucks! I am going to get another one before you all read this

BrianShaw · Feb 6, 2006

I recently found a copy of the book in the Little series on Lenses and Shutters. Like you said... quite interesting material. I have the dust jacket that lists all of the books in the series. It is at home (while I'm at work). I'll try to remember to send the list as soon as I can, unless osmeone beats ae to it.

Dave Wooten · Feb 6, 2006

Joe Lipka said:
My wife's grandfather had an Ilford Manual of Photography and it contains a lot of wisdom not only on composition but some very old formulae for various processes, plus some of those killer engravings of obscure darkroom equipment. I tried to find out what date it was, but there is no copyright or other publishing data on this slim volume. Still a fun read.

Joe,

Maybe you have a 1st edition (1890) ? the 1897 edition is marked with pub date. It is interesting as photographic knowledge grew so did the size of the Manual.

Trask · Feb 6, 2006

I have "Photochemistry Simplified" by Carl J. Spinatelli, in the same Little Technical Library series. Published 1948. Very useful info on developing agents, restrainers, intensification, etc. I bought it in a used book shop in Brussels a couple of years ago for about $5, and it has proven to be a valuable resource when delving into formulae.

Gerald Koch · Feb 6, 2006

Another good book to have is the Focal Encyclpedia of Photography.

Tom Hoskinson · Feb 6, 2006

Dave, I have a copy of "Darkroom Handbook and Formulary" Copyright 1940 by Ziff Davis, Author - Morris Germain, A.R.P.S.

I've posted a few of the recipes in the Apug Chemical Recipes section (incuding Germain's own 7g Metol, 7g PPD and 7g Glycin finegrain developer)

BrianShaw · Feb 6, 2006

Ziff Davis Little Technical Library

1 Your Camera and How it Works. Dobbs and Savage
2 Developing, Printing and Enlarging. Al and DeVera Bernsohn
3 Filters and their Uses. W. Bradford Shank
4 Composition and the Amateur. Kenneth Heilbron
5 Movie Making for the Beginner. Herbert McKay
6 Color in Photography. Ivan Dmitri
7 Child Photography. Harold lambert
8 Home Portraiture and Make-up. Seymour and Symons
9 Tricks for Camera Owners.
10 A Glossary for Photography. Frank Fenner
11 Outdoor Photography. Samuel Grierson
12 Indoor Photography. Hillary Bailey
13 Flash Photography. Rus Arnold
14 Photographing Action. Victor DePalma
15 Manual of Enlarging. Stephen White
16 Miniature Camera Technique. Fenwick Small
17 Photographic Lenses and Shutters. Richard StClair
18 Photo Tricks and Effects. Jacob Deschin
19 Selling Your Pictures. Kurt Safranski
20 Darkroom Handbook and Formulary. Morris Germain
21 Beginners Book of Photography. Wallace Dobbs
22 Manual of Correct Exposure. HP Rockwell
23 Taking Pictures at Night. Robert Brown
24 Tabletop Photography. Jacob Deschin
25 Portraiture Simplified. AL Schafer
26 Making Color Prints. Leadley and Stegenmeyer
27 Press Photography for the Freelance. Kip Ross
28 Color Movies for the Beginner. Harris Tuttle.
29 Negative Retouching and Print Finishing. Draper and Harkness
30 Photographic Questions and Answers

Dave Parker · Feb 6, 2006

Brian,

Thank you, I did not realize there were so many! Yike, more haunting of second hand books stores in my future, I can see.

Thanks again..

Dave

Kino · Feb 7, 2006

Well, now you are in a area I LOVE. I have a clutch of antique books, mostly on cinema that go back to the 1890's, but I also have some good formula books for still photography that are old and have lots of formulas I have always wanted to try...

What is the consensus here? While I would NOT post anything from a Barry Thornton or Tony Worobiec & Ray Spence book, I don't feel constricted about posting a formula or two (or ten) from a 1940's and earlier era book. How say you, Sean?

While we probably should NOT post entire scanned books, no matter how old (copyright can be VERY, VERY tricky), I don't see why we cannot publish interesting sections or formulas from these old books, do you?

Is there a section that would serve to hold these formulas beyond the normal forum format?

Just curious...

bobfowler · Feb 7, 2006

I picked up a bunch of the Little Technical Library photo books on ebay last year. I can't remember where they are, but I'll try to dig them up...

BrianShaw · Feb 13, 2006

Did you see that the auction for the 14 books closed at $61... Holy Smokes!!!!

Found Three interesting Little books today..

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency