Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/07/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]"Bud Cook" <budcook@ibm.net> asked: >Is there an English language book about Carl Zeiss products similar to Dennis Laney's Leica Collector's Guide? With great respect to Marc, I'd suggest that the Small/Barringer Zeiss Compendium is not "similar to Dennis Laney's Leica Collector's Guide". It is not the sort of model-by-model and accessory-by- accessory guide which Laney's book is. Its authors have taken a different approach to the subject, producing a book which can be read almost like a novel - its tells you the story of post-war Zeiss in a way that kept me turning the pages till it was done. I've taken this book to read on a long train journey, something I can't imagine doing with Laney's volume. The "Zeiss Compendium" covers only the post-war story - for the pre-war hardware, I'd suggest "Zeiss Ikon Cameras 1926-39" by D. B. Tubbs, but this too is a descriptive text rather than a catalogue. I bought my first Zeiss camera 40 years ago, and can highly recommend both books; but don't expect either to be a Laney-style itemised listing of individual bodies and lenses. The only caveat I'd add (given that the LUG is an international group) is the the Small/Barringer book has a significant number of colloquial and slang expressions in the text. These could irritate some readers, and be confusing to anyone for whom English is not their native language. Regards, Doug Richardson