An Age of Cameras by Edward Holmes. One of the first and best written 'modern' books on collecting old cameras ever produced.

It has been quite a while since I posted a photographic book review on the blog. However last week I managed to find a copy of 'An age of Cameras, by Edward Holmes' at a reasonable price, so as I do refer to it from time to time, I thought I would give it a quick review.

I first bought this book in it's second edition in 1978, as a Christmas present for my Dad, a very keen photographer and camera collector! I was 17 at the time, and my Dad later lent me it to read! Well that was it, It was so interesting I read it a few times before I returned it. I had already started collecting cameras on a small scale at 16, but after reading this book that was it, I was hooked.

There has been a lot of books written about collecting old cameras over the years, most tend to specialize in a make or a model and as a result just end up being a glorified list of cameras.

This book is different, it tells a story sets a scene and gives you a picture of what photography and cameras were like in the early days of photography without being boring. You could imagine the author telling the story, writing this book while being surrounded by these beautiful cameras. You could tell he had used them, knew the process, knew the cameras inside out, this guy understood photography and cameras he was writing about. I can picture him getting a camera off the shelves placing it on his desk and writing his thoughts on the camera in question.

Many camera collecting books today just gloss over the early years of photography concentrating on cameras from the 60's and 70's, but this book is about the start of photography from the coming of the dry plate to the start of W.W.2. To me this is the most interesting period to collect. By the time we reached the 1960's many of the cameras were virtually the same, but pre 1939 the designs were much more varied and much more interesting, though not necessarily better!

I like the fact that the colour plates of cameras are pictured in a garden, that would just not happen now, but why not, what is more natural, a camera taken on a plain white background or one taken of a camera sat on a tripod in nice surroundings ready to use. Give me the latter any day of the week. In fact I think I need to do that style of photography more on the blog.

Edward Holmes explanation of Newman and Guardia and their Sibyl cameras and why they were so different and superior than most other folding cameras of the time was mind blowing to me at the time, as a kid in my teens. I had never heard of a Sibyl camera let alone seen one. But this guy was sat in a room writing about them, while being surrounded by examples of what he was writing about. You can't get much more authentic than that.

His explanation of the different styles of Wood and brass plate camera, their movements, tilts and shutters is second to none, as is his explanation of the different types of bellows, the fact that they were re-bellowed by some original owners or that bellows were turned when starting to get worn at the edges, this is stuff that most people do not realise today, so I'm really glad I read this book at the start of my interest in old cameras.

It is a fascinating book, written in a time before the internet, before the ease of digital cameras to take your pictures with and AI to use as a search tool. This is seat of the pants stuff, all done by one man using his years of understanding and knowledge with only old books and catalogues and senior people in the camera retail trade and of course his collection of cameras to help him.

This was written years before the perhaps better known book on the subject by Ivor Matanle, during the early to mid 1970's, when very few people collected old cameras and even fewer admitted that they did so! The fact that he wrote it and managed to get it published at that time is to my mind trail blazing. This was not a book confined to specialist camera stores, this was a book in your local book shop or at the stationers in your local High Street.

So, if you like old books and early photography, then this book may be well worth a read. If you are just starting out collecting vintage cameras, then this book is a must read.

My personal opinion is that this is the best introduction to old cameras you will ever read.

At present copies can be bought on line for just a few pounds, less than a magazine or a cup of tea. Get a copy read it and enjoy it, it will be the best few quid you have ever spent!

Who then was Mr Edward Holmes? You know I really have no idea! I'm guessing reading between the lines of his book, he would be born just after WW1 1918-1922 perhaps? But whoever he was, he is one Gentleman I would really have liked to have met.

Without him and his book, I would not have spent most of my life enjoying old cameras and photography.

So, thankyou Mr Holmes for setting me off as a teenager on my old camera journey with a far better feel and understanding for vintage cameras than I would ever have had without reading your work. Cheers sir, wherever you are.