Leica: Witness to a Century [Hardcover]

Alessandro Pasi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 2004

The fascinating history of a twentieth-century icon—the first handheld camera—and the people who use it.

The Leica is both a product of the twentieth century's inventive spirit and the means by which that spirit could be documented for posterity. As the first handheld camera, the Leica made possible a new kind of documentary photography, and included among its devoted fans are many of the century's greatest photographers. Its combined qualities of precision and compactness made it an essential tool for photographers everywhere, and today more than ever the Leica is prized by collectors. 120 color illustrations and photographs

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With the development of the 35mm Leica camera in 1913-1914 by Oscar Barnack at the Ernest Lietz factory, in Wetzlar, Germany, photography became portable, a lens through which the rapid change of the 20th century could be observed and recorded on the fly. Used by the likes of American war correspondent Robert Capa, anti-Nazi sociologist Gisèle Freund and revolutionary photographer Henri-Cartier Bresson, the Leica also attracted Nazi sympathizer Paul Wolff, controversial Third Reich documentarian Leni Reifenstahl, and the German military. This 9½"×11¾" history of the Leica includes, among 120 color illustrations, a full-size color photograph, published in a 1944 issue of the German magazine Signal, of German soldiers riding on a tank's shadowy bulk past a burning house on the Eastern front. This is one of the most chilling photos in the book and one of the few full-size selections that is not a "best of" rendered slightly threadbare through over-reproduction. One page later, a strikingly undersized reproduction of a concentration camp is the only evidence of how, according to the text, the SS "photographed in great detail [using the Leica] the inhuman barbarities committed in the concentration camps throughout Europe"-a questionable juxtaposition at best. The text, by Italian journalist Pasi, is stilted to the point that it is often difficult to follow the history of the Leica's evolution or the significance of its innovations; however, there is enough technical information, with enlarged photos of each model and explanatory notes on lenses, viewfinders, range finders, film speeds and shutter-release buttons, to satisfy professionals and devotees. While the selection of smaller photographs is extensive and varied, the unpredictable sizings and intrusion into large photographs by small photographs and information boxes often detract from the photographs' impact.
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Review

"Leica is a celebration, rather than a scholarly study, of this superlative photographic tool. Its layout and copious illustrations invite browsing and poring rather than end-to-end reading, appealing to many kinds of interest without delving in depth into any of them. It belongs on the coffee-table of anyone with a love of photography and its history. It will preach to the converted of course; but the converted will love it." James Williams, Trinity College, Cambridge, The Art Newspaper

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st English Language Ed edition (May 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393059219
• ISBN-13: 978-0393059212
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 9.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #763,382 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for any Leicaphile, June 8, 2004

By 

Jorge Ma Trevino Garcia "Jorge M. Treviño" (Uruapan, Mich. Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leica: Witness to a Century (Hardcover)

A cofee table sized book, very well organized and laid out, stating very little new for old Leica fans but giving in not too many pages a brilliant summary of the relevance of the Leica as a photographer's tool from its inception to the 21st century dawn, stressing the points where the Leica was unique in any way. The book is finelly printed and bound and has a dynamic layout chock-full of good reproductions of the pictures that made history along the century. A bargain at the current price, IMHO.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leiconians! A book for a rainy afternoon..., April 3, 2005

By 

Edgardo Molina Yepez (Argentina) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leica: Witness to a Century (Hardcover)

I first saw this book in a Cambridge, UK library. I fell in love at first sight with it. The images it contain reflect all of our 20th century history through the view provided by the magnificent Leica lenses and shutters. The quality of the book is very good in terms of content and materials. The book contains a two page geneological tree of the Leica family at the end of it, so one can consume hours deepening into the Leica relatives and the evolution of a once in a lifetime photographic equipment experience.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leica in DK format - Fun and Inspiring, October 20, 2004

By 

Jon W. Davis (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leica: Witness to a Century (Hardcover)

This is a fun book for the Leica enthusiast. Unlike many of the Leica books I have seen this one is comprehensive in covering not only the cameras but the company and some of the famouse photos taken with a Leica. A good balance of text, photos, diagrams and history. A contemporay layout in graphic design makes this my favorite Leica book for an evening peruse.