Sources: English language

General books

McKeown's Guide

McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). (Template:McKeown12 and inline Template:McKeown)

Matanle's Classic Cameras

Matanle, Ivor. Collecting and Using Classic Cameras. London: Thames & Hudson, 1986. First paperback edition, 1992. ISBN 0-500-27656-0.

Matanle's Classic SLRs

Matanle, Ivor. Collecting and Using Classic SLRs. London: Thames & Hudson, 1996. ISBN 0-500-01726-3.

German cameras

Zeiss Compendium

Barringer, C. and Small, M. Zeiss Compendium East and West — 1940–1972. Small Dole (UK): Hove Books Ltd., 1999 (2nd edition). ISBN 1-874707-24-3.

Japanese cameras

The History of the Japanese Camera

Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper), ISBN 0-935398-16-3 (hard). (Template:Lewis)

Kuribayashi-Petri Cameras

Baird, John R. Collectors guide to Kuribayashi-Petri Cameras. Grantsburg, WI (USA): Centennial Photo Service, 1991. ISBN 0-931838-16-9. (Template:Baird Petri)

The Japanese Camera

Baird, John R. The Japanese Camera. Yakima, WA: Historical Camera Publications, 1990. ISBN 1-879561-02-6.

The Japanese Historical Camera

The Japanese Historical Camera. 2nd ed. Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2004.

A clothbound book in a simple slipcase that presents a photograph and a few facts about each of over seven hundred cameras, from 1903 to 2003. Most are innovative in some way (often only a small or merely gimmicky way, and sometimes innovative only among Japanese cameras rather than cameras in general). A very few are presented with no claim of innovation but because of their reputation, sales or both. The terse text is in both English and Japanese, the Japanese (but not the English) also appearing in the camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology. This book, whose alternative title is Nihon no rekishiteki kamera (日本の歴史的カメラ), has no ISBN and perhaps is only sold at and from the museum (for ¥3500). The museum shows it here; however, the site seems to presume that anyone interested in buying it would be living in Japan and would order via fax.

The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras

Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. (Template:Zukan and inline Template:Sugiyama)

A large, clothbound book that presents photographs of and some very dry information (in both Japanese and English) about thousands of cameras. (The meaning of the Japanese title is closer to "illustrated catalogue" than to "collector's guide".) Hundreds of these are obscure, giving the impression that the book is comprehensive. It is not: there are glaring omissions. There are also some odd mistakes. (This is acknowledged to be a major resource for McKeown's Guide, and some of its mistakes — such as attributing the Mine Six to "Takamine" — reappear there.) The book is greatly enlivened by the informal and irreverent asides scattered here and there. Now (late 2006) out of print, new copies are still available at some retailers (e.g. JCII Camera Museum) for the original (high) price; used copies are sometimes cheaper than this, more often more expensive (sometimes because of a fictitious rarity).

Chinese cameras

Cameras of the People's Republic of China

St Denny, Douglas. Cameras of the People's Republic of China. Leicester, UK: Jessop Specialist Publishing, 1989. ISBN 0-9514392-0-0.