McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras – Catalogues, Histories and Price Guides

While I’m sure that from the perspective of somebody who is satisfied with using their single cell phone to take photos, I’m likely bordering on the lunatic fringe, but I suspect to those of you reading this I’m just a guy. I don’t “collect” cameras (despite having a few more than might be considered normal). I also like books, so it’s only natural that I have (more than a few) on cameras.

Ranging from the coffee table-sized “Camera” by Todd Gustavson to the more compact “A History of Photography in 50 Cameras” by Michael Pritchard. While visiting an unfamiliar bookshop during a trip to the coast I came across a HUGE tome hidden in the back of the shop entitled: “McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras“. I don’t think I even took it down from the shelf since (as I said) I don’t collect. On a more recent trip I had decided that I’d go back to the shop and at least take a look at the book. Inside the cover the price was marked in pencil: $150 ($600 on Amazon). I browsed it for a bit and at two and a half inches thick with 1250 pages I thought it would add to my growing library (despite the fact that the prices in the 12th edition published in 2005/2006 are sorely outdated).

The book is ordered alphabetically beginning with two numerical entries: 3-Dimension Technology Ltd. (Hong Kong) and the 3M Company (St. Paul, MN – USA). The last being: Zulauf (G.Zulauf, Zurich) followed by: Zunow Optical Industry Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan). In between are claimed to be over 40,000 cameras. The pages are laid out in 3 columns with as many as 9 or 10 photos (or drawings) per page. The contents are quite dense.

Many of the entries from less well-known brands have a short paragraph that describes the history of the company while the initial page of a well-known company may have an in-depth discussion of the company, its founder, chief designer, etc…

In the case of some of the largest makers there is also discussion of prototypes and other oddities. Nikon apparently created section cut away display models for some of their dealers. In some cases there is a count of these while in others they are simply mentioned.

With the advent of online resources selling functional used gear the value of seven pounds of paper as a price guide has all but vanished. Online searches for a 13th edition of the McKeown’s Guide don’t turn up any actual books but rather lead to a promise of something better yet to come: a 4-volume printed set with 100,000 cameras described on 4,000 to 5,000 pages or a searchable, online version available by subscription. In the 19 years since the availability of the 12th edition there doesn’t seem to have been any progress.

For anyone interested in a comprehensive catalogue of 40,000 cameras, I have to say that this is likely going to be the last of its kind. For the non-collector like me an interesting look at the history of cameras. For an actual collector of cameras, this 19-year-old edition isn’t going to provide you with anything close to accurate prices and I suspect that you’ll have to rely on your contacts at Christies or Flints.

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