Free lockdown reading - and Merry Christmas!

During the last lockdown, I spent a fair bit of time reading free books and publications on archive.org. Since it looks as if we may be headed that way again, I thought I’d write a wee post about it.

The website is a non-profit venture which seeks to provide an archive of publications. It’s where you can find the “Wayback Machine” which sometimes makes it possible to view websites that have been deleted. You have to register first and then you can "borrow" books for periods lasting from and hour to a fortnight.

The best thing about it from a photographer’s point of view is the amount of old - and not so old - photo books that can be found there. Not all are out of copyright so you’ll have to decide for yourselves whether you’re comfortable reading such material.

There are enough books on archive.org to keep you reading for decades and you can find what’s available through the search function.

Just to help you underway, though, here are some to give you an idea of what's out there:

Henri Cartier-Bresson

https://archive.org/details/henricartierbres0000cart_j3p7/page/n103/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/photographs00cart

Ansel Adams

https://archive.org/details/portfoliosofanse00adam/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/basicphoto00adam

https://archive.org/details/anseladamsameric0000spau

Robert Doisneau

https://archive.org/details/robertdoisneau1900gaut

Brassai

https://archive.org/details/brassailettersto00bras

Andre Kertesz

https://archive.org/details/andrkertszlifeti0000kert/mode/2up


If you like Fred Picker then you’re in luck as both his Zone VI book and the complete newsletters - yes, all 900-plus pages - are available:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%28Fred%20picker%29


Many of the original pre-war Camera Work magazines are there:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=title%3A%28Camera%20work%29

There really is a vast amount of material and I've only skimmed the surface. I keep surprising myself when I have a trawl through the website. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find much relating to Leitz enlargers apart from what’s in the old Leica Fotografie and Leica Photography magazines. There’s very little on Ray Moore, either, or Ralph Gibson. See how you get on and if it's a bit complicated, let me know and I'll write a fuller explanation.

Hopefully, archive.org will keep you from wearying during whatever we've got coming to us. Stay safe, have a great Christmas and I'll see you all back here next week.