From Wetzlar with UPS

Earlier today, sitting my desk minding my own business, I heard a rustle as something dropped on the doormat. It was a missive from UPS to tell me theyโ€™d left a parcel with a neighbour. Why they couldnโ€™t knock on my door is a mystery, one of the many mysteries of the world of couriering.

I called on my neighbours within seconds but they werenโ€™t at home. However, through the window at the side of their front door, I could see a label with โ€œWetzlarโ€ writ large.

The imposing catalogue for the forthcoming Wetzlar Camera Auction covering the new Knut Kรผhn-Leitz’s “Ernst Leitz III โ€” Die Leica stets im Blick.

Yet another mystery to solve. What could the factory possibly be sending to humble old Macfilos? During the three hours it took for my neighbour to release the parcel, imagination ran riot. It must be a pre-production SL2, I thought. Iโ€™ve been added to the beta-tester list! Or maybe they have sent me something new and even more exotic to test.

Fevered brow

Mopping my fevered brow, I rushed to the door later as the kind neighbour brought the parcel round. The package was disappointingly flat, which hadnโ€™t been obvious through the window, and clearly couldnโ€™t contain a camera or a lens. More like a book, I thought.

Then I remembered that Lars Netopil, who happens to live in Wetzlar, had promised to send me a copy of the catalogue for the Wetzlar Camera Auction which takes place on October 5. However, despite disappointment in not joining Jono among the select band of beta testers, I do find this catalogue fascinating, with 218 pages crammed with photographic exotica.

If you plan to bid, itโ€™s best done from this large and attractive book. Thereโ€™s still time to order it if you visit the auction website. You can find full details here.

I donโ€™t buy books these days unless they are of the coffee table genre, in which I would class the Wetzlar auction tome. And eagle-eyed readers will notice another bit of Leica coffee-table fodder underneath the auction catalogue. Yes, itโ€™s the new book from Knut Kรผhn-Leitz โ€” Ernst Leitz III: The Leica is always in view (Die Leica stets im Blick). Iโ€™m saving that for a cold winterโ€™s evening in front of the fire. I got it from Amazon and you can find it here if you fancy enhancing the coffee table. Lots of nice pictures, even if you don’t read German. I imagine, though, there will be an English edition soon.

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