VINTAGE HASSELBLAD CATALOGUES

[jotloob]

I have received two vintage HASSELBLAD catalogues in the format of
15x21 cm booklets . They are in excellent condition , but i can not figure out for which year they were valid . There is no date of the year on the front page as on todays catalogues .
The one catalogue shows a 500C/M with a chrome 80mm lens
on the front page and has the following number on the bottom of the last printed page : 1002 38 1 71 .
The other one shows a SWC , 500EL (but 500EL/M inside) and a 500C/M
on the front page . The background is yellow and the number on the last printed page is : 2002 38 11 71 .
Can anyone please help to find out the years of the 2 catalogues ? ? ?

 

[qnu]

Jürgen,

The first one is the 1971 catalogue.
The "three camera" one is the 1972 catalogue.

 

[jotloob]

Q.G.

Thank you very much for your extremely fast response . Great .
Now i know from which year these catalogues are , but i still could not figure that out of the given numbers . What is the secret behind them ? ?

 

[qnu]

Most Hasselblad publications contain a publication code like the ones you mention.
The numbers contain a date (both 71, i.e. 1971. Sometimes, the year is written out fully) but it's the date of printing, rather than the year these catalogues apply to. Both these catalogues were printed in 1971. The first will have been released in 1971 too, the latter perhaps also, perhaps not.

Being print dates, rather than exact (or rather 'pure') product descriptions, the numbers will (in part) sometimes differ, for instance between different language versions (language is usually indicated by a letter "E" for engelsk = english, "T" for tysk = Deutsch, etc.), of the same publication, depending on when they were printed.

The 1002 - 2002 - etc. indicates a progression of years too. So when you know that a "1002" is used in the code assigned to the 1971 catalogue, a catalogue with a "3002"-code will be the 1973 catalogue.
But mind you, this is not 'carried through' consistently, and such series may start again: the 1980s catalogue, for instance is "1001" again, with the 1982 (!) catalogue showing "2001".

So you will more or less have to know, guessing a bit too, using the code, what years the catalogues are describing.

Around the beginning of the 1990s, the printing data code was changing to... uhm...

.
The latest english version of the V-System catalogue, for instance, is coded "80500251". The one before that was "3095207". It isn't obvious anymore how to make these codes usefull.

Richard Nordin's book, which you have, contains a list of catalogues too (page 247), describing the covers, though the list doesn't show all publication codes.

 

[jotloob]

Q.G.

Thanks a lot . I am sorry , i must confess , i did not look into the
compendium , i just did not think of doing so . But i promise , i will do it right away . What a great book .