Catalogs

Collectors and researchers of early surveying equipment & accessories often find ‘Vintage Surveying Catalogs’ to be extremely interesting from an historic perspective, as well as a great source of long forgotten details & lost knowledge. From the mid-1800’s to the mid 1900’s, it was not unusual for survey instrument makers to produce detailed catalogs of the highly crafted equipment they produced. Substantial numbers of these catalogs were more like well-made textbooks instead of the less durable paper catalogs or ads generally produced for other ”every day” products, so many of them (along with the valuable information they contained) tended to survive a little better than typical ephemera.

…….. My personal collection contains about 80 Vintage Surveying Instruments & Accessories Catalogs that cover the years from 1879 to 1960.  I reference them quite often when researching or documenting my own collection of Vintage Surveying items or when considering the purchase of a new piece to add t0 my collection. …….. You can use the “SEARCH” function to help you find what you’re looking for, or if you prefer to just scroll through the list of catalogs from my collection that have been uploaded so far, they are listed below in general alphabetic order using the most recognizable part of the survey instrument manufacture’s name (i.e.: ”W. & L.E.  Gurley” would be alphabetically listed under ‘G‘, and ”James W. Queen & Co.”  would be alphabetically listed under ‘Q‘). Furthermore, where I have uploaded multiple catalogs published by the same instrument manufacturer, all of the ones from a common manufacturer will be grouped together in descending order of the year published, with the oldest year being at the top.

…… For each listed catalog, I’ve generally tried to upload the front & back covers, together with a sampling of maybe about 3-8 interior pages. If you have a research-based question about a more specific item that may be in the catalog, but is not shown on the pages I’ve uploaded, please email me with some details of what you’re looking for & I’ll do my best to find what you’re after & give you a timely response (please try to be patient & remember that this is just a hobby for me, not a business).

…….. I’ve only recently started populating this web site with vintage surveying items from my personal collection & the “Catalogs” listed below are just a start (there’s lots more to be added regularly).

………… Just “left-click” on any image to expand it for better viewing & then “left-click” on the arrows at the right or left side of the expanded image to scroll (in order) down or up (respectively) through the list of images:

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