Eastman Kodak No.4 Folding Kodet Special. 4x5 inch format. c.1895

New to my collection ... and it only took 12 years to find a great example!

Most everyone is familiar with later post-1900 Kodak cameras (i.e. Brownies, Instamatics, etc.), but early pre-1900 (actually pre-1897) wood and brass bellows glass-plate models are especially difficult to track down.

Pre-1900 wood & brass Folding Kodet cameras were inexpensively built, often fell apart, decayed, etc. This is an early model with the shutter built into the lens board, and it's in remarkably good condition. The "Special" designation means it has a couple extra features.

The Kodak Order Entry Book (factory records) notes that 1,950 cameras were ordered. This doesn't mean that all the cameras were made and/or delivered. I personally think very few were made otherwise, if a lot were made, they simply didn't survive. For a company that was known to build and sell hundreds of thousands of cameras (if not millions of a single model), 1,950 is a very small production run.

This Folding Kodet was in a friend's collection. About three years ago, he decided to slowly sell off his collection. I finally decided to make an offer. It is a great looking, fully functional camera and will help with ongoing research.

Besides, it is unlikely another will ever cross my path. At this time, I know of only two others ... interestingly, both are in dedicated Kodak collections in The Netherlands.