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Kodak’s “autographic” vest pocket camera: a hit with Great War soldiers

From time to time, in my search for interesting old photos and negatives, I used to find negatives with writing on one edge that, when scanned, looked like this:

Hospital ship, Egypt. Taken in 1919 by a returning Australia soldier aboard the transport ship Plassy, using a Kodak autographic vest pocket camera.

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I wondered about them, until one day I bought an odd little old camera that had a strange opening flap on the back cover, and a cute little pointed stylus. This was, I discovered, an “autographic” camera. The principle was that you could take your shot, then open the little hatch and write on the edge of the film. There was a sort of carbon paper on the edge, and you scratched the material, allowing an image of your writing to appear on the negative and, ultimately, the print.

The autographic is a lovely little camera, produced from about 1914 as a refinement of the popular “vest pocket” (VPK) camera that was beloved of troops in World War 1 because of its compact design.

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The Kodak autographic VPK and its box.
The little hatch you open to write on the film
The hatch opened, with the stylus on top.

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Kodak bought the rights to the autographic system from inventor Henry Jacques Gaisman and marketed the idea enthusiastically. It lasted until 1932 when it was phased out.

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A magazine advertisement for the system. Source: Wikimedia commons

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