Taiyodo Koki & the Beauty Camera Company

Today we consume our information from the Internet, but the historical facts mostly originate from books (newspapers and magazines). Here I have summarised the known publications in which snippets can be found ... but they are not illuminating.

 

The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras (a.k.a. Sugiyama)

Published: 1985

 

I don't own a copy of Sugiyama, largely because the cost is ludicrous (between £106 and £1,013, plus £12 to £55 shipping) *. However, I have found Internet photographs of the relevant pages. One of these is the index, which list 35mm Beauty branded cameras to be found on pages 145 & 146. All the models are present, but the Lightomatic is referred to as the LM. Remarkably, I've also found an image of page 145, the format of which is a single picture of each model with a mere three or four lines of the most basic and generic information. 
The publication's entry at Camera-wiki says this book is acknowledged to be a major resource for McKeown's Guide but contains mistakes that have been reproduced.

 

McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras (a.k.a McKeown's)

Last published 2004

 

This is another hugely expensive, but large volume (from £268 to £491 plus £11 to £54 shipping for the 12th edition (2005-2006)) *. I don't own a McKeown's either, but one of its lesser copies - the Hove International Blue Book (Millennium Edition), which doesn't list a single Beauty.

McKeown's follows the same format as Sugiyama, where a picture is accompanied by a short description. The sixth edition (1987-1988) is available online at the Internet Archive. Like Sugiyama, it offers no insights other than extremely basic data.

Also, like Sugiyama, McKeown's is known for its errors and omissions. It's clear to see that the f/2.8 Canter in the illustration (right) is actually an f/1.9. The Canter, Super II and Super L are the only 35mm Beauties listed.

 

The History Of The Japanese Camera (Edited by Gordon Lewis)
Published: 1991

Neither do I have a copy of this book for the same reason: it retails for between £103 and £386, plus £20 to £55 shipping*. 

Lewis is frequently cited at Camera-wiki. In the specific context of Beauty cameras, the claimed bankruptcy of Taiyodo Koki comes from Lewis page 104. However, if you search Camera-wiki for "bankrupt", the vast majority of results also reference Lewis's page 104. I can therefore only assume that page 104 isn't much more than a list of lost manufacturers and lacking in detail, and like Sugiyama and McKeown's, it may contain errors!
Again, according to Camera-wiki, this book comprises sixteen chapters, each originating from an article by several authors, and supersedes a 1984 exhibition catalogue from the International Museum of Photography called, "the Evolution of the Japanese Camera". Elsewhere, this book is claimed to be a translation of an earlier publication - "Nihon Kamera No Rekishi" (which translates as "Japan Camera History").

 

The Evolution of the Japanese Camera (Philip Condax, etc)
Published: 1984

This is a book I do own (it retails for £12 upwards, plus £5 upwards for shipping) *. It's a potted history of the major Japanese brands, and key stages in the evolution of camera technology.

It contains just a single reference to Beauty cameras, and records that Tomioka "developed a triplet called "Tri-Lausar" for cameras like ... the Beautycord S". 

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Camera Collectors' News (CCN)

 

Camera Collectors' News (カメラコレクターズニュース) was a Japanese monthly magazine published from 1977 to 2007. Its content was mainly devoted to lesser known Japanese cameras from the 1920s to the 1960s, and so it covered items rarely featured in other publications. Although the periodical had an English title, its content is entirely in Japanese. Between September 2004 and March 2005, CCN ran a series of articles on Beauty cameras (issues 327, 328, 329, 330 & 333). Obviously I don't have copies of these either, but other issues are available to view($) (or purchase) on the Internet (search using the Japanese characters shown above for other sources). 

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History of domestic cameras as seen in advertisements from Showa 10 to 40 (昭和10〜40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史 / Kokusan kamera no rekishi)

 

Obviously this is a Japanese book (by Ars Camera), which I've seen advertised for sale on various Japanese auction sites (albeit long after the item has sold).  Fortunately one such listing randomly included a page of Taiyodo Koki advertisements (2x Beautyflex Ds, a Beautyflex S, Super 35 (which can be viewed here), and 2x Canters. It looks like it might be a decent book, but getting hold of one outside of Japan is tricky. At the time of writing (July 2023), the typical selling price is around £25.00 (plus shipping), which makes it relatively inexpensive. But then again, citations on Camera-wiki would suggest there are just two pages for Taiyodo Koki, so that makes it kind-of expensive.

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* All prices quoted are from Abebooks.co.uk, and correct as of Christmas 2021.