Book Review: Ferrari By Mailander

Ferrari by Mailander
By Karl Ludvigsen
All photos courtesy of Dalton Watson Fine Books Deerfield IL.

Hardbound, 383 pages, 500 B&W photos, $125 USD

This review was original published in 2005.

Click here to order

Review by Pete Vack

By producing “Ferrari By Mailander”, seemingly a cost-no-object book, Glyn Morris at Dalton Watson Fine Books has gone out on a literary limb for Ferrari enthusiasts. Morris, author Karl Ludvigsen and photographer Mailander are betting that their target audience is astute enough to appreciate great photography, outstanding layout, superb photo selection and are willing enough to chuck out $125 USD for the privilege of ownership.

There are few better deals out there. A buck twenty five doesn’t buy much today. You can, however, buy FBM, a multiple picture frame that presents art, history, and an era never to come again in a package that’s worthy of Vermeer paintings. And we are betting you won’t regret it.

Despite the fact that we took particular care in selecting and sharpening the images seen in this review, they are not in any way representative of what you’ll encounter in the actual pages of the book. FBM is a moveable fine art museum of early Ferrari history, and that is why good books are still doing well in the age of Internet websites. This is an important book, and one of the best from the Ludvigsen Library. Rodolfo Mailander’s epic collection covers only the years from 1950 to 1955. But these were the years that forged Ferrari’s name and reputation, and any new work involving that formative era is heartily welcome.

Mailander’s excellent photos are reproduced from incredibly well-kept negatives. Says Ludvigsen, “We have held [the negatives] since the 1960s in Rudy’s original envelopes. A few of the prints are Rudy’s. By far the majority are by Britain’s Norman Kent, one of the country’s leading fine-arts photographic printers.”

Ludvigsen, a long time friend of Mailander’s, was responsible for the photo selection. Ludvigsen purchased the collection in the early 1970s and today it constitutes the core holdings of the Ludvigsen Library in England.

A large format (240mm by 330mm) is well used to make each image as big as possible, and then printed on 150 gsm Matt Art paper. The layout design is credited to Simon Loxley, who does justice to the subjects. The cars, the people, the venues simply jump right off the pages and bring to life an wonderful bygone era. Finally, or perhaps firstly, the work is encased in a beautiful and bulletproof jacket.

Ferrari historians won’t learn a great deal from the text, checked by Jim Sitz and VT contributor Michael T. Lynch. Nuggets are in there, though. In late 1954, Mailander was summoned to Maranello to photograph a Ferrari. Later, it was determined to be the only proof of the existence of the mysterious six cylinder 376S, developed from the four cylinder 750 Monza. According to Ludvigsen, all the 376 S models were converted into 735LMs.

The captions are apparently a combination of Mailander’s recollections and Ludvigsen’s wording. Each year is preceded by a brief review of Ferrari accomplishments researched and written by Ludvigsen. The text is informative and relevant, but overshadowed by the size and quality of the photos. One of the few negative results is that many photos are full bleed across two pages, but interrupted by a very heavy binding. As Lynch commented, “The photos were so compelling that the impulse to make them bigger was overwhelming.”

While there are plenty of action shots, Mailander was even more at home with the people, who always responded to his camera. And so it is that one of the most impressive shots adorns the inside cover. Not identified in the book, the photo was taken at the old Modena airport in 1950-51, a ¾ view of a Ferrari 166F2 is being warmed up. There is a mechanic positioned at three of the wheels of the car, each paying attention to something outside the frame of the photo. In the car is Onofre Marimon, proudly beaming for the camera. Marimon, recently arrived from the Argentine, was a brilliant newcomer who died at the 1954 Nurburgring. Not printed on the Matt paper, it nevertheless beckons one to see what else is in store.

Inside, we see rarely used photos of the women in the pits, background scenes and human interest angles, all perfectly captured by Mailander’s highly sensitive eye. Alberto Ascari’s wife Mietta is captured standing on the pit counter, dressed to the nines, her expression hidden behind dark glasses. Long dresses, earrings, pearl necklaces, high heels were the norm, despite the dirt, noise, and discomfort of the pits.

Ascari himself makes a vivid portrait of grim concentration a few pages later. In one of many photos of Enzo Ferrari, the Commendatore dominates the diminutive Vittorio Stanguellini, who despite his small stature, had, according to the caption, “a beautiful wife.”

While we do not claim to have the largest selection of Ferrari books in our modest library, Ferrari by Mailander is certainly the best photojournalism book we have ever seen. There are three other books with similar credentials that come to mind. Klemantaski on Ferrari, and Ferrari, 1947-1953. Marzotto’s The Red Arrows is also well done, with many great images by Sorlini. But in terms of photography and reproduction quality, there is little comparison. The great Klemantaski comes close and his work was suitably framed by the editors at Automobilia (by way of Peter Sachs). And to be fair, Ferrari 1947-1953 which bursts with photos from the collection of Zagari, Millanta, Testi and Bertocchi, is a history (in Italian) rather than a photo journalist essay, and little attention was given to the paper quality or photo reproduction.

Rodolfo Mailander was born in Milan; his parents were of German origin. The name “Mailander” means “a person from Milan”. As a youth, he spent much of his time between Paris, Stuttgart and Milan, learning several languages in the process. Being fluent in German, French and Italian was to be key to his success as a racing photographer and journalist. After the war, he bought a Leica with three Zeiss lenses, the standard 50 mm, a 90mm and the long lense was a 135mm!! He began reporting on the German industry for Giovanni Canestrini, then editor of L’Automobile. By 1950 he was reporting races, starting with Monte Carlo. Suddenly he was sending material to Automobil Revue, Automobile Year, Autocourse and The Autocar. Most US enthusiasts first noted his work in Auto magazine, published by Petersen. Mailander was a busy guy, as after the war there were races every weekend. “I went from one race event to the next, often traveling by night….Everyone was champing (sic) at the bit to make up for lost time.”

At the height of his fame as a photo/journalist, Mailander went to work for Daimler Benz in the press office, helping improve relations with foreign journalists. He got married, and sold his Leica. The book ends at this point, late in 1955. Mailander then went to work for Fiat in Turin, and never again used his immense skills as a photographer.

The collection includes a large number of photographs of street Ferraris and sports racing cars. Ferrari expert (and also a VeloceToday contributor) Marcel Massini identified each by serial number. This data appears at the back of the book. While we are very glad it is there, we feel that serial number information would have been more appropriate in the captions themselves. The F1 and F2 cars, however, were not identified by serial number. According to Massini, “The F1 cars are impossible to identify. Those early cars were modified every single day and in most (not all) cases it is impossible to identify with certainty. I didn’t want to take to risk of supplying serial numbers and have too many wrong. That’s why we decided to do only the sports cars.”

Also included is a very helpful index of cars and personalities.We can heartily agree with Michael Lynch, who has reviewed (and panned) the best of the Ferrari books for Cavallino. “Mailander was certainly at the right place at the right time with the proper equipment. This is one book I’ll pull out again and again and sit in the big chair with a glass of wine when I look at it.”