Instructions, manuals, brochures and catalogues
If you buy a used microscope, it probably won’t be supplied with an instruction manual, and most manufacturers don’t keep copies of manuals for discontinued microscopes. Fortunately, there are several websites where enthusiasts have collected PDFs of manuals that you can download. There are also some catalogues to help you identify those desirable accessories, and even a few repair manuals.
We add new sites as and when we discover them, so if you know of one that you think should be included, please contact the Webmaster. Also contact us please if you find a broken link – sites do change their web addresses and it is often difficult to keep track of these changes – you might spot it first.
Please read the disclaimer before using these links.
American Optical (AO)
Bausch & Lomb
Beck
Cooke, Troughton & Simms (CTS)
Leica & Leitz
- Classic Optics
- DC Imaging
- Frank’s Hospital Workshop
- Gordon Couger
- Greg McHone
- Leitz microscopy catalogs and manuals
- Ronald Schulte
- Steve Gill
Lomo
- Gordon Couger
- Microscopy UK
- Microskopfreunde-Nordhessen (mostly German)
McArthur
Meiji
Nikon
Olympus
- Alan Wood
- Christian Linkenheld (mostly German)
- Classic Optics
- Frank’s Hospital Workshop
- Gordon Couger
- Greg McHone
Reichert
Smith-Baker
Spencer
Swift
Unitron
Vickers
Watson
Wild
Zeiss
In addition to the above collections of manuals, there are lots of websites with just one or two manuals, so it is always worth using Google or other search engines to try and locate that missing manual.