There are some, but unfortunately for most of the people reading this page, many of them are in German rather than English.
Kim Field's excellent book "Harmonicas, Harps and Heavy Breathers" has some information about the history of the harmonica (some of it not totally accurate, unfortunately), a few photos of old harmonicas and lots of other good stuff. Click here for more details from Amazon.com, or click here for more details from Amazon.co.uk.
"Made in Germany - Played in the USA", by Martin Häffner (curator of the Trossingen Harmonica Museum) and Christoph Wagner - gives a history of the Hohner harmonicas in the USA. It is in both German and English and has lots of pictures of tasty old harmonicas.
"Harmonicas - Die Geshichte der Branche in Bildern und Texten", by Martin Häffner, looks at the history of the Hohner company. As you may have guessed, it is in German, but still has lots of pictures of cool old harps.
"Der Harmonikamotiv in Kunst und Alltag", yet again by Martin Häffner, also in German. It gives a good overview of how images of the harmonica and accordion have been used in art, advertising, cartoons, etc. over the years. Available from Hohner, or from the Trossingen Harmonica Museum.
The book "Die Mundharmonika - ein Musicalischer Globetrotter", edited by Christoph Wagner, takes a world-wide view of the harmonica and has a few pictures of old harps. You may be able to order this by its ISBN: 3-88747-110-5.
Hohner have issued several books themselves over the years. Probably the most interesting was "Hundert Jahre Hohner 1857-1957". It was published to celebrate their centennial, but copies of this book can still be found in German antiquarian book stores, many of which have web sites.
Just for the sake of variety, here's a book in French rather than German: "Le Livre De L'Harmonica" by Albert Raisner. This has a small section on the history of the harmonica and a somewhat larger section on French harmonica groups and trios of the 1950s. Published in 1961, this is another one that may be found in European antiquarian book stores.
All the above have a strong bias in favour of Hohner and the other brands they bought out, but "A Band In A Waistcoat Pocket", by Ray Grieve, looks at the history of the harmonica in Australia and New Zealand and features quite a bit about the various Boomerang brand harps (like the one Charlie Musselwhite holds on his "Ace of Harps" album cover - see FFAQ12). Click here for more details from Amazon.com, or click here for more details from Amazon.co.uk.
Hot off the presses is a new book by Martin Häffner and Lars Lindenmüller, called "Harmonica Makers of Germany and Austria; History and Trademarks of Hohner and their Many Competitors". Produced with the support of American-based historians and collectors Alan Bates, Rick Neilsen and Harland Crain, it starts with an overview of the harmonica manufacturing business, then follows with more detailed chapters on individual makers - from the big names of Hohner, Seydel, Koch and Thie, to such lesser known names as Irion, Eisen and Bufe. The appendix shows the various trademarks used by harmonica producers and gives a list of more than 250 European harmonica manufacturers with brief details of each one, including dates and locations. A unique book which belongs on the shelf of every serious harmonica collector. It is available in the US through Harmonica Collectors International (see link below). There is also a German language edition, entitled "Hohner, Seydel, Köstler, Koch und die Vielen Andren Noch", available from the Trossingen Harmonica Museum.
Despite its title, "Reference Book on Harmonicas" by Alfred Mirek focuses mostly on the accordion ("harmonika" is most often used in Russia and many European countries to denote the accordion - see FFAQ2), but does contain a few line drawings of early harmonicas and other free reed instruments, with accompanying text in both Russian and English. It is available from House of Musical Traditions.
"Der Musikwinkel und die Harmonika", by Kurt Kauert is based around a doctoral dissertation written in 1969 about the history of musical instrument making in the Klingenthal area, centre of the German harmonica and accordion industry. Profusely illustrated with many historical photographs of instruments, musicians, factories, advertising materials and people involved in the industry. Companies based in this area included Meinel, Schunk, Essbach, Seydel, Schlott, Ludwig, Böhm and many others and Dr. Kauert's book is a valuable resource for those interested in the history of harmonica production - providing they can read German, or are happy just to look at the pictures! Published by Reihe Weiss-Grün, ISBN - 3-931770-28-1.
Finally, if you are interested in old harmonicas, you should join Harmonica Collectors International. They issue a magazine called The Trumpet Call, which has lots of information and pictures of old harmonicas and related instruments, reprints of old catalogs, classified ads of collectible harps for sale, etc., etc.
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