The medical doctor Paul Wolff (1887-1951) began his photographic career in Frankfurt am Main during the Weimar Republic. In time he became one of the most important representatives of the small-format Leica camera, whose functions he conveyed to the amateur in his many iconic photographic manuals. Together with his business partner Alfred Tritschler (1905-70) Wolff established one of the largest photo studios in Germany; through the wide dissemination of their pictures they left a lasting impact on the history of the German photobook.

Manfred Heiting has been a collector, curator, designer and editor of photography and photo publications since the 1970s. Books edited and designed by Heiting at Steidl include Autopsie, German-language Photobooks, 1918-1945 (2012 and 2014, together with Roland Jaeger), The Soviet Photobook, 1920-1941 (2015), The Japanese Photobook, 1912-1990 (2017) and Czech and Slovak Photo Publications, 1918-1989 (2018). He is also planning The Dutch Photobook, 1918-1990.

Born in 1987, Kristina Lemke studied art history and German literature in Marburg and Mainz. Her dissertation explores the continuities and tendencies in Paul Wolff's work. Lemke works as a curator and researcher in the photographic department of the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, and has contributed to the exhibitions Lichtbilder (2014), Geschlechterkampf (2017) and Lotte Laserstein (2018).