Hermann Linde the Elder

Hermann Linde (7 October 1831, Crossen an der Oder – 11 December 1918, Lübeck) was a German pharmacist and early photographer.

In 1853, after six years of wandering throughout Germany, he settled in Lübeck and became an assistant in the pharmacy operated by Franz Friedrich Kindt [de], a well known naturalist.

In 1859, he became a member of the Freemasons lodge, "Zum Füllhorn" (cornucopia) and, in 1880, succeeded the politician, Heinrich Gustav Pitt [de] as its Grand Master; holding that office until 1889.

It was made out of cardboard, with a magnifying glass, and he prepared the collodion himself, using ammonium iodide and ammoniuam bromide.

In 1855, he and David Eichmann, a student of Joseph Wilhelm Pero [de], opened a photographic studio they called the "Photographisches Institut".