Catalog 2 – Evans, Frank & Friedlander

This is my second catalog. The first one, “Miscellaneous,” included a general selection from my existing stock. This one commences my more focused listings, and features three of America’s kingpin photographers from the twentieth century: Walker Evans, Robert Frank, and Lee Friedlander. Closely associated in subject and sensibility, they represent three generations of street photographers and are among my personal favorites. Within the section on each photographer, the books are arranged chronologically, except for subsequent editions of the same title, which follow the first. I am happy to send images of the original photographs or other items, upon request.

I expect my next catalog to address pictorial photography, that first movement of artistic photography, which started in the late nineteenth century and continued into the 1950s. Naturally, I am always interested in hearing about specific books, photographers, or topics that you are seeking, and also any items you may wish to sell.

 

WALKER EVANS (1903-1975)

 

  1. EVANS. Carleton Beals, The Crime of Cuba, Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1933. Hardcover (silver-stamped black cloth), 9 x 6 inches, 506 pages, 31 halftone illustrations. Stated second printing.

Beals’s exposé on Cuba’s struggles for independence; the tangled relationship between its government, American financiers, and the U. S. State Department, plus the life of everyday Cubans of all classes. Evans, on his first major commission, focuses on the street life of vendors, families, laborers, and newsboys. But for punch, he throws in a few newspaper photographs of fatal victims of political violence. Missing the rare dustjacket, light rubbing to covers and top and bottom of spine, and tape residue on the title and copyright pages. $125

 

  1. EVANS. “The Communist Party,” Fortune, September 1934, pages 69-74 and 154-162, one halftone and 6 gravure illustrations.

This was Evans’s first contribution to Fortune, over a decade before he became a staff photographer for the magazine. It comprises images of American Communists camping, swimming, and eating, individually and in groups. Spine is browned and wracked, and the cover edges show light wear. Entire issue: $35

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans, American Photographs, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1938. Hardcover (black cloth with printed label on spine),

9 x 8 inches, 204 pages, 87 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

Evans’s masterpiece and one of the most important photography books of the twentieth century. The first of two sections references the photographic medium by beginning with pictures of two photographers’ studios. It then proceeds to emphasize people, such as visitors to Coney Island, tenant farmers, children, and workers. The second section, nearly bereft of people, reads like a catalog of vernacular architecture, one of Evans’s dearest subjects, with the buildings often approached in his formal, frontal manner. Lincoln Kirstein provides the afterword for what was the “catalog” of the first one-man show of photographs at the Museum of Modern Art, printed in an edition of 5,000. Minor wear to the tips and top and bottom of spine, water damage to the top of the back cover and wrinkling to the pages in the second half of the book; the dustjacket is missing small pieces at the tips and top and bottom of darkened spine and blackened along top of the back, but professional conservation of the jacket makes it look better than it sounds here. $500

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans, American Photographs, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1938. Hardcover (black cloth with printed label on spine),

9 x 8 inches, 204 pages, 87 halftone illustrations.

Same as the above, but without the dustjacket and not water damaged. Errata slip pasted in. Previous owner’s stamp on the front free-end paper, light foxing to the first few and last few blank pages, the covers have light scratches and light wear to the tips and top and bottom of the spine, with the spine label darkened and a little worn at two corners. $750

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans, American Photographs, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1962. Hardcover (gold-stamped black cloth), 9 x 8 inches, 196 pages, 87 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

This is the first reprint of American Photographs, issued because of increased interest in the long out-of-print original. The same printing plates were used for the illustrations but the book’s 1962 date, confusingly, does not appear in it. The major changes were an added foreword by Monroe Wheeler, captions appearing opposite the images (rather than listed separately), and a different dustjacket, with an image on the front (unlike the first that featured text only). Printed in an edi-tion of 4,000. Previous owner’s signature on front free-end paper, cloth rubbed, tops of pages spotted, dustjacket rubbed, chipped, and torn in a few places. $350

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans, American Photographs, New York: East River Press, 1975. Softcover, 8 ¾ x 8 inches, 192 pages, 87 halftone illustrations.

This third edition of the title appeared in the year of Evans’s death and after the book had gone out of copyright. It is the most pedestrian of them, due to it being issued in softcover and the illustrations being mere reproductions from a copy of the original book. A few minor nicks to cover edge and original price marked over. $75

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans, American Photographs, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1988. Hardcover (blind-stamped black cloth), 9 x 8 inches, 206 pages, 87 duotone illustrations, dustjacket.

This fiftieth-anniversary edition of the book most closely replicates the original and provides the highest quality illustrations, as duotones that are much better than the single-impression letterpress reproductions of the first. Includes an essay by MOMA curator Peter Galassi that details the differences in the four editions (all offered here). Near fine condition. $75

 

  1. EVANS. James Agee and Walker Evans, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1941. Hardcover (silver-stamped black cloth), 8 ½ x 6 inches, 472 pages, 31 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

This was a defining book for Evans, Agee, and the Great Depression. The writer and photographer were originally commissioned by Fortune to document poor Southern sharecroppers, but the magazine never ran the project. Published a few years later as this book, it received good reviews but sold only about 600 copies, as the general public wished to forget about the previous decade’s economic woes. Agee’s extensive text is often in the hard-to-read stream-of-consciousness mode. Evans’s photographs, on the other hand, are sharp and searing. Notably, his portfolio of images is placed even before the title page, signifying its importance beyond merely illustrating the text. The pictures essay three main families, each group introduced by a portrait of the husband/father. Includes the poignant portrait of Allie Mae Burroughs, tight-lipped, modestly dressed, and backed by raw clapboard siding. The cloth is rubbed and lightly worn at the tips and top and bottom of spine, while the dustjacket is faded on the spine, with a three-inch split, chipped, and missing small portions at the top and bottom of spine, with owner’s inscription and signature on the front free-end paper. $3,500

 

  1. EVANS. James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960. Hardcover (silver-stamped black cloth), 8 ½ x 6 inches, 472 pages, 62 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

This is the first reprint and most common edition of the above, produced after Agee had won the Pulitzer Prize. It features twice as many pictures by Evans, with better halftones, most of the added ones being additional Southern subjects like vernacular architecture, unrelated to the three sharecropper families emphasized in the first edition. The dustjacket was redesigned, dropping the photographic background of the original for plain gray, and with portraits of Agee and Evans on the back. Light edgewear to the spine and bottom tips, the dustjacket is lightly soiled, darkened, and worn along the edges, with previous owner’s signature on the front free-end paper. $50

 

  1. EVANS. James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960. Hardcover (silver-stamped black cloth), 8 ½ x 6 inches, 472 pages, 62 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated third printing.

This is the third printing of the 1960 reissue. The top of the paper edges have light spotting, the price-clipped dustjacket is darkened and lightly edge worn and torn. $35

 

  1. EVANS. James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, New York: Ballantine Books, 1966. Softcover, 7 x 4 ¼ inches, 428 pages, 62 halftone illustrations.

Appealing to the growing audience for the book, this appears to be the initial paperback edition of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, as it states: “First Printing: April, 1966.” It is reduced in size, the text appears on newsprint (now yellowed), and the illustrations are quite muddy. Two small spots on the creased spine, with rubbed and creased covers. $25

 

  1. EVANS. James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969. Hardcover (silver-stamped black cloth), 8 ½ x 6 inches, 472 pages, 62 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

Yet another edition of the 1960 hardcover reissue. It seems to be identical except for the 1969 copyright renewal notice. Near fine in a dustjacket that has a few marks and scratches. $35

 

  1. EVANS. Karl A. Bickel, The Mangrove Coast, New York: Coward-McCann, 1942. Hardcover (blue cloth with printed labels on spine and front cover), 8 ¾ x 6 inches, 344 pages, 32 halftone illustrations.

Newspaperman Bickel tells the story of the West Coast of Florida—its history, wildlife, cities, landscape, and inhabitants. Evans’s photographs are relegated to the tail end of the book and given minimal captions. It represents one of his less-inspired projects, perhaps because he was never a landscape photographer. He is at his best in an auto graveyard and at a postcard rack, where his unique take on Americana remains on display. Lacking the dustjacket, with slight darkening along the spine. $250

 

  1. EVANS. “Collins Company, Collinsville, Connecticut,” Fortune, January 1946, pages 110-115 and 193-194, one halftone and 7 gravure illustrations (some in color).

Covers a company in a small town near Hartford that specializes in making machetes for export to Latin America. Evans photographed the Collins Company’s buildings, workers, and executives. Among the over dozen machetes displayed, in catalog fashion, are those used on coffee, rubber, sugar-cane, and banana plantations, in Mexico, Columbia, and other countries. Spine lightly wracked, with a few small creases to the back cover. Entire issue: $35

 

  1. EVANS. “Labor Anonymous,” Fortune, November 1946, pages 152-153, eleven gravure illustrations.

Evans stationed himself in downtown Detroit, where he took photographs of people striding past him on the street, against a plain background. His subjects were largely men in worker’s clothes who were unaware of his camera. Also included are one man in a tie smoking a cigar and a young couple in slightly better attire. Covers lightly browned, one corner and bottom of spine bumped and torn. Entire issue: $35

 

  1. EVANS. “One-Newspaper Town,” Fortune, August 1947, pages 102-107 and 133-139, eleven gravure illustrations.

This article features Paducah, Kentucky, and its Sun Democrat. Evans provides portraits of the father/son owners, but succeeds best at showing the town’s downtown streets, with pedestrians and signage (one of his favorite subjects). Wracked spine, with the top and bottom bumped. Entire issue: $35

 

  1. EVANS. “Is the Market Right?” Fortune, March 1948, pages 77-83 and 193-196, two halftone and 8 gravure illustrations.

The text examines the slump on Wall Street, despite booming business. Evans provides images primarily of facades along the street, some with strong shadow areas and dramatic lighting. The smallest and most poetic of them depicts Trinity Church in the distance, beyond the statue of George Washington in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Spine loose, wrinkled and slightly torn. Entire issue: $35

 

  1. EVANS. “Summer North of Boston,” Fortune, August 1949, pages 74-79, one color halftone and 5 gravure illustrations.

Evans provides images of New England resort hotels in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, his subjects are massive, sprawling, pretentious, and overwrought. Back cover rubbed, front cover with small tear and a 2-x-2 inch piece missing, previous owner’s blind stamp internally. Entire issue: $35

 

  1. EVANS. “The Wreckers,” Fortune, May 1951, pages 102-105, seven halftone illustrations (most in color).

Evans both writes about and photographs New York buildings being demolished and those who do the work, although the architecture dominates in the pictures. He lovingly shows details such as a staircase and a wall-papered wall. Identified subjects include the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and the old Fulton Fish Market. Wracked spine and minor edgewear. Entire issue: $35

 

  1. EVANS. Paul Radin, editor, African Folktales and Sculpture, New York: Pantheon Books and Bollingen Foundation, 1952. Hardcover (black and gold-stamped black and cream cloth), 12 ¼ x 9 ½ inches, 356 pages, 165 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

This substantial volume offers a representative collection of over seventy-five African myths and folktales, along with photographs of “African Negro Sculpture,” with an introduction by James Johnson Sweeney. The objects pictured include mostly wooden masks and figures, but also other items in bronze, ivory, and stone. Man Ray provided one picture and Eliot Elisofon many, but the vast majority (around 100 of the 165) are by Evans. All of the photographs are straightforward documents, but the best of them make effective use of lighting and positioning. Evans’s efforts were considered so successful that in 2000 the Metropolitan Museum of Art mounted an exhibition of them titled “Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art, 1935” (with an accompanying catalog). Light foxing to the cloth, the price-clipped dustjacket has minor edgewear and loss to top of spine. $75

 

  1. EVANS. “America’s Heritage of Great Architecture is Doomed,” Life, July 5, 1963, pages 52-60, fourteen halftone illustrations.

The text (by an unnamed writer) and photographs cover a railroad station, meeting house, hotel, mint, row houses, mansions, and examples of vernacular architecture. Prominent is New York’s Pennsylvania Station (by McKim, Mead & White), represented by five images taken just a few months before its demolition began. Other notable pictures by Evans include variants of his well-known photographs of the Tuscaloosa (Alabama) Wrecking Company, originally an Italian-style villa, and the United States Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York, with its 655-foot façade and veranda. Fold and light edge wear to covers, with mailing label. Entire issue: $35

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans, Many Are Called, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966. Hardcover (white-stamped black cloth), 8 ¾ x 7 ¼ inches, 178 pages, 89 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first printing.

Evans’s coherent set of subway photographs made surreptitiously between 1938 and 1941, with Helen Levitt often sitting next to him. James Agee, who famously collaborated with Evans on their book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, wrote the introduction used here in 1940, but died a decade before this book came out. Evans’s intimate pictures, completely devoid of captions, show his unsuspecting subjects sitting directly across the aisle from him, neatly framed by windows and bits of signage. Erratum slip pasted in. The cloth has some minor scuffing to the back, the dustjacket is edgeworn, torn, and taped. $750

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans. Many Are Called, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966. Softcover, 8 ½ x 7 inches, 178 pages, 89 halftone illustrations. Stated first printing.

Same as above, but softcover. Covers are rubbed, scratched, edgeworn, and chipped. $125

 

  1. EVANS. John A. Kouwenhoven, Partners in Banking: An Historical Portrait of a Great Private Bank: Brown Brothers Harriman and Co., 1818-1968, Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1968. Hardcover (gold-stamped blue cloth), 11 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches, 248 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated second printing.

While the majority of the book comprises Kouwenhoven’s text and historical photographs, Evans gets his due in the epilogue, “Bankers, and Evans, and Chance,” made up of his 55 images, selected from a much larger number pro-duced on commission by the bank. Generally, they show bank employees at work, but a few are typical Evans studies of the vernacular. Light wear to bottom of spine, light spotting to page edges, and mild foxing to 2 interior blank pages. $35

 

  1. EVANS. John Szarkowski, Walker Evans, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1971. Hardcover (gray-stamped gray cloth), 10 ¼ x 9 ½ inches, 192 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

This book accompanied the rediscovery exhibition of Evans, a few years before his death in 1975. It includes curator Szarkowski’s short but insightful essay and images from 1929 to 1970. Wisely, about half of the photographs date from the mid-1930s when Evans was working for the government’s Farm Security Administration and experiencing an artistic hot streak that he never subsequently matched. Dustjacket with light edgewear, a one-inch tear, and marks on the back. $35

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans: 14 Photographs, New Haven, Connecticut: Ives-Sillman, 1971. Softcover, 8 ½ x 6 inches, 16 pages, 14 halftone illustrations, with ephemera.

This is the prospectus for a portfolio of the same name of a group of photographs by Evans, dating between 1931 and 1936. The prints were contact printed from the original negatives, archivally processed, mounted, and signed by the artist, in an edition of 100. Includes technical information about the production of the prints and a loose sheet that states, “The 14 images were chosen to define the originative quality of the artist’s vision.” The portfolio price: $1,200. Light paper clip impression to the top of the covers and pages. $25

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans, Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1971. Softcover, 8 ½ x 6 inches, 16 pages, 14 halftone illustrations.

Catalog for an exhibition of 202 photographs by Evans at the Museum of Fine Arts. Curiously, it includes some of the text from the above, about the Ives-Sillman portfolio, and the illustrations are the same. $25

 

  1. EVANS. The Harvard Advocate, February 1972 (vol. 105), 60 pages, 10 halftone illustrations.

This is a commemorative issue devoted completely to James Agee, Evans’s collaborator on their 1941 book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. In addition to the many articles on Agee, there is a short one on Evans and one by him titled, “James Agee in 1936.” Evans also contributed six illustrations (five from 1936 Alabama) and the cover portrait of Agee, made on Long Island Beach in 1937. The front cover has light rubbing, a few small spots and a faint ring mark. $25

 

  1. EVANS. Jerald C. Maddox, Walker Evans: Photographs from the Farm Security Administration, 1935-1938, New York: Da Capo Press, 1973. Softcover, 10 ¼ x 7 ½ inches, unpaginated, 488 halftone illustrations.

This important early reference book reproduces the nearly five hundred negatives held by the Library of Congress that Evans made while working for the government during the Great Depression. Most of them hail from the Deep South, such as New Orleans and Vicksburg, Mississippi, and include some of his most recognizable images. In addition to place and date, the images are identified by the Library’s reference numbers, making it easy for readers to order prints, as all the material was in the public domain. Near mint condition, in shrink wrap. $50

 

  1. EVANS. Carroll T. Hartwell, Walker Evans Press Conference at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1974. Folder with papers, 12 x 9 inches. Signed by author.

A few years after New York’s Museum of Modern Art presented its rediscovery exhibition of Evans in 1971, it traveled an eighty print version of the show. This item documents the fall 1974 stop at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It comprises an actual silver print showing photography curator Ted Hartwell standing in the gallery, a one-page biography of him, and a four-page description of the show and Evans’s work. Hartwell’s biography is signed by him. An unusual piece of Evans ephemera. Tiny edgewear to folder, inner papers are browned and have a paper-clip indentation. $35

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans: Photographs from the “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” Project, Austin: University of Texas, Humanities Research Center, 1974. Softcover, 7 x 10 inches, 20 pages, 10 halftone illustrations.

Small catalog for an exhibition of nearly 100 photographs made in the summer of 1936 in Hale County, Alabama, when Evans and James Agee were working on what became their book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Drawn from the university’s Agee collection (of mostly manuscripts), it comprises primarily pictures of the three sharecropper families the two spent time with—the Gudgers, Ricketts, and Woods. Texts provided by William Stott, Gary Winogrand (who taught photography at the university), and others. Light creases to back cover. $25

 

  1. EVANS. John Szarkowski, Walker Evans, Helsinki, Finland: Kluuvin Galleria, 1975. Softcover, 9 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 44 pages, unillustrated.

New York’s Museum of Modern Art traveled an eighty print version of its 1971 Evans show, and this catalog documents its fall 1975 presentation at a gallery in Helsinki. The text, all in Finnish, includes Szarkowski’s essay and the selected bibliography from the original MOMA book, plus a checklist of the eighty photographs in the exhibition. Though there are no reproductions inside, the front cover features Evans’s important image “Church Organ.” Definitely a rare Evans item here in the States; not in Kingston’s bibliography (see no. 55-56). Light edgewear to the covers, with creases and tape at the top and bottom of spine. $125

 

  1. EVANS. American Observed: Edward Hopper and Walker Evans, San Francisco: California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1976. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 16 pages, 16 halftone illustrations.

This is the catalog for a comparative exhibition of etchings by Hopper and photographs by Evans. Among their similar subjects were locomotives, people on park benches, abandoned urban buildings, and women in windows. Text is provided by Robert Flynn Johnson, curator at the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts. Covers lightly rubbed and edgeworn, with previous owner’s name on the back. $25

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans: Photographs, London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976. Softcover, 8 ¼ x 5 ¾ inches, 16 pages, 7 halftone illustrations.

This is the small catalog for an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, in Oxford, England. Includes an introduction by Valerie Lloyd and a checklist of eighty prints, most of them from the collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The frontispiece is a portrait of Evans at age seventy, with a white beard. Near fine condition. $25

 

  1. EVANS. Lesley K. Baier, Walker Evans at “Fortune:” 1945-1965, Wellesley, Massachusetts: Wellesley College Museum, 1977. Softcover,

8 ½ x 11 inches, 64 pages, 31 halftone illustrations.

An early scholarly investigation on the defined period during which Evans wrote and photographed for Fortune, with great freedom. Despite the magazine’s prime audience of businessmen looking to the future, Evans nostalgically focused on small towns, old practices, and everyday workers. Perhaps his most memorable images were those made for his 1955 picture story “Beauties of the Common Tool,” which presented such objects as a crescent wrench isolated against a seamless background, in elegant simplicity. Near fine condition. $35

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans: I, Washington, D.C.: Lunn Gallery/Graphics International Ltd., 1977. Softcover, 9 x 6 inches, 16 pages, 15 halftone illustrations.

This is the prospectus for a posthumous portfolio of Evans photographs published by the Lunn Gallery. Two printers who had worked with Evans before his death made the prints, which had the Evans estate seal embossed on their mounts. Among the images, all illustrated, are those of the Brooklyn Bridge (1929), Berenice Abbott (1931), Cuba (1932), an Alabama church interior (1936), the New York subway (1938), and Robert Frank’s stove (1971). Light rubbing to covers. $25

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans: A Retrospective Exhibition from the Collection of Arnold H. Crane, Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1977. Poster, 21 x 25 ½ inches (folded to 11 x 8 ½), 2 halftone illustrations. With installation slides and a one-sided, unfolded example of the poster.

This self-mailing poster reproduces on one side a 1929 image by Evans of Coney Island from an elevated viewpoint that included hundreds of bathers in the water and on the beach. The other side features the same image smaller, plus text on Evans by collector Crane and a checklist of the approximately 200 photographs in the show. Accompanied by two sheets of 35mm color slides of the installation, two of them with Crane leaning on an exhibition case. Also present is a sheet of slides of the same show at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, where it was organized by curator Carroll T. Hartwell and first shown. $25

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans, New York: Sidney Janis Gallery, 1978. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 24 pages, 29 halftone illustrations.

This is the catalog for the           same show as above, drawn from the collection of Chicago attorney Arnold H. Crane. In addition to the reproductions, it includes a different text by Crane and a checklist of 236 photographs. Light rubbing and indentations to the covers. $35

 

  1. EVANS. The Presence of Walker Evans, Boston: Institute of Contemporary Art, 1978. Softcover, 11 x 8 inches, 28 pages, 14 halftone illustrations (some in color).

Exhibition catalog for an intelligent show that featured work by Diane Arbus, William Christenberry, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Helen Levitt, Alston Purvis, John Szarkowski, and Jerry Thompson. Each gets one reproduction, while Evans is represented by five images. Includes the title essay by Isabelle Storey and “The Artist of the Real” by Alan Trachtenberg. Near fine condition. $35  

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans: First and Last, New York: Harper & Row, 1978. Hardcover (gray and blind-stamped gray cloth), 12 x 11 ¾ inches, 204 pages, 219 duotone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.

A large-format book, giving Evans’s sharp and authoritative images ample scale and surrounding white space, printed in high quality 300-line duotone. The text is a mere one-paragraph publisher’s note that states “this book maps the creative range of a great American artist,” and that its images were “chosen from more than 20,000 negatives and span forty-five years of continuous activity.” Remainder mark on top page edges, in a lightly edgeworn dustjacket with a few scratches and tears. $150

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans, Rolandseck, Germany: Bahnhof Rolandseck, 1978. Softcover, 10 x 7 ¼ inches, 20 pages, 20 halftone illustrations.

Exhibition catalog with reproductions primarily from his peak 1930s work for the Farm Security Administration. The essay is by German scholar Volker Kahmen. Near fine condition. $25

 

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans, Millerton, New York: Aperture, 1979. Hardcover (printed paper over boards), 8 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches, 96 pages, 43 halftone illustrations.

Part of the Aperture History of Photography Series, all issued without dustjackets, this book includes a short essay by Lloyd Fonvielle, a brief chronology, and a selected bibliography. While the illustrations include early work from the late 1920s, about half of them are F. S. A. photographs from 1935 and 1936. Small nick to spine and a little rubbing to the cover. $35

 

  1. EVANS. Tod Papageorge, Walker Evans and Robert Frank: An Essay on Influence, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Art Gallery, 1981. Softcover, 9 x 9 ½ inches, 62 pages, 50 halftone illustrations.

This catalog for an exhibition of the same name at Yale was a logical undertaking, given the connections between the two photographers. But it was controversial at the time, due, in part, to Papageorge (a street photographer in his own right) pairing specific images by each photographer, sometimes based largely on formal qualities. Still, it’s an important examination. Perhaps, someone will follow up with an Evans/Frank/Friedlander project. Light rubbing and a shallow dent on the front cover. $35

 

  1. EVANS. Jerry L. Thompson, Walker Evans at Work, New York: Harper & Row, 1982. Hardcover (silver-stamped gray cloth), 10 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches, 240 pages, 745 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.

Excerpts from writings by Evans and multiple shots of the same subject reveal the photographer’s thinking and working methods. The images, which cover his full career, include variants of such iconic images as the photographer’s display window (“Studio”) with photobooth-like portraits, seen on the book’s cover from a severely cropped negative. Dustjacket with miniscule edgewear, two small tears, and a small piece missing from the back. $75

 

  1. EVANS. Gilles Mora and John T. Hill, Walker Evans: Havana 1933, New York: Pantheon Books, 1989. Hardcover (gray-stamped gray paper over boards), 11 ¼ x 8 ½ inches, 112 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

This book investigates the concentrated body of Cuban work Evans made in 1933, shortly before he went to work for the F. S. A. It represents a commission for the book The Crime of Cuba by Carleton Beals, published the same year. Evans photographed primarily on Havana’s streets, capturing the human condition and built environment. This publication includes about three times the number of pictures that appeared in the original book. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $75

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans: Havana 1933, Toulouse, France: Galerie Municipale du Château d’Eau, 1990. Softcover, 8 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches, 24 pages, 21 halftone illustrations.

Catalog for an exhibition of Evans’s Cuban photographs, made in 1933 when he was hired to make photographs for Carleton Beals’s book The Crime of Cuba. The images are primarily of storefronts and people on the street. Includes a short text by Gilles Mora and a chronology. Near fine condition. $25

 

  1. EVANS. Sarah Greenough, Walker Evans: Subways and Streets, Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1991. Softcover, 10 x 10 ¾ inches, 132 pages, halftone illustrations.

While this exhibition catalog includes some early and late pictures by Evans, its core is a study of his New York City subway portraits, made between 1938 and 1941. Evans used a hidden camera to capture his subterranean subjects in difficult conditions of light and movement. Curator Greenough explains how his pictures did not see the light of day until years later when small samplings were reproduced in the Cambridge Review in 1956 and Harper’s Bazaar in 1962, and, more fully, in the 1966 book Many Are Called. Near mint condition, in shrink wrap. $75

 

  1. EVANS. Michael Brix and Birgit Mayer, editors, Walker Evans: America, New York: Rizzoli, 1991. Hardcover (gray-stamped gray paper over boards), 11 x 10 inches, unpaginated, 142 duotone illustrations, dustjacket.

Includes Brix’s essay “Walker Evans’s Photographs, 1928-1938: A Campaign Against Right-Thinking and Optimism” and Evans’s own “The Reappearance of Photography,” an altered version of a 1931 review he wrote about six photography books. The reproductions span work from the late 1920s to late 1940s. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $75

 

  1. EVANS. Jeff L. Rosenheim, Walker Evans and Jane Ninas in New Orleans, 1935-1936, Historic New Orleans Collection, 1991. Softcover,

9 x 12 inches, 24 pages, 50 halftone illustrations.

This exhibition catalog concerns both the artistic work and interpersonal relationship of Evans and the artist Jane Ninas. They met while Evans was photographing classical revival architecture in the South and married about five years later. In fact, Ninas helped Evans get inside the Belle Grove Plantation House, allowing him to make an image of its breakfast room, one of his most revered photographs. Much of Ninas’s work from their brief time together in New Orleans was destroyed, so less than ten of her pieces appear here, mostly oil paintings or crayon drawings of shacks and still lifes, primitively rendered. One corner lightly creased. $25

 

  1. EVANS. Gilles Mora and John R. Hill, Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1993. Hardcover (gray-stamped black cloth), 12 ¼ x 9 ¾ inches, 368 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket.

A substantial selection of work by Evans, covering his entire career. Presented in six chronological sections, from the early small abstractions of 1928 to the color Polaroid SX-70s of 1974. Includes a chronology and bibliography. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $55

 

  1. EVANS. Cynthia Rylant, Something Permanent, San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994. Hardcover (silver-stamped white cloth and black paper over boards), 9 ¼ x 7 ¼ inches, 64 pages, 40 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.

Rylant was inspired by specific F. S. A. photographs to pen short poems, which are paired with the appropriate images. Among her one-word titles are “Utensils” and “Studio,” which should bring to mind the Evans photographs she chose. The dustjacket proclaims: “The photographs of Walker Evans tell stories, stories of ordinary people living in America in the extraordinary time of the Great Depression. Poet Cynthia Rylant offers a new voice in this telling, a voice at once reverent and clear, celebrating the stark beauty of lives lived in extreme circumstances. Together the visions of photographer and writer culminate in a unique poetry—personal, universal, and impossible to forget.” Near fine condition. $35

 

  1. EVANS. Belinda Rathbone, Walker Evans: A Biography, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995. Hardcover (silver-stamped black cloth and black paper over boards), 9 ¼ x 6 ¼ inches, 358 pages, 46 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

For this first full biography of Evans, Rathbone interviewed hundreds of friends and colleagues, former wives, and dug into archives of his personal papers and professional work. The dustjacket flap states, “A man in love with Americana, Evans was a sensualist, a junk collector, a connoisseur, a wit, a perpetual weekend guest. Charismatic and seductive, he attracted many of the brightest talents of his day. He counted Hart Crane, James Agee, Lincoln Kirstein, Ben Shahn, and Berenice Abbott among his closest friends, and with them he reveled in the intellectual and sexual freedom that distinguished the New York art world during his lifetime.” In a nod to Evans’s and Agee’s 1941 book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, the portfolio of photographs also appears here first up—before the title page. Tiny wrinkles at bottom of dustjacket spine. $25

 

  1. EVANS. Belinda Rathbone, Walker Evans: A Biography, China: Zhejiang Photographic Press, 2000. Softcover, 9 ¼ x 6 ¾ inches, 198 pages, 25 halftone illustrations.

Though the Chinese are notorious for pirating books and other pieces of Western intellectual property, this one appears to be legitimate, as it gives copyright credit to Rathbone. It is apparently a full translation but reproduces fewer images, of a different selection. According to the inside flap, this is part of a series of biographies of Western photographers, some of the others being Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Edward Steichen. Near fine condition. $45

 

  1. EVANS. Judith Keller, Walker Evans: The Getty Museum Collection, Malibu, California: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1995. Hardcover (black and blind-stamped gray cloth), 11 ¼ x 9 ¾ inches, 410 pages, 30 color and 1,138 duotone illustrations, dustjacket.

Completely illustrates and details the nearly 1,200 photographs by Evans held by the Getty. They are organized in five chronological and project sections, beginning with 1926-1934 (New York, New England, and Cuba) and ending with 1958-1974 (Polaroids and other work). This in-depth book also includes illustrations for Evans’s wet stamps and labels, a list of his exhibitions, and a bibliography. Near fine condition. $95

 

  1. EVANS. Rodger Kingston, Walker Evans in Print: An Illustrated Bibliography, Belmont, Massachusetts: R. P. Kingston Photographs, 1995. Softcover, 10 ¾ x 8 ½ inches, 102 pages, 51 halftone illustrations and one silver print.

While the Getty collection catalog contained about 800 entries in its bibliography, Kingston here pushed that number to 1,210. The majority of his citations are for books and catalogs by Evans or with significant contributions by him, books about or including him, illustrations and text in periodicals, and posters. Within these categories, they are listed chronologically, and an author index is provided. This is the first issue, distinguished by the actual silver print (from a copy negative) that is mounted on the cover, showing a well-dressed nineteen-year-old Evans. Fine condition. $50

 

  1. EVANS. Rodger Kingston, Walker Evans in Print: An Illustrated Bibliography, Belmont, Massachusetts: R. P. Kingston Photographs, 1995. Softcover, 10 ¾ x 8 ½ inches, 102 pages, 51 halftone illustrations. Signed by author.

Same as above, except not the first issue, as the cover portrait of Evans is a halftone reproduction. But this copy is signed by Kingston. Fine condition. $35

 

  1. EVANS. Walker Evans: Incognito, New York: Eakins Press Foundation, 1995. Hardcover (black-stamped gray cloth, with mounted reproduction), 16 ¼ x 11 ¾ inches, 48 pages, 8 halftone illustrations, clear mylar jacket, with ephemera.

This slim deluxe volume revisits an article that appeared in the March/April 1971 issue of Art in America. It features comments by Evans on his eight pictures and an interview with Leslie George Katz. The photographs, which include his iconic “Penny Picture Display, Savannah,” are exquisitely reproduced and the text is elegantly printed in letterpress. The book was limited to 2,500 copies. Accompanying this copy is an announcement for the publication, in an unused envelope from Ram, the book’s distributor. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $95

 

  1. EVANS. Ellen Fleurov, Walker Evans: Simple Secrets: Photographs from the Collection of Marian and Benjamin A. Hill, Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 1997. Softcover, 8 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches, 160 pages, 177 halftone illustrations.

This is the catalog for an exhibition drawn from one of the most important private collections of work by Evans. The Hills were first introduced to Evans in 1972 by Benjamin’s brother John T. Hill, later the executor of the photographer’s estate. The contents span Evans’s entire career, beginning with a very early shadow self portrait in 1927, seen on the cover, to color Polaroid SX-70s from 1974, a year before he died. Near fine condition. $35

 

  1. EVANS. Jerry L. Thompson, The Last Years of Walker Evans, New York: Thames & Hudson, 1997. Hardcover (gold-stamped maroon cloth), 9 ¼ x 6 ¾ inches, 128 pages, 35 halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket. Stated first edition.

Thompson was initially a student of Evans at Yale University’s school of art, and then became close to him, so the book is a personal, first-hand account of Evans’s last four years. The author accompanied the photographer on field trips, helped in the darkroom, mounted prints, served as driver, and assisted with an archive of nearly forty years of work. Examples of Evans’s late interest in color Polaroid photographs are reproduced here, for the first time. The dustjacket has a few faint marks and is missing a small piece at the bottom of the spine. $35

 

  1. EVANS. Andrei Codrescu, Walker Evans: Signs, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1998. Hardcover (black-stamped black cloth), 7 ¾ x 9 ¼ inches, 70 pages, 49 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

A modest examination of one of the recurring themes in Evans’s photographs. He loved and collected signs, especially the hand-painted variety that were the norm during his most productive years. Seen here are movie posters, billboards, storefronts, and similar items. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $35

 

  1. EVANS. James R. Mellow, Walker Evans, New York: Basic Books, 1999. Hardcover (silver-stamped black cloth and paper over boards), 9 ½ x 6 ¾ inches, 656 pages, 160 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

This landmark biography is about twice the size of Belinda Rathbone’s of just a few years earlier. Mellow, who died just as he was finishing this tome, had unrestricted access to Evans’s diaries, letters, work logs, and contact sheets, plus the diaries of Lincoln Kirstein, who wrote the afterword to American Photographs. Includes an introduction by art critic Hilton Kramer. The dustjacket is very lightly rubbed and wrinkled at the top of the spine. $35

 

  1. EVANS. Maria Morris Hambourg, Jeff L. Rosenheim, and others, Walker Evans, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. Hardcover (silver-stamped black cloth), 12 x 10 ½ inches, 318 pages, 332 halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket.

A comprehensive book on Evans, heavily illustrated and with six in-depth essays; “A Portrait of the Artist” by Hambourg; “’The Cruel Radiance of What Is’: Walker Evans and the South” by Rosenheim; “Exile’s Return: The Early Work, 1928-34” by Douglas Eklund; and “Notes From the Underground: The Subway Portraits” and “’The Eye Is an Inveterate Collector’: The Late Work,” both by Mia Fineman.” The dustjacket is lightly wrinkled, with barcode label on the back. $95

 

  1. EVANS. Jeff L. Rosenheim and Douglas Eklund, Unclassified: A Walker Evans Anthology, Zurich, Switzerland: Scalo, 2000. Hardcover (gray-stamped maroon paper over boards), 10 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches, 248 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket. Stated first edition.

This is a rich compendium of material selected from the vast Evans archive at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. It features previously unpublished writings (fiction, diaries, essays, and criticism) by Evans and early correspondence with German artist Hanns Skolle, his best friend at the time. It draws from the Met’s holdings of his black-and-white negatives, color transparencies, and Polaroid SX-70s. Also fascinating are selections from Evans’s collections of postcards and clipped newspaper and magazine pictures. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $50

 

  1. EVANS. Clark Worswick and Belinda Rathbone, Walker Evans: The Lost Work, Santa Fe, New Mexico: Arena Editions, 2000. Hardcover (blind-stamped red cloth), 10 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 264 pages, 154 illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.

This “lost” work was collected by author Worswick in the 1980s, a decade after Evans died. He acquired prints from the early collectors and promoters of Evans: George R. Rinhart, D. Thomas Bergen, and Harry Lunn. While the selection reproduced occasionally includes recognizable images, the vast majority of them are new and unfamiliar, contributing to our understanding of Evans’s career. The subjects comprise primarily people, landscape, and architecture, from the 1930s to seventies. Worswick’s essay includes important details and information about the dealings of Rinhart, Bergen, and Lunn with the master photographer late in his life. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with a scuff on the front. $50

 

  1. EVANS. Freddy Langer, Jerry L. Thompson, and John T. Hill, Walker Evans: New Translations and Vintage Prints, Cologne, Germany: Galerie Thomas Zander, 2004. Softcover, 36 pages, 31 halftone illustrations.

The essays address the controversial issue of the Evans estate producing digital prints by scanning the original negatives. The exquisitely reproduced images are virtually all 1936 F. S. A. hits, including the cover one of houses in Atlanta with the movie billboard for “Love Before Breakfast.” Light rubbing to covers. $25

 

  1. EVANS. Jeff L. Rosenheim, Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2009. Hardcover, 10 ½ x 8 ½ inches, 408 pages, halftone illustrations (most in color). Stated first edition.

This substantial volume, issued without a dustjacket, addresses Evans’s deep interest in the lowly postcard, drawn entirely from his personal collection of them that now resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is amply illustrated with about 300 examples, in categories that Evans himself designated, such as interiors, curiosities, state capitols, hotels, and automobiles. In most cases the sender and recipient were unknown to Evans, but many of the cards were sent directly to him, from the likes of Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, and Helen Levitt. While the postcards are amusing, Met curator Rosenheim provides a serious scholarly essay. Covers are very lightly rubbed, with the original price sticker on the back. $75

 

  1. EVANS. Six pieces of ephemera on Walker Evans.

Walker Evans, Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1977. Poster, 21 x

25 ½ inches (folded to 11 x 8 ½), 2 halftone illustrations. Accompanied an exhibition of photographs from the collection of Arnold H. Crane.

Leslie George Katz, Walker Evans: Photographs of New York State, New York: Eakins Press Foundation, 1980. Softcover, 5 ½ x 8 ½ inches, 12 pages, 6 halftone illustrations. Catalog for a show traveled by the Gallery Association of New York.

Verna Posever Curtis, Walker Evans, Milwaukee Art Museum, 1981. Brochure, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 6 panels, 4 halftone illustrations. Published in conjunction with a show of photographs from the collection of Arnold H. Crane.

Judith Keller, Walker Evans: New York, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1988. Brochure, 7 ¾ x 6 inches, 8 panels, 5 halftone illustrations. Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Getty, July 28 – October 11, 1988.

Judith Keller, Walker Evans: An Alabama Record, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992. Brochure, 8 ¾ x 8 inches, 8 panels, 5 halftone illustrations. Addresses the project Evans undertook with James Agee for the book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.

Walker Evans: Before and After, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2001. Poster (folded) and invitation card (1 halftone illustration) for two exhibitions: “Walker Evans & Company” and “The American Tradition & Walker Evans.”

The group of six: $35

 

ROBERT FRANK (born 1924)

 

  1. FRANK. “Pablo, Times Square, New York,” PSA Journal, November 1954, p. 9, one halftone illustration.

This is a full-page advertisement for the new Leica M-3 camera, with the credit “Leica Photo by Robert Frank, New York City.” Frank showed great disdain for commercialism through much of his career, so it’s startling to see one of his pictures used in an ad. It is the well-known image of Frank’s young son, Pablo, running away from the camera on a street with a crowd of people off in the distance underneath the night lights of Times Square. Light crease to one corner and tiny scratches to front cover. Entire issue: $25.

 

  1. FRANK. “New York Subway,” PSA Journal, March 1955, p. 9, one halftone illustration.

Another full-page ad for the new Leica M-3, with the same credit line but a different photograph. This lesser-known 1953 image shows a musician, seen from below, schlepping his string bass up subway steps, into the city’s nighttime lights. All of the ad’s typography is relegated to the step area, compromising the picture only modestly. Type worn off spine and front cover light struck. Entire issue: $25

 

  1. FRANK. Manuel Tuñon de Lara, From Incas to Indios, Paris: Robert Delpire, 1958. Hardcover (orange and blind-stamped white cloth), 11 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, unpaginated, 77 gravure illustrations, dustjacket.

This ethnographic study includes high-quality reproductions of photographs by Frank, Pierre Verger, and Werner Bischoff, who perished while working on the project. Verger provides the majority of them and Frank fourteen. They show mostly the lifestyle, dress, and traditions of the Indios, the descendants of the Inca, set in Machu Picchu, Cuzco, and the Upper Andes of Peru and Bolivia. This book dates from the same year as Les Americains, also published by Delpire. Two-inch split to front free-end paper, the price-clipped dustjacket has very light browning to the edges. $75

  1. FRANK. U. S. Camera 1958. Hardcover (red and blue-stamped

white leatherette over boards), 11 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches, 302 pages, halftone illustrations, glassine jacket.

Includes an article by Walker Evans on Frank and a statement by Frank. In between are thirty-three reproductions of Frank’s images, about half of which appeared a year later in The Americans. Strangely, the pages on which they are printed measure an elongated 11 ¼ x 6 inches, sometimes resulting in severe cropping. Among the four images that are given two-page spreads is the one of the New Orleans trolley car, seen later on the cover of many editions of The Americans. An important item, for its early date and inclusion of images that were excluded from the famous book. The white covers are unusually clean, with a few spots, dents, and some browning along the top of the front, with the rare original glassine jacket that is browned, torn, wrinkled, and chipped. $75

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank: A Traveling Exhibition, Rochester, New York: International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, 1965. Brochure, 8 ¾ x 3 ¾ inches, 6 panels, one halftone illustration.

This item offers an early traveling show of Frank’s work, only six years after the U. S. publication of The Americans. It comprises 25 pictures from the project, among them “Parade—Hoboken, New Jersey,” which is illustrated on the front of the brochure. Includes excerpts from Jack Kerouac’s text for the book, a list of the pictures, a request form, and terms. The rental fee was $125 per month. A little-known piece of Frank ephemera. Fine condition. $35

 

  1. FRANK. “Contemporary Photographers: Robert Frank,” PSA Journal, January 1967, page 27, two halftone illustrations.

Given the conservative nature of the Photographic Society of America (PSA), it’s surprising that its magazine would cover Frank’s subversive pictures of the United States. This single-page article mentions the above exhibition of his work being traveled by the Eastman House, and reproduces “Parade—Hoboken, New Jersey” and “Political Rally—Chicago.” Light rubbing to the covers and rust at the staples. Entire issue: $25

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, The Americans, New York: Grossman, 1969. Hardcover (gold-stamped black cloth), 7 ½ x 8 ½ inches, unpaginated, 89 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

Frank’s monumental classic, considered by many to be the most influential book of photographs from the twentieth century, with an introduction by Jack Kerouac. This is the second American edition, coming ten years after the Grove Press first. It is designated the “revised and enlarged edition” on the front flap and “An Aperture Book” on the title page. The major change is the “Continuation” at the end, in which Frank added film strips from his first four movies: “Pull My Daisy,” “The Sin of Jesus,” “O.K. End Here,” and “Me and My Brother.” Previous owner’s stamp on front paste-down, faint wear to lower cloth edges and tips, in a lightly browned dustjacket with a few tiny tears and wrinkles. $750

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, The Americans, New York: Grossman, 1969. Softcover, 7 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches, unpaginated, 89 halftone illustrations.

Same as the above, but softcover, with “Aperture” on the spine instead of “Grossman.” Small spots to bottom of first 20 pages, cover a little loose, minor crease to some internal pages, light rubbing, edgewear, and indentations to covers, plus a crease down the spine. $250

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, The Americans, Millerton, New York: Aperture, 1978. Hardcover (silver and blind-stamped black cloth), 9 ½ x 11 ½ inches, 184 pages, 84 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

On to the third American edition, noticeably enlarged in page size. This one deletes the film stills, adds a triptych primarily of variants on the book’s last picture of Mary and Pablo Frank in a car in Texas, and provides a list of Frank’s books and films. Near fine condition, with tiny creases in the dustjacket at the top and bottom of the spine. $125

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, Les Americains, Paris: Robert Delpire, 1985. Hardcover (brown and blind-stamped black cloth), 8 ¾ x 9 ¾ inches, 180 pages, 84 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

Due to the pessimistic nature of Frank’s take on the United States in the mid-1950s, he was, famously, unable to initially find an American publisher for the book. So, in 1958 Robert Delpire issued it in France as Les Americains, of which this is presumably the first reprint. The cover image of the New Orleans trolley car is here replaced by the first plate of the book, “Parade—Hoboken, New Jersey,” in small scale. Kerouac’s introduction (which did not appear in the first French edition) is translated. And the captions, all of which are merely place names, are relegated to the rear, freeing Frank’s searing images to speak for themselves, opposite blank pages and untethered to geography. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $250

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, The Americans, New York: Scalo, 1993. Hardcover (white-stamped paper over boards), 8 ¾ x 9 ¾ inches, 180 pages, 84 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.

Frank has consistently republished the book about every decade, and here we have another American edition, similar to the one above: same cover illustration and the captions in the back. It was distributed by D. A. P., and published in conjunction with Washington’s National Gallery of Art, in anticipation of its 1994 retrospective “Robert Frank: Moving Out.” Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $125

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, The Americans, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2008. Hardcover (Gray-stamped black cloth), 7 ½ x 8 ½ inches, unpaginated, 83 tritone illustrations, dustjacket. Four language editions.

In 2008, the high-end German publisher Steidl pulled out all the stops for this fiftieth-anniversary edition of The Americans. With Frank’s deep input, it returned the book to its original page size and quantity of pictures. Original vintage prints were scanned and printed in rich tritone lithography, which Frank reviewed on press. And, it was issued in five different languages—English, Germany, Italian, Spanish, and Chinese. A few years before this anniversary, Frank enjoyed a visit to China, which prompted him to opt for its growing market, instead of Japan, where he had previously published a few books. Reportedly, Robert Delpire, the original publisher of Les Americains, printed a fiftieth anniversary edition in French, but Frank suppressed it because he was not consulted. Offered here are all but the supposed French and English-language edition, which is common in the United States: Die Amerikaner, Gli Americani (distributed by Contrasto), Los Americanos (distributed by La Fabrica and issued with a red belly band), and the Chinese edition. A desirable grouping for the Frank completist. All in mint condition, in shrink wrap. The set of four: $650

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, The Americans, Chinese edition, 2008. Hardcover (Gray-stamped black cloth), 7 ½ x 8 ½ inches, unpaginated,

83 tritone illustrations, dustjacket.

This is a copy of only the Chinese edition, mentioned in the set above. Germany’s revered photography publisher Steidl printed it, so it was authorized and represents the highest quality reproductions, not often seen in Chinese books. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $100

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, The Lines of My Hand, Tokyo: Yugensha/

Kazuhiko Motomura, 1972. Hardcover (white-stamped black cloth), 13 ¾ x 10 ¼ inches, 120 pages, halftone illustrations, slipcase and pamphlet.

The deluxe first edition of this important book, issued without a dustjacket in a slipcase with a mounted reproduction (one of two: here “Platte River, Tennessee”). It is Frank’s “autobiography,” beginning with images of deceased friends and his son and daughter. Then, he arranges pictures from his known bodies of work in rough chronological order; they commence in his native Switzerland, move through Peru, Paris, London, Spain, and include a number of images made in the mid-1950s that do not show up in The Americans. After his 1958 bus pictures, which represented, at the time, his last photography project, Frank includes stills from his first four films, his new focus. Deeply aware of the book as a retrospective project and involved in its layout and sequencing, he begins and ends it with references to the publisher, mentioning Mr. Motomura’s first visit and reproducing a later note to him. Limited edition of 1,000. Includes the 30-page pamphlet with the Japanese translation. Near fine condition, with the slipcase covering separating a little on the inside. $4,500

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, The Lines of My Hand, New York: Lustrum Press, 1972. Softcover, 12 x 9 inches, unpaginated, halftone illustrations.

First published in a deluxe Japanese edition the same year, this is the first American edition, presented in a more down-to-earth fashion by Ralph Gibson’s Lustrum Press. It is smaller in page size and has fewer and some different images. The cover features a drawing of a hand by Frank’s wife, June Leaf, inspired by a photograph he made in Paris of a mystic’s sign (reproduced in the book). He still provides minimal text, but adds a paragraph stating, “I have come home and I’m looking through the window. I am looking back into a world now gone forever.” Many of the photographs are now grouped in more distinct categories of place and time. Covers creased, spotted, and browned, with brown stain to bottom of last six pages (four of which are blank). $150

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, The Lines of My Hand, New York: Pantheon Books, 1989. Hardcover (printed paper over boards), 12 ¾ x 10 inches, unpaginated, halftone illustrations (some in color), printed glassine dustjacket.

This is the second American edition, despite the copyright page declaring it the first (see above). Slightly bigger in size and now in hardcover, it also includes added material by Frank. The last quarter of the book comprises work created since the original 1972 publication. Much of it comprises multi-image pieces made in Nova Scotia of still lifes, landscapes, and portraits, with hand-scrawled lettering. A gatefold features four color stills from Frank’s 1983-84 video “Home Improvements.” Mint condition in shrink wrap, with original Distributed Art Publishers label affixed. $250

 

  1. FRANK. Creative Camera International Year Book 1975, London: Coo Press, 1974. Hardcover (silver-stamped blue cloth), 12 x 8 ¾ inches, 236 pages, gravure illustrations, dustjacket.

Includes a selection of 30 images by Frank from Wales and London, mostly little-seen pictures of Welsh miners, street scenes, and domestic portraits. A strong two-page spread of five of the better-known pictures of London bankers shows them in top hats, walking with their closed umbrellas, almost all from the rear. Ian Jeffrey provides the text. Near fine in a dustjacket with light edgewear, scratches and browning inside. $75

 

  1. FRANK. Paul Katz, Robert Frank: “The Americans” and New York Photographs, New York: Sidney Janis Gallery, 1979. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 12 pages, 12 halftone illustrations.

Catalog for a show of 112 photographs by Frank. Most of the reproductions are of lesser-known images such as one made at the New York City Aquarium and a portrait of art historian Meyer Schapiro with Frank’s young son, Pablo. Light crimping at top of spine. $35

 

  1. FRANK. Tod Papageorge, Walker Evans and Robert Frank: An Essay on Influence, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Art Gallery, 1981. Softcover, 9 x 9 ½ inches, 62 pages, 50 halftone illustrations.

See entry 43.

 

  1. FRANK. Jno Cook, The Robert Frank Coloring Book, Chicago: Artists Book Works, 1982. Softcover, 8 ½ x 11 inches, 86 pages, 84 line illustrations.

This artist’s book comprises Cook’s primitive outline drawings of all 84 pictures in The Americans, in their original order. Instead of captions, he has attached telegraphic phrases to each image, sometimes descriptive, sometime emotive. The book’s first image, “Parade—Hoboken, New Jersey,” for instance, is accompanied by “City mothers (mouth 1) kiss.” The same image appears on the cover, the only one in color. Cook’s brief instructions read, “Color should reflect the mood of interpretation: for those who see Robert Frank’s work as a statement on the crass commercialism of America, reproduction colors will be the choice—primaries and a few secondaries of high chroma. A metaphorical reading will likely direct one to the allegorical pastels and mannerist hues. The palette of the purist, as well as the formalists, on the other hand should be guided by Frank’s statement, ‘Black and white are the colors of my photographs’.” Produced in two editions (apparently identical) in a total of only 116 copies. This is a most unusual and rare Robert Frank item. Light bending to a few corners. $950

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank and American Politics, Akron, Ohio: Akron Art Museum, 1985. Softcover, 8 ½ x 11 inches, 28 pages, 16 halftone illustrations.

This exhibition catalog includes an introduction by Barbara Tannenbaum and an essay by David B. Cooper. Features work from the mid-1950s, seen in The Americans, and photographs Frank made at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. Light rubbing to covers. $35

 

  1. FRANK. Anne Wilkes Tucker and Philip Brookman, editors, Robert Frank: New York to Nova Scotia, Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1986. Hardcover (silver-stamped blue cloth), 12 ¼ x 9 ½ inches, 112 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket. Stated first edition.

The catalog for a traveling exhibition of 188 photographs, books, films, and videos, spanning Frank’s career to date. Includes reprints of letters to and articles on Frank, and the following essays: “Robert Frank to 1985—A Man” by Allen Ginsberg, “Robert Frank’s America” by Robert Coles, “In the Margins of Fiction: From Photographs to Films” by Brookman, and “It’s the Misinformation That’s Important” by Tucker. From the library of former Princeton curator Peter C. Bunnell, with his modest stamp on the front free-end paper. Near fine condition. $75

 

  1. FRANK. Anne Wilkes Tucker and Philip Brookman, editors, Robert Frank: New York to Nova Scotia, Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1986. Softcover, 12 x 9 inches, 112 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color), with ephemera. Stated first edition.

Same as the above, but softcover. Laid into this copy is a brochure for the show in Houston. Fine condition. $25

 

  1. FRANK. Stuart Alexander, Robert Frank: A Bibliography, Filmography, and Exhibition Chronology, 1946-1985, Tucson: Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, 1986. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 208 pages, unillustrated. Signed by author.

To my knowledge, this is the most extensive bibliography on any photographer—one, who, of course, is worthy of it. Alexander gives us precisely 2,300 entries, arranged by year, and five very useful indexes. The yearly citations are arranged by the following categories: Books by Frank, Books that Include Frank, Films, Video, One-Man Exhibitions, Group Exhibitions, Annuals, Periodicals, and Other. This copy signed by Alexander. Fine condition. $45

 

  1. FRANK. William S. Johnson, editor, The Pictures Are a Necessity: Robert Frank in Rochester, New York, November 1988, Rochester, New York: George Eastman House, 1989. Softcover, 8 x 5 ½ inches, 220 pages, one halftone illustration.

The second in the Rochester Film and Photo Consortium’s “Occasional Papers,” this one covers a conference on Frank that took place in Rochester. It includes a transcript of two group discussions with Frank, moderated by Johnson, plus the text of five papers on him by Tina Olsin Lent, Susan Cohen, Jan-Christopher Horak, and Johnson. Ends with a selected and updated bibliography by Stuart Alexander. Fine condition. $125

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, One Hour, New York: Hanuman Books, 1992. Softcover, 4 ¼ x 2 ¾ inches, 90 pages, 12 halftone illustrations, dustjacket, with ephemera.

This pocket-sized item prints the script for a one-hour video Frank made in New York on July 26, 1990, in one continuous take. Michal Rovner helped write it and assisted Frank in general. Among the over two dozen actors were poet Peter Orlovsky, Allen Ginsberg’s longtime partner, who improvised all of his dialogue. Accompanied by a Hanuman Books flyer that includes information on the book. Fine condition. $35

 

  1. FRANK. Richard B. Woodward, “Where Have You Gone, Robert Frank?” The New York Times Magazine, September 4, 1994, cover and pages 30-37, ten halftone illustrations (some in color).

An overview of Frank’s work, with excerpts from an interview with him. Written in anticipation of Frank’s 1994 show “Moving Out,” at the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C. Horizontal fold through center and light wrinkles to covers. Entire issue: $25

 

  1. FRANK. Sarah Greenough and Philip Brookman, Robert Frank: Moving Out, Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1994. Hardcover (black-stamped maroon cloth), 11 ¾ x 9 ¾ inches, 336 pages, tritone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket.

This book accompanied a major retrospective on Frank and remains the most comprehensive general publication on him. Covers much of his early and later work, before and after The Americans, and includes a chronology and filmography. Essays by the primary authors, plus W. S. De Piero, Martin Gasser, and John Hanhardt. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $95

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank: Moving Out, Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1994. Three unbound press sheets from the above book, each 24 ½ x 39 inches, 26 illustrations (some in color).

Two of the sheets contain text and tritone monochromatic illustrations, representing a total of 32 pages. The third features primarily illustrations of Frank’s color collages, for 8 pages, as the back is blank. They contain the breakdown of the different color, black, and gray inks printed, along with trim marks, revealing the nature of the lithographic printing process.   Near fine condition. Group of three: $25

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, Black White and Things, Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, and Scalo, Zurich, Switzerland, 1994. Softcover, 11 x 10 ½ inches, unpaginated, 34 halftone illustrations.

This volume is a facsimile of a book Frank made by hand in 1952, with original photographs in a small edition. It presents three sections of images (as listed in the book’s title), shot in New York, London, Paris, and Peru, in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $25

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, Thank You, Zurich, Switzerland: Scalo, 1996. Softcover, 8 ½ x 5 ½ inches, 80 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color).

This amusing little book reproduces postcards, letters, and pictures sent to Frank in admiration of his work. He explained, “I have saved these cards over many years. I was touched how many people wanted to tell me their appreciation of what I was doing, without asking anything in return. This small book is my way of saying Thank You.” The result is a collage-like selection of vernacular pictures, varied handwriting, and personal outpourings. Among the recognizable contributors area Robert Delpire, Walker Evans, Ralph Gibson, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Kazuhiko Motomura. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $35

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, Flamingo, Göteborg, Sweden: Hasselblad Center, 1997. Hardcover (blind-stamped black leatherette over boards), 12 x 7 ¾ inches, 52 pages, 25 halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket.

This thin volume comprises an eclectic selection of Frank’s work, including typical early street photographs, combination images with handwriting, and other genres. Produced on the occasion of him winning the 1996 Hasselblad Award, it features four gatefolds and an essay by Mikael Van Reis titled “That Spot of Light: Robert Frank’s Life Studies.” Fine condition. $35

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank, Ideas: Aspesi, Milan, Italy: Alberto Aspesi, 1999. Hardcover (printed paper over boards), 12 x 9 ½ inches, unpaginated, halftone illustrations (some in color).

Photographs of people modeling shirts and jackets, commissioned by the Italian clothier Aspesi, an unusual commercial project for Frank. He shot in New York (1989), Nova Scotia (1995), and Zurich (1997), in his typical off-handed manner, and included his wife, June Leaf, in one picture. A section of collages features multiple imagery suggesting film stills, occasional color, a few gatefolds, and “Aspesi” scrawled across some images. Issued without a dustjacket. Near fine condition. $125

 

  1. FRANK. Andrew Maniotes, Robert Frank: The Americans, Minneapolis: Andrew Maniotes, c. 2000. Broadside, 27 x 23 ¾ inches (folded to 9 x 4), 20 halftone illustrations. Signed by maker.

Maniotes produced this unusual item while attending the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. One side features primarily a portion of Frank’s American flag image “Fourth of July—Jay, New York.” The other comprises nearly 20 images from The Americans, reproduced in varying sizes, portions of a map, and Jack Kerouac’s entire text from the book. This piece was undoubtedly produced without the consent of Frank, adding to its appeal. This copy signed by Maniotes. Fine condition. $35

 

  1. FRANK. Essays über Robert Frank, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2005. Softcover, 7 ¼ x 5 inches, 176 pages, 12 halftone illustrations.

A dense little volume with essays (all in German) on various aspects of Frank’s work, themes, and influence, by Martin Gasser, James Guimond, Thomas Honickel, Ian Jeffrey, Gilles Mora, Georg Seeßlen, Urs Stahel, and Mirelle Thijsen. Also includes the transcript of a 1967 discussion between Frank, Nathan Lyons, and a third party identified as “N. N.,” possibly Nancy Newhall. The reproductions are of a group of very early images by Frank—1949—made at a public event in Hundwil, Switzerland. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $35

 

  1. FRANK. Anthony Lane, “Road Show: The Journey of Robert Frank’s The Americans,” The New Yorker, September 14, 2009, pages 84-91, four halftone illustrations.

An article written on the occasion of the exhibition “Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans,” organized by the National Gallery of Art and later presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Near fine condition. Entire issue: $25

 

  1. FRANK. Robert Frank: Published by Steidl, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2010. Softcover, 11 ¾ x 8 ¾ inches, 32 pages, halftone illustrations.

According to the first page of text, “The ‘Robert Frank Project’ is an ambitious long-term publishing program, which encompasses Frank’s complete oeuvre—reprints of his classic books, reprints of lesser-known ones, the publication of previously unseen projects, newly conceived bookworks, and his complete films in specially designed collector’s DVD sets.” The texts include a short history of The Americans, information on Steidl’s 50th anniversary edition of the book, and Joel Sternfeld’s essay on Frank in Göttingen. Features pictures of Frank at work at the publisher and information on both currently available and upcoming titles. Near fine condition. $25

 

  1. FRANK. Nancy W. Barr, Detroit Experiences Robert Frank: Photographs, 1955, Detroit Institute of Arts, 2010. Softcover, 8 ½ x 7 ½ inches, 18 pages, 6 halftone illustrations.

Essays Frank’s time in Detroit and the images he made there, all in 1955, while driving across the United States making the pictures that would end up in The Americans, a few years later. While there are some outdoor shots, most of them were made inside Ford’s River Rouge factory, showing workers intimately engaged in assembling automobiles. Fine condition. $25

  1. FRANK. Two pieces of ephemera on Robert Frank.

Robert Frank: New York to Nova Scotia, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1987. Symposium announcement, 14 x 8 ½ inches, 2 halftone illustrations. This folded self-mailer announces a symposium, whose participants included curator Carroll T. Hartwell, curator Bruce Jenkins, critic Ben Lifson, curator Anne W. Tucker, and Frank himself. The program included screenings of virtually all of Frank’s films and videos, most notably the notorious “Cocksucker Blues,” introduced by Frank and dedicated to Danny Seymour, who lived in Minneapolis before moving to New York and collaborating with Frank. Fine condition.

“Robert Frank: The Americans,” Madison Art Center, Madison, Wisconsin, December 1998 – February 1999. Softcover, 11 x 7 ¾ inches, 12 pages, 11 halftone illustrations. About half of this newsletter, including the cover, addresses the traveling show “Robert Frank: The Americans,” organized by the Addison Gallery of American Art and seen in Madison, beginning in late 1998. It describes the show of 83 photographs and lists educational programs and screenings of some of Frank’s films.

The set of two: $25

 

LEE FRIEDLANDER (born 1934)

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Palisades Parkway, New York, 1966. Original vintage gelatin silver print, 6 ¼ x 9 ½ inches, on 14 x 11 inch mount, inscribed.

An excellent example from Friedlander’s early series of self portraits, in which his shadow stands in for the photographer himself. With his camera hoisted to his eye, Friedlander positioned his long shadow to fall over a barely discernible scraggly bush, with thin branches seemingly exploding from his body. In this large and dark lower portion of the image he isolates himself from a passing car and an expanse of white suburban houses. This image is reproduced as the seventh plate in his influential first monograph, Self Portrait, self-published in 1970. The edges of the thin mount board are browned, with a few small spots, and there is a miniscule brown spot on the print. The back of the mount has the handwritten numeration “C-29/26” and is inscribed “To Ray, From Lee,” in pencil. Friedlander taught for a semester at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) in 1966, when this print was acquired. Vintage prints from Self Portrait, such as this, are rare. Price on request.

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander and Jim Dine, Work from the Same House: Photographs and Etchings, London: Trigram Press, 1969. Softcover, 9 ¾ x 10 inches, 48 pages, 33 halftone illustrations. Stated first edition.

An unusual pairing of photographs and etchings by the artists, on two-page spreads. Shortly after they met in the early 1960s their work started to spark responses from one another, and they eventually joined images together for this project and the closely related portfolio of originals, titled “Photographs and Etchings.” The reasons for the pairings are sometimes formal but usually difficult to discern and certainly personal on the artists’ part. Friedlander’s social landscape photographs work well with Dine’s Pop Art imagery of simple objects such as a pair of scissors, a chair, an onion, and hands. From the library of former Princeton curator Peter C. Bunnell, with his modest stamp on the front free-end paper. One back corner lightly wrinkled but unusually crisp covers, though they are still lightly rubbed, as is almost always the case. $250

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander and Jim Dine, Photographs and Etchings, London: Petersburg Press, 1969. Prospectus, 60 x 9 inches (folded to 6 x 9), 20 panels, 19 halftone illustrations. Signed by Dine.

This is the prospectus for the portfolio of the same name, comprising sixteen sheets with original photographs by Friedlander and etchings by Dine. Each plate is illustrated here, along with the title page and two sheets of documentation, one with a photograph of the artists sitting on a bed. As described above, the pairings often seem random. This is a very rare item, promoting one of the more unusual portfolios of the time, with its mixture of media. Additionally, this copy is signed by Jim Dine. Light rubbing and one fold to front panel. $350

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, 2 original vintage photographs from the wedding of Fred R. Parker and Anita Whittaker, Eagle Rock, California, 1970. Friedlander attended the wedding as a guest (not as the hired photographer) and made pictures for his own purposes. Parker was the first director of the Friends of Photography and went on to be the curator of photographs at the Pasadena Art Museum (now Norton Simon) and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Both signed.

[Parker wedding ceremony]. Gelatin silver print, 6 ¼ x 9 ½ inches, on 8 x 10 inch sheet. Using a flash, Friedlander blasted out details of the man standing in front of him to make an image that captured the varying moods of people attending such events, as seen in the faces of the bride, groom, and attendees. This image was reproduced in the 1972 Time-Life book Documentary Photography, in a section titled “Critics of Complacency” (page 189). On the back, in pencil, is Parker’s signature and inscription, along with Friedlander’s signature.

[Anita Whittaker Parker]. Gelatin silver print, 6 ¼ x 9 ½ inches, on 8 x 10 inch sheet. Here, Friedlander literally cornered the bride, who is flanked by two unidentified friends. She is holding her ring finger, signaling her new status. On the back is the subject’s name, in ink, and Friedlander’s signature, in pencil.

The set of two: $5,000

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Self Portrait, New City, New York: Haywire Press, 1970. Softcover, 8 ½ x 9 ¼ inches, 88 pages, 43 duotone illustrations. Signed.

Friedlander’s first solo book, published by his own Haywire Press, only in soft and perhaps his signature publication. Includes many of his now classic self portraits, like the one where his shadow falls on the back of a woman, implying stalking, and his hair is rendered spikey by the subject’s fur collar. In his brief introduction, Friedlander claims that he did not make the pictures as a project, instead finding them among his other work. “They began as straight portraits but soon I was finding myself at times in the landscape of my photography. I might call myself an intruder.” A modestly sized book that packed great influence. This copy signed by Friedlander. Light rubbing to covers, with tiny wear to the top and bottom of spine. $950

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Self Portrait, New City, New York: Haywire Press, 1970. Softcover, 8 ½ x 9 ¼ inches, 88 pages, 43 duotone illustrations.

Another copy of the above, but not signed. $500

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Self Portrait, New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 1998. Softcover, 9 ½ x 10 inches, 104 pages, 48 duotone illustrations. Stated second edition.

This edition of Friedlander’s important book sports a slightly larger page size, the original selection and order of the images, plus three more self portraits (including the cover image), and some additional images and text. The book’s first picture is a portrait of John Szarkowski and Richard Benson, who assisted with the new edition. Szarkowski contributed the insightful essay, “The Friedlander Self,” and Benson helped make the printing plates, which yielded higher quality illustrations than seen in the original edition. Issued in an edition of 4,000 copies. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $35

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander: The Nation’s Capital in Photographs, 1976, Washington, D.C.: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1976. Softcover, 8 x 8 inches, 24 pages, 15 halftone illustrations.

This little catalog documents an accompanying show at the Corcoran, made up of photographs commissioned by it for the U. S. Bicentennial in 1976. Some of the images picture unidentified details and vegetation in Washington, while others feature recognizable landmarks such as the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, the latter with which Friedlander had particular fun. Jane Livingston, the Corcoran’s chief curator, provides a short introduction. Printed in an edition of 3,000 copies. From the library of California photographer Robert Heinecken, with his blind stamp on the title page. Near fine condition, with light paperclip marks to front cover and a few pages. $75

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, The American Monument, New York: Eakins Press Foundation, 1976. Hardcover (black and gold-stamped turquoise cloth), 12 x 17 inches, 170 pages, 213 halftone illustrations. Signed.

As a book, equal in standing to his earlier and much smaller Self Portrait. This project, published in the year of the country’s Bicentennial, reveals Friedlander as a patriot, humorist, and cataloger. He pictures statues, plaques, and other  monuments large and small, some still highly revered and others overlooked. Some images receive full-page treatment, while others are ganged in groups of up to nine, suggesting a catalog or inventory of the subjects. Printed without a dustjacket in an edition of 2,000 copies, with an afterword by Leslie George Katz. The book is actually loose bound, with three screw posts, that allow individual sheets to be removed (for framing?). This copy signed by Friedlander. Miniscule scuffing to cover edges, one small bump, and a few tiny spots to front cover. $1,500

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Fourteen American Monuments, New York: Eakins Press Foundation, 1977. Softcover, 6 x 9 inches, 12 pages, 14 halftone illustrations.

The selected photographs here all come from the much larger project and book above. The brief text describes Friedlander’s interest in the subject, spanning over a decade. This little album was published on the occasion of a traveling exhibition organized by Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art. Near fine condition. $25

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander: Photographs, New City, New York: Haywire Press, 1978. Hardcover (silver-stamped blue cloth), 10 ¾ x 11 ½ inches, 106 pages, 137 duotone illustrations. Signed.

This catalog for a show at the Hudson River Museum, in Yonkers, New York, was issued without a dustjacket and contains very little text—only acknowledgements and a quotation by Marcel Proust. The reproductions cover work from the early 1960s to mid-1970s; still lifes, landscapes, party pictures, and images that appeared in Friedlander’s previous books Self Portrait and The American Monument. This copy signed by Friedlander.   Light rubbing to cloth and spine ink. $500

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander: Photographs, New City, New York: Haywire Press, 1978. Hardcover (silver-stamped blue cloth), 10 ¾ x 11 ½ inches, 106 pages, 137 duotone illustrations.

Another copy, not signed, but mint condition, in shrink wrap. $300

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Flowers and Trees, New City, New York: Haywire Press, 1981. Hardcover (black-stamped purple cloth, with internal spiral binding), 15 x 12 inches, 88 pages, 40 tritone illustrations. Stated first edition, signed.

An elegant, oversize production, issued without a dustjacket. Features Friedlander’s attractive and sometimes challenging images, all dating from the 1970s. The minimal text is in letterpress and the inside covers sport a dark green cloth that compliments the outside purple. This copy signed by Friedlander. Near mint condition, in opened shrink wrap. $1,250

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. “Lee Friedlander,” CMP Bulletin, vol. 1, no. 1, 1981. Softcover, 9 ¾ x 8 ½ inches, 16 pages, 16 halftone illustrations.

This first issue of the bulletin of the California Museum of Photography is devoted entirely to Friedlander. With the exception of two 1960s street photographs, the images are atypical landscapes and urban scenes from the 1970s. Director Charles Desmarais provides the short introduction, in which he states, “Ansel Adams points to a relationship between his pictures and his early studies as a classical pianist. Lee Friedlander’s music is jazz.” Near fine condition. $25

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Factory Valleys: Ohio and Pennsylvania, New York: Callaway Editions, 1982. Hardcover (green cloth), 11 ¼ x 11 ¼ inches, 76 pages, 62 halftone duotone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed.

Work Friedlander produced on commission for the Akron Art Museum in 1979 and 1980, documenting industry in the Ohio River Valley. There, he explored the area’s landscape, architecture, streets, signs, and inhabitants. Most cohesive is the last section of images, in which Friedlander cleverly lights and juxtaposes factory workers with their surrounding machinery. The edition comprised only 1,000 hardcovers and 2,000 softcovers. This copy signed by Friedlander. Fine condition. $750

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. “Madonna: The Lee Friedlander Sessions,” Playboy, September 1985, pages 118-125, 6 gravure illustrations.

Nude photographs of Madonna Louise Ciccone from 1979 and 1980, before she became a music superstar. Friedlander remembered his subject as confident, street-wise, and mentioning she was forming a band. He shows her casually lounging near a television, sitting in a window sill, and sometimes up close and formally posed, with plenty of armpit and pubic hair. None of these pictures appeared in Friedlander’s subsequent book Nudes. Followed in the magazine by four additional nude photographs of Madonna by Martin H. Schreiber, from the same time period. Tiny spot and light rubbing on covers. Entire issue: $35

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander: Portraits, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1985. Hardcover (silver-stamped black cloth), 10 ¼ x 11 inches, 96 pages, 73 duotone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition, signed.

An array of previously little-known portraits by the great street photographer, spanning thirty years. Primarily seen in the subject’s personal space are such individuals as musician Count Basie, artist Jim Dine, curator John Szarkowski, collector Arnold Crane, photographers Helen Levitt and Walker Evans, and the photographer’s children and wife. British painter R. B. Kitaj provides an insightful foreword and himself is pictured with a nude woman draped over his knees, pubis up. This copy signed by Friedlander. Mint condition, in opened shrink wrap. $500

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Cray at Chippewa Falls: Photographs by Lee Friedlander, Minneapolis: Cray Research, 1987. Hardcover (paper label on rust cloth), 11 ¾ x 12 ¼ inches, 96 pages, 79 tritone illustrations. With prospectus and signed exhibition invitation.

This book was commissioned by supercomputer-maker Cray Research, issued without a dustjacket, and given to its employees as a gift (not available to the trade). It features an initial section of Friedlander’s images of the streets of small-town Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin (ninety miles east of Minneapolis), where Cray manufactured its computers. The second group of photographs has the photographer typically up close with the company’s employees, who attend meetings, stare at screens, wire hardware, and perform some decidedly low-tech jobs at the factory. Includes the text of an appreciative letter from Cray C.E.O. John Rollwagen and an afterword by Minnesota landscape photographer Stuart Klipper. Printed in an edition of 5,000 copies. Accompanied by a prospectus and an announcement for an exhibition of the work at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts the same year. The latter is rare, especially signed by Friedlander. Book in mint condition, shrink wrapped. $600

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Cray at Chippewa Falls: Photographs by Lee Friedlander, Minneapolis: Cray Research, 1987. Unbound set of nine signatures for the above book, 12 ¼ x 12 ¼ inches, 96 pages, 79 tritone illustrations.

This is the full book, but untrimmed and without the cloth cover. Not a replacement for the finished product, but an unusual compliment to it. $75

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Cray at Chippewa Falls: Photographs by Lee Friedlander, Minneapolis: Cray Research, 1987. Two unbound press sheets from the above book, each 25 ¼ x 35 ½ inches.

These sheets represent six images, at different steps in the tritone process, revealed by the bars of gray and black inks. Tack holes in each corner and some handwritten notes, all outside the image areas. Set of two: $25

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Rod Slemmons, Like a One-Eyed Cat: Photographs by Lee Friedlander, 1956-1987, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989. Hardcover (gold-stamped yellow cloth), 11 ¾ x 12 ¼ inches, 120 pages, 154 tritone illustrations, dustjacket, with poster. Signed.

Book accompanying a thirty-year retrospective on Friedlander organized by the Seattle Art Museum. The high-quality reproductions begin with his images of black jazz musicians (late 1950s), end with his female nudes (1980s), and touch all of his major bodies of work in between. Curator Rod Slemmons’s biographical portrait “A Precise Search for the Elusive” concludes the volume. Printed in an edition of 5,000 copies. Accompanied by a poster for the show, featuring the book’s cover image of Friedlander’s shadow on a desert surface. This copy signed by Friedlander. Fine condition, in a dustjacket with tiny fraying and one short tear. $350

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Nudes, New York: Pantheon Books, 1991. Hardcover (blind and gold-stamped maroon cloth), 10 x 11 inches, 108 pages, 84 tritone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first American edition.

This book reveals Friedlander’s fifteen-year foray into new territory—the female nude. The pictures are surprising not only for their subject matter, but also for the non-idealized nature of the models and their surroundings—the subject’s own domestic environment, as opposed to a “neutral” studio setting. While the singer Madonna is recognizable in some of the pictures, many of the models are rendered as faceless expanses of flesh. Perhaps the most classic of the images is the one on the cover, showing a nude stretched out on a couch, reminiscent of a famous image by the early twentieth-century New Orleans photographer E. J. Bellocq, whose negatives Friedlander rescued. Printed in an edition of 8,000 copies. Afterword by Ingrid Sischy. A few creases to the back of the dustjacket. $250

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Valencia, Spain: Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, 1992. Softcover, 9 ½ x 11 ¾ inches, 154 pages, halftone illustrations.

This is a heavily illustrated, rarely seen catalog for a show at Valencia’s Centre Julio González in late 1992. The cover features the 1968 image of a woman standing behind a bar window with a Diners Club label (and its suggestive circular design) strategically placed over her crotch. Internally, the pictures proceed chronologically from the 1950s portraits of jazz musicians to the 1980s pictures of female nudes. Josep Vicent Monzó and Christian Caujolle provide the essays, in Spanish. Near fine condition. $250

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Maria, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992. Softcover, 10 x 8 ½ inches, 64 pages, 30 duotone illustrations. Stated first edition.

Here is Friedlander’s tribute to his wife, Maria, a convenient and loving subject. The couple’s son and daughter and the photographer himself occasionally creep into the frame, making this something of a family album, casual and intimate. Its bookends are a pair of portraits of Maria and Lee out in nature—the first taken in 1958 on their honeymoon and the last over thirty years later. Includes a short biography of the photographer and an interview with him. Printed in an edition of 5,000 copies. Part of the Smithsonian’s “Photographers at Work” series. Fine condition. $75

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, The Jazz People of New Orleans, New York: Pantheon Books, 1992. Hardcover (gold and blind-stamped red cloth), 9 x 11 ¼ inches, 120 pages, 94 duotone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first American edition.

New Orleans jazz musicians were among Friedlander’s earliest subjects, beginning in 1957. Already showing his skill at working on the street and combining foreground and background elements, he turned his camera on legends such as Louis Armstrong, guitarists Robert Pee Williams and Snooks Eaglin, and marching brass bands such as Young Tuxedo and Eureka. Whitney Balliett, America’s foremost jazz writer, provides an afterward that describes a visit he made to New Orleans in the mid-sixties. Printed in an edition of 10,000 copies. Near fine condition. $45

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Letters from the People, New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 1993. Hardcover (blind-stamped black cloth), 14 ¾ x 13 ¾ inches, 88 pages, 213 tritone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed.

This large-scale book, similar in page size to Walker Evans’s Message from the Interior (1966), highlights Friedlander’s fascination with signs and graffiti, like his predecessor. He begins with the alphabet, moves on to numbers, then words, sayings, and sentences. With the keen eye of a witty street walker, he both isolates and compounds examples of found language, reveling in missing elements, misspellings, and other unique findings. Most of the pages comprise multiple images, making for a compendium similar to the cataloging nature of his earlier book The American Monument. Printed in an edition of 3,000 copies. This copy signed by Friedlander. Near fine condition in a dustjacket that is lightly rubbed and wrinkled. $450

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. The George Gund Foundation Annual Report: People Working, Cleveland: George Gund Foundation, 1995. Softcover, 11 x 9 ¼ inches, 52 pages, 49 halftone illustrations.

Includes standard annual report information on this Ohio nonprofit institution, such as its mission statement, president’s letter, financials, and a list of grant recipients in five categories. The foundation commissioned Friedlander to photograph the diversity of Cleveland’s work force, to underscore its commitment to supporting the economic vitality of the city. The high-quality reproductions show workers in manufacturing, medicine, baking, automotive, and other business sectors. As usual, Friedlander effectively juxtaposes individuals with their surroundings, making for intriguing visual results. Near fine condition. $35

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander: The Desert Seen, New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 1996. Hardcover (blind-stamped green cloth), 11 ½ x 12 inches, 108 pages, 94 tritone illustrations, dustjacket.

Here, Friedlander engages a relatively new subject for him—pure landscape, and a desolate one at that. Also using the new format of a square negative, he rarely provides an overview of the desert, but rather swoops into the brush, cacti, and trees to make disorienting images of entangled, broken, and overgrown details at various locations in the American West. He inserts himself in the last picture, to remind us of his renowned body of work, the self portraits. The photographer, who is known for not verbalizing about his pictures, uncharacteristically provides a text, in which he explains the way he came around to the subject and his sense of the Sonoma Desert as “one long sentence, like a long solo.” Printed in an edition of 3,000 copies. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $75

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Self-Composed, New York: Janet Borden Gallery, 1997. Softcover, 7 ½ x 7 inches, 8 pages, 6 halftone illustrations.

This small catalog accompanied an exhibition at the Janet Borden Gallery, November 22 – December 31, 1997. The illustrated pictures are all self portraits, made in the mid-1990s, with a square-format camera mounted on a tripod which occasionally casts a shadow on Friedlander. Always holding a cable release, he is seen either clearly in profile or frontally and obscured by small branches. Includes a short epigram by Friedlander’s painter friend R. B. Kitaj. Near fine condition. $25

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 2000. Hardcover (printed reproduction and blind-stamped blue cloth),

9 ½ x 9 ½ inches, 88 pages, 77 duotone illustrations. Stated first edition.

Here we have a whole new set of Friedlander self portraits, now made with a square-format camera, as opposed to his earlier rectangular pictures from 35mm negatives. The work, all made during the 1990s, places Friedlander in both landscapes and interiors, in this and many foreign countries, and occasionally with his wife, Maria. His cable release is sometimes visible (as in the cover image) and his aging body is prevalent. Includes four epigrams and ends with two photographs of the photographer with his granddaughter Ava, to whom the book is dedicated. A striking cover, with the deep blue cloth and Friedlander’s name in bright orange, printed in an edition of 3,300 copies (hard and soft), without a dustjacket. Near mint condition, in opened shrink wrap. $75

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 2000. Softcover, 9 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 88 pages, 77 duotone illustrations. Stated first edition.

Same as the above, but softcover. From the library of Peter C. Bunnell, former Princeton curator, with his modest stamp on the front free-end paper. Near fine condition. $35

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Staglieno, Tucson, Arizona: Nazraeli Press, 2002. Hardcover (printed paper and gray-stamped maroon velvet over boards), 11 ¾ x 11 ¼ inches, 56 pages, 48 halftone illustrations. Stated first edition.

This book represents a concentrated and unlikely body of work for Friedlander. It comprises his engagement with the statuary in the Staglieno cemetery near Genoa, Italy, encountered only because his wife, Maria, had relatives in the area. In 1992 and 1993, he photographed the site’s decorated monuments and realistic statues with a keen sense of how the natural light fell on his immobile subjects. Curator Peter Galassi provides a foreword and Maria the afterword. Published without a dustjacket but in very tactile velvet, in an edition of 2,000 copies. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $95

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Kitaj, San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 2002. Hardcover (printed paper over boards), 9 ¾ x 9 ¾ inches, 120 pages, 94 duotone illustrations.

Issued without a dustjacket, this volume honors Friedlander’s long friendship with the English artist R. B. Kitaj. It presents Kitaj at work, at play, and with friends and family, from 1970 to 2001. Friedlander’s wife, Maria, contributes a personal text about the two men’s relationship and Kitaj writes about himself. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $75

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Stems, New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 2003. Hardcover (printed illustration and black and silver-stamped green cloth), 12 ¼ x 10 ¼ inches, 92 pages, 65 quadtone illustrations.

In 1994, Friedlander was forced into pursuing still life subjects due to severe knee problems. Among the most rewarding subjects he found around the house were the flowers his wife, Maria, regularly set up. He ended up focusing on the stems of the flowers and their water-filled glass vases, and notes in the book’s introduction, “Not only would the stems fall into wild array, the vases produced with them a kind of optical splendor. They added a perverse note to the optical qualities of the fine camera lenses.” Friedlander worked close up, producing nearly abstract images somewhat reminiscent of Alvin Landon Coburn’s modernist “vortographs” of nearly a century earlier. Issued without a dustjacket, mint condition, in shrink wrap. $75

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Peter Galassi, Friedlander, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2005. Softcover, 12 ¾ x 11 ¾ inches, 480 pages, 812 duotone and 48 color illustrations, with ephemera.

The massive tome accompanied a huge traveling show organized by MOMA. The high-quality plates are organized by decade, beginning with the 1960s, while Galassi integrates Friedlander’s earliest pictures, 1950s images of jazz musicians, into his introductory essay. Includes a comprehensive chronology and bibliography. Most enlightening, however, is the section “Making Books,” in which Richard Benson writes about photographic reproduction and working with Friedlander. Included are details of all of the photographer’s books, special editions, and portfolios, a bibliophile’s delight. Beyond the obvious facts, this illustrated grouping denotes edition numbers, designers, printers, binders, and more. Accompanied by the original newsprint review of the show from the New York Times, May 29, 2005. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $75

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander, Cherry Blossom Time in Japan: The Complete Works, San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 2006. Hardcover (printed paper over boards), 8 ¼ x 11 ¼ inches, unpaginated, 73 duotone illustrations.

This attractive book, published without a dustjacket, represents a very focused body of work by Friedlander, photographed on four visits to Japan between 1977 and 1984. His landscapes sometimes include very few cherry blossoms, but are always vibrant, dense, and moving. Features an unusual book design, with a nod to the Japanese aesthetic. The front cover and first half of the reproductions (all richly reproduced) are oriented horizontally, while the back cover and second half of the images are vertical. Designer Katy Homans and Friedlander embraced strong colors, as the covers and a few pages are psychedelically vibrant green and pink. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $75

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Friedlander: Photography, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2008. Folder, 12 x 9 inches, 3 halftone illustrations, with 11 pieces of ephemera.

Printed items relating to the Minneapolis showing of the 2005 MOMA exhibition, with a slightly expanded title. The printed folder holds: a 6-page advance exhibition calendar for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, a 3-page press release for “Friedlander: Photography,” 2-pages of press images for the exhibition, 3 cards announcing the show, 4 admission tickets, and a copy of the museum’s member’s magazine, Arts, with the cover and a 4-page, illustrated article devoted to the exhibition. Fine condition. $25

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Friedlander: Photography, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2008. Poster, 68 x 47 ¼ inches, one halftone illustration.

This large poster advertised the Minneapolis showing of MOMA’s 2005 retrospective “Friedlander.” It is laminated and was displayed in a Twin Cities bus stop, thus its scale. The image, which takes up much of the poster, is a 2002 Las Vegas scene that Friedlander shot from the driver’s seat of a car, cleverly balancing the vehicle’s interior with the jumble of exterior elements. Wrinkles. $35

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Lee Friedlander: 1960s-2000s, Tokyo: Rat Hole Gallery, 2008. Hardcover (printed paper over boards), 8 ½ x 9 ½ inches, 56 pages, 37 halftone illustrations.

This recent understated publication, issued without a dustjacket, features well-reproduced images from Friedlander’s major series. There are self portraits, television sets, American monuments, portraits, nudes, graffiti, architecture, plants, and landscapes. It reflects the photographer’s interest in notable book design, as its cover is printed in silver ink and its endpapers are a rich purple color. Printed in an edition of only 700 copies. Fine condition. $75

 

  1. FRIEDLANDER. Three posters on Lee Friedlander.

15 Photographs by Lee Friedlander, New York: Double Elephant Press, 1973. Poster, 26 x 19 ¾ inches, 15 halftone illustrations. Announces a portfolio of fifteen original photographs, in an edition of 75 copies. This was Friedlander’s second portfolio (the first, of a few years earlier, paired his work with that of printmaker Jim Dine), and includes important early photographs dating from 1962 to 1972. A few creases to the edges.

Lee Friedlander: Trees and Brush, New York: Robert Freidus Gallery, 1980. Poster, 24 x 18 inches, one halftone illustration. Poster for a show at the Freidus Gallery in early 1980, with an image of blossoming branches below background trees and sky. A year later Friedlander issued a deluxe book with related work, titled Flowers and Trees. Fine condition.

Like a One-Eyed Cat: Photographs by Lee Friedlander, 1956-1987, Seattle Art Museum, 1989. Poster, 24 x 16 inches, one halftone illustration. Accompanied a retrospective exhibition and book by the same title at the Seattle Art Museum. Features Friedlander’s humorous 1983 image of his shadow on a desert surface (Canyon de Chelly, Arizona), as he photographs himself and weeds become his punk hair. Fine condition (the poster, not his hair).

Group of three: $35

 

Catalog 2 – July 2012 (200 copies)