PHOTOGRAPHS, SIGNED BY BRUCE DAVIDSON

DAVIDSON, Bruce. Photographs. (New York): Agrinde/Summit, (1978). Oblong quarto, original stiff glossy photographic wrappers. $450.

First edition, softcover, a rich collection of Davidson’s powerful early work, inscribed on the half title, “Bruce Davidson, 1987,” with 116 duotone plates (many double page), featuring images from landmark photo-essays such as “Brooklyn Gang” (1959) and “East 100th Street” (1966-8).

In Bruce Davidson’s early photo-essays, such as his “grainy, cinematic record of… a Brooklyn teen gang called the Jokers” or his chronicle of Harlem’s East 100th Street, the Magnum photographer earned high acclaim for an approach that broke ground by endowing his subjects with “a certain pictorial formality… [that] opened up new vistas” in photography (Roth, 196). This 1978 collection contains 116 duotone plates of photographs personally chosen by Davidson, providing an important glimpse into the artistry of this leading figure in “the humanist social documentary mode” (Parr & Badger II:18). With preface by Henry Geldzahler, introductory essay by Davidson. First edition in wrappers, published same year as first cloth edition, no priority established. As issued without dust jacket.

A fine copy, scarce inscribed.