RIVER: ITS SHADOW OF SHADOWS, SIGNED IN JAPANESE BY MORINAGA

MORINAGA, Jun. River: Its Shadow of Shadows. Tokyo: Yugensha, 1978. Quarto, original gray cloth, original photographic slipcase, original shipping box. $2800.

First edition of Morinaga’s first photobook, signed by him in Japanese in a silver felt pen, featuring over 90 photogravure plates (including numerous gatefolds) and an essay by W. Eugene Smith.

After serving as W. Eugene Smith’s photographic assistant in Tokyo, in 1963 Morinaga was named Japan's New Photographer of the Year. This first and only printing of River reflects his long interest in waterscapes and especially in the vanishing rivers of Tokyo. Smith’s essay praises Morinaga’s work for its haunting beauty, charged with “a very rare and personal” vision, and critics have hailed Morinaga’s evocative depiction of “rippling water in dark, meditative images” (New York Times). Essays by W. Eugene Smith and others; text in Japanese and English.

A fine copy, extremely scarce signed.