“NATURE IN ENGAGING BLACK-AND-WHITE COMPLEXITY”

BARNBAUM, Bruce. Tone Poems Book 1. Opus 1, 2 & 3. WITH: Tone Poems Book 2. Opuses 4, 5 & 6. (Lake Stevens, Washington): Photographic Arts Editions, (2002, 2005). Quarto, original gray cloth, original dust jacket. WITH: Two original audio compact discs. $550.

First editions of Birnbaum’s “marriage of photography and music,” featuring 181 rich duotones, accompanied by two audio compact discs of pianist Judith Cohen performing music by Prokofiev, Copland, Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Bach and others; both books signed on the half title by the photographer.

Barnbaum "has conveyed nature in engaging black-and-white complexity… A classical music enthusiast, Barnbaum almost always listens to music while in the darkroom. These two books, the first in a projected four-book series of "nine photographic opuses," present 191 of Barnbaum's stunning photographs arranged in thematic sections "Enigmas, Abstractions and Surprises," "Darkness and Despair," "Lyricism of the Land," "Between Real and Surreal," "Aftermath" and "Among the Trees." "Photography and the amazing beauty of this planet," Barnbaum says, "are what keep me reasonably sane and happy." (Heather Conn). Accompanied by two audio compact discs, the second housed in a sleeve at the rear of Book 2.

Fine condition.