“THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF KOUDELKA MERELY TAKE THE BREATH AWAY”: FIRST EDITION OF CAMARGUE, WITH 21 PANORAMIC DUOTONE PLATES

KOUDELKA, Josef. Camargue. (Arles): Actes Sud/Conservatoire du littoral, (2006). Oblong quarto, original stiff gray wrappers. $750.

First edition of Koudelka’s breathtaking volume of Leporello (accordion-fold) leaves with 21 double-page panoramic duotone plates of the vast river delta south of Arles, France.

The panoramic landscapes of Magnum photographer Josef Koudelka, “one of the most extraordinary photographers and powerful artists of the 20th century” (Afterimage), speak with a “passionate plea for the environmental cause.” Here in Camargue, Koudelka’s “rich, dark-toned and sumptuous photographs” (Parr & Badger II:74-5) continue a quest for worlds where Nature, in his own words, “‘is stronger than Man. It cannot be destroyed” (Afterimage). With 21 double-page panoramic duotone plates of photographs taken throughout the French river delta running south of Arles, an elegant photo-essay arrayed in a continuous fold of accordion leaves. “The photographs of Josef Koudelka merely take the breath away” (New York Times). Text in French by Jean Giono. First edition, published in conjunction with an exhibit produced by the French Conservatoire littoral and the conservation center, Tour du Valat. Issued without dust jacket.

A fine copy.