CHESTERTON, G. K . (Gilbert Keith, 1874-1936) and COBURN, Alvin Langdon (1882-1966)

[Photobook] London: with Ten Photographs by Alvin Langdon Coburn [Inscribed]

Minneapolis: Privately printed for Edmund D. Brooks and Alvin Langdon Coburn & their friends . . . by Chiswick Press, 1914. Quarter-Cloth. Limited Edition of this landmark of of early 20th-century photography, inscribed by the publisher. Tall, slim 8vo: 19,[1]pp, with portrait frontispiece (showing G. K. and Frances Chesterton with Edmund D. Brooks, the Minneapolis bibliophile who financed this book) and 10 photogravures by Coburn, numbered I-X, mounted on the rectos with versos blank. Original cream-colored paper-covered boards quarter-bound in beige canvas, upper cover and spine lettered in black, all edges uncut. Inscribed by Brooks on the fly-leaf, "For my old friend / Richard Burton / with the kindest regards / of Edmund Brooks / Minneapolis / Oct. 13th 1915." Boards very lightly soiled, spine slightly toned, end sheets embrowned, but a handsome copy: pages clean and bright (text leaves unopened), images fine. Imagining Paradise, p. 225. Coburn (Autobiography), p. 141. Sullivan 34. Fine-. Item #BB1964

Books on cities, emblematic of a modernist future, were wildly popular at the turn of the twentieth century, and Coburn, enthused by Arthur Symons's Cities (1903), envisaged a series of such publications, on London, New York, Edinburgh (each of which was eventually realized), Paris, Venice, Liverpool, Birmingham, Boston, and Pittsburgh. "Coburn's photogravures of London for this privately printed book with text by G. K. Chesterton are quite different from those in his 1909 London. They are smaller format, simpler, busier, quicker images of everyday London life with dense traffic on the roads and bustling crowds in the streets." (Imagining Paradise) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).

Price: $1,324.00