ABBOTT, Berenice (1898-1991)

[Photobook] Greenwich Village : Today and Yesterday [Signed]

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949. First Printing. Hardcover. First Edition (so stated) of Abbott's photo essay on the streets, store fronts, artists, alleyways, restaurants, and bars of New York City's Greenwich Village. With text by Henry W. Lanier, editor, writer, and son of southern poet Sydney Lanier. Demy 8vo (234 x 148mm): xi,[3],161,[1]pp, with 64 unnumbered pages of plates from photographs by Abbott printed by sheet-fed photogravure. Publisher's finely woven black cloth, lettered in white and accented in blue on spine and front cover; pictorial dust jacket (montage of Abbott's photographs), priced $5.00. Signed by Abbott on title page and dated in year of publication, "December 1949." Corners lightly bumped, tip of jacket's spine panel with skillfully restored, else a Fine example, tightly bound and clean throughout. Fine- / Fine-. Item #BB2198

Late in 1929, Abbott returned to New York from Paris with the intention “to do in Manhattan what Atget did in Paris,” capturing on film the city's architectural history before it disappeared. (Roth, p. 100) Throughout the Thirties, she photographed New York “with a straightforward style that nodded toward 19th-century classicism while signaling a new sort of stripped-down modernism." (Parr & Badger I, p. 141) Issued as part of Harper’s Art Library series. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets 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: $1,865.00