Russian Ballet. Camera Studies by Gordon Anthony. With an Introduction by Arnold Haskell -
Gordon Anthony
1939 - Geoffrey Bles, London - First Edition
Illustrated with 96 tipped-in black and white photographs of Russian ballet stars, including a frontispiece.
A series of photographic studies of the stars of both Russian ballet companies at the time, including a portrait of the choreographer Michael Fokine, young Serge Lifar, Irina Baronova, Anton Dolin, Alexandra Danilova, Frederick Franklin, Tamara Grigorieva, David Lichine, Alicia Markova, Marc Platoff, Leonide Massine, Mia Slavenska and others.
Gordon Anthony was born James Gordon Dawson Stannus in Wicklow, Ireland on 23 December 1902. He started working in photography in 1926, making images of the students at his sister's ballet school in London. In 1933 he became the portrait photographer to the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford. His photographs helped to make the Royal Ballet known across the world in the 1930s. In 1948, he published the first ever book of colour photography in Great Britain, Studies of Dancers.
Anthony's photographs are held in major collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1939 - Geoffrey Bles, London - First Edition
Illustrated with 96 tipped-in black and white photographs of Russian ballet stars, including a frontispiece.A series of photographic studies of the stars of both Russian ballet companies at the time, including a portrait of the choreographer Michael Fokine, young Serge Lifar, Irina Baronova, Anton Dolin, Alexandra Danilova, Frederick Franklin, Tamara Grigorieva, David Lichine, Alicia Markova, Marc Platoff, Leonide Massine, Mia Slavenska and others.
Gordon Anthony was born James Gordon Dawson Stannus in Wicklow, Ireland on 23 December 1902. He started working in photography in 1926, making images of the students at his sister's ballet school in London. In 1933 he became the portrait photographer to the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford. His photographs helped to make the Royal Ballet known across the world in the 1930s. In 1948, he published the first ever book of colour photography in Great Britain, Studies of Dancers.
Anthony's photographs are held in major collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.
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Price HK$ 8,000
Le Paysan de Paris The Peasant of Paris - Signed by Henri Cartier-Bresson -
Louis Aragon, Henri Cartier-Bresson
1994 - The Limited editions Club, New York - Number 89 of 300 copies.
‘I was seeking… a new kind of novel that would break all the traditional rules governing the writing of fiction… a novel that the critics would be obliged to approach empty-handed’ – Louis Aragon.
A large (32x42cm) beautiful and superbly produced limited edition folio of Louis Aragon’s outstanding Surrealist novel – in which he compares a poet’s love for his city to a peasant’s love for his land – illustrated and signed by Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of only 300 copies. With the text in English, translated by Simon Watson-Taylor.
Stunningly illustrated with seven original lithographs and a photogravure by Henri Cartier-Bresson. The lithographs were pulled by Bruce Porter at his Trestle Editions studio in New York. The photogravure was printed by Jon Goodman on French-made Arjo Wiggins stock.
Bound in silk and provided with a matching felt lined silk slipcase.
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Price HK$ 9,000
1994 - The Limited editions Club, New York - Number 89 of 300 copies.
‘I was seeking… a new kind of novel that would break all the traditional rules governing the writing of fiction… a novel that the critics would be obliged to approach empty-handed’ – Louis Aragon.A large (32x42cm) beautiful and superbly produced limited edition folio of Louis Aragon’s outstanding Surrealist novel – in which he compares a poet’s love for his city to a peasant’s love for his land – illustrated and signed by Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of only 300 copies. With the text in English, translated by Simon Watson-Taylor.
Stunningly illustrated with seven original lithographs and a photogravure by Henri Cartier-Bresson. The lithographs were pulled by Bruce Porter at his Trestle Editions studio in New York. The photogravure was printed by Jon Goodman on French-made Arjo Wiggins stock.
Bound in silk and provided with a matching felt lined silk slipcase.
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Price HK$ 9,000
An Aperture Monograph -
Diane Arbus
1972 - Aperture, Millerton - First Edition
A fine first edition, this first issue or printing includes the photograph ‘Two Girls in Identical Raincoats Central Park, N.Y.C, 1969’ which was suppressed in all subsequent printings.
Produced in conjunction with the Arbus retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art organized by John Szarkowski, the year following Arbus' death by suicide. With a frontispiece portrait of Arbus by Stephen Frank.
‘For the concentrated essence of her vision, this monograph – published a year after her death in 1971 – remains indispensable’ – The best photography books and magazines, Geoff Dyer and Simon Bainbridge, The Guardian, October 2018.
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Price HK$ 9,000
1972 - Aperture, Millerton - First Edition
A fine first edition, this first issue or printing includes the photograph ‘Two Girls in Identical Raincoats Central Park, N.Y.C, 1969’ which was suppressed in all subsequent printings. Produced in conjunction with the Arbus retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art organized by John Szarkowski, the year following Arbus' death by suicide. With a frontispiece portrait of Arbus by Stephen Frank.
‘For the concentrated essence of her vision, this monograph – published a year after her death in 1971 – remains indispensable’ – The best photography books and magazines, Geoff Dyer and Simon Bainbridge, The Guardian, October 2018.
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Price HK$ 9,000
Made in France - Signed -
Richard Avedon, Judith Thurman
2001 - Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco - First and only edition, limited to 5000 &lsquo
A clean example of this fine large and fabulous book, signed by Avedon in his typical large scrawl.
Illustrated with 40 tritone and quadrotone plates, text by Richard Avedon and an Essay by Judith Thurman, staff writer for The New Yorker.
‘And if a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it's as though I've neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up. I know that the accident of my being a photographer has made my life possible.’ - Richard Avedon.
‘These witty, ravishing photographs were taken in the late fifties, when Avedon was still shooting Paris couture for Harper's Bazaar— Suzy Parker, in a Lanvin-Castillo evening dress, bent over a pinball machine at Café des Beaux-Arts; Audrey Hepburn, in Dior, propped up against the bar at Maxim's like a bejewelled fountain pen.
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Price HK$ 12,000
2001 - Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco - First and only edition, limited to 5000 &lsquo
A clean example of this fine large and fabulous book, signed by Avedon in his typical large scrawl.Illustrated with 40 tritone and quadrotone plates, text by Richard Avedon and an Essay by Judith Thurman, staff writer for The New Yorker.
‘And if a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it's as though I've neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up. I know that the accident of my being a photographer has made my life possible.’ - Richard Avedon.
‘These witty, ravishing photographs were taken in the late fifties, when Avedon was still shooting Paris couture for Harper's Bazaar— Suzy Parker, in a Lanvin-Castillo evening dress, bent over a pinball machine at Café des Beaux-Arts; Audrey Hepburn, in Dior, propped up against the bar at Maxim's like a bejewelled fountain pen.
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Price HK$ 12,000
The Yellow Book -
Aubrey Beardsley
April 1894-April 1897 - Elkin Mathews &, London
A complete, clean and better than normally encountered thirteen volume set of this groundbreaking art nouveau publication, in the publisher’s bright yellow illustrated covers with designs by Aubrey Beardsley. Together with ‘A Selection’ published in 1950 and bound in yellow cloth to match the earlier set. Fourteen volumes in total.
From its initial visually arresting issue, for which Aubrey Beardsley was art editor and for which Max Beerbohm wrote an essay, ‘A Defence of Cosmetics’, ‘The Yellow Book’ attained immediate notoriety.
Published by John Lane and edited by Henry Harland, ‘The Yellow Book’ attracted many outstanding writers and artists of the era, such as Arnold Bennett, Charlotte Mew, Henry James, Edmund Gosse, Richard Le Gallienne, and Walter Sickert.
Although dominated by the illustrations of Aubrey Beardsley, and his decadent fin de siècle aura, many other distinguished artists contributed to the quarterly, notably Frederic Leighton, Will Rothenstein, Walter Sickert and Philip Wilson Steer; contributors to the text included Max Beerbohm, John Buchan, Baron Corvo, Edmund Gosse, Kenneth Grahame, Henry James, E. Nesbit and W. B. Yeats.
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Price HK$ 10,000
April 1894-April 1897 - Elkin Mathews &, London
A complete, clean and better than normally encountered thirteen volume set of this groundbreaking art nouveau publication, in the publisher’s bright yellow illustrated covers with designs by Aubrey Beardsley. Together with ‘A Selection’ published in 1950 and bound in yellow cloth to match the earlier set. Fourteen volumes in total.From its initial visually arresting issue, for which Aubrey Beardsley was art editor and for which Max Beerbohm wrote an essay, ‘A Defence of Cosmetics’, ‘The Yellow Book’ attained immediate notoriety.
Published by John Lane and edited by Henry Harland, ‘The Yellow Book’ attracted many outstanding writers and artists of the era, such as Arnold Bennett, Charlotte Mew, Henry James, Edmund Gosse, Richard Le Gallienne, and Walter Sickert.
Although dominated by the illustrations of Aubrey Beardsley, and his decadent fin de siècle aura, many other distinguished artists contributed to the quarterly, notably Frederic Leighton, Will Rothenstein, Walter Sickert and Philip Wilson Steer; contributors to the text included Max Beerbohm, John Buchan, Baron Corvo, Edmund Gosse, Kenneth Grahame, Henry James, E. Nesbit and W. B. Yeats.
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Price HK$ 10,000
The Lines of My Hand -
Robert Frank
1972 - Lustrum Press, Los Angeles - First American Edition
‘Robert Frank [1924-2019], one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, whose visually raw and personally expressive style was pivotal in changing the course of documentary photography’ - New York Times, September 2019.
A fine copy of ‘arguably Robert Frank's most important book alongside The Americans’ with 86 black and white photographic plates.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1972 - Lustrum Press, Los Angeles - First American Edition
‘Robert Frank [1924-2019], one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, whose visually raw and personally expressive style was pivotal in changing the course of documentary photography’ - New York Times, September 2019.A fine copy of ‘arguably Robert Frank's most important book alongside The Americans’ with 86 black and white photographic plates.
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Price HK$ 3,000
Signed - Photographs: Annie Leibovitz 1970-1990 -
Annie Leibovitz
1991 - Harper Collins, New York - Number 60 of 326 signed and numbered copies
One of only 326 limited editions of this iconic work, signed by Annie Leibovitz, considered one of the most important and influential photography books of all time.
Showcasing over 160 of Leibovitz’s best photographs. Scarce, specially bound and slipcased edition.
In 1991, Leibovitz mounted an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. She was the second living portraitist and first woman to show there. This work encompasses a landmark collection of over 225 colour and black and white examples of her work, ‘showcasing her unparalleled ability to capture the essence of her subjects. From iconic celebrity portraits and emotional photographs, it solidifies her status as one of the greatest photographers of her time’. [Blind Magazine, ‘The 50 Most Influential Photobooks of All time’]
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Price HK$ 10,000
1991 - Harper Collins, New York - Number 60 of 326 signed and numbered copies
One of only 326 limited editions of this iconic work, signed by Annie Leibovitz, considered one of the most important and influential photography books of all time.Showcasing over 160 of Leibovitz’s best photographs. Scarce, specially bound and slipcased edition.
In 1991, Leibovitz mounted an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. She was the second living portraitist and first woman to show there. This work encompasses a landmark collection of over 225 colour and black and white examples of her work, ‘showcasing her unparalleled ability to capture the essence of her subjects. From iconic celebrity portraits and emotional photographs, it solidifies her status as one of the greatest photographers of her time’. [Blind Magazine, ‘The 50 Most Influential Photobooks of All time’]
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Price HK$ 10,000
A Way of Seeing. Photographs of New York -
Helen Levitt, James Agee
1965 - The Viking Press, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition, of this important photographic work.
In 1945 Photographer Levitt and Pulitzer Prize winning author James Agee worked together in 1945 on a documentary film shot in Harlem, these photographs were taken on the streets of Harlem and the Lower East Side in the late 1930’s and 1940s, but the project remained unpublished until ‘A Way of Seeing’ in 1965.
In James Agee's words, ‘‘Levitt’s photographs seem to me as beautiful, perceptive, satisfying, and enduring as any lyrical work that I know… an uninsistent but irrefutable manifesto of a way of seeing, and, in a gentle and wholly unpretentious way, a major poetic work’.
‘Since its first publication in 1965, Helen Levitt’s collection of photographs taken on the streets of New York in the 1940s has been a classic of its kind. Produced in collaboration with writer James Agee, who provided the book’s introduction. Levitt’s focus on marginalized children and communities offers a compassionate perspective. His work also set a new standard for authenticity and poetic storytelling in street photography. A Way of Seeing remains a benchmark for those seeking humanity in their images.’ – The 50 Most Influential Photobooks of All Time – Blind Magazine, January 2025.
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Price HK$ 10,000
1965 - The Viking Press, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition, of this important photographic work.In 1945 Photographer Levitt and Pulitzer Prize winning author James Agee worked together in 1945 on a documentary film shot in Harlem, these photographs were taken on the streets of Harlem and the Lower East Side in the late 1930’s and 1940s, but the project remained unpublished until ‘A Way of Seeing’ in 1965.
In James Agee's words, ‘‘Levitt’s photographs seem to me as beautiful, perceptive, satisfying, and enduring as any lyrical work that I know… an uninsistent but irrefutable manifesto of a way of seeing, and, in a gentle and wholly unpretentious way, a major poetic work’.
‘Since its first publication in 1965, Helen Levitt’s collection of photographs taken on the streets of New York in the 1940s has been a classic of its kind. Produced in collaboration with writer James Agee, who provided the book’s introduction. Levitt’s focus on marginalized children and communities offers a compassionate perspective. His work also set a new standard for authenticity and poetic storytelling in street photography. A Way of Seeing remains a benchmark for those seeking humanity in their images.’ – The 50 Most Influential Photobooks of All Time – Blind Magazine, January 2025.
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Price HK$ 10,000