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. Translated into English 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



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



The Decisive Moment - Henri Cartier-Bresson

1952 - Simon and Schuster in collaboration with É, New York - First Edition in English
One of the most important photography books of the 20th century, containing 126 full or double page heliogravures, considered ‘unique in providing an international portrait or impression of humanity covering the two decades prior to its publication’. Divided into two chronological and geographical sections: the first spans the years 1932 to 1947 and is made up of photographs taken in the west; the second spans 1947 to 1952 and was shot mostly in the east.

Prefaced by Cartier-Bresson’s 4,500-word philosophical essay, whose keynote ‘
There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment.’ was taken from the 17th century Cardinal de Reitz.

‘The idea of the '
decisive moment' is one of the most enduring in photographic literature, and no one has articulated it better than its coiner, in his preface to this book: 'To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression.’’ - David Levi Strauss.

An elusively fine copy, the book without the commonly found chips to spine, in a superior example of the delicate dust jacket, both showing the striking illustration provided by Cartier-Bresson’s friend Henri Matisse. The original 12 leaf ‘
Captions’ pamphlet laid in, as published. 
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Price HK$ 24,000



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