The New West by Robert Adams, First Edition

The New West: Landscapes Along the Colorado Front Range by Robert Adams 

First Edition, First Printing, 1974 

Exceptional Condition - Includes Custom Slipcase 

This is a very rare first edition, first printing of the Robert Adams seminal photobook “The New West: Landscapes Along the Colorado Front Range by Robert Adams” published by The Colorado Associated University Press in 1974. The best summary of the book comes from Aperture in their comments, “Robert Adams’s The New West signaled a significant shift in photographic representation of the American landscape. Eschewing photogra­phy’s role in romanticizing the Western land­scape, Adams focused instead on the construc­tion of tract and mobile homes, sub­divisions, shopping centers, and urban sprawl in the suburbs of Colorado Springs and the Denver area. Objective and direct, Adams’s photographs, rendered in his signa­ture middle-gray scale, unsentimentally depict a despoiled landscape washed in the intense Colorado sunlight. "The New West stands alongside Walker Evans’s American Photographs, Robert Frank’s The Americans, and Stephen Shore’s Uncom­mon Places in the pantheon of landmark projects on American culture and society." The New York Times stated, “The most literate and eloquent photographer of our time…(Adams refuses) to accept a simplistic view of the West as either a pristine, prelapsarian collection of natural wonders…or a land ripe for unlimited economic development.”

Containing numerous black and white photographs and measuring approximately 9” x 10”, the book is bound in brown cloth covered boards with a photographically illustrated dust jacket. The book is in FINE condition. The dust jacket is in Near Fine + condition with some superficial soiling and a tear to the front that has been professionally repaired. There is a minor crease to the back of the dust jacket. The dust jacket is protected with a mylar covering and is housed in a custom black linen slipcase that evidences minor soiling. Overall, this is an exceptional copy of one of the most important photobooks ever published.

Cited in “The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century” by Andrew Roth

Photographs of the books dust jacket, the slipcase, as well as photographs contained in the book appear below. Please note that although the photographs appear digitized as thumbnails, they are viewable in the photo viewer by running your mouse over the thumbnail. You can also click on the thumbnail to open a separate window where the pictures are viewable as a slideshow.