50 Photographs by Edward Weston
First Edition, First Printing, 1947
Initialed and Numbered by Edward Weston, 375 of 1500
This is a rare first edition, first printing of Edward Weston’s critically acclaimed photobook “50 Photographs” published by Duell, Sloan & Pearce, New York in 1947 with a limitation of 1500 copies. In “The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century”, David Levi-Strauss wrote, “ Edward Weston made the selections for the book the book himself stating “fifty of my favorite photographs chosen because they have lived well and because they have not been reproduced in book form before”…Though [50 Photographs] includes all of Weston's genres--landscapes, nudes, still lifes, and portraits--it is an unusual selection, more edgy than iconic...The overall effect...is to make visible the real legacy of Weston's work, the way it influenced so much of what would come after.”
Measuring 12.5” x 9.5” and containing 50 black and white photographs, the book is bound in printed black paper covered boards with a printed dust jacket. The book is in Near FINE+ condition with some wear to the edges of the boards and age toning to the endpapers. The dust jacket is in Very Good+ condition with light soiling, rubbing, minor chips and a larger chip to the head of the spine.
A total of 1500 copies were produced with this being number 375. Edward Weston has initialed and numbered the book on the colophon page. Overall, this is a highly collectible copy of a notoriously fragile book that has become rare in any condition and copies with dust jackets increasingly scarce.
Cited in both “The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century” and “The Open Book” by Andrew Roth.
Photographs of the dust jacket, signature/limitation page, 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.
