Untitled - De Slegte

Russia. Bourke-White was the only foreign photographer present, and she photographed
bombs falling on the Kremlin at night from her hotel balcony. The resulting pictures were
a major scoop for Bourke-White and Life. Dustjacket damaged, missing some small chips
of paper, mainly at the extremities. - € 250
75. BOURKE-WHITE, Margaret: Halfway to freedom. a report on the new India
in the words and photographs of Margaret Bourke-White.
New york, Simon & schuster, 1949. Cloth in dustjacket. 245 pp. Dustjacket damaged,
mainly on the spine.
Halfway to Freedom shows the new face of an ancient land. To most people, India has been
only a curiosity: a backward British colony, a country of strange temples, bejewelled maharajahs,
fakirs and famine. But the Indian that Margaret Bourke-White has written about
and photographed does not conform to this pattern. It is an awakening giant, striving to
throw off the shackles of a medieval feudalism, to develop modern industries, to educate its
people. India is learning to find freedom. (front jacket text) - € 125
76. BRANDT, Bill: The English at home.
London, B. T. Batsford. 1936. Hardcover, 64 pp.
The extreme social contrast, during those years before the war, was, visually, very inspiring
for me. I started by photographing in London, the West End, the suburbs, the slums. ‘
Bill Brandt Brandt visited England during the late 1920’s. In 1934 he and his wife settled
in Belsize Park, north London. Brandt adopted Britain as his home and it became the
subject of his greatest photographs. The majority of Brandt’s earliest English photographs
were first published in Brandt’s The English at Home. 2 pages in the middle of the book
with a restored tear. - € 250
77. BRANDT, Bill: Londres de nuit, soixante-quatre photographies de Bill Brandt.
Paris, Arts et Métiers graphiques, / London, Country Life / New York, Charles Scribner’s
Sons First edition, 1938. Paperback, 64 pp. ‘I photographed pubs, common lodging houses
at night, theatres, Turkish baths, prisons and people in their bedrooms. London has
changed so much that some of these pictures now have a period charm almost of another
century. Brandt’s second book, A Night in London, was published in London and Paris in
1938. It was based on Paris de Nuit (1936) by Brassaï, whom Brandt greatly admired. The
book tells the story of a London night, moving between different social classes and making
use – as with The English at Home – of Brandt’s family and friends. Night photography
was a new genre of the period, opened up by the newly developed flashbulb (the ‘Vacublitz’
was manufactured in Britain from 1930). Brandt generally preferred to use portable
tungsten lamps called photo-floods. He claimed to have enough cable to run the length of
Salisbury Cathedral. James Bone introduced Brandt’s book and described the new, electric
city: ‘Floodlit attics and towers, oiled roadways shining like enamel under the street lights
and headlights, the bright lacquer and shining metals of motorcars, illuminated signs…’
Brandt often used the darkroom to alter his photographs in decisive way. For example,
in the photograph Policeman in a Dockland Alley he used the ‘day for night’ technique
employed by cinematographers to transform images photographed in daylight into night
scenes. Spine damaged, missing some chips of paper, front partly loose. Very rare.
- € 1.750
78. BRASSAÏ & MORAND, Paul: Paris de Nuit, 60 photos inedites de Brassai
publiees dans la Collection Realites sous la direction de J. Bernier.
Paris, Editions Arts et Metiers Graphiques, 1933. Spiral bound with stiff card wrappers,
74 pp.
“Paris de Nuit is a ravishing book object in a purely physical sense. The printing
represents arguably the most luscious gravure ever seen, the blacks being so rich and deep
that after handling the book one expects to find sooty deposits all over one’s fingers. The
gradation of tones is wonderfully subtle, describing an apparently infinite range of black
and near-black tones. . . one should think of it as among the best produced and influential
photobooks ever. “--Parr & Badger, The Photobook: A History, vol. I. Cover slightly
rubbed. - € 2.500
79. BRASSAÏ: Etudes de Nus. 24 Photographies, de Brassaï, Nora Dumas, Féher,
Pierre Jahan, Ergy Landau, Liu-Shu-Chang, Philippe Pottier, Jeanne Robert,
Seeberger, Sougez.
Paris, éditions du Chêne, 1948. Loose as issued in wraps. - € 175
80. BRASSAÏ, [ photographie] & KAHNWEILER, Daniel Henry: Les Sculptures
de Picasso.
Paris, Les Éditions du Chêne, 1949. In pictorial Hardcover, 8 pp., text followed by 216
plates. Text by Daniel Henry Kahnweiler. some slight foxing. - € 125
81. BRASSAÏ: Brassaï.
Paris, Éditions Neuf, 1952. Cloth, with a pictorial front, 82 pp. Edited by Robert Delpire
and Pierre Faucheux.
Brassaï’s friend the novelist Henry Miller contributed an essay ‘Oeil de Paris’ – the
photographer would soon return the favor, providing illustrations to Miller’s own Quiet
Days in Clichy. - € 500
82. BRASSAÏ, [photographs] & MONTHERLANT, Henry: Séville en Fête.
Paris, Collection Neuf Robert Delpire, 1954. Cloth with dustjacket. 134 pp. First edition.
Brassaï’s photobook on Seville’s famous April festivals, Semana Santa and La Feria de
Abril, with 75 rich photogravures depicting the month’s processions and festivities.
“Always astonishing in Brassaï’s work is the strong presence of people. They fill every
setting with their physical volume and reveal the photographer’s genuine involvement.
No photograph was taken just for its own sake. Despite all his transformation of life into
a photographic image, Brassaï’s pictures were always a confession of humanity” (Icons of
Photography, 52). His homage to Seville is no exception. Seville is the very embodiment
of the Andalusian character and spirit, and its cultural richness is best manifested in two
annual festivals in April: Semana Santa (Holy Saturday), a solemn and beautiful series of
religious processions marking the end of Holy Week, and by the non-stop week-long party
at the end of the month—La Feria de Abril. In the grand Paseo de Caballos, beautifullydecorated
horses-drawn carriages parade in shining colors throughout the city, with their
occupants in fantastic flamenco dress. Over 1000 brightly-colored casetas (little houses set
up in the streets), covered in decorations and paper lanterns, become temporary homes for
thousands of revelers, packed day and night with flamenco dancers. Every evening some of
the best bullfights of the year take place at the Plaza de Toros de Maestranza de Caballería.
Brassaï has captured it all. Dustjacjket with some light shelf wear. - € 195
83. BRASSAÏ, [photographs] & MILLER, Henry: Quiet Days in Clichy.
Paris, Olympia Press, 1958. In black, yellow, grey and white card wrappers, 178 pp.
Against the vivid, sensual background of Paris, Henry Miller has woven yet another
masterful work of people living life to the full, experiencing sex, love and all manner of
emotions to the utmost. Henry miller will undoubtedly offend some, shock others, but dazzle
many more with this brilliant book. - € 700
84. BREUKEL, Koos: Photo Studio Koos Breukel.
Amsterdam, Basalt & Van Zoetendaal. 2000. Cloth in dustjacket. 30 plates. - € 175
85. BULLOCK, Wynn & BULLOCK-WILSON, Barbara: Wynn Bullock.
San Francisco: The Scrimshaw Press, 1971. Cloth in dustjacket. - € 125
86. BURRI, René: Les Allemands. Photographies de René Burri.
Paris, Robert Delpire, 1963. Hardcover, 166 pp.
The photos published in “Les Allemands” (“The Germans”) have been taken during trips
in Germany from 1957 to 1964. They are considered today as classics of photojournalism,
but they are more than that. They are not only masterpieces of their kind, but also part
of history and historiography. However, they do not describe the big issues of history but
everyday life. They reflect the details of life, that may sometimes seem contradictory in
their outer appearance. René Burri’s view, impartial but open-minded, full of interest in
his neighbour-country permits him a certain intimacy with what he sees, without getting
involved too much. His intimacy does not result in a loss of distance, which actually gives
his images this singular quality. Today his images can be considered to be among the best
witnesses of the era of reconstruction in Germany before the wall was built. Here is one
last attempt to show all of Germany as a unity. This book was included as one of the volumes
in the “Encyclopedie Essentielle” which also included the first publication of Robert
Frank’s “Les Americains” in 1958. - € 350
87. BURRI, René & ENZENSBERGER, Hans Magnus: Die Deutschen. Photographien
aus einem geteilten Land 1957-1964.
Schirmer/ Mosel, 1986. Cloth in dustjacket, 205 pp. - € 125