The Photobook: A History. Volume I, II & III (sold)

€360,00

Author: Martin Parr and Gerry Badger
Publisher: Phaidon Press Ltd
Year: 2004, 2009, 2014
ISBN:9780714842851 (I), 9780714844336 (II), 9780714866772 (III)

Hardcover with dust jacket, 3 x 320 pages , English, 26,1 x 29,8 cm
Condition: as new

( volume I )
While the history of photography is a well-established canon, much less critical attention has been directed at the phenomenon of the photobook, which for many photographers is perhaps the most significant vehicle for the display of their work and the communication of their vision to a mass audience.

In the first of two volumes, both co-edited by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, The Photobook provides a comprehensive overview of the development of the photobook: from its inception at the dawn of photography in the early nineteenth century through to the radical Japanese photobooks of the 1960s and 70s, by way of the Modernist and propaganda books of the 1930s and 40s.

The selection of photographers compiled by Badger and Parr challenges the popular canon, and their survey of the history of the photobook reveals a secret web of influence and inter-relationships between photographers and photographic movements around the world. The book is divided into a series of thematic and broadly chronological chapters; each features a general introductory text that offers background information and highlights the dominant political and artistic influences on the photobook in the relevant period, followed by more detailed discussion of the individual photobooks.

The chapter texts are followed by spreads and images from over 200 books, which provide the central means of telling the history of the photobook. Assimilated diligently by Parr and Badger, these illustrations show around 200 of the most artistically and culturally important photobooks featuring the cover or jacket and a selection of spreads. (volume II)

( volume II )
Following on from the success of the first volume, The Photobook: A History volume II brings the story of the Photobook fully up to date. It features publications by many well-known photographers ranging from Man Ray, Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol to Christian Boltanski, Stephen Shore ad Sophie Calle by way of Bernd and Hilla Becher, Andreas Gursky and Lewis Baltz. Several innovative books by unknown photographers are also included, offering an opportunity to discover these overlooked works.

Photographers have been making photobooks – bound collections of their work – ever since the birth of photography in the early nineteenth century. While for some photographers the single print is considered the ultimate expression of their work, for many others the photobook is the most important vehicle for the widespread communication of their vision.

This second volume includes over 200 publications carefully selected by the renowned contemporary photographer, Martin Parr, whose passion for the photobook has made him a world authority on the subject, and the critic and curator Gerry Badger. All the books are accompanied by extensive commentaries by Badger and are illustrated as three-dimensional objects, providing a true sense of them as art works in their own right.

From Édouard-Denis Baldus’s magnificent volume for the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée Railway Company of 1861 to Geert van Kesteren’s hard-hitting indictment of the war in Iraq, Why Mister, Why? of 2004, the authors have chosen what they believe to be the most artistically and culturally important photobooks ever made to create this comprehensive and visually exciting history of the medium.

( volume III )
Following the success of volumes 1 and 2 of The Photobook: A History (published in 2004 and 2009 respectively), this is the third volume bringing this study of the photobook fully up to date, with specific exploration of the contemporary, postwar photobook. It covers key themes including the globalization of photographic culture, the personalization of photobooks, the self-publishing boom and the new 'layered' photobook approach.

While the history of photographs is a well-established canon, less critical attention has been directed at the phenomenon of the photobook, which for many photographers is perhaps the most significant vehicle for the display of their work and the communication of their vision to a mass audience. Volume III, co-edited by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, expands this study and history of the photobook further. It explores the symbiotic relationship between the contemporary propaganda book vs. the protest photobook, sex and youth culture, photographers examining their own environments and the impact of the Internet and social media on the nature of the photobook, among much else.

The book is divided into 9 thematic chapters, each featuring general introductory text providing background information and highlighting the dominant political and artistic influences on the photobook in the period, followed by more detailed discussion of the individual photobooks. The introductory chapter texts are followed by spreads and images from over 200 books, which provide the central means of telling the history of the photobook. Chosen by Parr and Badger, these illustrations show the most artistically and culturally important photobooks in three dimensions, with the cover or jacket and a selection of spreads from the book shown.

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