CHRIS STEELE-PERKINS: AFGHANISTAN: PHOTOGRAPHS

London, England: Westzone, 2001. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/As New Dust Jacket.. London, England: Westzone, 2001. Hardcover. As New/As New. First Edition/First Printing. 127 pages. Collection of photographs on subject. One of the greatest documentary photography books of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by Chris Steele-Perkins and Rose Design London: Oversize-volume format. Black hard boards with white titles on spine, as issued. Photographs by Chris Steele-Perkins. Introduction by Andre Velter. Poems, prose-poems, and narratives taken from "Ego Monstre" (by Sayd Bohodine Majrouh) are interspersed throughout the book with the images. All of the photographs are reproduced in miniature and appended at the end with Captions by the photographer. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in the United Kingdom to the highest standards. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Chris Steele-Perkins' "Afghanistan". His profoundly personal homage and celebration of Afghanistan, a place he visited numerous times in the course of five years. Throughout those years, the country was devastated by a succession of wars, as it still is today. The photographer is not trying to ignore the horrors of war. Still, he is right to realize that in order to do justice to this long-suffering country, the appropriate response is not a book of photojournalism, but a photography book that transcends journalism (while being grounded in it) . His "message" is hopeful and as a result, the photographs are unforgettable rather than sensationalistic. Steele-Perkins seeks to capture the continuing cycles of everyday life despite the fact of war, resulting in a collection of images of wonder and violence, terror and joy. Excerpts from the masterpiece of the greatest Afghan writer of the 20th century, Sayd Bohodine Majrouh, who was assassinated in 1988, deepen the poignance of the book in a way that no journalistic commentary ever can. Steele-Perkins is one of the world's foremost photojournalists and served as President of Magnum between 1995 and 1999. He is best-known for his classic, "The Teds". To his credit, he realizes the drastic limits of journalism. "It was heroic, beautiful, violent, twisted, gracious, and tragic. The experience of being there works its way narcotically into one's being; an infection of the soul demanding that you return" (Chris Steele-Perkins) . An absolute "must-have" title for Chris Steele-Perkins collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Chris Steele-Perkins. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. A rare signed copy thus. 70 duotone plates. One of the greatest photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER CHRIS STEELE-PERKINS TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 190339113X.