NEVADA, A JOURNEY: PHOTOGRAPHS BY JONAS DOVYDENAS: THE DELUXE EDITION

Great Barrington, MA: Under-Mountain Press, 1987. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. Great Barrington, MA: Under-Mountain Press, 1987. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 150 pages. Retrospective collection of black-and-white photographs. Jonas Dovydenas' finest achievement. Deluxe Clamshell Box Edition of 25 letter-numbered copies. Should not be confused with the regular trade edition, which was published simultaneously with it. None of the copies was sold commercially. All of them are designated as "Author's Copy", produced for the exclusive use of the artist/photographer only. The Deluxe Edition is now rare. A sumptuous production by Jonas Dovydenas and Under-Mountain Press: Oversize-volume format. Khaki linen cloth boards with black titles embossed on spine, as issued. Photographs by Jonas Dovydenas. Essay by Gail Buckland. Handcrafted linen cloth clamshell box with gilt titles embossed on brown leatherette label that is pasted in front. Printed in tritone on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper by Meriden-Stinehour Press in the United States to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is exemplary in every respect. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Jonas Dovydenas' "Nevada, A Journey". The Lithuanian-American photographer's serenely beautiful and often magnificent landscape images and portraits of so-called "Ordinary Americans". They evoke nothing less than the essential, "trail-blazer" aspect of the national character. What do we think of today when we say "Nevada"? Las Vegas. And yet, much of the state remains the "American Cowboy" West amid the harsh desert. As the title says, one must be willing and want to make this journey regardless of where one comes from originally (Dovydenas himself fled Lithuania with his family just before the Soviet occupation, and has journeyed throughout the United States ever since). He is unapologetically nostalgic and celebratory about What We Have Lost. He captures for posterity, in these stark landscapes and stoic faces, the physical manifestation of what is, or was, not just pioneering but noble and heroic about America. These hymnal photographs of men and women, boys and girls (even babies), in solo and group portraits, comprise a forgotten America, and are authentic, eloquent, and moving. A major body of work, worthy to stand alongside Richard Avedon's "In The American West" (1985). An absolute "must-have" title for Jonas Dovydenas collectors. This is a copy of the Deluxe Clamshell Box Edition, indicated/letter-numbered as such on the Back Limitation Page: "25 author's copies lettered A to Y. This is copy: 'E Author's Copy' " (indicated in pencil). It is very prominently and beautifully signed in gray ink-pen on the half-title page by Jonas Dovydenas. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a late-modern American photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Deluxe Edition available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws yet are priced as though they had collectible value. A rare signed copy thus. 136 tritone plates. One of the most brilliant American photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JONAS DOVYDENAS TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0961916303.