Rare books from Andrew Cahan: Bookseller, Ltd

NY: Double Elephant Editions, 1991. First edition. Fink, Larry. Folio, [1] p. text, plus 15 original gelatin silver prints 13 x 18 inches, archivally window-matted to 19 x 23 inches. All are housed in a cloth clamshell box. The box is bumped at the tips and fore edge, and the cloth is slightly rubbed; there is one small 1/2 inch abrasion on rear and slight soiling. Limited to 25 copies. Each photo SIGNED, titled, with the edition number on the blank verso of the print. The photographs and mounts are in fine, as new condition. Larry Fink studied at the New School of Social Research in New York, taking classes with Lisette Model and Alexey Brodovitch. He taught at the Parsons School of Design and the New School as well as Yale and Cooper Union. He describes his work as follows: "My photographs have been taken with intent to help the human revolution and to do it at the right moment in history. They will testify to the transformation. Such is my feeling. Such is my need." From the prospectus, which is… Read More

Paris: Librairie Plon, 1904. First edition. Demachy. Two folio volumes. [First Series] Folio, half-title, [v] consisting of illustrated title page, preface and table of contents, with 48 screened photogravure plates tipped to a variety of white and colored stocks, with printed tissue guards. Stiff wrappers illustrated and printed in colors. The plates are bright and fine, with the exception of the 5 sheets of white stock and the touching tissue guards, which are lightly to moderately foxed, not affecting the image. [Second Series] Folio, half-title, title page and 48 screened photogravure plates tipped to a variety of white and colored stocks, with printed tissue guards. The plates are bright and fine, with the exception of the 7 sheets of white stock and the touching tissue guards, which are lightly to moderately foxed, not affecting the image. The combined first and second series, complete in 96 hand-pulled photogravures. The illustrated wrappers are of gray art paper, printed and decorated in… Read More

Lille: Imprimerie L. Danel, 1869. First edition. 4to., Original printed front wrapper, 2 blanks, half-title, title, 61 pp., 14 leaves of plates with tissue guards, rear printed wrapper. Newly bound in half navy morocco and marbled paper over boards, spine in 6 compartments with raised bands and gilt titling, rules and simple decorative devises. There are two rubbed spot on the spine. A fine and bright copy. Additionally, this copy is signed and inscribed by Blanquard-Evrard: "a M. Poitevin, hommage affectuer." Louis Désire Blanquart-Évrard's 'Imprimerie Photographique' opened in 1851 in Loos-lès-Lille. This facility was the first of its kind in France, with his production higher than that of Talbot in England. Through his advances on the calotype process and the albumen print, he was an active publisher of books, albums and portfolios. However, his original estimate of the costs involved in operation fell well short, and by 1855 he closed his factory. A partnership with Thomas Sutton in Jersey… Read More

Millerton, NY: Aperture, 2015. First editions. The format changed several times, from a staple bound 8vo., to a slightly larger 8vo., to glazed paper over boards 4to., to paper bound 4to., with variations occurring occasionally. A complete run from 1952 to Fall, 2015: Vol. 1, No. 1, through Vol. 19, No. 4 (which is also No. 76), and No. 77 through No. 220. Mostly fine, with a few exceptions that are very good. A significant number are fine as new. Includes Index to Vol 1 -6, and other ephemeral pieces. Each issue would present theoretical issues, criticism, reviews, and portfolios of emerging photographers. Occasionally, an entire issue would be devoted to a specific theme or photographer. The contributors are a veritable who's who of photographers, critics and historians. The most important photographic journal since 1950. Duplicate issues are available, please inquire. Additional shipping charges may apply given the weight of this magazine.

[London]: Printed by J. & H. Cox, Brothers, 74 & 75, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's-Inn Fields, 1841. First edition. 4to., 4 pp. Aside from a few faint pinpoint spots of foxing, this is a fine, as new copy. Housed in a custom made cloth chemise and slipcase, titled in gilt along the spine. Shortly after the presentation of his paper before the Royal Society on 31 January, 1839, Talbot, at his own expense, printed the text as a pamphlet of 14 pages; "Some Account of the Art of Photogenic Drawing..."became the world's first separate publication on photography. Through this process, an ordinary piece of writing paper was immersed in a sensitizing solution, dried, placed in a camera and exposed in daylight to a subject for upwards of an hour or longer. Upon examination, a tonally reversed rendering of the subject was visible. It was then soaked in a solution of salt and washed and dried, then the process was essentially repeated exposing the first print to the new sensitized sheet, reversing the tones to… Read More

London: Horne, Thornthwaite and Wood, 1845. Second edition, enlarged. 8vo., 5 - 62 pp., 3 engraved plates. Lacking preliminary leaves through the title page and the catalogue of photographic supplies, p. 63 - 72. Removed from a bound volume, this has added contemporary leaves of manuscript formulas by Dr. Hugh Welch Diamond. Very good. Housed in a paper over boards folder and slipcase with printed paper label. This is the second edition, enlarged, of one of the earliest British manuals which includes Talbot's calotype process, multiple other paper processes, as well as the latest advances in the daguerreian process. Although lacking the title page and the catalogue of photographic apparatus and supplies, this copy was owned by Dr. Hugh Welch Diamond and contains his marginal notes and corrections to the text as well as 14 pages of manuscript formulas and an index leaf. Hugh Welch Diamond (1809 - 1886) entered the field of medicine first at the Royal College of Surgeons beginning in 1824. He opened a… Read More

Original platinum photograph, 7 7/16 inches [18.8 cm.] x 4 7/8 inches [12.5 cm.] Tipped to a gray art paper 10 inches [25.4 cm] x 6 1/4 inches [15.8 cm.] Boldly signed in pencil along the left margin of the mount, and dated '98. There are two caricatures in pencil, in an unknown hand on the reverse of the mount. The image is fine and bright; tipped to an archival rag board with window over mat. Towards the end of Alfred Stieglitz's student days in Europe, he made this exposure near Vienna, June 1890. Sarah Greenough, the curator of photography for the National Gallery of Art, published ALFRED STIEGLITZ / THE KEY SET. In Vol. 1, p. 36 -37, there are three variant prints of this image [ No. 62, 63, and 64]. The first, a platinum print exhibited in 1891 and widely reproduced in magazines and books of the period, shows a slightly wider view, with foliage at the left side and along the horizon line. The next print, also a platinum, was printed 1895/96, and is a bit darker with higher contrast and a… Read More

Album of 143 silver gelatin photographs, largely 33 x 26.5 cm or the reverse, printed on a warm and cold tone photographic stock, dry mounted on album leaves 40.6 x 38 cm, recto only with printed captions. Full blue morocco covers, lined in blue silk, gathered with screw posts and bearing the silver insignia of the Army Services Forces and imprinted "Franklin D. Roosevelt." Very good. Laid-in is a TLs from Lieutenant General Brehon Somervell on the letterhead of the War Department, Army Service Forces, Office of the Commanding General, dated 21 October 1944: Dear Mr. President: I felt that you would be sure to be interested in this pictorial story of the Army's activities at the New York Port of Embarkation. At no other point are so many of the Army's activities concentrated. The pictures, I believe, will tell you the story without any further words from me." The photographs depict the full logistical operations of the New York port, including machinery, munitions, troops and transport, and range… Read More

1970. 8vo., 7 3/4 x 5 7/8 inch [19.5 x 14.5 cm] artist's book of 13 leaves of card stock, plus covers; there are 6 leaves of single images and 5 double page pairs totaling 16 vintage gelatin silver photographs, produced by the mordançage process. The front cover has a sheet of Japanese grass paper affixed to the blank board; it is torn and lacking a portion of the fore edge. The rear blank board shows foxing. The images are fine and bright. Housed in a card slipcase covered in a Japanese paper, which is foxed and partially cracked at the upper joint. In all, a very good or better copy. Jean-Pierre Sudre (1921 - 1997) was born in Paris and studied cinematography at the Ecole Nationale de Cinématographie (1941 - 1943) and the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques (1943 - 1945). After the war, there were few opportunities for a film director, so Sudre switched to industrial photography, earning praise for his distinctive style. In 1958, he opened a printing and developing lab with his wife… Read More

Paris: GLM, 1936. First French edition. Bellmer, Hans. Small 4to., [13] pp., with two illustrations from drawings by the artist and ten mounted gelatin silver photographs. Original printed wrappers. A fine, bright, and near new copy with the photographs showing full and rich tonal quality, measuring approximately 3 1/8 x 4 5/8 inches, or the reverse. This is one of 80 copies with the text printed on rose paper, from a total edition of 105 copies. One of the landmark Surrealist books, and one of the very few to be illustrated with original gelatin silver photographs. This is considered Bellmer's most important and influential work. Therese Lichtenstein (guest curator for the International Center for Photography 2001 exhibition "Behind Closed Doors: The Art of Hans Bellmer") writes: "Although Bellmer is generally classified as a Surrealist, he actually initiated his doll project with a specific political purpose: to oppose the fascism of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in Germany in the 1930s.… Read More

Paris: Robert Delpire, 1958. First edition. Frank, Robert. Oblong 8vo., 83 b&w plates from photographs. Glazed paper over boards, with drawings by Saul Steinberg. Aside from a very slight crease to the front board where it joins the spine, a near fine copy. Housed in a custom-made clamshell box in patriotic red, white and blue with die-cut stars along the edges and a 50 starred American flag inset on the upper cover. SIGNED twice. The true first edition of this work, heralded as the most influential photographic book of the second half of this century. Issued without a dust jacket. This copy was been SIGNED with a drawing by Robert Frank on the front free endpaper. The drawing is the outline of a five pointed star which consumes most of the page; in it he has written "STAR - Hello, Robert Frank, Washington, D.C., Sept. 28 '94" and in the upper right corner he has written "from Robert Frank." This copy was inscribed at a special event just prior to the opening of his major retrospective exhibition at… Read More

1903. Coburn, Alvin Langdon. Original gum bichromate over platinum photograph, 8 x 6 inches. Minor chipping along the edges, else fine. The photographer has SIGNED this print with his blindstamp monogram. In 1902, the twenty-year-old Alvin Langdon Coburn opened his own studio in New York on Fifth Avenue. He had already been photographing for twelve years and had studied with his cousin, F. Holland Day. To further advance his portrait skills, he apprenticed to the eminent pictorialist and portraitist, Gertrude Käsebier in her New York Studio. The records of his time with her have not been located, but this striking portrait of Käsebier's daughter, Hermine, has survived.

A vintage gelatin silver color photograph, image size 9 1/8 x 6 3/8 in. on 11 x 14 in. photographic paper. Over-matted and framed in a simple black aluminum. Fine. On January 20, 1981 President Elect Ronald Reagan was accompanied to his inauguration by outgoing President Jimmy Carter. As was tradition, Jimmy Carter rode with the President Elect, and the Secret Service agents to the ceremony. Sue Considine, the deputy picture editor of Time magazine had given a small camera to the Secret Service agent who rode in the front passenger seat so that he could document this historic event for Time. During the ride to the west front of the Capitol, the agent turned to the rear with his camera and said, "Smile Misters President" - this is the resulting photograph. It is SIGNED in the blank lower margin by Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. It bears a presentation inscription to Sue Considine. There are only four other SIGNED copies, one each to the Presidents, one to the Secret Service agent, and one to Arnold… Read More

NY: Published by Authority of the Legislature by Julius Bien, 1868. First edition. Watkins, Carleton E.. Large 4to., 116 pp., with 28 albumen prints, each 6 x 8 inches, mounted to cards with lithographed titles and 2 large folding maps, which are slightly creased and fully intact. Publisher's gilt-decorated half purple cloth, with morocco spine and corners, a.e.g. The gilt decorated spine in six compartments has been expertly laid-down on new leather with no chipping or loss. The text leaves show occasional spotting, concentrated largely to the margins of the first and last text leaves. The albumen photographs are clear, bright and with a full range of tonality; only a few images have slight fading at the top or edges, as is customary with Watkin's photos of this era. Housed in a cloth clamshell box with a morocco spine label. Intended to serve as a comprehensive guide to the Yosemite Valley and the High Sierra, the text includes the history, geography, geology, flora, etc. Of the twenty-eight… Read More

Paris: Compagnie Parisienne de Distribution d'Électricité, 1931. First edition. Ray, Man. Folio, two unbound folded sheets to make [6] pp. text, with 10 photogravures plates 8 1/16 x 10 1/4 inches [20.48 x [26.03 cm] tipped to a stiff art paper mount 10 7/8 x14 3/4 inches [27.62 x 37.46] each with a titled protective vellum wrapper. The text and prints are laid-in a blank vellum folder, which is mildly creased, and laid-in the four-point printed paper portfolio. This copy has the complimentary slip from the CPDE, which is seldom included. Each plate bears the signature of Man Ray, which was signed in the original negative. This is copy number 409 from a total edition of 500 copies. A fine, near new copy. Aside from a slight bit of toning to the printed four-point paper folder, this is a fine, near new copy contained in a newly made gilt titled leather-backed cloth over boards chemise with matching cloth slipcase. In 1931, the Paris electric company, CPDE, commissioned Man Ray to produce a series… Read More