Dear friend of Beyond Words,

I make no apologies for starting with a reminder that John Blakemore, one of Britain’s greatest photographers, will be celebrating the publication of Photographs 1955-2010, his first ever major career retrospective, at two events in Scotland in October.

On Sunday 23 October at 2 p.m. at Street Level Photoworks, Trongate 103, Glasgow G1 5HD, he will be giving a talk and signing copies of the book.

On Monday 24 October there will be a further talk and signing (organized by Beyond Words) at McDonald Road Library, 2 McDonald Road, Edinburgh EH7 4LU at 6.15 p.m.

For further information, or to reserve a place, contact Malcolm Dickson for the Glasgow event (malcolm@streetlevelphotoworks.org) or Neil McIlwraith for the Edinburgh event (info@beyondwords.co.uk) Anyone who cannot come but would like one or more signed copies, please also email.

 
 
The third edition of Bruce Davidson’s Subway has been received with considerable enthusiasm. The first two editions now change hands for silly amounts of money. The work dates from 1980 when Bruce Davidson began photographing the New York subway system at considerable personal risk. Originally published in 1986, this updated Steidl edition is printed from new scans of Davidson’s Kodachrome slides and features additional images. A selection of spreads can be viewed on the Steidl website.
 
 
Daniel Meadows came to prominence in the early 1970s when he was awarded an Arts Council grant that allowed him to buy an old double-decker bus and travel round England for a year taking environmental portraits of people in the various localities. The bus seats were removed to make space for a darkroom and living quarters: its windows were used as the gallery. Some of the resulting work has been published previously in long out-of-print titles but a good selection has now been assembled in Edited Photographs. There is also an exhibition at the National Media Museum, Bradford, from 30 September. Daniel Meadows’ website has a wealth of relevant material.
 
 
Francesca Woodman’s photography has taken on almost mythic status since her suicide at the age of 22 in 1981 and every volume of her published work has been snapped up. The Italian publisher Silvana are releasing Francesca Woodman’s Notebook, a facsimile edition of one of the notebooks (with her own photographs inserted) she kept during a stay outside Florence. Housed in a lightweight printed box, it includes an afterword by George Woodman, Francesca's father, that contextualizes the work within the photographer's artist's book production.
 
 
Nazraeli have bowed to the pressure to reprint Michael Kenna’s Huangshan. The first edition of only 1000 sold out in a couple of months so the decision is not surprising. I feel a bit guilty about the customers who bought the last few copies of the 1st printing from me at a higher price but I was only passing on the higher price from the publisher! I can only comfort you by pointing out that the lowest price being offered on Amazon is £120.

The reprint is due in October as is Kenna’s ever-popular calendar. We have also discovered that Nazraeli still have a few copies left of the limited edition of Hokkaido.

Before leaving the subject of Michael Kenna, we should mention that there is a new edition of Ruth Bernhard’s beautiful book of nudes, The Eternal Body. When Kenna first moved to California, he worked as Bernhard’s printer.
 
Nazraeli’s series of One Picture books (a dozen or so images plus a small signed original print) are normally fully subscribed but there are a few copies of the latest four all available at the initial retail price of £30 (£27 to you).
 
Corey Arnold:
#69: Fishing
with My Dad
Harbeck and Krug:
#70 Indian Girl
Steve Fitch:
#71 Motel Signs
Liz Steketee:
#72 Dystopia
 
New Titles
 
Mitch Dobrowner: Prism Series Book No. 2
21stEditions, Hardback, Publisher's Price $750.00, Our Price £500.00

21st Editions follow up their limited edition Yamamoto book with the second in their series of Prism Books. This is devoted to the dramatic black-and-white landscape work of Mitch Dobrowner. As before, the edition consists of 280 boxed copies bound in a wrapped handmade paper. The book is accompanied by your choice of one of four signed platinum prints (to view prints see the 21st Editions website). The prints are limited to an edition of 70, with only 50 copies of each version for sale.

 
Olaf Otto Becker: Under the Nordic Light
Hatje Cantz, Hardback, Publisher's Price £55.00, Our Price £49.50
Hatje Cantz have already published two stunning books of Olaf Otto Becker’s photographs of Greenland. Now his Iceland photos are to be published in Under the Nordic Light. You can see more images at the photographer's website.
 
Marrigje de Maar: Red Roses Yellow Rain
Hatje Cantz, Hardback, Publisher's Price £35.00, Our Price £31.50
 

Hatje Cantz’s programme of publishing photography has now grown to the extent that it is challenging Steidl in my affections. For the moment, there’s only time to mention two of their recent publications. In Red Roses Yellow Rain, Marrigje de Maar creates photographs of the interior of Chinese houses - not the new housing associated with China’s rapid ‘modernisation’ but traditional homes where families have come together for generations—where life has “worn itself into” a house. The photographer's website should give you a taste of these images contained within this book.
 
Sandra Kantanen: Landscapes
Hatje Cantz, Hardback, Publisher's Price £32.50, Our Price £29.25
  Also bearing the influence of China – in this case its traditional landscape painting - are the landscapes and waterscapes of Sandra Kantanen. Kantanen printed her early photos on hand-painted metal grounds, and more recently began digitally processing her photos from China, Japan, Finland, and Tibet, creating distortion, blurring, or streaking. More images are available here.
 
Reframing the New Topographics
Center for American Places, Hardback, Publisher's Price £22.50, Our Price £20.25
  In 1975 the New Topographics exhibition represented a radical shift away from the photography of the sublime that has dominated landscape photography in North America. More than thirty years on, the photographers featured – with their emphasis on human reshaping of the landscape – continue to hold a dominant influence in landscape photography worldwide. The essay collection, Reframing the New Topographics, surprisingly represents the first substantial attempt to present an analysis of this movement.
 
The Altered Landscape - Photographs of a Changing Environment
Skira Rizzoli, Hardback, Publisher's Price £40.00, Our Price £36.00
  For a look at how the New Topographics movement has influenced contemporary photography, there’s The Altered Landscape, a comprehensive look at the work of 100 contemporary photographers who capture the impact of human activity on natural landscapes. The photographers include Catherine Opie, Edward Burtynsky, Richard Misrach and Mark Klett, as well as old hands like Robert Adams and Lewis Baltz. There’s also space for artists who intentionally intervene in the landscape such as Andy Goldsworthy.
Ryan McGinley: You & I
Twin Palms, Hardback, Publisher's Price $75.00, Our Price £39.00
  Ryan McGinley is mentioned in Martin Parr’s Books of the Decade for his first book. We’ve been promised a new title, You and I from Twin Palms for so long, I don’t know whether to believe the rumours that it’ll be with us this autumn. But, if you’re a McGinley fan, you’re best to order in advance as his books tend to sell out on publication.

You can view images from this book on the Twin Palms website.
 
Paolo Pellegrin: Dies Irae
Contrasto, Hardback, Publisher's Price £29.95, Our Price £26.96
  Paolo Pellegrin was only accepted as a full member of the Magnum agency in 2005 but has quickly proved himself to be one of the most powerful photojournalists working today. Dies Irae is a retrospective of his career so far. Look here for a sample of his work.
Martin Parr’s Best Books of the Decade

I said in the last newsletter that I would do a check on the books recommended by Martin Parr. See here for the full list. It should come as little surprise that I can find only seven of the thirty recommended titles – given Martin Parr’s love for titles from small publishers with short print runs! We should be able to supply you with any of those featured below. If any of you know of other titles on the list that are in print, please let me know.
 
John Gossage:
Berlin in the
Time of the Wall
Paul Graham:
a shimmer of
possibility
Uchihara
Yasuhiko:
Son of a BIT
Susan Meiselas:
In History
 
Nein Onkel
Donovan Wylie:
Scrapbook
Simon Roberts:
We English
 
Billy Strathdee’s Charity Auction
 
On Thursday 29th September, there is to be a charity auction at The Old Ambulance Depot, 77 Brunswick Street Edinburgh. Among other things, you can bid for a wide range of signed, framed photographic prints by David Eustace, Alex Telfor, Euan Myles, David Bonnie, Paul Hampton, Robbie Smith, John Owen, Sam Sloane and Victor Albrow. Click here for more information.
 
 

As always if you would like to order any of the titles listed or would like more information concerning anything mentioned in our newsletters please contact us by phone or at the email address at the bottom of this message. You may also order any of these books at www.beyondwords.co.uk.
 

Best Wishes,

Beyond Words

Tel: (01620) 895985

Email: info@beyondwords.co.uk
Web: www.beyondwords.co.uk
 

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