The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century

Rare book maven Andrew Roth has turned his powers of judgment toward photography in The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the 20th Century. Given two full pages each, the selections receive a bibliographic and physical description and a publishing history, as well as cover images and a few choice samples of their contents there are 500 color illustrations in all. Volume one of Curtis's 1907 The North American Indian kicks off the book, followed by plenty of other familiar luminaries, from Stieglitz to Ansel Adams to Henri Cartier-Bresson to Diane Arbus and Nan Goldin. Surprises include Max Ernst and Ren Crevel's Mr. Knife Miss Fork, Bauhaus ""phenom"" Leszli Moholy-Nagy's Malerei Fotografie Film, and Gilles Peress's Telex Iran, to name a few. Essays by six scholars, artists and critics round out this unusual, beautifully produced collection. (Nov.)