NY: Harry N. Abrams, [1966]. First American edition. [28], 179pp; b&w plates. Square 4to. Black cloth; dust jacket. Light bumping and wear to bottom corners; toning to edges of textblock. Glued binding sound but a touch fragile, as usual, with no loose leaves. Very good in a jacket with light wear and minor surface flaking at spine ends and tips.
The American first edition of this collection of photographs shot while on a 14-month world trip by Dutch photographer Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990), who also orchestrated the book's striking design. With an introduction on brown paper stock, in which Elsken provides notes on each of the 179 black-and-white plates that follow, nicely printed in high-contrast gravure. An edgy and arresting body of work, with clear aesthetic affinities to Daido Moriyama and the Provoke movement soon to follow.
