Photography Collection

Swann Galleries’ May auction of Photographic Literature & Photographs opened with a selection of photo books, including Surrealist works. Among them was the auction’s top-selling lot, a numbered and signed copy of Hans Bellmer’s Les Jeux de la Poupée, one of 142, Paris, 1949, which brought $96,000*. Other Surrealist books were Claude Cahun’s Aveux non Avenus, one of 500 numbered copies, Paris, 1930, $11,400; and Georges Hugnet’s La Septième Face du Dé, Poèmes-Découpages, inscribed twice by Hugnet, and accompanied by two prospectuses announcing the sale of the book, Paris, 1936, $16,800.
Among a select assortment of titles by Robert Frank were the first French edition of the Les Américains, 1958, signed and inscribed, with an original photo, and the first American edition of the book, New York, 1959, $15,600 each. Sought-after copies of the legendary journal Camera Work, published by Alfred Stieglitz, were Number 48, with Modernist plates by Paul Strand, New York, 1960, which sold for a record $24,000, and Number 49/50, the final issue, with 11 photogravures by Strand, in a box that was marked with Strand’s and Stieglitz’s handwritten notations, New York, 1917, $14,400. Other photo lit highlights included Richard Prince’s Fish Story, first edition, 1976, signed and inscribed, $13,200; Stephen Shore’s Uncommon Places, deluxe edition, one of 100 signed and numbered copies issued with a photograph, New York, 1982, $10,200; and several Japanese books, such as Shinzo Fukuhara’s Beautiful West Lake, first edition, one of 500 numbered copies, Tokyo, 1931, $2,880; Koishi Kiyoshi’s New Techniques for Shooting and Producing Photographs, signed first edition, Tokyo, 1936, $2,880; Nobuyoshi Araki’s Young Ladies in Bathing Suits, first edition, Tokyo, 1971, $3,360; and Eikoh Hosoe’s Ordeal by Roses Re-edited, revised edition, Tokyo, 1971, $3,840.