ROBERT DOISNEAU’S INSTANTANÉS DE PARIS, 1955

DOISNEAU, Robert. Instantanés de Paris. (Paris): Arthaud, (1955). Quarto, original yellow cloth, original photographic dust jacket. $1200.

First edition of Doisneau’s beloved Paris, with 148 rich gray-tone photogravures of Parisians. From the collection of Doisneau’s former assistant, acclaimed photojournalist Peter Turnley.

Robert Doisneau was “one of France’s most popular and prolific reportage photographers, known for his modest, playful and ironic images in amusing juxtapositions, mingling social classes and eccentrics in contemporary Paris streets and cafes. Influenced by the work of Kertesz, Atget and Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau has presented a charming vision of human frailty and life as a series of quiet, incongruous moments” (Encyclopedia of Photography). With 148 gray-tone photogravures of Parisians— musicians, factory workers, lovers, street artists, dancers, schoolchildren and fishermen— each captured in revealing moments, along with a striking photograph of Picasso and a seven-page photo-essay of crowds lined up before da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (which had been removed and hidden during the war and returned afterwards to the Louvre). Preface by Blaise Cendrars, who also wrote the text for their earlier collaboration, La Banlieue de Paris (1949). Text in French. See Icons of Photography, 106; Parr & Badger I:201; Roth, 132. From the collection of Peter Turnley, who began his career as an assistant in Paris for Doisneau. An award-winning journalist for Newsweek and Harper’s Magazine, Turnley has covered “almost every important international news event of the last 15 years” (New York Times); signed by Turnley.

Book fine. Slight edge-wear to original dust jacket. A very desirable copy in about-fine condition.