“THE SEARCH FOR GREATNESS OF SPIRIT” (YOUSUF KARSH)

KARSH, Yousuf. Healers of Our Age. Photography and Commentary. (Boston: Oliver Wendell Holmes Endowment of the Francis A. Countway Library), [1976]. Folio (13-1/2 by 18 inches), original gray cloth clamshell box, gilt-stamped brown morocco label affixed to front cover, eight-page unstitched booklet and 12 vintage gelatin silver prints, loose as issued. $1850.

Signed limited first edition of this folio collection of stellar portraiture by Karsh, number 106 of only 590 copies, presentation/association copy inscribed on the final text leaf by him: “To: Catherine G. Curran with the best wishes of Yousef Karsh 1980,” with 12 vintage gelatin silver prints of portraiture by Karsh, featuring eminent figures such as Albert Schweitzer, Albert Einstein, Carl Jung and Helen Keller.

Renowned photographer and portraitist Yousuf Karsh once wrote that his lifelong "fascination with scientists may well stem from my original desire to be a physician. Therefore, it has been especially meaningful to me to portray those men and women who are devoted to the art of healing" (Karsh, 140). This exceptional signed limited folio first edition brings together 12 vintage gelatin silver prints of leading physicians, scientists and healers "of the spirit"—an assemblage of exhibition-size prints that features some of Karsh's finest work, including his portraits of Einstein, Helen Keller, Albert Schweitzer, Jung, Sir Alexander Fleming and others. See Karsh 144-145. Inscribed to Catherine G. Curran, an active New York patron of the arts, including ballet and photography; as President of the Sidney Gamble Foundation for China Studies she oversaw a collection of early photographs of China taken by her father.

Original clamshell box with minor splits at spine foot, slight soiling, light rubbing to spine and corners. Prints and text booklet fine.