“AMONGST THE GREATEST PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE 20TH CENTURY”: MAN RAY’S PHOTOGRAPHS, 1934, "EXCEEDINGLY RARE" FIRST ISSUE, INSCRIBED BY HIM TO PHOTOGRAPHY CURATOR EUGENE OSTROFF

MAN RAY. Man Ray Photographs 1920-1934 Paris. Hartford, Connecticut: James Thrall Soby, (1934). Tall quarto, original spiral bound color-photographic stiff paper wrappers. Housed in a custom chemise. $17,500.

First edition, extremely rare first issue, of Man Ray’s first photobook, inscribed on the title page to the curator of photography at the National Museum of American History in Washington, “For Eugene Ostroff. Cordially Man Ray Paris 1964,” with 104 rich heliogravures of his photographs and Rayographs, “regarded by some as amongst the greatest of the 20th century” (Parr & Badger).

"This was Man Ray's first monograph, and his friends pulled out all the stops to herald it" (Roth, 80). It contains poetry and essays by the leading figures of the Dada and Surrealist movements: André Breton, Paul Éluard, Marcel Duchamp (written under his famous pseudonym "Rrose Selavy") and Tristan Tzara. "Man Ray's work introduced a particular note [to Surrealism], since he used photography and recognized early on that this medium could reproduce the effects of object-based art in two-dimensional form. Photography was in a position to preserve the ordinary and to unleash surreal effects" (Icons of Photography, 26). In a short preface entitled "The Age of Light," Ray cites "individual human emotion and desire" as the "only inspirations" for his pictures. Text in English and French. First edition, first issue, without the fictitious "Second Edition" on the cancel title page placed there by the publisher, who "attempted to generate demand where none existed by suggesting the edition had sold out… After replacing the title pages of these copies… with one stating second edition, he returned them for sale. Copies with the original title page are exceedingly rare" (Roth, 80). See also Parr & Badger I:108. The owner of this copy, Eugene Ostroff, was appointed curator of photography at the Smithsonian's National Museum of History and Technology in 1960, making him head of one of the few institutions in the world actively engaged in the collection and curation of photography at the time.

Interior fine, fragile original wrappers in stunning condition, with only the most minor edge-wear. Very rare and desirable inscribed by Man Ray and with the first issue title page.