WARMLY INSCRIBED BY IRVING PENN

PENN, Irving. Worlds in a Small Room. New York: Grossman, (1974). Quarto, original beige cloth, original dust jacket. $1200.

First edition of Penn's first book after Moments Preserved (1960), inscribed by Irving Penn: "For Grace with love and admiration from an old friend. [heart]. P."

Noted for his successful commercial work and particularly for his contributions to fashion magazines such as Vogue, Penn has been lauded for his "imagery of extreme elegance" (Blodgett, 101). This collection, however, features images of "disappearing aborigines in remote parts of the earth." "I would often find myself daydreaming… [that] these remarkable strangers would come to me and place themselves in front of my camera, and in this clear north sky light I would make records of their physical presence." The subject of the inscription, "Grace," may have been Grace Mirabella, who worked at Vogue between 1971 and 1988 and was named editor-in-chief of the magazine in 1975, just one year after this book was published. Mirabella was known for taking Vogue in a more commercial direction during her tenure, recognizing that the cosmopolitan career woman was Vogue's new target demographic.

Book with only minor soiling to cloth and tiny repair to spine-end. Dust jacket with slight soiling, a bit of toning, and small chip to base of spine. A near-fine inscribed copy.