The Americans. Photographs by Robert Frank. Introduction by Jack Kerouac
New York: Grossman Publishers, 1969. 2nd US Edition. Oblong quarto, publisher's black cloth, spine gilt, original photo-illustrated dust jacket.
Legendary Swiss-American photographer Frank's classic photobook, a heartrending, tough-as-nails documentary record of midcentury America, compiled from photos Frank took during a series of cross-country trips taken on a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation. Originally published in France in 1958 and a year later in the US in 1959, this revised and enlarged second edition presents filmstrips from Frank's filmwork of the 1960s for the first time, and retains the introductory text Beat writer Kerouac contributed to the first US edition: "That crazy feeling in America when the sun is hot on the streets and the music comes out of the jukebox or from a nearby funeral, that's what Robert Frank has captured in tremendous photographs taken as he traveled on the road around practically forty-eight states in an old used car...and with the agility, mystery, genius, sadness and strange secrecy of a shadow photographed scenes that have never been seen before on film." Illustrated with black-and-white plates. Bottom corner of upper board lightly banged; unclipped dust jacket with shallow chipping to spine-ends, light toning and edgewear. Very good. Item #12445
$450.00