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NAKED CITY BY WEEGEE
(WEEGEE). Fellig, Arthur, aka Weegee. Foreword by William McCleery. New York: Essential Books, 1945. Second Printing. Small 4to. Cloth in Pictorial Dust Jacket. Photography Monograph. Near Fine/Very Good -. 246pp, profusely illustrated in monochrome gravure. Designed by Henry Stahlhut and Michael Polvere. "Weegee's Naked City" is Arthur Fellig's (aka "Weegee The Famous") enormously influential first book of gritty images of the seamier, crime-riddled side of forties-era New York. Working mostly at night out of his improvised trunk-converted-into-a-darkroom, Weegee parlayed his police radio, trusty Speed Graphic camera, and an uncanny knack for getting to a crime scene quickly into journalistic infamy. An internally most handsome example of the 1945 Essential Books edition (cited on page 145 of Martin Parr and Gerry Badger's "The Photobook: A History Volume I", pages 142-143 of The Hasselblad Center's "The Open Book", and pages 118-121 of "The Book of 101 Books") in the smooth grey cloth binding whose vibrant yellow dust jacket states "Second Large Printing" on the inside front flap and shows some light soiling and creasing, a small area of surface paper loss at the upper foredge corner of the front cover, and a one inch missing chip at the at the top of the spine. Still in all, it is a very sharp copy of this Weegee classic whose rarely found dust jacket looks much nicer in hand than it describes. It has been priced accordingly. PLEASE NOTE: Additional shipping costs are required for this item beyond our standard rates due to its value - we will inform you of the applicable amount at time of purchase. Inventory Number: 024210
