Arcana:

(WEEGEE). Fellig, Arthur, aka Weegee. New York: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, 1961. Second Printing. 8vo. Cloth in Pictorial Dust Jacket. Photography Monograph. Near Fine/Very Good. 160pp, 106 b&w illustrations. Did the twentieth century ever bring notoriety to a photographer more steeped in hype and myth than Arthur Fellig - aka "Weegee The Famous"? And while much if not most of that hype and myth was perpetuated by Weegee himself, the ingenuity of his exploits stalking the mean streets of crime-riddled, forties-era New York cannot be denied. 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. His first book, "Naked City" became a bestseller as well as the basis for both Jules Dassin's film and the television series of the same name. He later tried his luck in Hollywood, then plumbed the depths of female figure photography, exploitation filmmaking, and photographic special effects. In this, his 1961 autobiography, Weegee equally illuminates and propagates his mythic stature with no apparent lack of self-confidence. An internally most handsome example of the Ziff-Davis Publishing Company first edition additionally bearing the BOLDLY SIGNED AND DATED PRESENTATION "To Warren Bush / Weegee / 1964 ------" in green ink on the front pastedown whose graphically striking dust jacket designed by Mort Perry shows just a bit of rubbing and a single short closed tear. LC 61-14233 Inventory Number: 024342