Arcana:

(WESTON, EDWARD). Naef, Weston. New York: E. Weyhe, 1932. First Edition 1/550. Folio. 1/4 Cloth Over Boards. Photography Monograph. Good -/No Jacket - As Issued. np, 40 b&w illustrations. Designed by Merle Armitage. With a biography. In a protective clear acetate dustwrapper. Compiled in 1932 by the forward thinking Los Angeles-based graphic designer and publisher Merle Armitage, this exquisitely produced book was the very first monograph on the work of pioneering California photographer Edward Weston. It features thirty-nine images by Weston, a frontispiece portrait by his son Brett, and texts by the photographer, Armitage, Lincoln Steffens, Arthur Millier, Jean Charlot, and Charles Sheeler. A presentable example of this typically fragile oversized tome (cited on page 200 of "From Fair to Fine 3: 20th Century Photography Books That Matter") limited to five hundred and fifty copies NUMBERED (143/550) AND SIGNED "Edward Weston" in black ink on the rear colophon lacking the publisher's slipcase whose white cloth spine is soiled and stained, and black boards are worn and scraped along the extremities. The hinges are solid, the textblock is tight but soiled along the edges with the signatures slightly uneven with one another. The book bears the BOLDLY SIGNED PRESENTATION "To John and Clement / new friends for old. more would be less. / I don't know what all / this means. You guess / Edward Oct. 1936" in black ink on the page facing the colophon. Additionally, laid in is a BOLDLY INSCRIBED hand-written letter "John and Clem ---- / hope you took my dis - / appearance in good spirit - / I was not just sleepy, / but exhausted ------------ / See you soon I hope / yr ------ / Edward" from the photographer in pencil on a 8 ½ x 11" sheet of yellow paper that has been neatly folded in quarters and subsequently flattened. Inventory Number: 025020