Signed; Greg Girard - Phantom Shanghai [First edition, first printing] - 2007

Rarest exceptional copy signed on the title page by Greg Girard (born 1955); Hardcover edition with dust jacket, first edition and first edition. This book was so successful that it quickly sold out and underwent a hardcover reprint at the end of 2007 (do not confuse). It subsequently appeared in numerous paperback editions by Phaidon. 124 pages and 130 color photographs, most full-page, with dated captions and miniature reproductions at the end of the work. Very beautiful white cloth binding with the title embossed in blind, tone on tone, on the cover and back. This book is listed in Parr & Lundgren The Chinese Photobook p. 407. In perfect condition, practically like new.

In Phantom Shanghai, Greg Girard shows us the vestiges of old colonial Shanghai that survived the communist era. He shows how the small individual houses, in the middle of their labyrinth of alleys and gardens laid out in interior courtyards, were originally subdivided into apartments to house workers and how they are now overwhelmed by the wave of economic development sweeping the city, giving way to a tide of glass and steel towers.

The city of yesteryear seems to have been bombed again, and Greg Girard highlights the physical juxtaposition of ruined, accelerated old Shanghai and the new Shanghai of frenzied development. A few blurred silhouettes still linger here and there, a light still shines on a kitchen, a television is on, and many signs show that residents still live in these ruins but they will soon have to exile far from the city. Outdoor images are taken at dusk or at night on high-speed film and convey a ghostly impression between dream and reality of a temporary coexistence of Shanghai’s past and future. These photographs were taken between 2001 and 2006.

Greg Girard (born 1955) is a Canadian photographer who has long lived in Asia and has captured the transformations that have occurred in recent decades in China and Asia.

Exemplary copy in excellent condition, practically like new. Book from my personal collection kept with the greatest care. Shipped protected with reinforced packaging and guaranteed international tracked mail. In case of multiple purchases, possibility of grouped shipping with reimbursement of any excess postage paid via PayPal.

1.9 kg excluding packaging.