Danny Lyon - Conversations with the Dead (FIRST PRINTING) - 1971

IMPORTANT THIRD BOOK AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHER DANNY LYON from 1971 (!) -
after "The Bikeriders", 1968 and after "The Destruction of Lower Manhattan", 1969.

HIGLY IMPRESSIVE PHOTOBOOK -
a profound and raw photographic study of life inside the Texas prison system.

Mentioned in all books about photobooks:

- Andrew Roth, The Book of 101 Books, page 210/211
- Martin Parr, The photobook, vol 2, page 19;
- Hasselblad Center, The Open Book, page 278/279
- 802 photo books from the M. + M. Auer collection, page 535

I am offering the VINTAGE BOOK; not to mix with the much more later new editions.
I am offering the TRUE FIRST ORIGINAL AMERICAN PRINTING from November 1971 (!); not to mix with the
second printing one month later (December 1971).

ENJOY THE NEWEST EDITION of the SUPER POPULAR SINGLE-SELLER AUCTIONS by 5Uhr30.com
(Ecki Heuser, Cologne, Germany).

Offering some of the BEST PHOTOBOOKS WORLDWIDE - from my private collection and from recent acquisitations.

Danny Lyon is famous for many excellent photobooks like "The Bikeriders":
- Andrew Roth, The Book of 101 Books, page 190/191
- Martin Parr, Gerry Badger, The Photobook, volume 1, page 256
- Hasselblad Center, The Open Book, page 236/237

5Uhr30.com guarantees detailed and accurate descriptions, 100% protection,
100% insurance and combined shipping worldwide.

Phaidon, New York. 1971. First edition, first printing.

Paperback. 205 x 279 mm. 196 pages. 75 black and white photographs. Photos: Danny Lyon. 5 colour illustrations and 6 black and white identity photographs. Foreword by Danny Lyon. Introduction, letters and drawings by Billy McCune. Design by Danny Lyon and Martin Stephen Moskof. Text in English.

Condition:
Inside clean with no previous owner marks; first title page heavily, first five pages marginally foxed at the top right corner, all other pages (so also all photo pages) fresh, first fifteen pages with neat dog-ear at the bottom right corner, all other pages flawless. Outside with a few stains at the top edge of the covers and of the spine, stained at the edges; otherwise just normal trace trace of use of that sensitive paperback title. Overall very good condition.

Fantastic photobook classic - a must-have-publication for every ambitious photobook collection.

"In his book 'The Bikeriders' Danny Lyon defined a new kind of photographer, a combination of witness and participant. He embodied the idea of the rebel with a camera, the photographer documenting an 'outsider' community who was himself a member of that community. Following The Bikeriders, Lyon went on to photograph similar communities in the United States and Latin America. He was an itinerant who would stop awhile, photograph, and then move on. But his pictures revealed a strong bond with a particular group of people - his need to be their spokesman - and a keen sociological eye. He could be considered a more contemporary version of the traditional 'concerned' photojournalist, but one who needed the trust and sanction of a community before he could photograph it.
It was this strong empathy that in 1971 produced his masterpiece - Conversations with the Dead. Lyon had been invited by Dr George Beto, Director of the Texas Department of Corrections, to photograph inside the state's prisons. This he did for around 14 months, drawing on photographs taken in six different institutions for the book. Given his rebellious disposition, his view of prison life is, predictably, sympathetic to the inmates, a view amplified by lifer Billy McCune's writ-ings, paintings and other documents. Lyon freely admits that he had little idea of what the men had done to get there; he only saw what he saw, a harsh regime, predicated on punishment rather than rehabilitation.
Lyon's photographs must be amongst the most eloquent ever shot in a prison. He captures the hard labour and the degradation in one memorable image after another, frequently photographing from a low angle, which gives the inmates a heroism of a sort, but he does not overemphasize this. Rather, the device serves to place him, the photographer, the man with the power, in an aspect of respect, in servitude to the imperative to tell as much of the truth as he can. Not even the images we have seen from Guantanamo Bay following the war in Afghanistan suggest that Lyon's imagery, which has become classic, has been made impotent by time; it remains as powerful and as relevant as ever.Danny Lyon defined a new kind of photographer, a combination of witness and participant. He embodied the idea of the rebel with a camera, the photographer documenting an 'outsider' community who was himself a member of that community. Following The Bikeriders, Lyon went on to photograph similar communities in the United States and Latin America. He was an itinerant who would stop awhile, photograph, and then move on. But his pictures revealed a strong bond with a particular group of people - his need to be their spokesman - and a keen sociological eye. He could be considered a more contemporary version of the traditional 'concerned' photojournalist, but one who needed the trust and sanction of a community before he could photograph it.
It was this strong empathy that in 1971 produced his masterpiece - Conversations with the Dead. Lyon had been invited by Dr George Beto, Director of the Texas Department of Corrections, to photograph inside the state's prisons. This he did for around 14 months, drawing on photographs taken in six different institutions for the book. Given his rebellious disposition, his view of prison life is, predictably, sympathetic to the inmates, a view amplified by lifer Billy McCune's writ-ings, paintings and other documents. Lyon freely admits that he had little idea of what the men had done to get there; he only saw what he saw, a harsh regime, predicated on punishment rather than rehabilitation.
Lyon's photographs must be amongst the most eloquent ever shot in a prison. He captures the hard labour and the degradation in one memorable image after another, frequently photographing from a low angle, which gives the inmates a heroism of a sort, but he does not overemphasize this. Rather, the device serves to place him, the photographer, the man with the power, in an aspect of respect, in servitude to the imperative to tell as much of the truth as he can. Not even the images we have seen from Guantanamo Bay following the war in Afghanistan suggest that Lyon's imagery, which has become classic, has been made impotent by time; it remains as powerful and as relevant as ever."
- Gerry Badger -