Shinya Fujiwara (藤原新也) - American Roulette, Signed, 1st edition - 1990-1990

Item Description

A rare, signed first edition of one of the most significant Japanese photobooks of the 1990s.

This is "American Roulette" by Shinya Fujiwara (藤原新也), published in November 1990 by Joho Center Shuppankyoku, Tokyo, and confirmed as a true first edition, first printing by the colophon.

The book is cited in Martin Parr and Gerry Badger's landmark reference work "The Photobook: A History, Volume III," one of the most authoritative bibliographies in international photobook collecting.

It captures Fujiwara's first new photographic work in ten years at the time, presenting a striking mixture of grainy black-and-white images and richly saturated colour photographs taken across rural and urban America.

The book also marks the opening chapter of "The Complete Western Highway," conceived as a Western counterpart to his celebrated "The Complete Asian Highway," the series that earned him the 23rd Mainichi Art Award in 1981.

This copy retains its original obi (paper wraparound band), a fragile paper element that is very often lost or damaged over time and rarely survives intact on copies of this age.

Exceptionally, this copy is signed and inscribed by Fujiwara himself, with a handwritten dedication in brush script addressed to a contact within the publishing industry, making it a genuine, one-of-a-kind association copy rather than a later or unsigned reprint.

Shinya Fujiwara (藤原新也 b. 1944, Fukuoka) is one of Japan's most celebrated photographers and writers, winner of the 3rd Kimura Ihei Photography Award in 1977 and the 23rd Mainichi Art Award in 1981, whose early travelogue "India" became something of a spiritual touchstone for a generation of young Japanese readers.

An outstanding piece for collectors of Japanese photobooks, signed first editions, or the road-trip photography genre.

Notably, Fujiwara is the very photographer credited for the cover of Rain Tree Crow's acclaimed 1991 self-titled album (the David Sylvian-led reunion project of the band Japan) — a photograph taken from this same period of his American work, which led directly to his first meeting with Sylvian and a long-running collaboration on numerous Samadhisound releases, including "Everything and Nothing," "Approaching Silence," and Harold Budd's "Avalon Sutra."

Size 24 cm (H) × 18.5 cm (W) × 2.2 cm (thickness), 317 pages.

Weight 860 g

Condition
Slight sunning/fading is present on the front cover; otherwise the book is in good condition, including an intact original obi. Please note any additional wear not visible in the photos should be confirmed with us directly.

Artist Profile
Shinya Fujiwara (藤原新也, b. March 4, 1944, Moji, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka) is one of Japan's most acclaimed photographers and writers. He studied oil painting at the Tokyo University of the Arts before leaving without completing his degree. His early travelogue "India" (印度放浪, 1972) became a cult classic, offering a spiritual anchor for a generation of young Japanese readers coming of age after the student movement era. He won the 3rd Kimura Ihei Photography Award in 1977 and the 23rd Mainichi Art Award in 1981 for "The Complete Asian Highway" (全東洋街道). In 1983 he was nominated for both the Oya Soichi Nonfiction Award and the Japan Nonfiction Award, but declined both by his own choice. "American Roulette" (1990) represents his first new photographic work in a decade and the opening chapter of "The Complete Western Highway," his Western-world counterpart to the acclaimed Asian series.

His photography from this period also graced the cover of Rain Tree Crow's 1991 self-titled album (the David Sylvian-led Japan reunion project), sparking a long-running creative collaboration with Sylvian that continued for years through his Samadhisound label.

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