Walker Evans - Many Are Called - 1966

Evans captured these portraits by hiding a 35mm Contax camera beneath his overcoat, threading a shutter cable down his sleeve, and allowing the lens to peek subtly out of a buttonhole. This enabled him to document riders in moments of "naked repose"—lost in thought, reading newspapers, or completely withdrawn into their own inner worlds while commuting.

book features an elegant introduction written by the celebrated author James Agee in 1940. Agee and Evans were frequent collaborators, most famous for their landmark Depression-era study, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.

The phrase "Many Are Called" was taken from the biblical passage in the Gospel of Matthew ("Many are called, but few are chosen"), reflecting the vast, random, and diverse cross-section of humanity passing through the subway system.

Walker Evans produced this remarkable series of clandestine portraits of passengers on the New York City subway between 1938 and 1941. He caught his subjects off guard by strapping a 35mm Contax camera to his chest, with the lens protruding out between two buttons of his overcoat. He operated the shutter with a cable running down the length of his sleeve. He was initially accompanied by fellow photographer Helen Levitt, who acted as both companion and distractor when the need arose. First edition; small 4to (215 x 174 mm); black and white photographs printed in halftone; Title included in The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century pp180-1; The Photobook: A History I, p253; The Open Book pp218-9; 802 photo books from the Auer Collection p456.,

Copy in very good condition.