SIGNED Mommo Jodice - Chi e devoto - 1974

Exceptionally dedicated and signed on the title page by Mimmo Jodice (1934–2025), this first edition is unique and impossible to find in bookshops or online in a signed copy; unsigned copies are extremely rare and almost impossible to find. 232 pages and around a hundred black-and-white photographs, most full-page, some double-page, all printed to a remarkable standard; texts in Italian and English by the celebrated writer Carlo Levi and ethnomusicologist Roberto De Simone; a two-sided 33 rpm vinyl record containing recordings of folk music and songs. Black cloth binding with the title stamped in white on the spine and an illustrated dust jacket. In excellent condition.

Popular festivals, religious cults and rites, and popular devotion in Campania (such as those associated with the sanctuary of the Madonna dell'Arco) are the subject of this celebrated photographic series. This is not simply a folkloric reportage, but a profound and poetic exploration of humanity, memory, and the sacred in the Neapolitan region, steeped in spirituality and collective rituals. (https://www.finestresullarte.info/fr/) The anthropological perspective, though never detached, is accompanied by the photographer's emotional involvement, since he knew these rites from within, having experienced them during his childhood. He knew that behind every procession, every ex-voto, every whispered prayer, lay a story worth telling. (https://www.meetingrimini.org/mimmo-jodice-maestro-della-luce-e-della-fotografia-contemporanea). This project involved approximately four years of fieldwork in the villages and alleys of Campania, all around Naples, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, because these festivals took place simultaneously in different locations according to the religious calendar. Moreover, Mimmo Jodice later recounted that when he set out in the morning with Roberto De Simone, they often did not have enough money to pay for petrol, photographic film, or sound-recording media, and would take up a collection in the morning before setting off (“Saldamente sulle nuvole,” Contrasto, 2023, p. 78).

Mimmo Jodice is one of the greatest Italian photographers of the 20th century and has achieved international recognition around the world. A self-taught photographer born in Naples in 1934, he began his artistic career in the mid-1960s with visual experimentation and research into image cropping and collage. In the 1970s, his work turned toward social criticism, addressing the miserable living conditions of the people of the vibrant, working-class city of Naples; in the 1980s, it moved toward a contemplative silence evocative of the metaphysical landscape and Mediterranean archaeology, with a creative language that reflects on time, light, and the very act of seeing. In 1983–1984, Mimmo Jodice also took part in the “Viaggio in Italia” project with Luigi Ghirri and about ten other Italian photographers who were then emerging, including Guido Guidi, Mario Cresci, Olivo Barbieri, and Vittore Fossati. Mimmo Jodice has presented his work in France on several occasions, notably as part of the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d'Arles and in a retrospective at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris in 2010, which led to the publication of a substantial catalogue.

A book from my personal collection, kept with the greatest care; in excellent condition 50 years after publication (see photo). Shipped with protective reinforced packaging and guaranteed international postal tracking. For multiple purchases, combined shipping is available, with any excess postage paid refunded via PayPal.

2.4 kg excluding packaging