SIGNED Pepi Merisio - Val d'Esino - 1977

Exceptional copy signed by Pepi Merisio on the title page, unique and unavailable as a signed copy on the internet. 186 pages and 120 black-and-white and color photographs, most full-page with captions and commentary collected at the beginning of each chapter, introductory Italian text by Pietro Zampetti and chapter texts by Gino Carrara, green linen binding with title embossed in white, illustrated dust jacket and editorial case. In excellent condition.

The photographs that make up this work document the territory of the Esino Valley, in the Marches, with particular attention to the town of Jesi, bordered by the Esino, a river in central Italy between Macerata and Ancona, which gave its name to the entire valley. Pepi Merisio aims to depict the natural and architectural beauties of the region, while documenting the crafts, traditions and culture of these places. He highlights the rural vocation of the valley, shaped over centuries by human agricultural labor. One chapter is devoted to fertile vineyards, renowned for the production of Verdicchio wine; and the next, “Un giorno di festa” (A Day of Celebration), underscores the importance of this agricultural product in the valley, to the extent that a grape festival — the “Sagra dell'Uva” — is held each year in the province of Ancona. In the following chapters, the authors focus on the city of Jesi, lingering on the city’s fortifications; on some historic palaces; and on the elegant 18th-century theater that bears the name of the musician and composer from Jesi, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, as well as on fairs, organized in the city since ancient times (“The Fairs”), and on traditional artisanal crafts. These photographs capture the valley at a pivotal moment in its history, illustrating a fragile balance between maintaining rural traditions and the dawn of modern changes that would follow. Known for his humanitarian and documentary gaze, Merisio uses an alternation of incisive black-and-white and subtle color to pierce the soul of landscapes, small silent towns, and the gestures of agricultural and artisanal work. These photographs transcend mere landscape photography to become anthropological and poetic testimony.

Pepi Merisio (1931–2021), an independent photographer, spent almost his entire life in the Bergamo area, which he explored in depth and across its plains and valleys as well as the high mountain villages before traveling across the entire Italian territory. He quickly gained significant international recognition, since in July 1966 the French-language Swiss magazine Camera, published in Lucerne, devoted an important feature to him. Roméo Martinez, a photography historian whose library at the Maison européenne de la photographie bears his name, introduced him into the collection Les Grands Photographes, and Pepi Merisio signed with Gianni Berengo Gardin, who regarded him as a brother in photography, the volume on Latium in the Touring Club of Italy collection.

The illustrious Ferdinando Scianna declared in 2021 upon Pepi Mérisio’s death: “I met Pepi in 1967 when I had just arrived from Sicily, and he already had great international prestige.” “He had just won an international prize with the report on the death of Uncle Angelo; many people gravitated around him, and I had great admiration… He had chosen his visual relationship to the world, the world he wanted to speak about and the way he wanted to do it… He had a political-cultural commitment more than a direct one… He was a great anthropologist of the peasant world. His archives are a cultural treasure that we will continue to need to understand where we come from and where we are going, if we are going anywhere at all.” (https://bergamo.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/21_febbraio_04/ferdinando-sciannalui-ci-fa-capire-dove-veniamo-19b7d422-66bc-11eb-8ada-57b39586265a.shtml)

Books from my personal collection kept with the utmost care, copy in excellent overall condition with a very small defect at the rear corner of the dust jacket (see photo), ex libris stamp of a former owner at the bottom of the title page and on the case. Very secure packaging and international tracked shipping guaranteed. For multiple purchases, possible group shipment with refund of any overpaid postage via Paypal.

0.975 kg. excluding packaging