Luc Delahaye - Winterreise - 2000

Copy and dust-jacket in fine condition.

Jacket, Phaidon Press, London. 2000. First edition, first printing. True first hardcover edition and true first printing (there was also a paperback edition 3 years later in 2003). Included in Martin Parr, The photobook, vol 2, page 257.

Winterreise by Luc Delahaye is a haunting and melancholic photobook published by Phaidon Press that chronicles a desolate winter journey across Russia between November 1998 and March 1999.

Renowned Magnum Photos photographer Luc Delahaye traveled through various Russian locations—including Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Norilsk, and Vladivostok—capturing a nation grappling with a profound social and moral crisis.

Containing 144 colour photographs across its 232 pages, the pocket-sized book bridges the gap between raw photojournalism and poetic visual art.

The images document the bleak underbelly of post-Soviet society, marked by pervasive poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, and domestic violence, while still locating striking fragments of human dignity and poignant beauty.

Delahaye shot using fast color film without a flash, lending the images a grainy, unvarnished, snapshot-like quality that feels remarkably close and personal.

The sequences are claustrophobic and unsettling, driven by oppressive yellow hues, faded interior wallpapers, and stark outdoor snowscapes.

Originally released as a hardcover in 2000 and later as a softcover in 2003, the compact dimensions (roughly 190 x 145 mm) are designed to make the book feel like a personal journal or a portable companion of the road.