Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
COBURN Alvin Langdon 1882-1966. The Book of Harlech. D.H. Parry, Harlech: 1920, 1920.
Price: US$805.16 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Beautiful images in and around Harlech First edition, oblong octavo, in the publishers grey printed boards, corners worn. Paper re-back, no title. Internally, half title, [6], 7-15 pp, [1], [1], 20 tipped in photogravure plates from photographs, hinges strengthened. (177*229 mm). In 1916 Coburn and his wife Elizabeth visited Harlech and were so charmed by the place that two years later they bought a plot of land above the St. David's Hotel and built a house there. They lived at Harlech for the next thirty years, spending only the winters in London. In his autobiography Coburn records how 'for many years after retiring to the fastness of "Wild Wales" I did comparatively little photography, though I never entirely gave it up, for this is utterly impossible. Once the virus has entered the system it is there until time for us is no more. I sometimes climbed mountains as an excuse to use the camera on clouds, rocks, little lakes nestling in valleys overshadowed by the heights, and prehistoric stone monuments. There was I may also mention, a small Book of Harlech published locally in the town of my adoption in 1920, which bears testimony to my activities at that time.' Alvin Langdon Coburn Photographer, pp. 116-118. The 20 plates depict the castle, windswept beach and buildings of Harlech but most evocative are the misty views of the mountains and hillside farms with drystone walls snaking across the landscape reminiscent of the best work of Frank Smythe. The book was published at the insistence of the publisher, D. H. Parry, the text printed at the Chiswick Press and the plates by the Anglo Engraving Co.
Seller: Madoc Books (ABA-ILAB), Llandudno, CONWY, United Kingdom
Price: US$851.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Scarce first printing of Coburn's celebration of this otherworldly Welsh village to which he and his wife fled from London, growing vegetables and keeping goats. Oblong 8vo (174 x 232mm): [6],7-15,[1]pp, with 20 numbered collotype engravings in various tints from Coburn's atmospheric photographs tipped-in. Original paper-covered boards printed in black. Light, almost imperceptible stains to front cover, end sheets spotted, else a Fine example. The plates include: Harlech Castle from the Rock, The Golf Club, The Sands, The Roman Steps, The St. David's Hotel, A Harlech Street, Clouds and the Castle. Imagining Paradise, p. 240. In 1916, the Coburns visited their friend Kodak managing director George Davison in the north Welsh town of Harlech, and two years later bought a plot of land upon which to build a small house. After publishing The Book of Harlech in 1920, Coburn all but retired from photography. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).
Seller: Fine Editions Ltd, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.