Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Robert Frank. Les Americains (The Americans, Signed). Robert Delpire, 1958.
Price: US$12000.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: A spectacular copy. Signed by Robert Frank in a very steady hand. True First edition of the photographer's masterpiece with 83 black-and-white full-page photogravures. First published on 15 May 1958 by Robert Delpire in Paris as part of its Encyclopédie Essentielle series. Writings by Simone de Beauvoir, Erskine Caldwell, William Faulkner, Henry Miller and John Steinbeck were included, that Delpire positioned opposite Frank's photographs.[Oblong 8vo, original laminated boards. Cover design by Saul Steinberg. Precedes the First American edition by Grove Press in 1959. A sharp copy with the slightest bit of rubbing.
Seller: Rob Warren Books, Richmond, VA, U.S.A.
Frank, Robert. Les Americains [The Americans]. Robert Delpire, Paris, 1958.
Price: US$17500.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First edition, first printing of Robert Frank's iconic photobook, preceding the American first edition published by Grove Press by nearly a year. Signed by Robert Frank on the title page. Text in French. Bound in publisher's original laminated boards with illustration by Saul Steinberg. Near Fine, with light wear and light soiling to binding, short superficial crack to top of front spine joint, several preliminary leaves lightly creased, hinge slightly exposed at half-title page and page block a little sunken. A lovely copy of Frank's iconic and influential work.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Frank, Robert. LES AMÈRICAINS Compiled and edited by Alain Bosquet.. Robert Delpire, Paris, 1958.
Price: US$17500.00 + shipping
Description: Oblong 8vo., 83 b&w plates from photographs. Glazed paper over boards, with drawings by Saul Steinberg. Aside from a very slight crease to the front board where it joins the spine, a near fine copy. Housed in a custom-made clamshell box in patriotic red, white and blue with die-cut stars along the edges and a 50 starred American flag inset on the upper cover. SIGNED twice. The true first edition of this work, heralded as the most influential photographic book of the second half of this century. Issued without a dust jacket. This copy was been SIGNED with a drawing by Robert Frank on the front free endpaper. The drawing is the outline of a five pointed star which consumes most of the page; in it he has written "STAR - Hello, Robert Frank, Washington, D.C., Sept. 28 '94" and in the upper right corner he has written "from Robert Frank." This copy was inscribed at a special event just prior to the opening of his major retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, October 2, 1994. Parr and Badger, Volume 1, p. 247.
Seller: Andrew Cahan: Bookseller, Ltd., ABAA, Akron, OH, U.S.A.
Frank, Robert & Alain Bosquet text. LES AMERICAINS. Delpire, Paris, 1958.
Price: US$25000.00 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: A BOOK LOVED TO DEATH, oblong 4to, Steinberg boards scotch taped at spine, rather badly, tape browning, INSCRIBED "for gabriele on her birthday, May 17, 1959" in an unknown hand, then INSCRIBED again in a slow, steady clear hand "April 9th, 1983 in NYC happy birthday again Gabriele, Robert Frank" Gabriele Wunderlich was a minor photographer, photo picture editor and friend of Frank. Frank rarely signed books, until much later in life when the overwhelming demand and his unfortunate physical exhaustion made him relent. Even comparatively early ones like this, and esp. personalized are quite scarce In his last twenty yrs virtually every SIGNED Robert Frank book was from either a book signing, a dealer or a collector, not to somone who he knew, or from pity ("I need to pay the rent etc.".vvclst1/2. NO PICS IT IS WHAT IT IS.vvcls1/2
Seller: NUDEL BOOKS, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$79500.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Robert Frank: A Complete Collection of Books and Limited Editions [9 Volumes SIGNED (3 also INSCRIBED)] and a Sweeping Archive of Printed Ephemera from Seven Decades. The collection includes a complete set of 15 editions of The Americans from 1958 to 2008, as well as nine rare signed and/or inscribed titles. Institutions may request an illustrated catalogue of the collection, which also includes an extraordinary archive of printed ephemera, summarized below. Ephemera Archive: A sweeping archive of approximately 300 related books, periodicals, catalogues and films, and thousands of clippings, correspondence and other ephemera rounds out the book collection and demonstrates Frank's widespread impact on photography and visual culture over the past seven decades. Additionally, this archive supplies a comprehensive overview of Frank's palpable impact on some of the most significant aspects of Western postwar society and culture, from the Beats to the Civil Rights Movement; from the quintessential, gritty street photograph to the iconic rock and roll film. Arguably the most important and influential artist in the history of the medium, these materials make evident how Frank's intensely personal, but universal human perspective radically reshaped photographic vision. This group of materials essentially falls into four groups, as detailed below, including pictures of some of the highlights. [The total volume of archival materials is approximately 7.75 linear feet.] PROVENANCE: please inquire. BOOKS AND LIMITED EDITIONS: 1. FRANK, Robert, BOSQUET, Alain, CROVI, Raffaele. Les Américains [The Americans]: Photographies de Robert Frank (First Edition, Delpire, 1958) [SIGNED]. Paris: Delpire, 1958. First edition (French). Signed and dated 'June 1992' in black ink on the half-title page by Frank. Hardcover. Photographically illustrated laminated paper-covered boards (illustrated by Saul Steinberg), no dust jacket as issued. Photographs by Robert Frank. Text (in French) by Alain Bosquet, Raffaele Crovi and numerous other contributors. Edited by Robert Delpire. 174 pp. with 83 black and white gravure plates. 7 1/2 x 8 3/8 inches. [SIGNATURE PROVENANCE: from the personal library of Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, Professor of Classical Studies and the Jane A. Seney Professor of Greek, at Wesleyan University.] CONDITION: Near Fine (light toning at the spine and upper edge of rear board, 1-1/2-inch light surface scratch to the lamination on the top edge of the front cover, 1-inch bump to the front lower cover not affecting the text block, several other minor indentations at the extremities and spine, slight foxing to the upper text block; previous owner's name written in blue ink in middle of front paste-down endpaper; "Hacker Art Books 57 West 54th NYC" written in black ink at top verso rear free endpaper; a very rare Near Fine signed copy). (#112380). Price: $9,000.00 2. FRANK, Robert, KEROUAC, Jack. Robert Frank: The Americans (First American Edition, Grove Press, 1959) [SIGNED PRESENTATION COPY]. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1959. First American edition, first printing. Signed and inscribed in black ink on the half-title page by Frank ("For Andrew / First visit to 7 Bleecker St. / June 5th 1992 / Robert Frank") [Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, Professor of Classical Studies and the Jane A. Seney Professor of Greek, at Wesleyan University)]. Hardcover. Black cloth-covered boards with title stamped in gold on the spine; with photographically illustrated dust jacket. Photographs by Robert Frank. Introduction by Jack Kerouac. Unpaginated (180 pp.), with 83 black-and-white gravure plates. 7-1/2 x 8-3/8 inches. CONDITION: Fine in Very Good dust jacket (a complete dust jacket with several closed tears repaired by tape showing aging at the crown and heel of the spine, front lower right corner and rear bottom edge). (#112381). Price: $15,000.00 3. FRANK, Robert, BOSQUET, Alain, CROVI, Raffaele. Gli Americani [The Americans]: Fotografie di Robert Frank (First Italian Ed
Seller: Vincent Borrelli, Bookseller, Albuquerque, NM, U.S.A.