The Europeans SIGNED by Henri Cartier-Bresson

THE EUROPEANS: PHOTOGRAPHS

INSCRIBED AND SIGNED By Henri Cartier-Bresson

Published in New York by Simon and Schuster, Editions Verve, 1955. INSCRIBED AND SIGNED. Book Condition: excellent. 1st Edition. First edition, first printing.  Hardcover. Photographically illustrated paper-covered boards (a design by Joan Miró especially for this book); no dust jacket as issued. Photographs and introduction (in French) by Henri Cartier-Bresson. 134 pp., with 114 black-and-white gravure plates. 14-5/8 x 10-7/8 inches. This book also has extremely scarce THE EUROPEANS caption booklet  printed in English.


Extremely rare inscription and signed. An important association copy.

The inscription reads:
for Martine
salutations
Henri Cartier Bresson

CONDITION: As stated above, this book is in excellent condition with an extremely bright cover spin and rear cover. Very minor scuff to the rear board. The pages, signatures, spine, boards are clean and  tight. The Miro cover art has been protected in a mylar-like protective cover since new, which has preserved this handsome book very well. The plastic cover has a slight tear to the front and back, which can easily be replaced by a book conservator. There are two small flaws the top edge of the spine: it has a small missing piece approximately 1/8" long; and there is a small amount of rubbing to the bottom edge of the right corner. The signed inscription more than make up for these small inconsequential blemishes. Also we are pricing this book accordingly so the new owner can have these minor condition issues restored. We can highly recommend a wonderful professional book conservator to the proud new owner.

Martine Franck is Henri Cartier-Bresson's second wife.

Born in Belgium, Franck grew up in the United States and England, and studied art history at the University of Madrid and at the Ecole du Louvre in Paris.

From 1963 she worked at Time-Life in Paris as an assistant to photographers Eliot Elisofon and Gjon Mili. Martine Franck met Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1966 when she was photographing Paris fashion shows for the New York Times. They were married in 1970. She worked at Vu (photo agency) in Paris from 1970 to 1971, and co-founded the Viva (photo agency) in 1972.

Franck is not only known for her contribution to the promotion of Cartier-Bresson, but as a photographer in her own right. She became a full member of Magnum Photos in 1983, and has worked for Vogue magazine, for which she completed a series on women. She has been the official photographer of the Théâtre du Soleil since 1964 thanks to her friendship with Ariane Mnouchkine. In 1983 she completed a project for the French Ministry of Women's Rights and in 1985 she collaborated with the International Federation of Little Brothers of the Poor. In 1993 she first traveled to the Irish island of Tory where she documented the ancient Gaelic community. She has also traveled to Tibet and Nepal, and with the help of Marilyn Silverstone photographed the education system of the Tibetan Tulkus monks. In 2003 and 2004 she returned to Paris to document the work of theater director Robert Wilson who was staging La Fontaine's fables at the Comédie Française. She now lives in Paris.

[Cited in Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, The Photobook: A History, Volume I. (London and New York: Phaidon, 2004).] This quintessential look at post-war Europe, in images taken between 1950 and 1955, features some of Cartier-Bresson's most well known--and loved--images.

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