ATGET (Eugène). - Lot 18

ATGET (Eugène). Voyages en ville. Introduction by Pierre Gassmann. Texts by Roméo Martinez and Alain Pougetoux. Paris, Chêne / Hachette, 1979. Large quarto, publisher’s full cloth binding with illustrated dust jacket. First edition of one of the finest tributes to Eugène Atget (1857–1927), a founding figure of modern photography. The book, published at the initiative of Pierre Gassmann, brings together a substantial selection of large-format prints, accompanied by texts by Roméo Martinez and Alain Pougetoux, tracing the career of the man who, beginning in the 1890s, undertook a systematic documentation of old Paris. The photographs, reproduced with remarkable care, depict shops, courtyards, passageways, signs, gardens, staircases, mansions, and working-class streets, forming a true portrait of the capital before the major transformations of the 20th century. The book highlights the extraordinary modernity of Atget’s vision, whose influence on Berenice Abbott, the Surrealists, and documentary photography as a whole remains profound. Beautiful illustrations in high-quality heliogravure and phototype. Condition: illustrated dust jacket showing some scuffing and small marginal tears; publisher’s cloth binding in very good condition; interior perfectly fresh. A fine copy.