MORATH (Inge). - Lot 220

MORATH (Inge). From Persia to Iran. Texts by Édouard Sablier. Paris, Robert Delpire, [circa 1958–1960]. Large quarto, publisher’s hardcover with illustrated dust jacket. A beautiful publication by Robert Delpire dedicated to the first major photo essay on Iran by Inge Morath (1923–2002), one of the most important photographers at Magnum Photos and the wife of Arthur Miller. Through a substantial collection of black-and-white photographs taken shortly after the country’s official name was changed from Persia to Iran, Inge Morath offers a remarkable portrait of a society in the midst of profound change. Her deeply humanistic perspective focuses as much on landscapes as on cities, monuments, markets, religious ceremonies, and above all on the people, whose daily gestures and faces she captures with great sensitivity. Texts by Édouard Sablier place these images in their historical and cultural context, offering a vivid portrait of Iran in the late 1950s. The book is one of Inge Morath’s first major photographic travel books and ranks among the key publications of Robert Delpire, a publisher who helped introduce France to the greatest photographers of the 20th century. Condition: a complete copy with its illustrated dust jacket. The dust jacket shows scuffing, small tears, and missing sections at the top and bottom edges, with a few discreet older restorations on the reverse. The hardcover is in very good condition. The interior is in very fresh condition.