VERGER (Pierre). — Cuba - Lot 301

Lot 301
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VERGER (Pierre). — Cuba - Lot 301
VERGER (Pierre). — Cuba VERGER (Pierre). Cuba. 196 photographs by Pierre Verger. Preface and notes by Lydia Cabrera. Paris, Paul Hartmann, 1958. Large quarto, lavishly illustrated with 196 black-and-white photographs by Pierre Verger, reproduced full-page or several per page, with captions in French, Spanish, and English. Publisher’s hardcover with a color-illustrated photographic dust jacket; the front cover depicts the Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro and its lighthouse in Havana, while the back cover features a photograph of tropical vegetation. First edition of this important photographic book devoted to Cuba, published by Paul Hartmann in 1958; the official bibliography of the Pierre Verger Foundation confirms the year, the publisher, and the 196 photographs. The book offers a comprehensive photographic portrait of Cuba on the eve of the 1959 revolution. In it, Verger juxtaposes the island’s various facets: the modern architecture of Havana, colonial cities and monuments, landscapes of the Viñales Valley, the countryside, tropical vegetation, street scenes, and daily life. The photographs are accompanied by a preface and notes by Lydia Cabrera, a leading expert on Afro-Cuban culture. The book is also of particular significance within Verger’s body of work: the Cuban photographs were taken primarily during his 1957 stay, when he worked with Lydia Cabrera. A photograph taken that year in Havana and published in this volume is still cited as such in recent academic works. The Pierre Verger Foundation, moreover, classifies *Cuba* among the artist’s own photography books. One of Pierre Verger’s beautiful books from the Hartmann period, particularly interesting today for its documentary nature: the images capture the island immediately before the political and social upheaval of 1959. A fine copy, complete with its rare photographic dust jacket. The interior is well-preserved, with a few foxing spots or scattered marks. An old pencil notation, “300,” on the half-title page. The dust jacket is rubbed and worn, with small tears, creases, and missing sections at the corners and along the edges, but remains complete and presentable.
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