BRUNHES (Jean). Races. - Lot 49

BRUNHES (Jean). Races. Paris, Librairie de Paris, Firmin-Didot et Cie, 1930. “Images du Monde” series, No. 2. Quarto, approximately 26 cm, [110] pp., very generously illustrated with black-and-white photographs; red printed softcover. Documents annotated by Mariel Jean-Brunhes Delamarre. The BnF confirms the 1930 edition, the unnumbered pagination of 110 pages, and its inclusion in the “Images du Monde” collection. A fascinating and significant photographic and ethnographic album published in 1930 by the geographer Jean Brunhes (1869–1930), a professor at the Collège de France and a member of the Institut de France. The work brings together a vast collection of photographs dedicated to the peoples of the world, accompanied by commentary written by Mariel Jean-Brunhes Delamarre. The photographs depict, in particular, people from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and other regions, showing their daily activities, living environments, traditional attire, and social practices. Published at a time when ethnography and human geography were placing increasing emphasis on documentary photography, the book now serves as much a document on the history of ethnographic photography as it does a record of racial classifications and colonial representations during the interwar period. A contemporary documentary catalog describes it, moreover, as a collection that allows for a retrospective study of how these concepts were constructed and disseminated at the time. The illustrations are particularly abundant: some double-page spreads are almost entirely filled with large, captioned photographs, giving the book the appearance of a photo album rather than a traditional scholarly treatise. This copy is in its original red cover, which is noteworthy for this type of fragile publication. The cover is scuffed and worn, with creases, small tears, and superficial losses to the headband, spine, and corners; there is a small handwritten annotation on the half-title/title page. The interior shows some foxing and signs of wear but remains in satisfactory condition.