How Many Photo Books Do You Own?

[bjorke]

(Posted in response to the "how many cameras" thread -- which has come and gone abut three times IIRC)

How Many Photo Books Do You Own?

With this distinction: books on technique are not photo books.

I'd say I have about 10 books on technique and three shelves of photo books -- so about 150.

Ignoring the piles of magazines, for now.

 

[david b]

Somewhere around 50.

 

[Michael W]

I have approx 40.
Some favourites are

Diane Arbus - Revelations (I love 'behind the scenes' stuff - proof sheets, alternate prints etc)

Michael Lesy - Angel's World (about Angelo Rizzuto, a loner who practiced a type of street photography in 1950s NY. Included a shot of himself in his boarding house room on each roll)

Josef Koudelka - publ by Fototorst (small format 6.5" x 7.5" book that covers all his great photos. Excellent print quality & easily available, unlike most of his books)

Mark Cohen - Grim Street

Danny Lyon - The Bikeriders & Destruction of Lower Manhattan.

Photo book I would most like to own - 1964 by Gary Winogrand. I love the cover photo but this book is rare & expensive.

 

[Robert Hall]

50 easy. My favorites are about the peccadilloes noted from followers of said people.

 

[photomc]

40-50 would be a good guess, favorites would be those with local/regional story to share - Keith Carter, Winogrand, June Van Cleef, Paula Chamlee, Laura Wilson. Just ordered a Tillman Crane today.

 

[Moopheus]

I have three--100 Suns by Michael Light (restored documentary photos from the years of above ground nuclear testing); American Ground Zero by Carole Gallagher (documenting the people who lived with the fallout); and Ansel Adams at 100 (a gift).

 

[ajmiller]

Just counted 53 on my creaking bookshelf. My favourites are
Raymond Moore - 'Murmurs At Every Turn' and 'Every so Often'.
Walker Evans - 'First and Last'
Charles Pratt - 'Photographs'

- Tony

 

[Curt]

40 or more, I got a copy of Dune just today, it was inexpensive and in new condition, I don't know why I waited so long to get it. I have more on the way.

 

[sun of sand]

Probably only a few that would meet your requirements
My favorite book dedicated to photographs is American Photographers and The National Parks
Handbook of Photography by Henney and Dudley which is a text so it doesn't count. Mint 1939 second printing. My only real technique book, though.
Golf: Great Courses of the World which is a book of the best courses worldwide. photos by jean-francois lefevre
What the Traveler Saw. Great book. half photo book.
I pick up old Life magazines and those Eyewitness to History types
Santa Monica Bay: the first 100 years. pictorial history
THE MOTORING CENTURY. The Story of the Royal Automobile Club
1897-1997. Pictorial history. Nice book to look through.
Niagara on the Lake. pictorial type
The Coral Sea by Patti Smith. Handful of photos by Mapplethorpe. She was his first model and friend

I pick up books that contain photographs rather than set out to pick up artist books
I take books out of Rundell Library all the time for that

I have many art books.

 

[smieglitz]

108 at home and maybe another 10-15 at school. Then about 50 more technical books scattered about.

Favorites are by Veruschka, Robert Maxwell, Francesca Woodman, Sheila Metznor, and several Pictorialists (e.g., Brigman, Eugene, Seeley, White, Steichen, etc.).

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Probably around 40-50. Most of my books are packed at the moment as we're getting ready to move again, so that's my best guess. I periodically cull the technical books.

 

[Shawn Rahman]

I'd say about 70; most of which are multiple books from:

Sally Mann
Cartier-Bresson
Robert Adams
Abelardo Morell
Sam Abell
Keith Carter
Joel Meyerowitz
Steve McCurry
George Tice

 

[Ian Grant]

My guess is about 150, which were on the shelf, and another 50+ boxed away. All are in storage now, except a small number I have in here in Turkey, books are the worst thing to travel with as they aslways weish so much. I'm restricted to John, Davies, Fay Godwin, John Blakemore, Andy Goldsworthy at the moment.

That doesn't include my books on critical theory etc, which must be about another 30, or the technical books 200+. Not many technique books at all

Ian

 

[bjorke]

(A note on moving with books: at least here in the US, there is a special postal rate for books, which is uniform across the country. When I have moved I have always mailed the books separately.)

I had 1964 but I gave it to a GF who is now gone. *sigh* (for the book). Made up for it by recently finding a copy of Moriyama's Farewell Photography still selling for the marked price and now a pretty complete collection of Rinko Kawauchi (APUG Rolleiflex users take note of her...).



The Brodovitch Ballet is the collector jewel but I really, really want to find a copy of Solitude of Ravens (the local library has one.... gorgeous. They have quite a few hard-to-find books, actually, like a pristine copy of Exiles).

Sun/Sand points out a curious effect of age: a tech book from 1939 can indeed be transformed into a different sort of artifact. I have some Mortenson titles that I view in the same way.

 

[Tony Egan]

...I have some Mortenson titles that I view in the same way...

I have a 1936 2nd edition of Monsters and Madonnas which is subtitled a Book of Methods, so perhaps this is just a technical book!? I find the writing and insights no less relevant today than when first put on paper.

At a quick count probably over 100 monographs and an equal number of technical, biographies, collections, histories etc. The latest purchase 2 weeks ago was Gregory Crewsdon's Beneath the Roses. I'm pretty sure the first was Diane Arbus' aperture monograph. I originally borrowed it from the university library in the late '70s when I was researching buying my first SLR. It was such a "whack in the side of the head" at the time I had to go and buy my own copy.

Naturally I have quite a few books by Australians or adopted Australians such as Harold Cazneaux, Max Dupain, David Moore, Jeff Carter, Robert Billington, Gordon Undy, Lewis Morley, Graham McCarter, Olive Cotton, Frank Hurley, Trent Parke and Narelle Autio and others.

I make it easy for my family when it comes to birthdays and Christmas. Anything from this list would be just fine!

 

[SuzanneR]

I think I'm around 40 or 50... and I have lots of art books on painting, too. Does that count? No technical books!! Well, I can't say that truly, I think I have the two or three of the Ansel Adams books, but rarely refer to them. I find them poorly written. A few favorites... Treadwell by Andrea Modica, Sadness of Men by Phil Perkis, At Twelve and Immediate Family by Sally Mann, Ralph Eugene Meatyard by ... well, not sure! There are other's, too. I love looking through them all from time to time.

Oh.. and I have a convenient Amazon wish list for anyone who might be so inclined as to add to my collection

 

[bdial]

Not so many photo books as per the definition, probably 5 or 10, Adams, Weston, Meisel, a few others.

A note about moving books, when you re-shelve them, start at 'Z', not 'A', it's much easier to fit the books to the available space that way.

 

[David Brown]

100+/-

 

[Nicole]

Hmm, not sure. I love photo books and rummaging in old book stores.

 

[removed account4]

other people's photo albums ( bought at thrift stores ), or artist's books count,
... or do the books have to be distributed by a publishing house ?

i have somewhere between 20 and 40.

penn, portera, karsh, adams, avedon ... and some "randoms" ...

 

[Curt]

How many first editions and how many signed by the author?

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

About 50, if you exclude coffee-table books of pretty pictures but are not by/about a photographer. If you include coffee-table books, it about doubles. I also have 17 issues of this magazine that is so exquisite it should be considered a book - Photographers International. It was a joint publication sponsored by the French and Taiwanese governments. Each issue had about 150 pages, and was as nicely printed as the best photo books, on heavy-weight paper, with only 6-8 pages of ads per issue. I think it is out of print now - if you ever find any copies in secondhand bookstores, I highly recommend picking it up.

 

[Joe Lipka]

About seventy five. It's time to start thinning the herd out, because I just don't take the time to pour over them as I used to. It's not fair to have them and not use them.

 

[DannL]

two

 

[Ian Leake]

100-120 on my main bookshelf with perhaps another 30 or 40 scattered around elsewhere. Then there are the books on painting, drawing and sculpture which while they're strictly not "photo books", they're "inspiration for photos" books. Other than a few vital references (AA's series and the like) I have very few technique books because these are mainly dull and uninspiring.