Karsh books recommendation

Hi

I was thinking buying some Yousuf Karsh books..but i would like to know if someone has some words from Karsh himself talking about is aproaching to the subject,lightning...
For those who have Karsh books..which to you recommend-about good quality book pictures.
Thank you in advance

One of the problems with books by Karsh is that his choice of photos was frequently repetative, and his words were often anecdotes that were flattering to both him and the subject, but not really revealing. The best I have seen on his techniques so far is the biography by Maria Tippett. I will look through my picture books later and make a suggestion on that. But it would help if you wanted Americans or Canadians or WW2 leaders or colour or an overall take.

The only Karsh book I have is "Karsh Portraits," University of Toronto Press, 1976. It's absolutely gorgeous; the portraits are beautifully reproduced, and there is a short description by him of the session for each one. However, it's not about the technical details, if that's what you're looking for. Don't know if it's still in print, but if so, it would be worth owning.

if you can find "portraits of greatness"
grab it! i have 2 or 3 karsh books, an that one
is one great ... the pages are huge and the printing is beautiful ..

Thank you a lot guy's..
Knowing some technical stuff would be really fine!..but that's not my main purpose.
Maybe the best approach would be getting his biography and a good book of his pictures..
I knew his work from several websites but when i had the opportunity to see a live expositon of his work..it was truly inspiring!

By the way..can you tell me if the books "A fifty-year retrospective" and "A sixty-year retrospective" are the same books? In several sites..the front-cover is the same, on his official website of Karsh, there is no book "A fifty-year retrospective"..that front-cover is for the book "A sixty-year retrospective"..is all the same?
Thank you

The 50 yr retrospective is a beautiful book (published 1983). A bit of a long-winded read, but does have some technical stuff is his "In Search of Greatness".

I think his best book may be his first Faces of Destiny. Although he was dissatisfied by the plates, I don't think they suffer and the book is a magnificent demonstration of classic portrairure especially now that so many of the subjects have faded into anominity.

The National Gallery of Canada published Karsh the Art of the Portrait (1989) which has the usual plates but also excellant written pieces of discussion of the nature and techinique of portraiture.

I think Karsh American Legends suffers from the inclusion of colour portraits which Karsh felt he was forced to do to Keep up with the times.

Karsh Canadians suffers from poor reproductions.

Karsh Faces of Our Time (1971)and Karsh Portfolio (1967)are unique books put out by the University of Toronto with exquisite Gravure plates each printed with a blank back. Again a marvellous demonstration of classical portraiture and printing. These books best reproduce the images of Karsh's actual prints.

Yousef Karsh Heroes of Light and Shadow (2000) is excellant and In my opinion better than the 50 or 60 years retrospectives. The 50 and 60 year retrospectives are different books but insufficiently so to justify them.

As a previous poster mentioned "Karsh Portraits," University of Toronto Press, 1976 is IMO the best. The images are printed by rotogravure which is a type of intaglio printing process. Karsh mentions in the introduction that the reproduction of his images are the closest to his original prints that he had ever seen. Some people have broken up the books and sold the single images off individually. They are hard to come by, but worth buying. I am lucky enough to own three copies, however after each workshop i teach i let the participants choose a portriat that they like and give it to them as a parting gift. However they cant choose Winston Churchill, George Benhard Shaw or Geogia Okeffe