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“A LEGENDARY FIGURE AMONG CONTEMPORARY PHOTOJOURNALISTS”: FIRST EDITION OF L’HOMME & LA MACHINE, INSCRIBED BY CARTIER-BRESSON

CARTIERBRESSON, Henri. L’Homme & la Machine. (No place: IBM World Trade Corporation, 1969). Oblong quarto, original gray cloth. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

First edition, featuring 114 of Cartier-Bresson’s candid photojournalistic images of people “collaborating” with machines, inscribed by him on the half title: “a Rita, avec toute mon affection, Henri.”

“Regarded as one of the greatest photographers of his time, Henri Cartier-Bresson was a shy Frenchman who elevated ‘snap shooting’ to the level of a refined and disciplined art. His sharp-shooter’s ability to catch ‘the decisive moment,’ his precise eye for design, his self-effacing methods of work, and his literate comments about the theory and practice of photography made him a legendary figure among contemporary photojournalists.” “Today he ranks as one of the most important and influential photographers of this century” (Blodgett, 96). In Man & Machine, Cartier-Bresson presents 114 provocative images of our modern “collaboration” with machines of all kinds, from motorcycles and jet engines to slot-machines and tape-recorders. Text in French. Light repair to top corner of page 61. A fine inscribed copy.