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Photography book collectors: can you explain to me the world of photo book publishing

albireo

pfm Member
[Long post warning]

I was hoping that the photography aficionados on here could help me understand how the photo book publishing world works.

Just to clarify - I'm not trying to get any own work published. My perspective is that of someone who is starting to develop an interest in purchasing and owning photography books. The reason is that I increasingly enjoy looking at the work of the masters and have been awfully ignorant of the history of photography so far. I'm ashamed of this, but better late than never.

So my question essentially is: how does one go about building a collection of unmissable photography books? So far my process has been pretty unstructured: I'll see something I like (perhaps a local exhibition? Perhaps an article on the Guardian? Wikipedia?) and I'll seek something out on Amazon. Sometimes I'll buy directly new from Amazon, sometimes I'll go via third party sellers. Some third party sellers seem to be specialised art books dealers, and I've found a couple of reliable ones so I have been ordering directly from them at times.

Now the reason why I'm puzzled. The concept of 'out of print' and 'reprint' for photo books. What does this mean? Why do most recommended books by the masters appear to be 'out of print' everywhere, with some third party sellers offering them at eyewatering prices?

Now, I now my question sounds stupid but please bear with me. I'm used to the world of Jazz music. I have a respectable collection of CDs and vinyl. Most of the titles I've had no issues sourcing directly from Amazon. Eg Blue Notes - you'll find all of them, even the most of obscure ones, though you might have to do with different mastering. ECM - all available. Atlantic -same. Vinyl records: gets a bit more difficult here for obvious reasons, but apart from truly exotic stuff, I've always found what I wanted, including reasonably priced Blue Note Japanese King pressings that sound divine.

For photo books it appears to be a different proposition entirely: perhaps the publisher will do 1000 copies and that's it. When they're sold they're sold. Is that what happens? Reprints: are these essentially exact replicas of old books which are being reprinted by popular demand? Or are these 'remasters'. How does one figure out if it's worth seeking an original or a reprint (when both are available)?

Also exhibitions: seems like sometimes a famous photographer will do an exhibition and the Museum will decide to make a book out of the exhibited selection. Are these titles worth seeking out or are they usually inferior in quality compared to the 'original' books by the same author? Are exhibition sometimes the sole outlet for some of the work by a photographer? Is there a reason to buy the 'exhibition' books if one has already most of those pictures in the book where they were first released?

For essential photo books that everyone raves about and where a reprint does not exist - am I doomed, essentially? Do I have to google the pictures and watch them on my screen? Or wait until a copy for 500£ ends up on the ebay?

To summarise, is the enjoyment of photography art an essentially more 'elite' (read: big, big pockets) endeavour than say Jazz music on CD/vinyl?

So far, I've been interested in (mostly) the titles printed by two publishers: Steidl (Germany) and Mack (UK). If anyone has recommendations on how to build a collection of good quality photo books without opening a mortgage I'd be all ears.

Many thanks and apologies for the lengthy post.
 
Original v reprint

This depends if you are interested in the content, or want a collectors piece

Personally I always go for the content, it’s the cheaper option and allows me to buy more books!! That said I do have quite a number of first editions (some not reprinted to date), but I’ve bought these on release, rather than years after they have gone out of print.
 
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It was a good post. It's simple really you buy the books of the artist work you like!
Photography books are often printed in small numbers and supported by the publishers other business. What normally happens is a book is printed is a small addition then it goes out of print and the prices go up, some books are reprinted and sometimes the "plates" are remastered and the later versions of the book are better printed than the first copies.
I had a photography book buying addiction for many years! I'm still in rehab!
 
Many thanks both. I suppose one thing that puzzles me is that it seems to me it can be tough to find 'mainstream' pieces of work in the world of photography - unlike say what happens with music perhaps. Which is a shame?

Eg consider the book 'New Topographics'

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00LLOAWDY/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

This is a seminal book which spurred an entire new 'wave' of documentary photography and one I'm particularly interested in. I'd hazard this book in basic terms belongs to the same league as 'A Kind of Blue - Miles Davis' or 'Giant Steps - John Coltrane' or perhaps Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring.

However, A Kind of Blue as an art work has been continuously available on a variety of supports since the late 50, and a copy can be had by anyone for 5 quid. The New Topographic book is simply gone as far as I can see, unless I pay 260£ for a used copy. I guess I find this odd.

I wonder if 'crowdsourcing' experiments have been attempted - say gofundme or massdrop style - whereby one could gather the interest of 1000/5000 folks and ask the publisher for an ad hoc reprint.
 
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I wonder if 'crowdsourcing' experiments have been attempted - say gofundme or massdrop style - whereby one could gather the interest of 1000/5000 folks and ask the published for an ad hoc reprint.

Quite a few photography books are published via Kickstarter, Bluecoat Press based in Liverpool launch most of their books this way.

But I do agree with you, it would be nice to get our hands on some of the out of print books at sensible prices! It may not just be the publisher holding this back, but the artists in the books themselves - and any reprint automatically devalues the originals, thoiugh they always command a premium price due to the fact that they are first editions.

I've supported quite a lot of the smaller publishers and through them been exposed to a wide variety of work. Some of them even get some of the 'Big Names' on smaller publications, eg Mark Power's Ice breaker published by Another Place Press (sold out now though!)

BTW do you know of this website https://www.photobookjunkies.com/
 
Quite a few photography books are published via Kickstarter, Bluecoat Press based in Liverpool launch most of their books this way.

But I do agree with you, it would be nice to get our hands on some of the out of print books at sensible prices! It may not just be the publisher holding this back, but the artists in the books themselves - and any reprint automatically devalues the originals, thoiugh they always command a premium price due to the fact that they are first editions.

I've supported quite a lot of the smaller publishers and through them been exposed to a wide variety of work. Some of them even get some of the 'Big Names' on smaller publications, eg Mark Power's Ice breaker published by Another Place Press (sold out now though!)

BTW do you know of this website https://www.photobookjunkies.com/

You bugger, that should have come with warning!

Don't miss 'What I See' by Brooklyn Beckham. I read a review of it a week or two ago, said it vied for position as the worst photobook ever, only published by virtue of the fact that his mum and dad are quite well known, and very rich.

Now I'm depressed because I missed a signed Fay Godwin, one that I haven't already got.
 
You bugger, that should have come with warning!

Don't miss 'What I See' by Brooklyn Beckham.

It is quite dreadful (IMHO), I thumbed through a copy in Foyles in London when it came out, I couldn’t see anything of merit - and completes the myth that to take good photos you need a good camera as it was all shot on Leica digital cameras!!! Derren Browns street photography book (also shot on Leicas) is much better but still not my cup of tea!!

And as for the website link, glad to be of service :)
 
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I'm not sure New Topographics is or ever has been a mainstream book! Sure some of the photographers changed photography (possibly for the worst) but it's never been mainstream, it was more a catalog to show what photographers were represented in the exhibition.

What you've got to remember is that many older books were published the photography world it much smaller than it is now, only other photographers knew who other photographers were, there was no internet, so books, magazines and exhibition was all you had, it was the only way to see work. Many young photographers ended up assistants to masters of photography, you could literally walk into a job with well regarded photographer quite easily as long as you were passionate and willing to work long hours, the photography world was very different.

This is great overview of photography with most of the New Topographers presented (other than the tedious ones) great book for a few quid...was a massive influence on many photographers.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0670806196/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.


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