(TOMATSU, SHOMEI) (DOMON, KEN). Tomatsu, Shomei, Ken Domon, Kiyoshi Sakuma, Nobuo Kusano & Toshio Hata.
Tokyo: The Japan Council Against the A and H Bombs, 1961. First Edition. Large Square 4to. Decorative Cloth + Wrappers. Photography Monograph. Good./No Jacket - As Issued.. np + 54pp, profusely illustrated in duotone. Text in English. Designed by Kohei Sugiura. In protective clear acetate dustwrappers. This is Ken Domon and Shomei Tomatsu's remarkable book of photographs reflecting the aftermath of the atomic bombs the US dropped on The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to hasten the end World War II. In addition to the gripping hardbound volume of images, it contains a second English language publication in wrappers reprinting scholarly articles by Kiyoshi Sakuma, Nobuo Kusano, Toshio Hata on the radiation and its effects. A serviceable example only of this remarkable Post-War Japanese photographic book (cited on pages 274-75 of Martin Parr and Gerry Badger's "The Photobook: A History Volume I and as entry 270 in Manfred Heiting and Ryuichi Kaneko's "The Japanese Photobook 1912-1990") lacking the publisher's slipcase, and whose primary volume's off-white exterior is browned along the spine, moderately soiled, and exhibits notable insect damage to the ink of its decorative design of concentric circles. Internally it is bright and sound, with the textblock lightly browned along the edges and pulling ever so slightly at the signatures. The paper text volume shows some overall wear, light browning and soiling to the covers and edges, cracking along the spine, and a small closed tear to the foredge corner of the front cover. It has been priced accordingly.
Inventory Number: 017915
