Arcana:

(WILLOUGHBY, BOB) (HEPBURN, AUDREY). Willoughby, Bob. Koln, GERMANY: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 2010. First Edition 0313/1000. Folio. Boards in a Clamshell Box. Photography Monograph. As New/As New. 282pp, profusely illustrated in black & white. Text in English, German and French. "In his distinguished career as a Hollywood photographer, Bob Willoughby took iconic photos of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Fonda, but remains unequivocal about his favorite subject: Audrey Hepburn. Willoughby was called in to shoot the new starlet one morning shortly after she arrived in Hollywood in 1953. It was a humdrum commission for the portraitist often credited with having perfected the photojournalistic movie still, but when he met the Belgian-born beauty, Willoughby was enraptured. "She took my hand like...well a princess, and dazzled me with that smile that God designed to melt mortal men's hearts," he recalls. As Hepburn's career soared following her Oscar-winning US debut in "Roman Holiday", Willoughby became a trusted friend, framing her working and home life. His historic, perfectionist, tender photographs seek out the many facets of Hepburn's beauty and elegance, as she progresses from her debut to her career high of "My Fair Lady" in 1963. Willoughby's studies, showing her on set, preparing for a scene, interacting with actors and directors, and returning to her private life, comprise one of photography's great platonic love affairs and an unrivalled record of one of the 20th century's touchstone beauties". A pristine example of this extraordinary volume - a must-have for the Audrey completeist that sold out upon publication - limited to one thousand copies in a decorative clamshell box SIGNED AND NUMBERED (0313/1000) by the late Bob Willoughby, unopened in the publisher's shrinkwrapped printed shipping carton, as issued. 3-8365-1889-9 Inventory Number: 023815