In the course of the past hundred and sixty years, not only has photography undergone changes; so has its history. In the ebb and flow of time and publications, famous photographs (and together with them often their authors) become icons, but lose something of their original context that was nonetheless crucial in their original message. The historiography of photography has recently made efforts to make up for this loss of context (for instance by inquiry into the relationship of photography to other fields, and the broader framework of the history of culture and media history), but only seldom are we presented with such thorough ”contextuality“ as in the book for which the context itself forms a theme in its own right.
Renowned photographer Martin Parr, and critic Gerry Badger have attempted exactly this in their ambitious two-volume project The Photobook: A History, in which with the massive help of plentiful illustrations they try to show the complete historical evolution of photographic publications. The fact that the overall theme has hardly been researched at all thus far is reflected nicely in the title's combinination of defininte and indefinite articles. In the same way, it defines by hypothesis all that falls within the category of the ”photobook“. The authors speak about a form which creates out of individual photographs a larger whole, but a more exact definition is given rather by recourse - that is, by the selection of examples, which are of formidable scope and diversity in terms of both time periods and genres. Most of the books reproduced here have been taken directly from the collection of the former author, the largest number of borrowed works (mainly from the 19th century) was provided by the British Library in London, with the remainder coming from other public or private collections. The first volume, chronicling over 200 books and featuring 750 illustrations, was brought out by Phaidon Press, with their traditionally superb graphic design and high quality printing.
The book itself is organized into nine chapters, each with an introductory essay, that provide a chronological outline of the main periods and genres. Beginning with the very first photobooks, those of Talbot and Anna Atkins,(full article is available after purchasing a subscription - not available now)
Renowned photographer Martin Parr, and critic Gerry Badger have attempted exactly this in their ambitious two-volume project The Photobook: A History, in which with the massive help of plentiful illustrations they try to show the complete historical evolution of photographic publications. The fact that the overall theme has hardly been researched at all thus far is reflected nicely in the title's combinination of defininte and indefinite articles. In the same way, it defines by hypothesis all that falls within the category of the ”photobook“. The authors speak about a form which creates out of individual photographs a larger whole, but a more exact definition is given rather by recourse - that is, by the selection of examples, which are of formidable scope and diversity in terms of both time periods and genres. Most of the books reproduced here have been taken directly from the collection of the former author, the largest number of borrowed works (mainly from the 19th century) was provided by the British Library in London, with the remainder coming from other public or private collections. The first volume, chronicling over 200 books and featuring 750 illustrations, was brought out by Phaidon Press, with their traditionally superb graphic design and high quality printing.
The book itself is organized into nine chapters, each with an introductory essay, that provide a chronological outline of the main periods and genres. Beginning with the very first photobooks, those of Talbot and Anna Atkins,(full article is available after purchasing a subscription - not available now)