Alvin Langdon Coburn

A first edition example of Alvin Langdon Coburn's Men of Mark.

• Alvin Langdon Coburn (American).
• London & New York: Duckworth & Co and Mitchell Kennerley, 1913.
• Quarto.
• 66 pages.
• Bound in linen-backed grey cloth, titles to the front in gilt.
• Accompanied by printed dust jacket.

Alvin Langdon Coburn began gathering these portraits in 1904 when, shortly before sailing to London, he asked Perrirton Maxwell, editor of the Metropolitan Magazine of New York, for a list of authors and artists to photograph during his visit. Coburn's first sitter was George Bernard Shaw, who was particularly helpful in making introductions to potential subjects on Coburn's behalf, and the two became friends. Other sitters include Frank Brangwyn, H.G. Wells, Auguste Rodin, Henry James, Arthur Symons, Theodore Roosevelt, W.B. Yeats, Mark Twain, Clarence H. White, Roger Fry and Henri Matisse. The portraits are reproduced chronologically, the photogravures printed under Coburn's supervision on his own press. The day, month and year for each sitter are included in the index, with Coburn insisting that these facts added a "very considerable interest to a portrait considered as a 'human document.'"