Man Ray

First edition with first issue title-page of Man Ray's Photographs 1920 Paris 1934.

• Man Ray (American).
• Hartford, Connecticut: James Thrall Soby, 1934. 
• Folio.
• Black-and-white photographs printed in gravure by The Néogravure Company.
• Texts in English and French by Man Ray, Paul Eluard, Andre Breton, Tristan Tzara, Rrose Selavy [Marcel Duchamp].
• Color photo-illustrated covers, with a plastic comb binding by Draeger Frères.

Man Ray’s first monograph, with the scarce first issue title-page. James Thrall Soby was an important patron of the avant-garde in the United States. Alfred Barr, Director of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, had encouraged Soby to visit Man Ray in Paris, and following their meeting, Soby subsidized the production of this, the first monograph of Man Ray’s work. 

Man Ray had hoped that royalties from the sale of this book would enable him to make a long-overdue trip back to New York. Photographs... was well received in France, but in the United States, the reception was distinctly less enthusiastic. Lewis Mumford wrote in The New Yorker that Man Ray had ‘done almost everything with a camera, except use it to take photographs... photographing Calla lilies so that they will look like drawings by a second-rate academician.’ Commercially, it was not a success. It is widely suggested that in an attempt to generate sales, the publishers recalled the book and replaced the original title page with one stating ‘deuxième édition’. The favorable reception in France also led to the ‘second edition’ being titled in French with attention drawn to the other contributors: Man Ray. Photographies 1920-1934 Paris avec un portrait par Picasso – textes de André Breton Paul Eluard Rrose Sélavy Tristan Tzara –préface par Man Ray.