A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Alvin%20Langdon%20Coburn&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alvin Langdon Coburn</a>'s <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/art-&amp;-design" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">photobook</a> New York.<ul><li>Alvin Langdon Coburn (American).</li><li>With a foreword by H. G. Wells.</li><li>London and New York: Duckworth &amp; Co, Brentano’s, [1910].</li><li>Folio.</li><li>12, [40] pages.</li><li>20 hand-pulled photogravures printed under Coburn’s supervision from plates prepared by him.</li><li>Grey endpapers, olive morocco-backed grey boards with gilt lettering on upper side, publisher’s grey printed dust jacket with letterpress titles in dark blue on upper side, in a custom drop spine box.</li></ul> In 1909 and 1910, Coburn produced two books, London and then New York. While the photographs in London reach back to the nineteenth century and beyond, New York is the more proto-modernist work, with this most modern of twentieth-century cities pushing Coburn towards a more radical way of seeing. In Camera Work 36 (October 1911), Coburn wrote: ‘It has been said of me... that I work too quickly, and that I attempt to photograph all New York in a week. Now to me New York is a vision that rises out of the sea as I come up the harbor on my Atlantic liner... I can do only the creative part of photography, the making of the negative, with the fire of enthusiasm burning at the white heat; but the final stage, the print, requires quiet contemplation, time, in fact, for its fullest expression. That is why my best work is from American negatives printed in England... it is only at twilight that the city reveals itself to me in the fullness of its beauty, when the arc lights on the Avenue click into being.'

New York First Edition

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of War of the Worlds by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=H.+G.+Wells&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">H.G. Wells</a>.<ul><li>H.G.&nbsp;Wells (English).</li><li>London: Heinemann, 1898.</li><li>Bound in publishers original grey cloth with black titling to the front board and spine, Heinemann company logo to rear board, with 16 catalogue pages to the rear.</li></ul> The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells depicts a devastating Martian invasion of Earth, told from the viewpoint of an unnamed narrator fleeing destruction across England. Wells blends cutting-edge science with social critique as heat-rays, tripods and toxic “black smoke” overwhelm human defences. The novel explores imperialism, vulnerability and survival while pioneering modern science fiction. Humanity’s eventual salvation—through microbes—underscores Wells’ theme that even the most powerful invaders remain subject to nature’s unseen forces.&nbsp;

Results for "H. G. Wells"