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Gilden, Bruce (Photographer) & Darmaillacq, Sophie (Contributor) : Bruce Gilden: Go

Trebruk, Inc./Magnum Editions, London, England, 2000

ISBN 0953890104

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 96 pages. Retrospective collection of photographs on subject. One of the most important and influential photography books of our time. The first and only edition. Published in a tiny first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Bruce Gilden and Browns London: Oversize-volume format. Red cloth boards with elaborate Japanese "Oriental" design embossed on one side and the photographer's initials embossed on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Bruce Gilden. Except for the brief, one-page Interview with Sophie Darmaillacq, there is no text. Manga illustrations by Shonengahosa and CSJ. List of Plates, in the photographer's original handwriting, reproduced and appended at the end. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in the United Kingdom to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Bruce Gilden's "Go". His ground-breaking, graphic-design-innovative, all-bleed photographs of The Other Japan: The Yakuza, the Bosozoku, and homeless street people, punctuated with dazzling "manga" art. The title, "Go", is Japanese chess, not the English word. It is also one of the greatest Japanese novels of the 20th century, the Nobel Laureate Yasunari Kawabata's "The Master of Go" (1972). Gilden uses it ironically, in this "underground" context, as the essential qualities of the Go champion player are restraint, calculation, and self-assurance. Depending on how one looks at it, these qualities may or may not characterize the people he has photographed. "Arguing that the people in Japan wear a mask of uniformity, Bruce Gilden wanted to dig deeper to find persons who were both physical, intense, and stood out from the others. What he found was an assortment of homeless men and women, day workers, members of traditional organized crime groups (the largest organized crime in the world), right-wing nationalists, and Bosozoku, groups of young men and women who share a common interest in designing and driving modified cars and motorcycles. He presents another side to the traditional and often stereotypical view of Japanese society, and one where not everything is high-tech. All of the images were shot in Tokyo and Osaka, revealing how violence and hardship weave through many aspects of daily existence in these two sprawling cities" (Publisher's blurb). Practically everyone is also shown coolly smoking, the one act of defiance these otherwise very different people have in common with one another. An unforgettable counter-portrait of a great people. An absolute "must-have" title for Bruce Gilden collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen by Bruce Gilden. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great photography book. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online command more than $500. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. 63 photographic plates, 4 manga illustrations. Bruce Gilden's "Go" was selected as one of the greatest photography books in "The Photobook". One of the most brilliant photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER BRUCE GILDEN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0953890104.

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