HCB's The Decisive Moment - Reprinted

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CliveC

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Seems like after many years, Steidl will be reprinting Henri Cartier-Bresson's seminal book The Decisive Moment.

It's due to be available by the end of October. Amazon's price is about $79 for the 160 page book. The originals from the 1950s are going for $500+.

Steidl, of course, has a stellar reputation for (re)production of great photography books. The documentary How to Make a Book with Steidl is a fascinating look at the process.

Anybody getting this?
 
CliveC said:
Seems like after many years, Steidl will be reprinting Henri Cartier-Bresson's seminal book The Decisive Moment.

It's due to be available by the end of October. Amazon's price is about $79 for the 160 page book. The originals from the 1950s are going for $500+.

Steidl, of course, has a stellar reputation for (re)production of great photography books. The documentary How to Make a Book with Steidl is a fascinating look at the process.

Anybody getting this?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads-up,just ordered mine:)
 
They must be printing a huge edition. I wonder if they will try to match the color and tonality of the original. Cartier-Bresson favored very low contrast reproduction which has generally fallen out of favor. I also wonder if they are producing an actual facsimile or if they are modifying the design.

The originals in good condition are going for a lot more than $500! I have one in not-so-good condition.
 
I'm waiting for that too even though (heresy alert) I'm not that crazy about HCB.
I hope Steidl comes through on this one and doesn't pull another "Minutes to Midnight"
 
Thanks for the heads up!

I just pre-ordered my copy. I could never justify spending the money for an original copy, even in not-so-hot condition.
 
Yeah, It'll be a B'day present for myself in the new year I guess.

Ah well, 2 months is not really a big deal. One of the kickstarter projects I backed is going into its 21th month of not delivering the goods.
 
Pablito said:
They must be printing a huge edition. I wonder if they will try to match the color and tonality of the original. Cartier-Bresson favored very low contrast reproduction which has generally fallen out of favor. I also wonder if they are producing an actual facsimile or if they are modifying the design.

The originals in good condition are going for a lot more than $500! I have one in not-so-good condition.
Click to expand...
Are you sure it was he who favoured it? Or was it just the generally crap printing of the time?

Cheers,

R.
 
Pablito said:
They must be printing a huge edition. I wonder if they will try to match the color and tonality of the original. Cartier-Bresson favored very low contrast reproduction which has generally fallen out of favor. I also wonder if they are producing an actual facsimile or if they are modifying the design.
...
Click to expand...

Hard to predict, but with The Americans, Steidl's version (2008) is lower contrast than the Scalo version (1997).

I don't anticipate they'll crank up the contrast; I'm not adverse to their taking advantage of improved book printing technologies, provided they don't mess with the sequencing and design (not that I would know, not having the original)

Much is made of variations in colour in online photography, but there are a lot of variations in books too. My two versions of Nan Goldin's Ballad of Sexual Dependency (both Aperture) are quite different; I prefer the earlier more muted one, but that maybe because it was the first one I owned.

I also like the original 1981 version of Mary Ellen Mark's Falkland Road, even though it's not well-printed, over the more recent edition (I didn't buy it) which used digital technology, but was apparently supervised by Mark, who claims it is closer to the kodachrome she used; I felt it looked gaudy.

Sorry for the detour to colour, but what I'm trying to get across is that sometimes are preferences are rooted in how we experienced the book or the photographs first.
 
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