Uncommon or hard to find photobooks

[bucs]

I’m shopping around for photobooks this holiday season and just remembered I have a list of photobooks I’ve been hunting for, for years.

On top of my list is Citizens by Jun Abe (Vacuum Press). It’s not exactly unavailable. One or two copies pop up every now and then but at prices which I’m not willing to pay lol.

Curious to know what’s on the list of other members here 🙂

 

[Torvik]

Well, I hope to find “A Hong Kong Memoir” by Fan Ho some day.

 

[Nitroplait]

W.Eugene and Aileen Smith’s book about the Minamata tragedy. Most copies are expensive and in poor condition.

It was re-released in Japan not too long ago and I was hoping for an English release but the most beautifully striking and haunting image “Tomoko and Mother in the Bath” will not be included because Aileen generously gave the copyright to Tomoko’s family who felt the whole tragedy focused on them because of that image.
I respect that decision, but it is possibly the most humanistic and emphatic photograph of the last century. I literally cry every time I see it, and even as I think about it now.

It is still possible to see the image online but I feel like a criminal as it is not published with consent of the copyright owner.

Tomoko and Mother in the Bath - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It is legal to own the original book though.