Les Américains. Photographies de Robert Frank

Paris: Encyclopedie Essentielle, Robert Delpire Editeur, (1958). First edition, preceding the American edition. "The Delpire first edition Les Américains (1958) is more like a sociological study, wherein Frank's photographs appear as illustrations of the probing texts printed on facing pages, gathered by Alain Bosquet from dozens of illustrious writers. . . . When Barney Rosset at Grove Press agreed to publish The Americans in the U.S., Frank pulled out all the text, leaving only blank pages with captions facing the images, mirroring the layout of Evans's American Photographs. . . . The French edition is sociology, the American edition is poetry." - David Levi Strauss, as quoted by Roth, The Book of 101 Books, p. 150. Very fine copy, with none of the fading or wear endemic to this book. Oblong 8vo, original laminated boards after a design by Saul Steinberg. Very fine copy, with none of the fading or wear endemic to this book.