Klein, William. New York - 1956 INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION FIRST IMPRESSION

Klein, William New
York. Life is good for you and good in New York Trance witness Reveals:
Trance Witness Revels. London, Photography Magazine (1956). 4°. 192 S.
mit 188 Abb. auf Tafeln u. Beiheft (Booklet), 16 S. (″Delay may be
serious now free…“). OLn. mit farbig illustr. OU. (Album Petite Planète,
Vol. 1).

Auer 365. The Open Book 165 f.
Parr/Badger I, 243. Roth, The Book of 801 Books 140 ff. – Erste Ausgabe
in England (″Imprimé en Suisse“). Der erste Druck der ersten Ausgabe
erschien bei Editions du Seul in Paris. – Mit eigenhändiger Widmung von W. Klein „To Paul & his sister Bailly / Happy New York, William Klein“.
– „By virtue of its preface, written by Jack Kerouac, Robert Frank’s
The Americans is usually regarded as the epitome of the Beat photobook.
But William Klein’s magnum opus, Life is good for you and good in New
York Trance witness Reveals: Trance Witness Revels, a book with Beat
mantra for a title, surely has the edge in this regard. This is partly
because it was the earlier model, partly because it is less political
and more exuberant, and impotantly, because its conception is so
complete – photographs, layout, design, topography, ‚found‘ ephemera
coalescing into what is in effect one of the first great ‚Pop‘ books. …
Klein’s masterpiece reminds us that much great, serious art is often
about play, archieved simply by experimenting with the possibilities of
the material. Forget trance and witness – the revels are the thing“
(Parr/Badger). – „With no interest from American publishers, Klein went
back to Paris and set to work on a graphic design that was as aggressive
and idiosyncratic as its photos. „I saw the book as a tabloid gone
berserk, gross, over-inked, brutal layout, bull-horn headlines,“ he
wrote in its radically revised 1995 edition. „This is what New York
deserved and would get.“ Published in France, Italy, and England, but
not in America, Life is good for you and good in New York was a
sensation“ (A. Roth). – Schutzumschlag am Kapital mit unauffällig
restaurierter Fehlstelle, sehr gutes Exemplar.