Skip to content
AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEED | EXPERT ADVICE
AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEED

Sweet Life.

Sold

Sweet Life.

Sold
Stock Code 111656

New York, Harry N. Abrams, [1966].

Sweet Life takes its title from the name of a steamboat photographed in the Philippines. Van der Elsken photographed this sprawling odyssey between 1959 and 1960 while travelling with his wife Gerda through Africa, Asia and America. He funded the trip by soliciting two magazine commissions to work along the route and with a stipend from Dutch Television. It is partly devoted to documenting the struggle for independence of the first African nations, done with a certain degree of optimism. Van der Elsken intended for the photograph used on the cover, which shows a man repairing a machine, to symbolise regained autonomy, and in his captions, van der Elsken was critical of the apartheid regime in South Africa and racial segregation in the United States.

First American edition (published simultaneously in Dutch, German, German book club, and Spanish editions, and two years later in French and Japanese editions); 4to (292 x 295 mm, 11½ x 11½ in); black-and-white photographs printed in gravure, light toning to edges and to first image page from text leaves as usual; endpapers illustrated with images from contact sheets, black cloth-covered boards, spine and upper side stamped in white, shelfwear to bottom edge, photo-illustrated dust-jacket, abrasion to head of spine, nick to upper panel top edge, minor rubbing and toning to lower panel, near-fine; [28], 179, [1]pp.

The Photobook A History, I pp254-5; The Dutch Photobook pp120-1; Errata Editions Books on Books 13.
About us

Shapero Rare Books is an internationally renowned dealer in antiquarian & rare books and works on paper.

Our Bookshop and Gallery can be found in the heart of Mayfair at 106 New Bond Street, where most of our stock is available to view and on public display.

We exhibit at major international art fairs, including TEFAF (Maastricht and New York), Frieze Masters, Art Miami and Masterpiece London, as well as antiquarian & rare book fairs including New York, Paris, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Hong Kong.

Read more

About us

Shapero Rare Books is an internationally renowned dealer in antiquarian & rare books and works on paper.

Our Bookshop and Gallery can be found in the heart of Mayfair at 106 New Bond Street, where most of our stock is available to view and on public display.

We exhibit at major international art fairs, including TEFAF (Maastricht and New York), Frieze Masters, Art Miami and Masterpiece London, as well as antiquarian & rare book fairs including New York, Paris, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Hong Kong.

Read more

Sweet Life.

ELSKEN, Ed van der.

Stock code: 111656

Sold
Register your interest
Notify me when there is a similar copy

THE BOND STREET EXPERIENCE

An exceptional experience in the heart of London’s Mayfair for not only seasoned collectors but those considering purchasing their first rare book or print.

Guaranteed Authenticity
GUARANTEED AUTHENTICITY
International Delivery
INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY
Meet Our Booksellers
MEET OUR BOOKSELLERS
Free Gift Wrapping
FREE GIFT WRAPPING

BOOK COLLECTING IDEAS

Your cart is empty

Continue shopping

Basket