The Attractive Universe: Gravity and the Shape of Space.

modernist photographs

First edition, first printing, of this delightful introductory work on the physics of gravity, with superb photographic illustrations by Berenice Abbott (1898-1991).

Though known primarily for her work as an avant garde portraitist and street photographer in New York and Paris between the wars, Abbott also created an extensive series of 'formally beautiful science photographs' (O'Hagan, 'Berenice Abbott: The Photography Trailblazer who had Supersight', the Guardian, March 10, 2015).

'Initially, Abbott sought out commercial assignments for companies such as Standard Oil and IBM. Simultaneously, she was experimenting with ways to photograph magnetism and electricity and, in her attic, inventing various photography machines, including a "Super Sight" camera that allowed her to enlarge an object's projection before exposure rather than on a negative in the darkroom. In all this, she was self-taught and utterly meticulous, planning exposures to the second and employing stroboscopic lights to trace the trajectory of bouncing or swinging metal balls' (O'Hagan).

Her 1939 manifesto, Photography and Science, states that, 'We live in a world made by science...There needs to be a friendly interpreter between science and the layman. I believe photography can be this spokesman, as no other form of expression can be' (O'Hagan).

First edition, first printing; 4to; illustrations from black and white photos and diagrams throughout the text; original black cloth, title to spine and design to upper board blocked in silver, head of spine slightly faded, an excellent copy in the price-clipped, lightly rubbed, and creased jacket with some small chips and short splits; 187pp.