An Autobiography.

Presentation copy inscribed to elaine kaufman. A presentation copy inscribed to Elaine Kaufman, proprietor of the legendary Elaine's bar on the Upper East Side, where Avedon was a regular: 'Dear / Elaine / "Jesus, The days / that we have / seen. Come, come …." / Justice Shallow / Henry IV Part II / with love / Dick / 1993'.

In his introduction, Avedon writes, 'This book tracks the path of three crucial illusions in my life. The first section is about the illusion of laughter, and a young man's discovery of the fine line between hilarity and panic. The second section is about the illusion of power. The third section is about the loss of all illusions... The interweaving of elements from my life's work - out of chronology, as echoes and foreshadowings - is true, I think, to the inner shape of any life, but sometimes I've found the image of a later event in an early photograph, and once or twice a late picture was made in the grip of a lost emotion.'

First edition, a presentation copy inscribed to Elaine Kaufman; (355 x 278 mm, 14 x 11 in); black & white photographs; plain endpapers, brown cloth-covered boards with titles to spine in red and to upper side in red and burgundy, black & white reproduction of Avedon's self-portrait to lower side, corner's and upper side top edge lightly bumped, publisher's plastic dust jacket with text in red on lower flap, lightly worn and rubbed, tear to bottom corner, a very good copy; [532]pp.