Presentation copy. Presentation copy, inscribed: 'To Tom, / W. Eugene Smith / Aileen Smith / June 17, 1975'. In December 1971, Eugene Smith and his wife Aileen moved to the town of Minamata in Kumamoto prefecture, Kyushu, Southern Japan, where they spent three years photographing and researching the devastating effects of mercury poisoning on the local populace caused by the Chisso Corporation factory dumping industrial waste into Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, polluting the water and contaminating fish and shellfish, which members of the community subsequently ingested. During their time in Minimata, Eugene Smith was intimidated and severely beaten by Chisso employees. 'This is not an objective book,' he writes. 'The first word I would remove from the folklore of journalism is the word objective. That would be a giant step toward truth in the "free" press. And perhaps "free" should be the second word removed. Freed of these two distortions, the journalist and photographer could get to his real responsibilities. My belief is that my responsibilities within journalism are two. My first responsibility is to my subjects. My second responsibility is to my readers. I believe that if I fulfil those two responsibilities I will automatically have fulfilled my responsibilities to the magazine.' Minimata is his last and arguably most important work.

First edition, presentation copy inscribed on the half-title; 4to (290 x 237 mm, 11½ x 9¼ in); black-and-white photographs; grey endpapers with minor fading to edges, burgundy leatherette-covered boards, titles stamped in white on spine and on upper side in blind, nicks to top edge, printed price-clipped dust-jacket, navy, minor rubbing to sides, nick to lower top edge, ex-libris of Tomas Van Blarcom[?] to front pastedown, near-fine; 192pp.

The Book of 101 Books pp232–3; Magnum Photobook pp66–7.