Nothing Personal

London: Penguin, 1964.

First UK Edition, same year as American edition. Text by Baldwin and black and white photographs by Avedon. White laminated boards with the slightly rubbed slipcase, small scuff to back cover, silver label lettered in black laid down on both covers. Folio (15 x 11 ins). Previous owner's contemporary inscription to the first front endpaper. An excellent copy. Includes photographs documenting the civil rights movement, cultural figures and an extended collection of pictures of people in a mental asylum. Avedon's second book of photographs. "Avedon was Baldwin's classmate at DeWitt Clinton high school in the Bronx and in 'Nothing Personal', the two composed a portrait that is as revealing of how mass media shapes present-day racism and delusion, as it is explanatory of the mid-century moment they document. It is both a meditation on Americanness and an indictment of loveless urban life", - The Guardian. The book was republished by Taschen in 2017 accompanied by an exhibition of material from the book at Pace, New York City.