Les Américains is a 1958 book featuring reproductions of Robert Frank's iconic photographic portraits of Americans. A critical design element of the original French edition was illustrating the front and back book covers not with photos but with drawings on graph paper by Saul Steinberg. The pen and ink drawings depict city streetscapes with the graph paper grid representing modern, oversized buildings. A first edition is coming up for auction at Swann Galleries on October 18 with an estimate of $2,000-$3,000.![]()
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Robert Frank Swann Auction Galleries Artists & Amateurs: Photographs & Photobooks October 18, 2018 https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullcatalogue.asp?salelot=2489+++++408+&refno=748984 |
Some other images of another copy of the book are provided by D&D Galleries of Somerville on AbeBooks. They include Steinberg's back and front covers and some of Frank's photographs. This copy is priced at $2495, which is right in the middle range of the Swann Galleries high and low estimates.
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| https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Americains-Robert-Frank-Paris-Delpire-1958/22771981135/bd |
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| AbeBooks Listing Retrieved September 24, 2018 |
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