Can This Really Be Happening?!?

This flew under my radar until Mickey Fischer pointed it out to me.

Steidl is reprinting The Decisive Moment by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

If you don't collect photographic books, you probably won't recognize immediately just how momentous this is. This is the most famous book by one of the 20th century's most famous photographers, and it has never been reprinted.

Never as in ever. In 62 years. The French edition (Images à la Sauvette) came out in 1952, followed by the edition in English published by Simon and Schuster. It never got a second edition. It never got a second printing. The binding and dust jacket of the original are notoriously fragile—the latter is often missing on less expensive copies for sale—and today you will pay anywhere from $400 to $5,000 for a copy. (They've sold for higher than that, too.)

Of course as photographers we want to experience the book's photographs, not necessarily own an original artifact. I personally almost prefer reprints, because then I'm not responsible for preserving a precious original.

It's also important to acknowledge that I have no idea what the reprint will look like. Steidl's track record is all over the place—I've seen Steidl books that are masterpieces of the bookmaker's art and I've seen Steidl books that are too poor to even keep.

The page from the Fall/Winter 2014 Steidl catalog

The inscrutable phrase from the catalog—"This new publication is a meticulous facsimile of the original"—could also go either way. That word "facsimile" can be very suspicious, meaning that the publisher isn't aiming for an artistically valid reproduction but is merely providing a study copy of an original, warts and all.

Often, in the book world, "facsimiles" are mainly for scholars who don't have easy access to an original. The original repro of The Decisive Moment was gravure, which is probably why the book was never reprinted. "Facsimile" reproductions could mean they're pulling out the stops and giving the printing the Rolls-Royce treatment, or it could mean they're not going to try to match the richness or the look 'n' feel of the original gravures and are essentially giving us a capable digital equivalent of a Xerox copy. Which could be dreadful. I can visualize it.

So which will it be, or where in the middle? The relatively high price is a good sign, I must say.

But the book is available for pre-order and for $91.31 this one's a slam-dunk no-brainer. (Hey, it's Amazon, you can always return it.) Beats paying $1,200 for an original with a dust cover that flakes off in your hands.

Here's the Amazon U.K. link (£78), and here are the rest of our links. (Thanks for ordering through our links; it's what keeps us clanking onwards.)

I have the original, in as close to Very Fine* condition as 1952 DM originals get, so when I get the reprint, in the Fall, I can compare the two for you.

In any event, if the reprint is good, this is one of a small handful of books that belongs in any photographer's library regardless of your style or interests. If you have any photobooks at all.

Mike
(Thanks to Mickey)

*Antiquarian bookseller's term for "near mint."

Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Matt Weber: "Mike, I have three copies of the book, and obviously I'm a big fan of HCB's work. The new edition will be of interest to me as I consider the original to be one of the best printed books I own. The gravure plates which are almost 11x14" are better than many original prints I have seen of his floating around auction houses. If Steidl can match the quality, I will be very impressed...."

Comments

[Bil Mitchell]

Now if someone would only reprint Weston's "Daybooks."

[Tim Malone]

Out of curiosity, which Steidl books have been substandard in your experience? Just so I can avoid them.

[John Krill]

OK pre-order is in. Now we wait. This is one book I have always wanted to, at least, view, read whatever. I've never even seen the book and there were moments when I thought that maybe the book really didn't exist.

I forgot I did see the book once, under glass, at the SFMOMA when the Bresson show was there a couple of years back.

[Mike]

Funny, I was just wondering about this last night. Thanks for the heads up! Ordered via your links.

[Mark Roberts]

For those lucky enough to be in or near Paris this summer there's an HCB exhibition at the Pompidou Centre until August 2nd. It's reported to be excellent in an article in the London Review of Books last week (http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n11/gaby-wood/nothing-to-do-with-me — paywalled, unfortunately). The LRB article also reviews two books, ‘Voir est un tout’: Entretiens et conversations 1951-98 and Henri Cartier-Bresson: Here and Now, which appear noteworthy.

Apparently, it was a translator who decided that Images à la sauvette would become "The Decisive Moment" in English and Cartier-Bresson hated it: "It's got nothing to do with me!" was his appraisal to the "decisive moment" notion of photography.

[JG]

This book is sure to appreciate ... in fact, it already has! I placed my initial pre-order with Amazon when it was priced at $80.87 and now it's $91.31, 13% increase!

[Dan Daniel]

Will it be available for my Kindle?

:)

[Mark O]

Done! thanks for the alert. Always wanted my own copy, hope the quality is there.

[DenCoyle]

You are aware of the retrospective catalogue: http://www.amazon.com/Henri-Cartier-Bresson-Here-Clement-Cheroux/dp/0500544301/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402684718&sr=8-1&keywords=henri+bresson+cartier

cheers

[Jeff]

I wonder if the captions will be laid-in as in the original.

[GRJ]

For once, I was onto a photobook I wanted before I saw it on TOP. If it's anything like Steidl's printing of Frank's "The Americans," it will be a treasure. I can't imagine Steidl would half-[butt] this kind of a project. I can't wait to see it.

[Rick Wilcox]

Thank you, Mike. I have always wanted this edition, but could never justify the price per availability cost. I immediately linked to Amazon from your site and one-clicked my pre order. Thank you, thank you!

[Jeremy Fagan]

Funny how life works - I went to the Matisse exhibition at Tate Modern yesterday, where they had the original of the cover on show, and wondered if there was a modern edition available. Serendipity.

The Matisse exhibition is superb, even if not photographic. A man in increasing poor health, in his 80s, turning out work of such energy and life. And of course, showing what colour can achieve in the hands of genius. Well worth visiting if you're nearby.

[robert e]

Heck, if Bill Watterson is drawing comics again, anything's possible. http://preview.tinyurl.com/m32full

[Lesley]

Done. Ordered through your link at Amazon.ca for $113, marked down from $125. I had promised myself that one book in would result in one book out; now I have some time to see if I can find one that I can send to the library book sale before this one arrives in October.

[ctein]

Dear robert e,

Holy S**T!

Y'know, I read those Pearls Before Swine strips and thought to myself at the time,"Pastis is a really good cartoonist-- he's doing a fairly credible imitation of Bill Watterson."

Fairly credible, indeed.

pax / Ctein

[Giovanni]

Thanks Mike for spotting this. Already have lots of HCB books, but this was mmissing. Surely will not find new images, but that cover is amazing.
Saw the exhibit in Paris, closed now and moving to Madrid and Rome. Gigantic, with tons of rarely/never seen prints. Majestic. The catalog is worth buying, too.
Best,
Giovanni

[latent_image]

As a Canadian I wish there was a way you could affiliate with Chapters-Indigo.ca as well as Amazon.ca. For the health of the book industry, there must be competition.

Chapters currently offers The Decisive Moment for CA$82.50 (CA$78.37 if you sign on to their member program). Considering that the Canadian dollar is currently US$0.9210, that is a bargain. Amazon is selling TDM for CA$107.72.

Mike, I've been a loyal reader of your work since the Camera & Darkroom days, but I bought TDM at Chapters.

[Mike.]

Ralph Gibson, if your viewing: reissue Darkroom; please?

Mike.

[Fred]

My bad, but I'm not so thrilled with that cover!

[Eolake]

Does this book have the picture with my older brother Jan in it? It's the photo of two young people kissing at an outdoor café table, with a dog looking on them.
He had been dead for a couple of years when I found the book, and my mother almost got a heart attack when she saw the picture.

Ah, here it is:

http://beautydelux.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cartier-bresson-cafe-kiss-359x550.jpg

[Boglev]

Ordered!

[dolphin]

Before I had mentioned the decisive moment will be re-printed. : ) But I strongly doubt that HCB's plastic film had damaged for a long time. So it was very difficult to get the reproductions for his images.

We found out some HCB's books published in these years, the quality was pretty poor, included came from MOMA, Pompidou, TH, China Photography...so don't expect that Steidl / Pompidou to give the re-production instead of facsimile.