Japanese Photography Magazines: 1880s to 1980s

First Edition, 2024. Book measures 10 x 11.25 inches. 500 pages. Paper-covered boards, no dust jacket as issued. Text is primarily in English with important phrases and definitions in Japanese. Captions of all visual material are in Japanese and English. Includes essays by Kaneko Ryūichi, Toda Msako, Ivan Vartanian; with contributions by Fujii Yūko, Inokuchi Yoshio, Nariai Hajime, and Soeno Tsutomu.

Japanese Photography Magazines: 1880s to 1980s offers an in-depth journey through the unique history and development of Japanese photography. This substantial volume contains 1,500+ illustrations, including full reproductions of iconic magazine feature stories and rare photographs, primary texts, and translated essays and critical writings that illuminate the photographers' creative visions."

The book is organized in 3 parts with 8 chapters, which then include many additional sub-sections of detailed analysis. Chapter headings are as follows: Art Photography in an Era of Modernization | Prewar Era: From Art Photography to Propaganda | Postwar Era: Restart of Photography magazines | Realism and a Generational Clash | From Editorial Work to Art Work | An Era of Upheaval | Cooperation and Protest | Independent Galleries and Fractured Commonality.

The scope and research in this volume is truly astounding, and offers not only reproductions of images not found in other 'books on books' volumes within the history of Japanese photography, but also writings by and about photographers which are original to this publication, or only available in the actual magazine publications, which at this point are quite scarce. The reproductions of images throughout this book are consistently of the highest quality. Japanese Photography Magazines: 1880s to 1980s is an indispensable volume for anyone interested not only in Japanese photography, but of the format of the magazine and what they hold possible. 

Condition: New / Sealed (images in the listing are from my personal reference copy)