156 198
Lot 240
SIGNED BY FRANK
240
●
FRANK, ROBERT.
The Americans.
With the introduction by Jack Kerouac. Illustrated with reproductions of Frank’s iconic photographs
of America. Oblong 4to, silver-stamped black boards; photo-pictorial dust jacket, just faintly soiled.
SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY ROBERT FRANK
, “
IN MEMORY OF A
‘
CRAZY KID
’
IN
1954”
TO A SUBJECT
OF ONE OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS
.
(NewYork): Aperture, (1978)
[600/900]
In the Introduction, Kerouac writes, “After seeing these pictures you end up finally not knowing any more
whether a jukebox is sadder than a coffin.” On page 30, the small head of a boy pokes up behind a group of
kids gathered around a juke box in a candy store (“Candy Store—NewYork City”), listening to “Earth Angel”
by the Penguins and “Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight” by the Spaniels. That night, this boy noticed the
stranger, a guy with a camera, in their midst, and ran out on the street after him, pestering the guy about his
camera and photography. In his remembrance, included with this lot, Dennis John Ferado writes that Frank
said,“It’s not how much you pay for a camera that makes a good photographer. It’s being able to see something
that no one else can see, even when they’re looking at the same thing you’re looking at.” Ferado continued to
see Frank’s work throughout his life (including this particular image), and later, in 2002, he reached out to the
photographer to tell him that he still remembered that night, and the impression he left on a small boy. Frank
graciously offered to sign this book. Ferado’s poetic, detailed account of his impressions of Frank, and NewYork
City in the 1950s, is laid in with the title. Frank’s inscription appears on the title page.