CARNIVAL STRIPPERS
Susan Meiselas
Susan Meiselas: CARNIVAL STRIPPERS. NYC: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1976. First edition. Oblong quarto. A very good hardcover book with Silver paper-covered boards with title debossed on cover and spine in a good or better photographically illustrated dust jacket. The dust jacket shows wear to folds and edges, with a couple of short, closed tears with no loss. Small scuff strip runs parallel to the spine edge on the front panel. Interior unmarked and very clean. A truly rare book in the hardcover first edition state, a highlight of the New Documentary movement, and a Roth 101 title to boot. 10.375 x 9 hardcover book with 152 pages with 73 black and white photographs, text and transcripts of interviews with the subjects by Susan Meiselas. Designed by Carl Laanes. Meiselas' first book, which led to her membership in the Magnum photo agency.
Included in The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century. Writing there David Levi Strauss called this book "a remarkably human document." Meiselas was accepted into the prestigious Magnum agency the year it was published. "Like the [carnival strip] show," Meiselas said in her introduction, "the book represents coexistent aspects of a phenomenon, one which horrifies, one which honors. If the viewer is appalled by what follows, that reaction is not so different from the alienation of those who participate in the shows."
"From 1972 to 1975, Susan Meiselas spent her summers photographing and interviewing women who performed striptease for small town carnivals in New England, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. As she followed the girl shows from town to town, she portrayed the dancers on stage and off, photographing their public performances as well as their private lives. She also taped interviews with the dancers, their boyfriends, the show managers and paying customers. Meiselas' frank description of the lives of these women brought a hidden world to public attention. Produced during the early years of the women's movement, 'Carnival Strippers' reflects the struggle for identity and self-esteem that characterized a complex era of change"
Through pictures and text culled from over one hundred hours of interviews, Meiselas documented the complicated lives of these women both in terms of their dignity and their alienation and revulsion toward their work. This is the first major work of this noted photojournalist and the beginning of a career which included the Robert Capa Gold Medal, the Leica medal for excellence, The Photojournaltis of the Year award etc.
Price: $1000.00
PayPal Secure Payment
Domestic Shipping: $15.00
International Shipping: $25.00