Customer Reviews

Chris Killip: In Flagrante (Books on Books)

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The books on books volume on Chris Killip'modern classic, In Flagrante, is another great addition to a photography library. I am amazed at how reasonably priced these books are for all that they give you. They are beautifully printed and bound, and each, besides reproducing the books, provide an very thoughtful essay about the book, as well as information about the book and author. I read that Chris Killip was going to appear (and may have already appeared) at an event for the book, so it is clear that he believes in the project and its representation of his book and photographs, as does Martin Parr, who put this (and the volume on Fait) in his list of ten best photobooks of the year, as did photographer Andrew Phelps (of the photobook blog Buffet) and perhaps others as well. If you are serious about collecting photobooks, or just like to buy a few from time to time on a very limited budget, it is hard to beat the value and enjoyment this and the other volumes in the series will bring you. I think the publishers have done all of us who just get a lot of pleasure from terrific photobooks (and books in general) a great service by making this series available at such a reasonable price.

The errata books on books series, as I understand it, are re-productions of important, out-of-print, rare - and therefore expensive - photobooks. I've spent some time with the first four, and they are done with intelligence, care, and seemingly with love for the work. Of course there's no substitute for the original editions, but that's sort of the point. The idea is to take each first edition seriously as a work of art, treat it with deference, make the work available to a wider audience, and add something to the mix in the form of a new essay and background information. Taking this first batch as indicative, there will be no fluff in this series -- the first four choices are powerful and interesting, both individually and in combination. Don't misunderstand: if you're considering selling your car and using the money to buy first editions of In Flagrante, Fait, etc. and a bicycle, well, that just might be a wise move and I admire you. Probably I should do exactly that. Until then, we're fortunate to have these books, and I look forward to more.
For what it's worth, you don't have to take my word: Parr & Badger each mentioned errata books on their `best of 2008' lists.

I came very close last year to buying a first edition hardcover of this book for $2,500! Now we've slipped into a depression and I have almost no income and I'm glad I was able to save a bundle by buying this book! The essay by Badger is great and the reproductions are surprisingly effective since they are not from Killip's negatives. I had been wanting a copy of In Flagrante for years and this will keep me happy till I find an affordable first edition somewhere (yeah right)

I can't believe the book is only $26 on Amazon and not sold out!

Like the other books in this series, this is an excellent reference to a book that I understand Killip will not allow to be reprinted. Since I can't afford the original, this will do well in the meantime.

All around, this is an excellent product: the essays are great at putting the book in context and the bibliographic info is fascinating; the price is not only reasonable but also it is very well printed; the pages are not reproduced at the original size (this is not a facsimile edition or a "Second Edition") but they are certainly large enough to get a good sense of what the original was all about.

I'm impressed and very happy with this book and the others in the series.

This is one of the new remarkable books in the "Books on Books" series, and I love what the publishers have achieved in making them. Conceptual and intelligent re-considerations of key works in the photographic canon for the intelligent consumer. Thoughtful people in the world of photography are particularly excited about this endeavor, and are looking forward to more titles, speculating about what they will be. As a librarian and bibliophile, I am delighted with the excellence of the materials and sewn binding, as well as the low key, almost meditative and very considerate way that the books that are the subject are reproduced...not as cheap facsimiles, but as informative notebooks on the subject of the great books of photography! In Flagrante is a book that the average Amazon customer would have little chance of owning, and this re-contextualization of it is greatly appreciated. Hurrah!

I have only one complaint against this book, but it's a significant one: The editors' frequent decisions to de-emphasize certain of Killip's photographs in the original book by printing them two to a page, when the original book printed them (mostly) one to a page (and faced by another blank page). The reprint is quite small to begin with; and to then re-print two original images, each of which originally occupied an entire page faced by another single blank page, on one of these new small pages makes it nearly impossible to see the actual image (at least without a magnifying glass). Would it really have cost that much money to give each image its original due? We're talking maybe an additional 15 or so pages, probably.

Moreover, nowhere do the editors explain why some of Killip's original images receive this downgrading. (Was Killip involved in this re-reading of his original work? And if so, a discussion of why he changed his mind regarding certain of his images -- that they weren't as good as he thought back in the 1980s -- would've been enlightening.) As far as I can tell, the decision is entirely the reprinting editors', not Killip's. And if one of the principal intents behind the "Books on Books" series is to re-present the original work, as it originally appeared and as the artist originally intended, well, this particular reprint falls short. I am interested in Killip's thought process, not the "Books on Books" editor's.