Meiselas, Susan: Carnival Strippers (SIGNED)

Farrar Straus and Giroux, New York, 1976 First Edition, Wrapped in mylar, excellent condition. Signed and dated in black ink on the title page by Meiselas (“Boston 12/5/05”) on the occasion of her lecture at the Fogg Art Museum. Glossy coated photographic illustrated wraps with white titles Photographs, text and transcriptions of interviews with the subjects by Susan Meiselas. Designed by Carl Laanes. With 73 black and white illustrations. Tri size, 8.75” *10”. RARE and Out of print. Any variation of this book is extremely scarce. Condition: Excellent (minor crease to bottom right corner), small red dot to edge, photographic cover illustration is near pristine with no scuffs or scratches, protected with mylar wrap.

Cited in Andrew Roth’s The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century. (New York: PPP Editions in association with Roth Horowitz LLC, 2001), and in Andrew Roth, ed., The Open Book. (Göteborg, Sweden: Hasselblad Center in association with Steidl Verlag, Göttingen, Germany, 2004). Meiselas’ first book, which led to her membership in the Magnum photo agency. Signed by Author.

From 1972 to 1975, Susan Meiselas spent her summers photographing and interviewing women who performed striptease for smalltown 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.