Dibs

It’s yard-sale and flea-market day, Saturday — so what better time to post about how one of the greatest, rarest and most valuable photography books ever published recently turned up in a Canadian dump and then at a local flea market? “In 1934, the great surrealist photographer Man Ray published a book, Photographies 1920-1934, in Paris,” reports British Columbia’s Victoria Times-Colonist. “But it didn’t sell, and never went into a second printing. Over time, though, it was acclaimed as one of the great photography books [and] the original French edition is exceptionally rare, and very, very expensive. Guess where one was just found? At the Hartland landfill in Saanich.” While depositing some junk of his own, a man noticed a box of discarded books awaiting a trip to the recycling center. Riffling through these, he found the Man Ray volume: “The book contains 104 photos by Man Ray, an American who spent most of his life in Paris. There are portraits of his famous friends, several of his trademark ‘Rayographs’ (non-photos where he pressed images against negative paper to create an eerie image) and iconic photographs like his 1926 shot ‘Noire et Blanche,’ which featured his then-girlfriend Kiki de Montparnasse’s head laid on a table with her eyes closed, holding an African dancing mask. A who’s who of his surrealist friends, including Andre Breton, Marcel Duchamp and Tristan Tzara, contributed essays and poetry to the monograph, and Pablo Picasso did a drawing.” The lucky finder brought it to a nearby flea market, where he sold it to Vancouver rare-books dealer Don Stewart — who has now put it up for sale with a hefty price tag: $3,500 CAD ($3,107.25 US). Providing yet more inspiration to pick through people’s trash. Or to never throw books away.