Elsken, Ed van der (1925-1990). — Sweet Life.

New York/ Cologne, Harry N. Abrams/ Dumont, 1966, 1st German ed., (30) text-pages, 179 black and white photographic plates by Ed van der Elsken, printed by Drukkerij Wormerveer, original cloth with dustjacket, quarto. = The Dutch Photobook, p. 120f; Parr/ Badger I, p.255: "(...) The epitome of this genre [the photographic essay], is, of course, Robert Frank's The Americans, but not far behind is Ed van der Elsken's epic photojourney - Sweet Life. Whereas Frank criss-crossed the United States, Van der Elsken was even more wide-ranging. Sweet Life is the result of a 14 month world-trip that he made in 1960-1, covering West Africa, the Malay Peninsula, The Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, the United States and Mexico. (...) Van der Elsken's magnum opus. (...) Sweet Life is a sprawling, exuberant cornucopia, a preview of the pure stream-of-consciousness, machine-gun approach that would soon come with the Japanese Provoke photographers (...)." This copy with a more uncommon dustjacket design, with on the front the title vertically in red with two different images on each side. Dustjacket strengthened with sellotape along upper and lower margins on inside.