In 1960, armed with two magazine commissions and a stipend from Netherlands television, Ed van der Elsken (1925–1990) and his wife Gerda set off on a fourteen-month journey around the world, from West Africa, the Malay Peninsula, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan to the United States and Mexico. Six years after their return, he published his travelogue Sweet Life (named after a little tramp steamer in the Philippines): a sprawling, exuberant chronicle of their journey and his encounters with a range of people in the streets, from joyous lovers to destitute down-and-outs. The book itself exhibited a panoply of layout effects: double-page bleeds, crops, printed in deep gravure, and different cover designs for each of the six countries in which it was published. This legendary Dutch photobook is presented here complete, with a contemporary essay by Frits Gierstberg. Errata Editions' Books on Books series is an ongoing publishing project dedicated to making rare and out-of-print photography books accessible to students and photobook enthusiasts. These are not reprints or facsimiles but complete studies of the original books. Each volume in the series presents the entire content, page for page, of an original master bookwork which, up until now, has been too rare or expensive for most to experience. Through a mix of classic and contemporary titles, this series spans the breadth of photographic practice as it has appeared on the printed page and allows further study of the creation and meanings of these great works of art. Each volume in the series contains illustrations of every page in the original photobook, a new essay by an established writer on photography, production notes about the creation of the original edition and biographical and bibliographical information about each artist.

Sweet Life (Books on Books)

Arts & Photography

Ladd, Jeffrey

Gierstberg, Frits

Photography & Video

Errata Editions

During the past several decades, contemporary artists have asked critical questions about the way in which history is constructed through images, particularly those that are disseminated by the mass media. As the media has increasingly assumed the role of historiographer, there is a danger of losing the diversity of our historical narratives. Add to this the globalization of our culture, and we are faced with a potential dulling of our collective historical awareness. In Questioning History, editors Frank van der Stok, Frits Gierstberg and Flip Bool focus on different ways in which contemporary visual artists, photographers and filmmakers have constructed historical narratives through images and offer a selection of essays that examine artists' innovative challenges to prevailing historical narratives.

Questioning History: Imagining the Past in Contemporary Art: Reflect No.7

Bool, Flip

van der Stok, Frank

History & Criticism

nai010 publishers

The Dutch photobook is internationally celebrated for its particularly close collaboration between photographer, printer and designer. The current photobook publishing boom in the Netherlands stems from a tradition of excellence that precedes World War II, but the postwar years inaugurated a period of particularly close collaboration between photographers and designers, producing such unique photography books as Ed van der Elsken's "Love on the Left Bank" (1956) and Koen Wessing's "Chili, September 1973" (1973). Innovations such as the photo novel and the company photobook blossomed in the 1950s and 60s; later, other genres emerged to characterize the publishing landscape in Holland, including conceptual and documentary photobooks, books on youth culture, urbanism photobooks and landscape photobooks and travelogues. Examining each of these genres across six themed chapters, "The Dutch Photobook" features selections from more than 100 historical, contemporary and self-published photobook projects. It includes landmark publications such as "Hollandse taferelen" by Hans Aarsman (1989), "The Table of Power" by Jacqueline Hassink (1996), "Why Mister Why" by Geert van Kesteren (2006) and "Empty Bottles" by Wassink Lundgren (2007). Dutch photo historians Frits Gierstberg and Rik Suermondt contribute several essays on the history of the genre, the collaborative efforts between photographers and designers and their inspiration and influences, complementing the high-quality reproductions of photobooks throughout. Award-winning designer Joost Grootens contributes unique charts and diagrams that consolidate all of these elements, in a visually unique map of the Dutch photobook.

The Dutch Photobook

NAi Publishers

Het eerste overzicht van Van der Elskens kleurenfotografie.

Lust for Life: Ed van der Elsken in colour

Harrevelt, Loes van

Pietsch, Katrin

Lecturis

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gierstberg, Frits. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gierstberg, Frits