In Wildness is the Preservation of the World
Author(s): Eliot Porter
""Photography is a strong tool, a propaganda device, and a weapon for the defense of the environment...and therefore for the fostering of a healthy human race and even very likely for its survival." --Eliot Porter, 1962"
Celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the first publication of "In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World" by Eliot Porter, AMMO Books is honored to present a newly restored version of one of photography's most beloved and bestselling titles.
In 1962, photographer Eliot Porter and the Sierra Club founder, David Brower, published this bestselling, and now long-out-of-print, classic monograph that has often been referred to as "the very first coffee table book" ever published.
Porter masterfully created and paired his color photographs of the New England woods with passages by writer Henry David Thoreau. Both Porter and Thoreau--although they lived a century apart--constantly worked to preserve Nature and protect it from manmade interference. The finished "collaboration" arrived in an era when environmental causes were not in the public consciousness, and yet the book became an overnight publishing success that lasted many decades with multiple print runs and and formats.
This AMMO Books edition features refined classic typography in the spirit of the original hardcover first edition, with stunning photo reproductions on recycled-content, fine paper stock. Along with a cloth cover with foil debossing, the book stays true to the original intentions and themes of that first edition, including all 73 brilliant color images lovingly restored for today's printing technology.
AMMO Books proudly releases the singular book that celebrates and rediscovers the intricacies and undeniable beauty of man's relationship to the magnificent outdoors--a sentiment that has only grown more relevant in the 50 years since "In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World" was first published.
Product Information
Eliot Porter (1901-1990) was an icon of American photography, most often associated with his outstanding, large-format, color photographs of the natural world. Porter began his education at Harvard University but left the school to devote his life to his photography and to champion the cause of the environment, long before such matters were recognized as important.
In 1962, Porter created in "In Wildnerness Is the Preservation of the World," an immensely popular book combining his evocative, color photographs of New England woods with excerpts from the writings of Henry David Thoreau. The book revolutionized photographic book publishing by setting new standards for design and printing, and proving the commercial viability of fine art photography books. Its success set Porter on a lifelong path of creating similar photographic portraits of a wide variety of ecologically significant places the world over.
Porter's fascination with nature's workings and strong environmentalist ethic never suspended his passion for art. Throughout his life, Porter remained committed to making and exhibiting meticulously rendered dye transfer color prints of his photographs featured in many solo shows, including the American Museum of Natural History, Museum of Modern Art, and the first, one-person show of color photographs presented by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American author, poet, philospher, abolitionist, and environmentalist. He is best known for his book "Walden," a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience," an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.
General Fields
- :
- : AMMO Books LLC
- : AMMO Books LLC
- : 01 November 2012
- : books
Special Fields
- : Eliot Porter
- : Hardback