Michael A. Smith

Landscapes: 1975–1979

AWARDED
Le GRAND PRIX du LIVRE
(Best Photography Book of the Year)
Rencontres Internationale de la Photographie, Arles, France, July 1981

During the last half of the 1970s, Michael A. Smith traveled extensively throughout the Western United States and Canada, making hundreds of photographs with both an 8x10 and an 8x20 view camera. This monograph makes available a selection of these photographs. 

Landscapes 1975-1979 is a book as work of art. The elegance of this monograph is a reflection of the elegance of the photographs. It is made in the tradition of the fine book, using only the highest quality materials, and done with superior craftsmanship in printing. The reproductions are printed duotone from 300 line-screen negatives by Becotte and Gershwin. The text is hand-set and printed letterpress on acid-free paper by the Stinehour Press. The dust jackets are heavy-duty, clear mylar.

Volume 1

42 full-size reproductions from 8x10-inch negatives
110 pages, 11" x 13" 

Volume 2

15 full-size reproductions from 8x20-inch negatives
52 pages, 11" x 23"

An original photograph (a gelatin silver chloride contact print) is tipped-in as the frontispiece in Volume I.

Originally planned as a limited edition of 1,000 signed and numbered sets. Due to an accident at the bindery, 400 sets were ruined. The edition ended at 600 sets.

Only one set remains.

Publication: 1981

Comments from the Reviewers

Michael A. Smith's Landscapes is among the most stupendous of all twentieth-century photography books.

Estelle Jussim, Boston Review

Certainly there have been few photographic books made with such care and elegance since P. H. Emerson's limited edition volumes at the end of the nineteenth century.

Stephen Perloff, Photo Review

. . . a fine example of the book as art, will be a valuable addition to art and rare book collections.

Susan Wyngaard, Arlis/NA Newsletter

For the first time in the eleven years of the Rencontres Internationale de la Photographie, the award for the best book published during the past year was a satisfactory choice.

Marco Misano, Printletter

. . . the most beautiful photographic book ever published.

Clint Willour, Museum Director; panel moderator, Conference on Collecting, Houston