Roman Vishniac, Elie Wiesel (Foreword)
A Vanished World.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1984. Second printing signed by Roman and Edith Vishniac. 0374282471 179 pages.
Large format volume, measuring approximately 12.5" x 12.5", is bound in dark brown cloth, with stamped gilt lettering to spine. Facsimile of author's signature is blind stamped on front cover. Book displays very light shelfwear. Binding is firm. Interior is clean and bright. Intact dust jacket, with crease to front flap, is preserved in mylar.
Interlaced signatures of the author and his wife appear on preliminary page.
""A Vanished World" is the first book to offer a comprehensive view of Roman Vishniac's celebrated photographs of the Jews of Eastern Europe. Taken between 1934 and 1939, as Vishniac explored cities and villages, these photographs preserve for posterity the unforgettable images of Jewish life.
Of the 16,000 photographs he managed to take -- secretly and under difficult circumstances -- Vishniac was able to rescue only 2,000. Some of the negatives were sewn into his clothing when he came to the United States in 1940, most he left with his father in a village in France for the duration of the war. Very few of the surviving photographs have been seen until now; in fact, more than three-quarters of the photographs included in "A Vanished World" have never been published before. Special prints were prepared for the reproduction of this book (many of the negatives were printed for the first time), and Vishniac has provided commentary on the photographs that is both moving and informative".