Get the picture?

Famed midcentury photographer Philippe Halsman (1906-1979; he of the 101 Life covers and the habit of getting his celebrity subjects to jump into the air for the last shot) and the immortal Salvador Dali (1904-1989; he of himself) published Dali's Moustache in 1954, after which it became a cult classic. reissued forty years on, it became a cult classic all over again. Consenting to an interview, Dali illustrates his answers to irreverent questions about himself and his art with what one reviewer called "his eminent implement. He paints with it, ties it in knots, and uses it as the source of essential truth (when he is asked why he paints, he says, 'Because I love art," but his moustache makes a dollar sign). One the back of the dust jacket appears, "WARNING: THIS BOOK IS PREPOSTEROUS."

Just letting you know.

Danish-American journalist/photographer/muckraker Jacob Riis (1849-1914) was anything but preposterous. Clawing his way into a career after arriving in New York at 21, Riis published this expose' of life in the city's tenements, where as many as 300,000 people per square mile lived- one of them, once, himself. A pioneer of photojournalism, Riis published this book in 1890 with illustrations from his photos; this Dover edition is a complete, unabridged reproduction of the 1901 edition, which technological advances enabled to include over 100 of his heart-wrenching photos.

By the late 1940s, photography had branched out in all sorts of directions from the relatively simple systems Riis used half a century earlier. One was Seton Rochewite's Stereo Realist 35mm camera, produced by The David White Co. of Milwaukee from 1947 to 1971. In simplest terms, the Stereo Realist camera gave every American his own View-Master.

Stereo film photography took off, and by the mid-50s several of the major players in the film and photographic equipment industry, including Bell & Howell and Kodak, jumped in with models of their own. But they mistimed the market, and by 1960 David White not just the first manufacturer, but the last. Production ceased in 1971 but enthusiasts still bought and used Stereo Realist equipment into the next decade.

Stereo Realist Manual, published at the peak of the craze in 1954, is an evangelist's tract/user guide to the David White camera. Silent film legend Harold Lloyd wrote the introduction; he shot over 200,000 stereo photos, from which his daughter published the collections 3D Hollywood (1992) and Hollywood Nudes in 3D! (2006). Contributors include the ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and art historian Beaumont Newhall. The dust jacket announces, "Here is something new- the first book on stereo photography actually illustrated with color stereos. An amazing new optical Stereo Viewer (it's inside the back cover!) was specially designed for viewing the stereos in this book." Our copy- a first edition- includes the special Stereo Viewer, in its original envelope, behind the back cover just as promised sixty years ago.

Details:

-Philippe Halsman and Salvador Dali, Dali's Moustache (Librarie Ernest Flammarion, dist. by Abbeville Press (1994), 128 pp. hardcover, unclipped dust jacket. ISBN 2-08013-560-0.) Very good condition. Your price: US $25.

-Jacob Riis, How The Other Half Lives: With 100 Photos From The Riis Collection (Dover Publications, 1971, 233 pp, paperback, ISBN 0-486-22012-5, 10" x 7 7/8".) Very good condition. Your price: US $20,

-William D. Morgan, Henry M. Lester and 14 leading 3-D experts, Stereo Realist Manual (Morgan & Lester,1st ed. October, 1954), 400 pp. hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, Library of Congress # 54-11905, 6 1/2" x 9"). Very good condition, rare. Your price: US $100.