MAN RAY (1890-1976). Photographs 1920-1934 Paris. Hartford, Conn.: James Thrall Soby, 1934.

First edition of Man Ray's first monograph, a presentation copy, inscribed to Rosalind Gersten Jacobs: "For Rosalind—my next subject. Man Ray Paris 1955." Jacobs was introduced to Surrealism in the year prior by Noma and William Copley, and it was through the couple that she met Man Ray. The fateful meeting shaped Jacobs's collecting and was the begninng of an important relationship—more than simply a collector, Jacobs would become an ardent champion of Man Ray's work. Photographs includes texts by André Breton, Paul Eluard, Rrose Sélavy [Marcel Duchamp], and Tristan Tzara, and photographs of figures including James Joyce, Sinclair Lewis, Le Corbusier, Duchamp, and others. The present copy is the first printing with the first state of the title page; later states printed "second edition" and "deuxième édition" to imply there had been great demand. Roth 101, p.80.

Quarto (310 x 235mm). In English and French. Frontispiece portrait of Man Ray after Picasso, 104 heliogravures of Ray's photographs and Rayographs. (First few leaves separating a little along bottom edge.) Comb-bound wrappers (front cover detached, plastic spine intact but cracked).