Photography Book Collection of Terry Etherton to Auction Today

The Tucson-based gallerist's library which goes under the hammer at 11am Pacific Time today at PBA Galleries runs to more than 4,500 volumes, and has supported over 300 exhibitions and 150 art fairs, featuring numerous signed and inscribed editions by photographers that he worked with over the decades.

The collection reflects the medium’s evolution and Etherton’s personal journey within it. In addition to the signed monographs the collection includes deluxe editions, often with accompanying original prints, histories of photography, exhibition catalogues, rare limited editions and unique unpublished works.

Highlights include:

• Emmet Gowin’s first book Concerning America and Alfred Stieglitz, and Myself, signed by Gowin and inscribed to photographer Dave Heath, the first (and only) edition, one of 100 copies printed by Gowin, accompanied by an autograph letter from Gowin to Heath describing the latter’s influence on him
• a deluxe edition of Harry Callahan’s Water’s Edge, four linen volumes housed in publisher’s parchment-backed linen- covered clamshell boxes with a matching slipcase
• a Limited Editions Club edition of Rimbaud’s A Season in Hell illustrated with photogravures by Robert Mapplethorpe, signed by translator Paul Schmidt and Mapplethorpe

Among numerous prints going under the hammer are:

• Binh Danh’s daguerreotype, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA, January 7, 2012 
• several prints from Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide
• historical prints of subjects including Orville and Wilbur Wright aloft at Simms Station, Dayton, Ohio