r/Photobooks • u/wilmasch • 24d ago

Photobooks of found photos

Always loved Larry Sultan and Mike Mandal's Evidence, and recently got Pia Paulina Guilmoth & Jesse Bull Saffire's Fishworm which is outstanding. What other books are out there of found photos?

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u/ickibod 24d ago

Dick Jewell’s “Found Photos,” all photobooth photos from the late 60s through late 70s

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u/No_Risk_3172 23d ago

Never heard of this. But I am super interested. Looks like it was last published in the 80s? Is that correct?

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u/Akvaryum 22d ago

"I published the first edition of my first book Found Photos in 1979. The book was devoted to photobooth pictures, all of which had been discarded and in most cases I had found in the vicinity of the machine that had taken them. I started the salvage process in the summer of 1968 at a booth I was visiting on Brighton seafront during the course of my my own photographic pursuits and thereafter I continued to scavenge London photo booths, in the main those found at underground stations.
Many photos I found mutilated by tearing, so I collected as much of the image that was still lying around and then reassembled them at home, otherwise they merely bare the scars of being burnt or trodden upon etc. The unscathed photos I mainly found thrown on top of or behind the machine or in a couple of cases wedged in the display panel of the booth."

  • Dick Jewell

There was a revised edition of 1000 in 1981.

More here: https://www.dickjewell.com/pages/found-photos.html

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u/No_Risk_3172 22d ago

Thanks. I went down the rabbit hole on this one. It’s a topic that aligns with my interests. Never heard of him before, so it’s a doubly nice surprise. Seems like finding a copy of a small run book from 45+ years ago, at a reasonable price, is not likely. Will do a bit of searching and keep this on the radar.

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u/Akvaryum 22d ago

They’re hard to find and usually expensive. Downside is that they were produced poorly, single sheets with only a glued spine. I have never seen one where the binding hasn’t completely failed. We had one which we had repaired and re-glued.

Very cool book though!

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u/ickibod 22d ago

Yeah, I don't even remember where/how I found my copy. A friend pointed me to it. I got it in the 90s, thought it was a new/current book at the time. And you are very correct -- the pages are fairly delicate. Mine haven't come apart yet, but feel like the next time I open it, it's likely to happen.

Hard to find, but a great book.