London, Signed Presentation by Lord Snowdon (Tony Armstrong Jones)
[Signed Presentation by Lord Snowdon to Helen Robinson] Armstrong Jones, Tony. London. First English Edition. 1958. Book is in very good condition; jacket is in very good minus condition—jacket shows chipping to the spine ends, light creasing, and minor soiling. Book is warmly inscribed to Snowdon’s friend Helen Robinson, a friend of his who was then working at American Vogue, “To Helen and Philip, with love, from Tony. Thank you for making my visit to New York so much [fun].”
This is Armstrong-Jones’s first book, two years prior to his marriage to Princess Margaret and investiture as Lord Snowdon. Though the royal connection amplified his career, this book shows the mod, young photographer was already on his way. Only twenty-seven, he was a rising star at British Vogue. It is mostly full-page b & w images (very little text). Subjects depict the last remaining Edwardians as they collide with post-World War II austerity and modernity: the calm before the storm of Cool Brittania.
“I believe that photographs should be simple technically, and easy to look at. They shouldn’t be directed at other photographers; their point is to make ordinary people to react—to laugh, or to see something they hadn’t taken in before, or to be touched.”
--Tony Armstrong Jones