Photo illustrated wrappers and glassine dust jacket, back and front

Swiss photographer René Groebli photographs his newly-wed wife Rita through his ‘eye of love’ (Auge der Liebe) in 1953.
He documents their Paris honeymoon in this, his second book. The majority of the photographs were taken in a small, simple hotel room in Montparnasse, at 7 Rue Vandamme. (now known as Hôtel de la Gaîté) The rooms have since been renovated and redecorated, so the location, as seen on Groebli’s photographs, no longer exists.

Light falls through a window, the room is dark. A bed, a mirror, the post-coital cigarette. A young woman seen through the eyes of her adoring young husband. The room is full of love and intimacy.

A photographic concept later successfully employed by many other photographers, best known Nobuyoshi Araki’s Sentimental journey.

The small, landscape-format emphasizes the diary mood of this intimate book. The clear layout is straight forward, creating a counterpoint to the intimate photographs. Title and photographer’s name are printed in purple on the glassine covering the dust jacket.

Ten photographs from the book were published over eight pages in the U.S. CAMERA ANNUAL 1955, with an introduction VISION OF LOVE, a tender photo-essay on a photographers love for a woman, his wife, which will soon be published in book form. See below.

A wonderful, warm-hearted publication by a passionate young photographer, that has become one of today’s classic photobooks

Photographed 1953

Printed by Buchdruckerei Weinfelden AG. Switzerland

Published 1954

First German language edition:

DAS AUGE DER LIEBE

700 copies with German text

25 photographs including cover image

Text by Walter Gort Bischof

Published by Turnus Verlag Zürich (self-published)

Soft cover with photo illustrated wrappers and glassine dust jacket
30 x 21.1cm
36 pages

René Groebli’s website: http://renegroebli.com

German first edition, title page signed by René Groebli

THE EYE OF LOVE – A love poem in photographs by René Groebli, 1954

Photo illustrated wrappers and glassine dust jacket, back and front

300 copies with English text by Basil Burton

24 photographs including the cover image

Published by the Press Centre Ltd. for PHOTOGRAPHY, 9-10 Old Bailey London EC4

I discussed this book recently with René Groebli himself, and he told me that he deliberately included some “sexier” pictures for the English language edition.

Soft cover with photo illustrated wrappers and glassine dust jacket
30 x 21.1cm
36 pages

UK. edition, title page signed by René Groebli

THE EYE OF LOVE – 25 photographs by René Groebli (printer’s dummy/proof?)

Photo illustrated wrappers and glassine dust jacket, back and front

This copy has no text beyond the title page. The sequencing and images in the book are identical to the first German edition, just missing the printed text. The photographs are printed with less gloss than in the regular editions.

The typeface used on the glassine jacket is different to the UK edition.

This is basically an English-titled edition with the German first edition sequencing.

THE EYE OF LOVE – 25 photographs by René Groebli (printer’s dummy/proof?)

25 photographs including cover image.

No publisher stated

Soft cover with photo illustrated wrappers and glassine dust jacket
30 x 21.1cm
36 pages

Printers dummy, title page signed by René Groebli

René Groebli, Das Auge der Liebe, 2014

Photo illustrated wrappers and glassine dust jacket, back and front

German language 2014 re-edition, front papers with edition number signed by René Groebli

German language 2014 re-edition, title pages

German language re-edition in publishers plastic bag, back (with publishers slip) and front

René Groebli, Das Auge der Liebe, 2017

René Groebli, Das Auge der Liebe, 2017 re-edition, cover back and front

René Groebli, Das Auge der Liebe, 2017 re-edition, title page

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U.S. Camera 1955 – 20th ANNIVERSARY Edition

U.S. Camera 1955 dust jacket back and front

Ten photographs from the book The Eye of Love were published over eight pages in the U.S. CAMERA ANNUAL 1955, under the title VISION OF LOVE by René Groebli.

This edition of the U.S. Camera Annual includes also portfolios by Richard Avedon, Paul Strand, Robert Frank, Robert Capa, Ansel Adams, Ormand Gigli, Brassai, Henri Cartier-Bresson and others. One of René Groebli’s photographs was also used on the dust jacket.

Published 1954 by U.S. CAMERA PUBLISHING CORP., New York City

Edited by Tom Maloney

Hard cover with dust jacket
22.4 x 29cm
316 pages

VISION OF LOVE is a tender photo-essay on a photographers love for a woman, his wife, which will soon be published in book form.

EDITIONS:

Published 1954

OTHER BOOKS BY RENÉ GROEBLI: