Books
This is My Life I’m Talking About
The book is for sale in the USA through Artbook DAP and in Europe though Damiani
This picaresque memoir dives into the heart of the revolutionary 20th century through the lens of one of its most crucial witnesses, American photographer and filmmaker Danny Lyon. His story begins in the Czar-ruled Russia of 1905, when Lyon’s uncle Abram fled to Brooklyn after his involvement in the murder of a policeman during a pogrom. A few decades later, amid the upheaval of World War II, Lyon was born.
Presaged by this beginning, Lyon’s life has overseen adventures and tragedies of world-historical proportions. This Is My Life I’m Talking About recounts them in generous detail, from Lyon’s friendship with the great American civil rights hero John Lewis—who is best known for his chairmanship of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee—to his involvement with the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club, upon which his famous photojournalist work The Bikeriders (1968) was based. Throughout, Lyon writes with tremendous feeling and humor, and his text is accompanied by a selection of unpublished and unseen photographs.
The Bikeriders (1997 Twin Palms Edition) – $150 hardback, signed. International sales – add $30
In 1997, Jack Woody, the legendary publisher of photography books created the first re-issue of The Bikeriders for Twin Palms. Using the gravure process and printed in Japan, this is a glorious rendition of the now classic book. It is the same edit as the 1968 edition, with a new introduction by Danny Lyon.
Out of print, limited copies available.
The Bikeriders – $100 hardback, signed (Currently SOLD OUT)
In honor of the release of Jeff Nichol’s feature film The Bikeriders (2023) we are releasing a very limited number of the Aperture edition of The Bikeriders book, signed and inscribed by Danny Lyon. This is the fourth edition of the 1968 classic and the first edition to “get it right.” A perfect facsimile of the original edition, but unlike the 1st edition – which had seven pictures out of register, and not enough ink – this one has gorgeous duotone reproductions.
Journey West – $65 hardback, signed / $50 softback, signed. International sales – add $30
The story of Lyon’s move from New York to the West, his lifetime of work in a small New Mexican town, his involvement with the border, immigration, climate disaster and the landscape of the great American desert.
175 full plate photographs, B&W and color with texts by Josie Lopez, Darryl Lorenzo Wellington, and Rebecca Bengal on Lyon’s photography, films, and work in the SNCC. Magnificently reproduced by Brilliant Press. This is the first edition, printed in a limited quantity.
Message to the Future – $65, signed. International sales – add $30
This is the first edition, 288 page Ten by Twelve-inch catalogue of Lyon’s retrospective catalogue beautifully produced by the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. Authored by Julian Cox, with an essay by Elizabeth Sussman, and exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2016. This book features the finest reproductions of Lyon’s vintage photographs from the 1960’s and 70’s. A gorgeous book of montages, and family albums.
Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement – $70, signed. International sales – add $30
Twin Palms 1990 Twin Palms edition, hard cover, 196 pages. Designed by Danny Lyon and Guy Russell and published by Jack Woody. Includes hundreds of Lyon’s photographs made in the deep south when he was the SNCC staff photographer, 1962-1964. Includes an introduction from Julian Bond and an afterward from Congressman John Lewis.
“In the annals of social movements, it’s hard to think of any single photographer who has so indelibly stamped an uprising with pictures — pictures that come to be accepted as definitive or representative
of the thing in itself.” – Todd Gitlin, Los Angeles Times Review of Books
Knave of Hearts – $150. International sales – add $30
1999 first edition, mint condition. 148 pages. Fifty nine full page color and B&W photo montages printed beautifully on heavy stock. Gorgeously produced by Jack Woody’s Twin Palms Publishers. A widely imitated memoir illustrated with the montages later shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Available for purchase from Twin Palms Publishers
I Like to Eat Right on the Dirt – $60, signed. International sales – add $30
“A child’s journey back in space and time.” 48 pages of photographs and montages in B&W duotone and color. Rare original first edition printed in 1989, mint condition, inscribed and signed. This is the ultimate family album an inspiration to any one that collects family pictures, polaroids, and carte de visites. A real treat for the kids.
American Blood – $45, inscribed and signed. International sales – add $30
This is the brand new 400 page collection of Lyon’s nonfiction essays and writings going back to the 1960’s. Edited by Randy Kennedy, American Blood has twelve pages of beautiful reproduced four color reproductions, many never seen before. Includes fifty seven pages with black and white photographs, diaries and documents from his career alongside accompanying essays.
A special collector’s edition with a small signed color print is available ONLY directly from Karma Books in NYC.
Indian Nations – $70, signed. International sales – add $30
VERY few available. Tritone separations from Black and White Polaroid Negative Originals. Gorgeous reproductions of Lyon’s work in New Mexico, Arizona, Montana and the Dakotas on 118 pages of chlorine free 200 gram Hello High silk. Printed in the Netherlands in 2002 by Twin Palms, Santa Fe.
The Paper Negative – SOLD OUT
The Paper Negative, mint condition copies. Rare. Bleak Beauty’s first publication made in 1980 with Guy Russell and Carl Sesto, both RISDI graduates and innovators in duotone and design. Sixty four pages with B&W and 4 color decorated prints throughout. The long text introduces Christopher Leonne, photographer in Mexico, Colombia and the Rio Grande Valley. Lyon’s first long illustrated text.
The Destruction of Lower Manhattan (SPANISH VERSION) – SOLD OUT
(Text, captions and covers in Spanish)
Identical to the English edition released by Aperture in the US, currently sold out by Bleak Beauty. Printed in Spain in conjunction with the Museo ICO exhibition in Madrid of the entire Destruction of Lower Manhattan series. This is a gorgeous book, with originals that are superior to the 1969 Macmillan edition. We have a very limited number of these b
The Destruction of Lower Manhattan – SOLD OUT
This is the gorgeous new facsimile copy of the 1968 edition. Printed in Madrid by Aperture in conjunction with the recent exhibition. Very few copies available. This is a great book, one of the classics from the 1960’s. Signed and inscribed. $55.00 including S&H.
The Story of Sam – $25, signed. International sales – add $30
Based on Kafka’s “Report to the Academy” The Story of Sam was written by an Australian Shepard that lived his life in the Hudson Valley of New York State, but died at the edge of a highway in Sandoval County, New Mexico.
Heavily illustrated with SX 70’s, Polaroid’s and album photos of Sam and Lily, his Brittany Spaniel confidant, Sam’s ability to write was so highly regarded that he was posthumously voted into the Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The site of his death along highway 528 has long been considered a shrine for lovers of dogs and photo-literature. This beautiful printed edition, limited to one thousand copies is exclusively available from Bleak Beauty.
Burn Zone – $30, limited copies left. International sales – add $30
A Cri de coeur directed at the artist community and our youth, asking them to join the fight to save planet Earth.
Available to read free online in PDF form here.
Like a Thief’s Dream – $25, signed. International sales – add $30
“I do not know of a book that cuts into and reveals the prison system and the subtle strange fates and characters of the guys. Not Mailer or Capote. Like your pictures you have a way of just letting the reality do the talking eloquently.” – Peter de Lissovoy
The amazing story of the bank robber and convicted murderer Jimmy Ray Renton and his escape from the Arkansas State Prison.
Non-fiction. 190 pages with sixteen pages of photographs.
Deep Sea Diver – $200 from Phaidon
An American Photographer’s Journey in Shanxi, China (Limited Edition), A facsimile travel journal and photobook of photographer Danny Lyon’s unique experience in a disappearing China.
Memories of Myself – Out of print
Essays by Danny Lyon, Compelling photo-essays from a remarkable career.
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