THE PORTFOLIOS OF BRETT WESTON

A NINETEEN-VOLUME SERIES

Between 1939 and 1980 Brett Weston produced eighteen limited edition portfolios of original photographs. He believed passionately in the power of his original prints and chose the portfolio as the way to reach an expanded audience while still maintaining control over image quality. Today, Weston’s original portfolios are rare, expensive, and relatively inaccessible in museums, archives, libraries, or private collections.

Printing technology now makes it possible, however, to bring the Brett Weston portfolios to a larger audience in reproductions that, in their rich detail, tonal scale and color, surface quality, and aesthetic appeal, are almost indistinguishable from the original prints. Printed in Belgium by Salto in unprecedented 600-line screen quadtone, and later by Dual Graphics in 400-line screen quadtone (after Salto ceased printing books). Printed on heavy coated stock, the photographs have been reproduced actual size whenever possible.

To recreate the feeling of the original portfolios, great care has been taken not only with the reproduction of the photographs, but with every aspect of these books. Where there is text in the portfolios, it is reproduced in facsimile, and the color of each book’s cover has been selected to match the covers of the original portfolio cases.

The art historian Roger Aikin, a close friend of Brett’s, has provided an introductory essay for each book in the series with writing that sets the photographs in the context of Weston’s life and career. Dr. Aikin’s critical analysis comparing the photographs of Brett and those of his father was published in 1973 and remains the finest analysis of its type we have ever seen.

Many of the photographs in these new books have never before been reproduced. The hardbound edition is limited to 250 numbered copies and the softbound edition is limited to 1000 copies.

In addition to the 16 portfolios there are 3 additional volumes in the series. Number 17, Prints for Students, is a collection of prints that Brett offered to students at a significantly discounted price. Number 18 is the Special Edition of 1951. Number 19 is a Career Overview by the art historian Roger Aikin. Also included in the Career Overview is a “Memoir” by the Michael A. Smith, who knew Brett well and who is the publisher of Lodima Press books. Numbers 18 and 19 are contained in the same binding making 18 books in the set.

The hardbound copies were originally available only to subscribers to the entire series. A very limited number remain from subscriptions that were cancelled, and are available individually. The price for each of these is currently $250. Still fewer complete sets of the hardbound books are available. These complete sets are currently priced at $3000.

The softbound edition is limited to 1000 copies, and books are available individually for $59.95 to $79.95 each. The entire softbound set is discounted to $895.

Number 1. San Francisco (1939)
Number 2. White Sands (1949, 1976)
Number 3. New York (1951)
Number 4. Fifteen Photographs (1961)
Number 5. Ten Photographs (1963)
Number 6. Baja California (1967)
Number 7. Fifteen Photographs of Japan (1970)
Number 8. Europe (1973)
Number 9. Oregon (1975)
Number 10. Portraits of My Father (1976)

Number 11. Vintage Collection (1976)
Number 12. Twenty Photographs (1978)
Number 13. Alaska (1978)
Number 14. Hawaii - Leaves and Lava (1980)
Number 15. Abstractions #1 1925–1980
Number 16. Abstractions #2 1927–1980
Number 17. Prints for Students
Number 18. Special Edition of 1951
Number 19. Career Overview
(Numbers 18 and 19 in one binding.)

Click on the book covers to see more information and to view pictures from each book

Brett Weston - San Francisco

from $74.95

Volume 1 in the Portfolios of Brett Weston series

Afterword by Roger Aikin

Softbound Edition of 1000 Copies
Printed by SALTO in 600 Line Screen Quadtone
10 reproductions, 32 pages

12 1/2" x 12 1/2"

Binding:

Brett Weston - Ten Photographs

from $59.95

Volume 5 in the Portfolios of Brett Weston series

Afterword by Roger Aikin

Softbound Edition of 1000 Copies
Printed by SALTO in 600 Line Screen Quadtone
10 reproductions, 36 pages

12 1/2” x 12 1/2”

Binding:

Brett Weston - Oregon

from $59.95

Volume 9 in the Portfolios of Brett Weston

Introduction by Bernard Freemesser

Afterword by Roger Aikin

Softbound Edition of 1000 Copies
Printed by SALTO in 600 Line Screen Quadtone
15 reproductions, 44 pages
12 1/2 x 12 1/2

Binding:

Brett Weston - Alaska

from $59.95

Volume 13 in the Portfolios of Brett Weston

Statement by Brett Weston

Afterword by Roger Aikin

Softbound Edition of 1000 Copies
Printed by Dual Graphics in 400 Line Screen Quadtone
48 pages 15 Reproductions
12 1/2 x 12 1/2

Originally Portfolio Published in 1978

Binding:

Brett Weston - Prints for Students

from $59.95

Volume 17 in the Portfolios of Brett Weston

Afterword by Roger Aikin

Softbound Edition of 1000 Copies
Printed by Dual Graphics in 400 Line Screen Quadtone
58 pages 20 Reproductions
12 1/2 x 12 1/2

Binding:

Brett Weston - White Sands

from $74.95

Volume 2 in the Portfolios of Brett Weston series

Introduction by Nancy Newhall
Afterword by Roger Aikin

The original White Sands portfolio, produced in 1949, contained twelve photographs and was printed in an edition of fifty. In 1975 Weston printed a second edition of the portfolio in an edition of seventeen. It included eight of the original ten photographs made in the 1940s (negatives from two of the photographs in the original portfolio were damaged and unprintable), two others from the 1940s that had not been included in the first portfolio (Plates 11 and 12), and two from 1975 (Plates 13 and 14), for a total of twelve prints.

White Sands contains the original ten photographs plus the four new pictures from Weston's 1975 edition. The original 1949 title page and the introduction by Nancy Newhall are reproduced in facsimile. Included is an afterword by art historian Roger Aikin. As a bonus, we have included an additional photograph along with a facsimile reproduction of Brett's letter describing the picture as "Edward's favorite." Although it was not included in either of the original portfolios, Brett included it as a gift with the portfolio from which this book has been reproduced.

15 reproductions, 56 pages
12 1/2" x 12 1/2"

Binding:

Brett Weston - Baja California

from $59.95

Volume 6 in the Portfolios of Brett Weston

Afterword by Roger Aikin

Softbound Edition of 1000 Copies
Printed by SALTO in 600 Line Screen Quadtone
15 reproductions, 44 pages

12 1/2 x 12 1/2

Binding:

Brett Weston - Portraits of My Father

$59.95

Volume 10 in the Portfolios of Brett Weston

10 Photographs made from 1929 to 1942

This portfolio contains a series of portraits made of his father, Edward Weston, between 1929 and 1942. As Roger Aikin explains in the Afterword, although it is not generally acknowledged, Brett influenced his father as much as Edward influenced him. Brett always graciously acknowledged his debt to his father. That he would compose a portfolio only of portraits of Edward is a generous mark of his love and respect.

Ansel Adams contributed an Introduction to Portraits of My Father.

Softbound Edition of 1000 Copies
Printed by SALTO in 600 Line Screen Quadtone
Foreword by Ansel Adams

10 reproductions, 36 pages
12 1/2" x 12 1/2"

Binding:

Brett Weston - Hawaii: Leaves and Lava

from $59.95

Volume 14 in the Portfolios of Brett Weston

Introduction by Boone Hekili Morrison

Afterword by Roger Aikin

Softbound Edition of 1000 Copies
Printed by Dual Graphics in 400 Line Screen Quadtone
48 pages 15 Reproductions

12 1/2 x 12 1/2

Originally Portfolio Published in 1980

Binding:

Brett Weston - Special Edition of 1951 and Career Overview

Brett Weston - Special Edition of 1951 and Career Overview

from $59.95

Volume 18 and 19 in the Portfolios of Brett Weston

Softbound Edition of 1000 Copies
Printed by Dual Graphics in 400 Line Screen Quadtone
56 pages, 5 Plates, a reproduction of Brett’s original brochure, and 4 essay illustrations
12 1/2 x 12 1/2

Binding: