On the Mines [1973 1ST EDITION & 1ST PRINTING WITH DUST JACKET]

C. Struik LTD, 1973. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/very good +. C. Struik Ltd., Cape Town. 1973. Hardcover in pictorial dust jacket. First edition, first printing. BOOK CONDITION: Near Fine; a solid, tight, clean copy with top corners slightly pushed (slightly affecting the very extreme tips of top corners of first 10 pages only); in a Very Good Plus dust jacket with shelf wear along edges and corners that include a few short closed tears with associated creasing, a 1" closed tear at top front corner, and a 1/2 inch closed tear with creasing at lower front joint (looks very nice in a new, clear, Brodart protector). Overall a solid, clean copy of the true first edition in the original dust jacket. Goldblatt grew up in the South African town of Randfontein, which was shaped by the social culture and financial success of the gold mines surrounding it. When these mines started to fail in the mid-sixties Goldblatt began taking photos of them, which form the basis of On the Mines. The book features an essay on the human and political dimensions of mining in South Africa by Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, whose writing has long influenced Goldblatt. A book in three chapters: "The Witwatersrand: a Time and Tailings", "Shaftsinking" and "Mining Men". David Goldblatt is a definitive photographer of his generation, esteemed for his dispassionate depiction of life in South Africa over a period of more than fifty years. Born in Randfontein in 1930, Goldblatt worked in his father`s menswear business until 1963 when he took up photography full time. Goldblatt`s work concerns above all human values and is a unique document of life during and after apartheid.