ONE OF 100 SIGNED COPIES
FLEURET, Bertrand.
Landmasses and Railways. Landmassen und Gleise. Continents et chemins de fer.
(Atlanta, GA.): J & L, (2009).
8vo (241 × 170 mm), pp.[208]. 160 black-and-white photographs. Edited by Jason Fulford. Plain endpapers; glue showing at joints as often. Light grey cloth-covered boards, spine and upper side stamped in black. Publisher’s printed card with a quote by William Gedney laid in as issued. Signed and numbered in pencil to title-page. Fine.
First edition, one of 100 signed and numbered copies in a variant binding. In Landmasses and Railways, Fleuret presets a vision of a not too distant future passing through rural and urban landscapes, construction and decay, chaos and clarity. It is divided into 5 chapters which are titled: ‘The Melancholy of Departure’, ‘Approaching a City’, ‘Inside the Walls’, ‘An Empty Building’, ‘The Garden’.
The publisher’s enclosed card states: ‘It seems to be the record of a trip. You left the countryside and entered a city. Lost in the layers of construction and decay, you eventually found yourself in an overgrown garden. You remember Sebastian’s jungle, the chaos of creation. You remember Solaris and the island in Le Voyeur. It’s all very clear like photographs slipped under your door in a manila envelope. Were you there? What happened? As William Gedney wrote in his notebook, “All facts lead eventually to mysteries.”’
