PRESENTATION COPY
TONKS, Jon.
Empire / A journey to the remote edges of the British Empire.
Stockport: Dewi Lewis, 2013.
8vo (246 × 197 mm), pp.188. Colour photographs. Foreword by Christopher Lord, afterword by Tonks. Pictorial endpapers. Green paper-covered boards, grey paper spine, titles to spine in white and to front in blind, colour photographic reproduction affixed to debossed panel on front; minor shelfwear, head of spine very lightly lightly rubbed. Tonks’ presentation inscription in blue ink to half-title with Michael Hoppen Gallery blindstamp. Autographed letter signed by Tonks laid in. Close to fine.
First edition, a presentation copy inscribed to Michael Hoppen in the year of publication: ‘December 5th 2013, / For Michael, / With very best / wishes, / Jon / [signed].’
Jon Tonks spent five years and travelled around 50,000 miles to make Empire, in which he documents life on four remote British islands in the South Atlantic Ocean: Tristan da Cunha, Ascension Island, St Helena and, the Falkland Islands. His portraits and landscape photographs combine to show evidence of the remaining traces of Britishness in a fading empire.
Empire was selected by Martin Parr for the British Journal of Photography and Photoeye Best Books of 2013 lists, Rob Hornstra also chose it for Photoeye, and Terence Pepper for the Vogue Italia list.
