Roloff Beny (1924–1984)

The New York Times reviewer wrote about an exhibition of Roloff Beny's photographs...."original photographs from six of the most beautiful books ever published...and that includes this book. I must agree. Not only are the photographs stunning and clever but the layout of the book and the juxtapositioning of the pictures with text and maps etc., plus the sepia high contrast photos and even the fonts ....are outstanding. Occasionally I might have wished for a bit more white space or for an individual photograph to be viewed in isolation but then th3re is a compromise between the number of photos and presentation. And the text! Anthony Thwaite has done an outstanding job. I'd never heard of him before this and went to do some research and found he was a poet and a literary editor critic of considerable experience ....plus he's played in the ruins of Leptis Major in Libya ...so has considerable background in Roman/Mediterranean history . He's done an outstanding job...weaving together quotations from ancient writers (apparently mainly translated by himself) ...together with his own slightly poetic descriptive prose. It's a great match between the photos and the text. I first came across Roloff Beny's work in "The Pleasure of Ruins"....then made the mistake of buying it in a cut down book version and it just doesn't have the majesty of the Tames Hudson publication. I love it. A great book. Happy to give it five stars.… (more)