The Curious Case of Keizo Kitajima's New York Photobook

Many of you may wonder how it is possible that the same copy of New York, by Keizo Kitajima, can be found with two completely different obi and yet both correspond to the first edition.

At first glance, it might seem that one of the two copies belongs to a second edition or a later reprint. But that's not the case. The explanation lies in the book's publishing history and, specifically, in an event that took place after its initial publication.

In 1982, the Japanese publisher Byakuya Shobo released the first edition of Keizo Kitajima's New York. The original copies had a beige kraft paper obi with the title and promotional text printed in white. This is the original obi with which the book was initially presented and distributed in Japan.

First edition of Keizo Kitajima’s photobook New York with the original first-edition obi.

But this is where things get interesting.

In 1983, a year after its publication, New York received the 8th Ihei Kimura Photography Award, one of the most prestigious accolades in Japanese photography at the time. The award provided the publisher with a new opportunity to promote the book and highlight its standing within the Japanese photography scene.

Byakuya Shobo then decided to make use of the copies of the first edition that were still in their warehouses. Instead of producing a new edition, they replaced the original beige obi with a new pink one, specifically designed to announce the prestigious award the photographer had received. The new obi incorporated the promotional text in black and highlighted the awarding of the 8th Ihei Kimura Photography Prize much more prominently.

Therefore, here is the key to everything:

The copy with the beige obi and the copy with the pink obi belong to the same first edition from 1982. The pink obi does not identify a second edition or a reprint. It is simply a later promotional obi that the publisher added to copies of the first edition that they still had available after Kitajima received the award in 1983.

This small difference makes New York one of those particularly interesting cases within the history of Japanese photobooks. The content, edition, and publication date of the book are the same, but the obi allows us to distinguish two different moments in its publishing life: first, the book's original release in 1982; then, its recognition and promotion after winning the award in 1983.

For those who study Japanese photobooks and their different editorial states, this distinction is especially important. The copy with the beige obi retains the original wrapping in which New York initially published and marketed it, while the pink obi documents a later moment in the book's history, when the publisher capitalized on Kitajima's success to promote the copies it still had in stock.

Two different obi. Two different moments. But the same first edition.

And it is precisely these small details that make the story of the great Japanese Photobooks so fascinating.

First edition with the later obi, promoting it as the winner of the 8th Ihei Kimura Photography Award in 1983.