Endurance and Suffering

Edition Galerie Vevais is very proud to present the finest book in the history of the publishing house - a risky, poignant, bold and absolutely modern book, yet one wedded to the humanist tradition: Endurance and Suffering: Narratives of Disease in the 19th Century, by John Wood. John Wood, Editor of 21st Editions, is not only a well-know photographic historian and critic whose books have won major awards, but he is also a distinguished, prize-winning poet. Allen Ginsberg wrote the introduction to his first book of poems and Richard Wilbur compared his second to the work of Samuel Beckett. Wood has lectured on photography at many museums in the U.S. and in Europe, and he co-curated the exhibition Secrets of the Dark Chamber at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American Art. He has also read his poetry at many universities, and both the Los Angeles Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education carried full-page articles on him in the past during National Poetry Month. John Wood is the only individual to have twice won the prestigious Poetry Prize of the University of Iowa Press, and among the more than 20 books he has written and/or edited on photographic history and contemporary photographers, five have won major awards, including a 2005 Lucie for Sally Mann; the New York Times Book Review Best Photo Books of 1995 for Secrets of the Dark Chamber, published by the Smithsonian Institution Press; and the American Library Association's Choice “Outstanding Academic Books of the Year” 1992 for America and the Daguerreotype. He has written or edited books on many photographers, including Joel-Peter Witkin, Flor Garduño, Luis González Palma, Sheila Metzner, Arthur Tress, Robert ParkeHarrison, Eikoh Hosoe, and others. His The Art of the Autochrome is the standard work on the subject, as are several of his books on 19th Century photography, especially The Scenic Daguerreotype: Romanticism and Early Photography. For many years until his recent retirement he was a Professor both of English Literature and Photographic History at McNeese University. Endurance and Suffering: Narratives of Disease in the 19th Century bring together the two sides of his work—his poetry and his writing on photography. The poems are based on the case studies of 19th century physician George Henry Fox and the medical photographs of Fox's colleague O. G. Mason. The distinguished Harvard author and scholar, Dr. John Stuaffer, Professor of English and Chair of History of American Civilization, said Wood’s recent presentation at Harvard “was the highlight of my year: brilliant and passionate and it inspired me to go back to his poetry, which is what the very best talks do." Endurance and Suffering follows the passionate concept of Edition Galerie Vevais to create some of the most beautiful books in the world. Nearly all the books, DVDs and CDs created by this publishing house have won international design awards. The book is partially printed in letterpress and contains many fine bookbinding details. The limited edition is signed and numbered by the author John Wood and contains an original page of his manuscript. Customers may choose a handmade acrylic table for displaying the book. The design and decoration of Endurance and Suffering follows the original book design by George Henry Fox but utilizes a very modern language. Many classic bookmaking details are combined with the highest quality contemporary techniques of photographic reproduction and printing.