[Rarebooks] FS: Bernard Kobel Gravestone Photos in our new Bookin'!

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

An item from our new edition of Bookin'!
<http://www.joslinhall.com/Bookin-8.pdf>
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 A Collection of 148 Original Gravestone Photographs Taken by Bernard
Kobel in the 1940s.

DISCUSSION: Bernard Lyle Kobel [1906-1985] is remembered today for his
iconic black & white photographs of circus freaks, but he also specialized
in photographs of tattoo art, medical abnormalities, crime scenes,
architecture, bondage, female wrestlers, and such things as "The First
Official Hair Pulling Contest...held at the Palisades Amusement Park with
24 girls from the Walter Thornton Modeling Agency as contestants". As one
collector notes, "Bernard Kobel made it his life’s work to photograph the
'underbelly' of society". He then made money selling photographs of that
underbelly, one print at a time, or in collections, through advertisements
in the back of girlie magazines. He also issued catalogs of prints, and
assembled thematic collections, such as this one.

This collection of photographs features old American gravestones with
inscriptions that might be described as graphic or curious, often in a
mildly prurient way (spouses murdered for infidelity, children killed in
boiling cider, a woman killed "by the baptist church", and so on. The
inscriptions are numbered and described in a 8-page typescript, and a
handwritten note at the bottom of the last typewritten page adds-
"Frankfort, Ind- Jan. 23/49. Dear Sir- This comprises text on remaining
photos now being sent at this time. I'll also send in with them other
freaks of the circus. These are different photos than on the mimeograph
list although some are same people at various times(.) Sincerely B.L.
Kobel Box 105".

DESCRIPTION: 148 original 5"x7", black & white photographs of gravestones
from various parts of the country, with 8 pages of typescript numbering
and briefly describing each photo.

CONDITION NOTES: Photos curled, several with some damage. Typescript
browned and brittle.

PRICE: $3,750 -

PICTURES =>
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See more stuff in the new Bookin'!
<http://www.joslinhall.com/Bookin-8.pdf>
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JOSLIN HALL RARE BOOKS, ABAA
Fine books of the 16th-20th centuries
on the decorative and fine arts & design

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telephone (413) 247-5080

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