First edition of A1: The Great North Road by Paul Graham. First impression. Medium format softback in fine condition. Signed by the artist on the title page.

About

A1 – The Great North Road was Paul Graham’s first book, published in 1983. Despite the UK having a vibrant photographic scene at the time, there were only handful of monographic books – Chris Killip and Martin Parr had one each – and no dedicated publishers or distributors. Graham had to self-publish A1, but as the first colour book, it had a startling impact on British photography. Uniting the tradition of social documentary with the fresh approach of new colour, A1 – The Great North Road was transformative on photography in the UK and paved the way for a new generation of British colour photographers to emerge, from Nick Waplington to Anna Fox, Richard Billingham to Tom Wood. Spanning the full length of England and into Edinburgh, Graham travelled repeatedly along the ‘Great North Road’ with a large format camera, to record the people, buildings, and landscape of early 1980’s Britain. Now 40 years old, this book is as much art as it is a historical document of the years of Margaret Thatcher’s government and the UK’s declining industrial base. Graham went on to complete Beyond Caring (1985) and Troubled Land (1986), both of which became iconic bodies of work.

A1 – The Great North Road by Paul Graham. First MACK edition (2020). First impression. Large format hardback in new condition. Signed by Paul Graham to an extra image plate, glued into the inside back cover. No markings. This is a new book. Please see pictures. PayPal accepted, any questions please get in touch.

About A1 – The Great North Road

A1 – The Great North Road was Paul Graham’s first book, published in 1983. Despite the UK having a vibrant photographic scene at the time, there were only handful of monographic books – Chris Killip and Martin Parr had one each – and no dedicated publishers or distributors. Graham had to self-publish A1, but as the first colour book, it had a startling impact on British photography. Uniting the tradition of social documentary with the fresh approach of new colour, A1 – The Great North Road was transformative on photography in the UK and paved the way for a new generation of British colour photographers to emerge, from Nick Waplington to Anna Fox, Richard Billingham to Tom Wood.

Spanning the full length of England and into Edinburgh, Graham travelled repeatedly along the ‘Great North Road’ with a large format camera, to record the people, buildings, and landscape of early 1980’s Britain. Now 40 years old, this book is as much art as it is a historical document of the years of Margaret Thatchers government and the UKs declining industrial base. This edition of A1 The Great North Road is also part of Grahams iconic 1980s trilogy of UK books, which also includes Beyond Caring (2021) and Troubled Land (Fall 2021).

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