Grafters

Artist: Colin Jones 
Author: Mark Haworth-Booth (intro.) 
Publisher: Phaidon 
Date: 2002 
Condition: The first edition hardback, complete with unclipped printed dust wrapper over black cloth boards. The wrapper showing light shelf wear and handling marks, internally a clean and unmarked copy, signed and dedicated by the artist on the title page.

Colin Jones was an important figure from a generation of outstanding British photographers. Born in Poplar to a working-class family, he trained as a ballet dancer and performed with the Royal Ballet, but left when he realised his life would take other paths. He began work as a photographer and produced a large body of superb images over a long career, often covering working lives. Hence his lauded images of the backstage world of the ballet contrasts with the lives of miners in the north-east and Liverpool dockers. He photographed Martin Luther King in Alabama and was also responsible for the early and memorable images of The Who (the Union Jack jacket!).

His work is held in several important photographic collections, including the V&A, Tate Gallery, Arts Council, National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery of Art, Washington.