Following The Americans, The Lines of My Hand is debatably Robert Frank’s most important book. It is the publication that established his autobiographical, sometimes confessional, approach to bookmaking. Originally published by Yugensha in Tokyo in 1972, Steidl has published a new edition of The Lines of My Hand, made in close collaboration with Frank.

Structured chronologically, the book presents images from all stages of Frank’s work between 1945 – 1972. This includes some his earliest photographs, made in Switzerland, to images of travels in Peru, Paris, Valencia, London and Wales, and contacts sheets from his 1950s trip through the U.S. that resulted in The Americans. The volume also contains photographs of Frank’s young family and stills from films Pull My Daisy (1959) and About Me: A Musical (1971).

The arrangement of the book “mirrors the rhythm of Frank’s life but it is his short personal texts, like diary entries, that fully bring his voice into the book,” explains the press release.

Because of its original combination of text and images, its embrace of Franks’ self-reflection, and its insistence on the equality of photography and film (though recognizing they are different visual languages), The Lines of My Hand has proven itself as an inspiration to countless photographers and artists.

The Lines of My Hand by Robert Frank
Published by Steidl

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