Only in England

Small 8vo. Softcover. Pp. 102. In very good condition; slight shelf-wear to the cover with faint marks and scuffs, but no significant creases or stains. Pages themselves are clean and bright, Tony Ray-Jones was an English photographer, son of Raymond Ray-Jones, a painter and etcher who died when Tony was only eight months old. Eager to use photography for more creative purposes, Ray-Jones went to the Design Lab held by the art director Alexey Brodovitch in the Manhattan studio of Richard Avedon. On his return to Britain, he was shocked at the lack of interest in non-commercial photography, let alone in the publication of books presenting it. He was also unsure of what subject he might pursue, but the idea of a survey of the English at leisure gradually took shape. "My aim is to communicate something of the spirit and the mentality of the English, their habits and their way of life, the ironies that exist in the way they do things, partly through their traditions and partly through the nature of their environment and their mentality. For me there is something very special about the English 'way of life' and I wish to record it from my particular point of view before it becomes Americanised and disappears".…