Steichen, Edward, ed. The Family of Man. Early printing.

The Photographic Exhibition Created by Edward Steichen for the Museum of Modern Art. Prologue by Carl Sandburg. Published for the Museum of Modern Art by Simon and Schuster, in collaboration with the Maco Magazine Corp, 1955. [Photographers: Ansel Adams; Erich Andres; Emmy Andriesse, Diane and Allan Arbus; Eve Arnold; Richard Avedon; Ruth Marion Baruch; Hugh Bell; Wermund Bendten; Paul Berg; Lou Bernstein; John Bertolina; Eva Besnya; Werner Bischof (6); Maria Bordy; Edouard Boubat; Margaret Bourke-White (6); Mathew Brady; Bill Brandt; Brassai; Manuel Alvarez Bravo; Joseph Breitenbach; David Brooks; Reva Brooks; Ernest Brunner; Esther Bubley; Wynn Bullock; Shirley Burden; Rudolf Busler; Harry Callahan; Cornell Capa; Robert Capa, Robert Carrington; Lewis Carrol; Henri Cartier-Bresson (10); Ted Castle; Marcos Chamudes; Edward Clark; Hermann Classen; Roy DeCarava; Jack Delano; Nick DeMaroli; J. DePietro; R. Diament; Robert Doisneau; Nell Dorr; Nora Dumas; David Douglas Duncan; Eastfoto; Alfred Eisenstaedt (8); Elliott Erwitt; J.R. Eyerman; Sam Falk; Nat Farbman (8); Eleanor Fast; Louis Faurer; Ed Feingersh; Andreas Feininger; Vito Fiorenza; Leopold Fisher; John Florea; Robert Frank (7); Toni Frissell; Unosuke Gamou; William Garnett; Edmund Bert Gerard; Guy Gillette; Burt Glinn; Fritz Goro; Allan Grant; Farrell Grehan; Rene Groebli; Mildred Grossman; Rapho Guilumette; Karl W. Gullers; Ernst Haas (6); Peter W. Haberlin; Otto Hagel; Hideo Hago; Robert Halmi; Hiroshi Hamaya; Caroline Hammerskiold; Hans Hammerskjold; Hella Hammid; Chien Hao; Willie Huttig; Yasuhiro Ishimoto; Izis; Fenno Jacobs; Raymond Jacobs; Ronny Jacques; Bob Jakobsen; Nico Jess; Constantin Joffe; Carter Jones; Henk Jonker; Victor Jorgensen; Clemens Kalisher; Simpson Kalisher; Consuelo Kanaga; Ihei Kimura; Martha Kitchen; Dmitri Kessel (8); Keystone Press; N. Kolli; Torkel Korling; Koslovsky; Ewing Krainin; Herman Kreider; Walter B. Lane; Dorothea Lange (8); Harry Lapow; Lisa Larsen; Alma Lavenson; Arthur Lavine; Russell Lee; Nina Leen; Laurence LeGuay; Henri Leighton; Arthur Leipzig; Charles Leirens; Gita Lens; Leon Levinstein; Helen Levitt; Margery Lewis; Sol Libsohn; David Linton; Herbert List; Jacob Lofman; G.H. Metcalf; Gjon Mili; Francis Miller; Joan Miller; Lee Miller; Wayne Miller (12); May Mirin; Lisette Model; Peter Moesehlin; David Moore; Barbara Morgan; Hedda Morrison; Ralph Morse; Robert Mottar; Carl Mydans; Dave Myers; Fritz Neugass; Lennart Nilsson; Pal-Nils Nillson; Emil Obrovsky; Okamoto; Cas Oorthuys; Ruth Orkin; Don Ornitz; Eiju Otaki; Homer Page (9); Marion Palfi; Gordon Parks; Rondal Partridge; Irving Penn; Carl Perutz; John Phillips; Leonti Planskoy; Raphael Platnick; Fred Plaut; Rudolf Pollak; Gottfried Rainer; Daniel J. Ransohof; W.C. Rauhauser; Satyajit Ray; Anna Riwkin-Brick; George Rodger; Willy Ronis; Annelise Rosenberg; Hannes Rosenberg; Sanford Roth; Eric Schwab; Bob Schwalberg; Kurt Severin; David Seymour; Ben Shahn; Musya S. Sheeler; Li Shu; George Silk; Bradley Smith; Ian Smith; W. Eugene Smith; Howard Sochurek; Peter Stackpole; Alfred Statler; Gitel Steed; Edward Steichen; Mary and Kate Steichen; Steinheimer; Ezra Stoller; Lou Stoumen; George Strock; Constance Stuart; E. Sved; Suzanne Szasz; Yoshisuke Terao; Gustav Thorlichen; Charels Trieschmann; Tuefferd; Jakob Tuggener; Allan Turoff; Doris Ulmann; A. Uzlyan; Ed Van der Elsken; William Vandivert; Pierre Verger; Ike Vern; Vero; Roman Vishniac; Carmel Vitullo; Edward Wallowitch; Arthur Witman; Jasper Wood; Yosuke Yamahata; Shizuo Yamamato] Decorated boards, 1/4 cloth. Not issued with dust jacket. (With crowd photographs on the inside covers, lacking on later printings; this early printing also includes exhibit installation photos by Ezra Stoller, lacking in most other printings.) Not issued with dust jacket. Very good. Summary:

The Family of Man is the hardbound companion volume to the monumental photographic exhibition of the same name, created by Edward Steichen for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Published by the Maco Magazine Corporation in collaboration with MoMA, this deluxe printing was produced alongside the standard softcover edition to serve as the permanent, high-quality material record of what became the most widely seen and influential photography exhibition in history.

Key Elements of the Work

• The Universal Mosaic: The book meticulously replicates the structure of Steichen’s exhibition, featuring 503 photographs by 273 photographers representing 68 countries. It weaves together the work of legendary masters (such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, and Bill Brandt) with vernacular and commercial images from everyday global press agencies.

• Thematic Chronology of Humanity: The photographs are organized into a seamless, universal narrative tracking the shared human experience. The sequence moves through essential life stages and collective themes: love, marriage, childbirth, childhood, labor, poverty, faith, tragedy, and death, ultimately concluding with a hopeful vision of global youth.

• Literary and Poetic Framing: Carl Sandburg, Steichen’s brother-in-law and a renowned American poet, provided a sweeping, humanistic prologue for the book. The visual chapters are further anchored by textual epigraphs drawn from dynamic cross-cultural sources, including the Old Testament, Homer, the Bhagavad Gita, and various global folk proverbs.

• Premium Production Quality: Unlike the mass-market paperback edition, the early hardcover edition featured heavier, semi-gloss paper stock, enhanced deep-gravure printing fidelity to better capture the tonal ranges of the original negatives, and a durable decorative binding, cementing its status as a collector’s piece for mid-century library collections.

Narrative Intent

The volume functions as a definitive manifesto of mid-century universal humanism. Created in the shadow of World War II and during the height of the Cold War's nuclear anxieties, Steichen and his assistant, Wayne Miller, used the book to strip away national, racial, and political boundaries. By demonstrating that the essential human journey is identical across the globe, The Family of Man sought to use photography as a universal language to advocate for global peace, empathy, and collective survival.

Copies available:

• VG with moderate fading on spine and edges. 
• VG with wear on a bottom edge.