Hong Kong : the way it was

Ed van der Elsken
Hong Kong : the way it was

Photographs: Ed van der Elsken

Text: Ed van der Elsken

Publisher: Dewi Lewis

120 pages

Year: 1997

Comments: Hardcover under dust jacket, 310 x 310 mm. First edition, 1997. Black & white photographs. Text in english. In very good condition.

Ed van der Elsken's Hong Kong is a city of atmosphere. The photographs, taken in 1959 and 1960, show a city not yet overwhelmed by neon and high-rise ; a city that combines a deep sense of tradition with an energy in its streets that is both exhilarating and exhausting.

Hong Kong is an extraordinary record by one of the major photographers of the 20th century. The photographs show great warmth for Hong Kong - a city and a people van der Elsken clearly loved. Previously unpublished, it is appropriate that publication of the book should coincide with the year in which Hong Kong is transferred back to China.