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• Issue #276
• Article

The print and digital magazine “The Classic”, founded by Michael Diemar and Bruno Tartarin in December 2018, was launched at The Photography Show – Presented by AIPAD in April 2019.

Coinciding with the publication of issue 13 of the magazine, the duo is launching “The Classic Boxset”. It’s a limited edition of 250 numbered copies and the sturdy box contains the first 12 issues of the magazine, plus a special 48-page supplement entitled Through a Glass, Darkly, its cover graced with a 1970s portrait of Philippe Garner looking through a magnifying glass.

The articles in “Through a Glass, Darkly” look back at the history of the photography market. There are numerous of hitherto unpublished photographs, of Harry Lunn, Sam Wagstaff, attendees at the 1999 Jammes Auction and others. There are some very interesting revelations as well, especially in the interview with Howard Ricketts, who charged Philippe Garner with coordinating the December 21, 1971 sale at Sotheby’s, London, which started a rolling program of photography auctions, followed soon by Christie’s. It helped establish photography as something serious to collect, but as Ricketts explains it may not have happened at all if the so-called Sotheby’s Cigarette affair had occurred earlier—with consequences for the photography market one can only speculate about.

Harry Lunn is remembered in a 14-page article, and the panorama Philippe Garner took of the attendees just before the 2002 Jammes auctions got underway is revisited, with comments from some of them, where they were at in their careers then and where they are at now.

Unlike the back issues of “The Classic”, the articles in the supplement won’t be made available as free downloads, and they won’t be published elsewhere.

There’s another reason to buy the boxset. “The Classic” is a free magazine but it’s not free to produce, print and ship. Despite advertising, it’s nowhere close to breaking even. The boxset is a way to help finance the magazine.

You can order it here: https://www.theclassicphotomag.com/boxset.

The contents of Through a Glass, Darkly:

À la recherche du temps perdu
Researching the birth of the modern photography market. With Isabella Seniuta.

The Road to the 21 December 1971 Auction at Sotheby’s Belgravia
The auction that established photography in the auction world. And how it may not have happened if the timeline had been different. With Howard Ricketts.

Something about Harry
Harry Lunn remembered, with Christophe Lunn, Robert Hershkowitz, Hank O’Neal, Manfred Heiting, Martin Mago, Philippe Garner and Robert Mann.

The Jammes Auctions
With Philippe Garner.

The 2002 Jammes auction panorama revisited
With Dr Juliet Hacking, Christopher Mahoney, Lee Marks, Baudoin Lebon, Alex Novak, Adnan Sezer, Michael Hoppen, Daniella Dangoor, Simone Klein, Paul Hertzman, Sean Sexton, Jean-Jacques Naudet, Christophe Goeury and others.