Naked City. by WEEGEE pseud. of Arthur Fellig - 1945

New York: Essential Books,, 1945. First edition, first printing. Weegee's first book. His nickname (from the Ouija board) derived from his apparently psychic ability to beat authorities to the crime scene, a feat actually made possible by eavesdropping the emergency services on a portable police-band shortwave radio. He maintained a working darkroom in the trunk of his car in pursuance of this urgent street aesthetic. Naked City was his first book of photographs, and formed the foundation for the 1948 film of the same name. Octavo. Original grey cloth, titles to front cover and spine in dark blue. With dust jacket. A unusually sharp copy in the remarkably nice dust jacket, with just a small chip at the top of the spine panel and a few further trivial snags at the tips, a few short closed tears and the odd mark. That said this is a truly exceptional copy, the vivid yellow and red at the spine is bright and fresh, the minor loss is really negligible when compared to the vast majority of other copies. A superb copy and deeply uncommon thus. Roth p. 118