A Retrospective in Two Volumes
Pre-orders open November 10, 2026. Shipping May 2027.
Constancy. Stillness bordering on silence.
Structure, and within it, life.
S A M A B E L L
V O L U M E I
1970–2001 · The National Geographic years
Landscape · Newfoundland · Canoeing · Canada · Seeing Gardens · Hagi, Japan ·
Tolstoy · The Great Plains · Australia · Ireland · The Japanese Imperial Palace
V O L U M E I I
2001–2026 · The self-directed years
America · Havana · Amazonia · Derived Portraits · Portraits · Still Scenes · Seeing
Gardens · The Aesthetics of Travel · Basho · Hokkaido · Market Street Parking
Garage · Maine’s Coast · Home
E D I T I O N S
TRADE EDITION
$150
The two volumes in a slipcase.
COLLECTOR’S EDITION, ONE PRINT
$1,600 • edition of 125
The two volumes with the signed print Neon Flowers and its letterpressed story, in a portfolio. All held in a larger slipcase.
COLLECTOR’S EDITION, THREE PRINTS
$4,200 • edition of 25
The two volumes with all three signed prints and their letterpressed stories, in a portfolio. All held in a larger slipcase.
T H E B O O K
FORMAT
Two hardcover volumes, sewn, in a slipcase
PAGES
480
TEXT
Sam Abell’s own notes on his life and photographs
SIZE
11.75 × 9.8 in (29.85 × 24.9 cm)
SHIPPING
Pre-orders ship in May 2027. Flat $25 within the continental US; international rates at checkout.
S A M A B E L L
Sam Abell photographed for National Geographic as a contract and staff photographer for thirty-three years. In 1990 his work was the subject of a one-person exhibition and monograph, Stay This Moment, at the International Center of Photography in New York. His books since, among them Seeing Gardens, Sam Abell: The Photographic Life and The Life of a Photograph, are now out of print. In 2024 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Photo Society and was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame.
L I S T E N
Sam Abell in conversation with Ted Forbes
The Art of Photography
Questions: orders@samabell.com