Book review: A Photographic History of Nudism
When a publication is entitled A Photographic History Of Nudism, comes with a hefty price tag, and one of the main virtues advertised is ‘a unique collection of 150 photos’ it is probably not unreasonable to expect that what will arrive will be a fairly substantial tome for your coffee table.
BOOK REVIEW
A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF NUDISM by RICHARD BATTENBERG
ISBN: English Edition 978-3-95730-922-8 published by Goliath Books, price £34.99. Available via Amazon.
Never judge a book by its cover. Indeed, never make any assumptions.
When a publication is entitled A Photographic History Of Nudism, comes with a hefty price tag, and one of the main virtues advertised is ‘a unique collection of 150 photos’ it is probably not unreasonable to expect that what will arrive will be a fairly substantial tome for your coffee table.
That will only be the case however if you have a very tiny coffee table.
Check the small print again and you will see that the book measures just 11.5 x 18 cm - in other words, about the size of a half-decent pocket diary. It is not the only disappointment. It does indeed contain the promised 240 pages, but even accounting for the photographs, that still means there should be in the region of 90 pages of text to live up to the ‘fact-filled’ billing.
What you get in reality is a paltry 14 pages in English, which is then repeated in German, French, Italian and Spanish to make up the page count. And it’s not even as if those 14 pages are particularly illuminating or well-written.
There are some mildly interesting observations on the origins of the modern-day naturist movement, but that’s about it. It’s top-heavy on the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but the ‘history’ seems to tail off rapidly towards the end, condensing the period since the Second World War (which at least they mention) into little more than a footnote.
As the publishers, Goliath Books, are based in Frankfurt, it should perhaps come as no surprise that the bulk of the credit for ‘re-inventing’ naturism is given to the Germans. A fair point, perhaps, if it were not for the fact that the contribution of countries like the UK and the USA barely merits more than a cursory mention.
There’s also the matter of the translation. Google Translate was obviously having an off-day, and there’s surely no way anybody was actually paid for this element of the book? It’s clunky at best, laughable in parts, and downright incomprehensible in others. To give you just one example: the opening chapter is entitled: The cultural history of nudism (or the hooker aquarium).
I kid you not. And it’s all downhill from there.
Which leaves us with the photos. And in fairness, they are for the most part quite fascinating. The publishers have raided numerous archives, and whilst British naturists might be familiar with the names and images (either of or by) the likes of Pamela Green, Lee Sothern and Stephen Glass, there are some superb photographs I will guarantee few have seen before.
Most show naturism as it should be: natural, wholesome, fun and out in the fresh air, and as the majority of the illustrations - all in black-and-white and with a healthy mix of males and females portrayed - follow the lead of the narrative by concentrating predominantly on the years between 1920 and 1950, there’s almost a feeling of lost innocence about it all.
Hit modern times however, and everything becomes a little too predictable, with almost all of the photos falling into the point-a-camera-at-a-pretty-girl ‘style’ that we’ve all seen a thousand times. And it’s probably best to gloss over the occasional open-crotch shot…
I started this review with two adages for the price of one. That’s certainly better value-for-money than this sadly missed opportunity.
One for avid collectors only.
Paul Rouse
