The Lines of My Hand

Frank’s seminal autobiographical photobook returns to print, expanding upon the original 1972 edition

After The Americans (1958), The Lines of My Hand is arguably Robert Frank’s most important book, and without a doubt the publication that established his autobiographical, sometimes confessional approach to bookmaking. The book was originally published by Yugensha in Tokyo in 1972, and this reprint of the 2017 Steidl edition—made in close collaboration with Robert Frank—follows and updates the first US edition by Lustrum Press of 1972.
The Lines of My Hand is structured chronologically and presents selections from every stage of Frank’s work until 1972—from early photos in Switzerland in 1945–46 to images of his travels in Peru, Paris, Valencia, London and Wales and contact sheets from his 1955–56 journey through the US that resulted in The Americans and launched him into fame. Here too are intimate photos of Frank’s young family, later photo-collages and stills from films including Pull My Daisy (1959) and About Me: A Musical (1971). The structure of the book mirrors the rhythm of Frank’s life, and his short personal texts, such as diary entries, bring his voice into the book.
In its singular combination of text and image, its fearless self-reflection and its insistence on photography and film as equal yet different parts of his art, The Lines of My Hand proved an inspiration for many photographers—not least Robert Frank himself, who expanded this approach in his visual diaries of 2010–17.