Desert Island Photo Books: Peter Van Agtmael

We here in the New Yorker photo department love photography books, so much so that we’ve got a room full of them. From time to time, we will be asking the photographers, curators, editors, and other characters who visit our department to select five books from our library that they would want to have with them should they be stranded on a desert island.

For our first installment of Desert Island Photo Books, the Magnum photographer Peter Van Agtmael had the following to say about his selection:

I picked these five books but could have probably picked dozens of others without regret. I chose these through some combination of happenstance (“Boulevard” was sitting on James’s desk and was my most recent purchase) and randomness. Initially, I suggested my own book, but the assembled photo editors looked at me with polite disappointment. So, I scanned The New Yorker’s groaning shelves and my eyes settled on these books. Fate! Or something.

Here’s a look at Peter’s picks and why he picked them.