Evidence

The canonical 1977 American photobook returns to print in a new, definitive edition that most closely resembles the original

In 1977, American photographers Larry Sultan (1946-2009) and Mike Mandel (born 1950) published a book of photographs titled Evidence.

The book was the culmination of a two-year search through the archives of 77 government agencies, educational institutions and corporations, including General Atomic Company, Jet Propulsion Laboratories, the San Jose Police Department and the United States Department of the Interior.

The original pictures were made as objective records of activities unfamiliar to the lay public: the scenes of crimes, aeronautical engineering tests, industrial experiments and other subjects.

Sifting through some two million images, Mandel and Sultan assembled a careful sequence of 59 pictures.

The book was thoughtfully designed to depict the photographs in terms of their "documentary" origins, unaccompanied by identifying captions.