Books
40 Fotos. [Zurich: Self-published, 1946]
Published in facsimile as: Portfolio: Robert Frank, 40 Fotos, 1941/1946. Göttingen: Steidl/National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2009. 40 photos.
Peru. [New York: Self-published, 1948]
42 sheets of photographic paper (including 39 images). Published in near-facsimile as: Peru. Photographs by Robert Frank. Göttingen: Steidl/National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2008. 39 photos.
Mary’s Book. [Paris: Self-published, 1949]
Published in facsimile to accompany the exhibition catalogue: Robert Frank: Mary’s Book. Texts by Stuart Alexander and Kristen Gresh. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2025. French edition: Paris: delpire & co, 2025. 75 photos.
Black White and Things. [Zurich: Self-published, 1952]
Published in reduced format as: Black White and Things. Zurich: Scalo/National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1994. And in a further reduced format by Steidl/National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC in 2009. 34 photos.
Les Américains. Photographies de Robert Frank. Textes réunies présentés par Alain Bosquet. Encyclopédie essentielle, n°5, Série Histoire, n°3. Paris: Robert Delpire Éditeur, 1958. 83 photos.
Gli Americani. Fotografie di Robert Frank. Testi raccolti e presentati da Alain Bosquet e Raffaele Crovi. Specchio del mondo 5, Sezione storia n°3. Milan: Il Saggiatore, 1959. 83 photos.
The Americans. Photographs by Robert Frank. Introduction by Jack Kerouac. New York: Grove Press, 1959. 83 Photos.
New York Is. Photographs by Robert Frank. Introduction by Gilbert Millstein. New York: New York Times, [c. 1959]. 24 photos.
Pull My Daisy. Text by Jack Kerouac for the film by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie. Introduction by Jerry Tallmer. New York: Grove Press,1961.
8 photographs by John Cohen. 49 film frame enlargements. Near-facsimile published by Steidl in 2008.
Zero Mostel Reads a Book. Photographs by Robert Frank. New York: New York Times, Inc., 1963. 37 photos.
Facsimile published by Steidl in 2008.
Me and My Brother. [New York: Self-published, 1968]
Published in facsimile as: Me and My Brother. Screenplay by Robert Frank, Sam Shepard, Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky. Göttingen: Steidl, 2007. Over 50 illustrations.
The Americans. Photographs by Robert Frank. Introduction by Jack Kerouac. New York: Aperture/Museum of Modern Art, 1968. 83 photos, plus six pages of film frames.
Grossman Publishers, 1969.
The Lines of My Hand. Tokyo: Yugensha, 1972. Over 110 photos.
The Lines of My Hand. New York: Lustrum Press, 1972. Over 95 photos.
Facsimile published by Steidl in 2017.
Robert Frank. Introduction by Rudolph Wurlitzer. The Aperture History of Photography Series, no. 2. New York: Aperture, 1976. 45 photos.
Also published in the UK by Gordon Fraser and in French by Nouvel Observateur/Delpire.
The Americans. Photographs by Robert Frank. Introduction by Jack Kerouac. New York: Aperture, 1978. 83 photos.
Published in the UK by Gordon Fraser Gallery, Ltd.
Robert Frank. Collection Photo Poche. Paris: Centre National de la Photographie, 1983. More than 63 photos.
Published in English by Pantheon Books. And published later by Nathan/Delpire, Delpire and Actes Sud.
The Americans. Photographs by Robert Frank. Introduction by Jack Kerouac. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986. 83 photos, plus one filmstrip with 3 images.
Published in French by Delpire and in German by Buchclub Ex Libris and by Christian Verlag.
Flower Is . . .. Tokyo: Yugensha, 1987. 81 photos.
The Lines of My Hand. Revised edition. Zurich: Parkett/Der Alltag, 1989. Over 125 photos.
Published in the US by Pantheon Books, in Canada by Random House and in the UK by Martin Secker & Warburg.
The Americans. Photographs by Robert Frank. Introduction by Jack Kerouac. Zurich: Scalo, 1993. 83 photos.
Published in the UK by Cornerhouse Books. Published in German by Scalo and in Japanese by Takarajimasha.
Robert Frank — Thank You. Edited with Ed Grazda. Zurich: Scalo, 1996.
Come Again. Göttingen: Steidl, 2006. 23 photos.
Paris. Edited by Ute Eskildsen. Göttingen: Steidl, 2008.69 photos.
Also published in German and French.
The Americans. Photographs by Robert Frank. Introduction by Jack Kerouac. Göttingen: Steidl/National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2008. 83 photos.
Published in Chinese and German by Steidl. Published in Italian by Contrasto, in Spanish by La Fabrica, in Portuguese by Instituto Moreira Salles (2017), and in French by Delpire (2018).
Seven Stories. Göttingen: Steidl, 2009. 87 photos.
Henry Frank: Father Photographer, 1890-1976. Edited by Robert Frank and François-Marie Banier. Göttingen: Steidl, 2009. 48 photos.
Tal Uf Tal Ab. Göttingen: Steidl, 2010. 29 photos.
Pangnirtung. Göttingen: Steidl, 2011. 27 photos.
You Would. Göttingen: Steidl, 2012. 38 photos.
Valencia 1952. Edited by Robert Frank and Vicente Todoli. Göttingen: Steidl/La Fabrica, Madrid, 2012. 44 photos.
Park/Sleep. Göttingen: Steidl, 2013. 34 Photos.
Household Inventory Record. Göttingen: Steidl, 2013. 87 Photos.
Partida. Göttingen: Steidl, 2014. 35 photos.
What We Have Seen. Göttingen: Steidl, 2016. 46 photos.
Leon of Juda. Göttingen: Steidl, 2017. 38 photos.
Good Days Quiet. Göttingen: Steidl, 2019. 37 photos.
The Americans. Photographs by Robert Frank. Introduction by Jack Kerouac. New York: Aperture, 2024. 83 photos.
A special edition exists with a cloth-covered slipcase and a booklet that includes the ‘Continuation’ from the 1968 and 1969 Aperture editions with six pages of film frames and the inclusion of a text by Allen Ginsberg.
Portfolios
The Sculpture of Raoul Hague. Photographs by Robert Frank and Lee Friedlander. New York: The Eakins Press Foundation, 1978. 24 gelatin silver prints. Edition of 6.
In a cloth-covered presentation folder.
Lure Camera Portfolio. Ottawa: National Film Board of Canada, Still Photography Division/Robert Frank, 1980. 6 color lithographs. Edition of 70, plus 30 artist’s proofs.
There is no special box or housing.
Robert Frank: The Americans, 81 Contacts. Tokyo: Yugensha [Kazuhiko Motomura], 2009. 81 offset lithographs. Edition of 300; 80 in a folding board box, 220 in a Paulownia wood box.
Includes a 24 page insert with notes by Shino Kuraishi from interviews with Robert Frank.
Selected Exhibition Catalogues
Robert Frank: Fotografias/Films 1948/1984. Texts by Vincent Todoli, Ino Cook, Gothtard Schuh and Martin Schaub. Coleccion Imagen, No. 2, Valencia: Sala Parpalló/Institució Alfons el Magnànim, 1985. 175 pp.
Texts in Spanish.
Robert Frank: New York to Nova Scotia. Edited by Anne W. Tucker and Philip Brookman. Houston: Museum of Fine Arts/New York Graphic Society, Boston, 1986. 112 pp.
Robert Frank: Moving Out. Edited by Sarah Greenough and Philip Brookman. Essays by Martin Gasser, John Hanhardt and W.S. Di Piero. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art/Scalo, Zurich, 1994. 336 pp.
Robert Frank: Flamingo. Text by Michael Van Reis. Göteborg: The Hasselblad Center, 1997. 52 pp.
Robert Frank: Hold Still_Keep Going. Texts by Ute Eskildsen, Christoph Ribbat and Wolfgang Beilenhoff. Essen: Folkwang Museum/Scalo, Zurich, 2001. 168 pp.
Published also in German, Spanish and Portuguese.
Robert Frank: London/Wales. Edited by Philip Brookman. Washington, DC: Corcoran Gallery of Art/Scalo, Zurich, 2003. 128 pp., plus 24 pp.insert.
Robert Frank: Story Lines. Essay by Ian Penman. London: Tate Modern/Steidl, Göttingen, 2004. 208 pp.
Also published with a different cover by Steidl.
Sarah Greenough. Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans. Essays by Stuart Alexander, Philip Brookman, Michel Frizot, Martin Gasser, Jeff L.Rosenheim, Luc Sante and Anne Wilkes Tucker. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art/Steidl, Göttingen, 2009. 376 pp.
The Expanded Edition with 506 pp. has an expanded annex including reproductions of all the contact sheets for the 83 photos in The Americans.
Peter Galassi. Robert Frank in America. Stanford: Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University/Steidl, Göttingen, 2014. 196 pp.
Also published in French.
Robert Frank: Books and Films, 1947-2014. Edited by Alex Rühle. Texts by Philip Brookman, Ute Eskildsen, Robert Frank, Sarah Greenough, Stefan Koldehoff and Gerhard Steidl. Göttingen, Steidl/Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich, 2014. 64 pp.
Published in English in 2016.
Lucy Gallun. Life Dances On: Robert Frank in Dialogue. Essays by Kaitlin Booher and Sarah Greenough. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2024. 192 pp.
Selected Publications About and Including Frank
The Family of Man. Edited and with an introduction by Edward Steichen. Prologue by Carl Sandburg. New York: Mago Magazine Corporation for the Museum of Modern Art, 1955. 5 photos by Frank.
Indiens pas morts. Photographies de Werner Bischof, Robert Frank et Pierre Verger. Texte de Georges Arnaud. Légendes de Manuel Tuñon de Lara. Paris: Robert Delpire, Éditeur, 1956. 14 photos by Frank. Published also in English, German, Italian (1957), and Spanish (1959).
Beaumont Newhall. The History of Photography: From 1839 to the Present Day. 4th revised and enlarged edition. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, in Collaboration with the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, 1964. One photo by Frank and included as one of only five photographers in the chapter titled “Recent Trends.”
John Szarkowski. The Photographer’s Eye. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1966. 5 photos by Frank.
12 Photographers of the American Social Landscape. Introduction by Thomas H. Garver. New York: October House, Published for the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, 1967. 4 photos by Frank.
Still/3. New Haven: Yale University, 1971. Conversation between Waker Evans and Frank on pp. 2-6.
Documentary Photography. Life Library of Photography. New York: Time-Life Books, 1972. 12 photos by Frank.
John Szarkowski. Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, 1973. One photo by Frank.
Photography Within the Humanities. Edited by Eugenia Parry Janis and Wendy MacNeil. Danbury, New Hampshire: Addison House/Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, 1977. Interview with Frank on pp. 52-65.
Tod Papageorge. Walker Evans and Robert Frank: An Essay on Influence. New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1981. 25 photos by Frank.
Jonathan Green. American Photography: A Critical History, 1945 to the Present. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1984. 23 photos by Frank.
American Images: Photography 1945-1980. Edited by Peter Turner. Essays by Gerry Badger, Jonathan Green, Bill Jay and Lewis Baltz. London: Penguin Books/Barbican Art Gallery, 1985. 9 photos by Frank.
Stuart Alexander. Robert Frank: A Bibliography, Filmography and Exhibition Chronology 1946-1985. Bibliography Series No. 2. Tucson: Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona/Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1986. 208 pp. Includes 2,300 annotated references, with indexes and a list of collections.
Birmingham 1988: The Birmingham News Centennial Photographic Collection. Essay by Douglas K. S. Hyland. Birmingham: Birmingham Museum of Art/The Birmingham News, 1988. 5 photos by Frank.
The Pictures Are a Necessity: Robert Frank in Rochester, NY November 1988. Edited by William S. Johnson. Rochester Film & Photo Consortium Occasional Papers, No. 2. Rochester: University Educational Services, International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, 1989. 220 pp. Includes extensive interviews with Frank and essays by William S. Johnson, Tina Olsin Lent, Susan E. Cohen an Jan-Christopher Horak.
Beyrouth: Centre-Ville. Preface by Dominique Eddé. Paris: Éditions du Cyprès, 1992. 25 photos by Frank. Published also in English as Beirut: City Centre.
Frank Films: The Film and Video Work of Robert Frank. Edited by Brigitta Burger-Utzer and Stefan Grissemann. Zurich: Scalo, 2003. 304 pp. Texts in German and English. Reissued in English by Steidl in 2009.
Essays über Robert Frank. Edited by Urs Stahel, Martin Gasser, Thomas Seelig and Peter Pfrunder. Winterthur: Fotomuseum Winterthur/Fotostiftung Schweiz/Steidl, Göttingen, 2005. I76 pp. Essays on Frank and his work in German.
Anne Bertrand. Le Présent de Robert Frank: Photographie et films. La Rochelle: D’une certaine manière Éditions, 2009. 92 pp. Collected essays in French.
By the Glow of the Jukebox: The Americans List. Conceived and edited by Jason Eskenazi. New York: Red Hook Editions, 2012. 86 pp. This book is a compilation of texts by photographers about their favorite photograph in The Americans. Expanded edition of 134 pages published in 2016.
Pull My Daisy. Textes par Patrice Rollet et Jack Sargeant. Photographies de John Cohen. Paris: Éditions Macula/Centre Pompidou, 2016. 244 pp. Essays and interviews with Alfred Leslie and Robert Frank in French.
RJ Smith. American Witness: The Art and Life of Robert Frank. New York: Da Capo Press, 2017. 328 pp. Unauthorized biography.
Arnaud Claass. Essai sur Robert Frank. Trézélan: Filigranes Éditions, 2018. 160 pp.
Lucy Gallun. Robert Frank: Trolley—New Orleans. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2021. 48 pp. Essay about the photograph in The Americans.
Brian Graham. Goin’ Down the Road with Robert Frank. Introduction by Ai Weiwei. Göttingen: Steidl, 2023. 84 pp. This book consists of 66 photographs of Frank by Brian Graham, a longtime friend and assistant.
Selected Periodicals
L. [Walter Läubli]. “Robert Frank.” Camera, vol. 28, no. 12 (December 1949), pp. 358-371. 20 photos.
“Speaking of Pictures: A Photographer in Paris Finds Chairs Everywhere.” Life, vol. 30, no. 21 (21 May 1951), pp. 26-28. 11 photos.
“2nd Prize—Individual Pictures: Poet’s Camera Sees Everything.” Life, vol. 31, no. 22 ( 26 November 1951), p. 21. 3 photos.
“Indiens des Hauts-Plateaux, photographies de Robert Frank, texte de Georges Arnaud. Neuf, n°8. Consacré à Robert Frank. (December 1952), pp. 1-36. 28 photos. Reissued in facsimile by delpire & co in 2021.
“Feature Pictures: Robert Frank… The Photographer as Poet.” Edited by Byron Dobell. U.S.
Camera, vol. 17, no. 9 (September 1954), pp. 77-84. 12 photos.
“Robert Frank: Ben James: Story of a Welsh Miner.” U.S. Camera 1955. Edited by Tom Maloney. New York: U.S. Camera, 1954. pp. 82-93. 16 photos.
Gotthard Schuh. “Robert Frank.” Camera, vol. 36, no. 8 (August 1957), pp. 339-356. 17 photos.
Walker Evans. “Robert Frank.” U.S. Camera 1958. Edited by Tom Maloney. New York: U.S. Camera, 1957 pp. 90-115. 33 photos. Includes “A Statement…” by Frank on p. 115.
“A Pageant Portfolio: One Man’s U.S.A.” Pageant, vol. 13, no. 10 (April 1958), pp. 24-35. 21 photos.
“Books: An Off-Beat View of the U.S.A.: Popular Photography’s Editors Comment on the Controversial New Book.” Popular Photography, vol. 46, no. 5 (May 1960), pp. 104-106. Seven reviews of The Americans.
“Robert Frank.” Aperture, vol. 9, no. 1 (1961), pp. 4-19. 14 photos, plus 4 film frame enlargements from Pull My Daisy and The Sin of Jesus.
Edna Bennett. “Black and White Are the Colors of Robert Frank.” Aperture, vol. 9, no. 1 (1961), pp. 20-22.
Willy Rotzler. “Robert Frank.” Du, vol. 22, no. 1 (January 1962), pp. 1-32. 32 photos.
“Photographs by Robert Frank.” Choice: A Magazine for Poetry and Photography, no. 2 (1962), pp. 97-112. 9 photos.
Allan Porter. “Robert Frank: A Bus Ride Through New York.” Camera, vol. 45, no. 1 (January 1966), pp. 32-35. 8 photos.
Robert Frank. “Films: Entertainment Shacked Up With Art.” Artsmagazine, vol. 41, no. 5 (March 1967), p. 23. Film review of Chappaqua by Conrad Rooks and Blow Up by Michelangelo Antonioni.
Robert Frank and Max Wyss. “Gotthard Schuh: The Irretrievable Instant.” Camera, vol. 47, no. 3 (March 1968), pp. 4-17. Includes a letter by Frank to Gotthard Schuh on p. 4.