Fifty Books: 1981–2024

Twin Palms Publishers
November 2024
8 × 10 inches
112 pages
35 duotone plates, 17 four-color plates
Printed on uncoated paper
OTA-bound softcover with screen-printed jacket

Straddling the margins of American publishing, Twin Palms Publishers has long occupied a space both contested and celebrated — its books at times condemned as pornography, at others hailed as classics. With a commitment to now-obsolete gravure printing techniques and a willingness to engage provocative subject matter, the publisher has consistently remained, by design, on the outside looking in.

Produced to coincide with an exhibition at Paris Photo, this limited edition offers a retrospective view spanning more than forty years of publishing history. The book gathers fifty images selected from fifty landmark titles released by Twin Palms Publishers and its predecessor, Twelvetrees Press, since Jack Woody founded the press in 1981.

Both an homage and a reflection, the publication traces the evolution of a distinctive editorial vision — one that has persistently challenged conventions while shaping the landscape of contemporary photobook publishing.