JOWITT, Robert E. The Girl in the Street or the Bedside Bus Book.

(Craven Arms, Shropshire): Peter Wooler, 1991. First edition. 152 pages. The best book ever by a nerd. Transport fanatic Jowitt travelled Europe to photograph buses, trolleys and trams, he wanted to experience each vehicle in its natural habitat, surrounded by pedestrians, houses, and traffic, and over 30 years created the most thorough photographic documentation of European government vehicles. Whilst Jowitts obsession is buses the photographs collected here have one constant: a woman or a girl. She might be sitting in the bus or standing a hundred metres away, she might be walking to the bus. Sometimes she takes up the greater part of the photo while the bus is a mere speck, sometimes all we see is her leg peeking out from behind the bus. And perhaps unintentionally Jowitt has, whilst photographing his buses, also created a fantastic, if not surreal, catalogue of femine fashions across Europe, from the late fiftes to the late eighties. Hairstyles, handbags, shoes, changing skirt lengths are all captured in this unwitting parody on interpreting photos. Illustrated with 350 predominately black and white photographic plates. If the absurd brilliance of this book doesnt make you smile, nothing will. A fine copy in dust jacket.