Mary Ellen Mark: The Book of Everything

Mary Ellen Mark: The Book of Everything
Category: Photographer Monographs & Art Books
Reviews: star star star star star
Author: Mary Ellen Mark, Martin Bell
Publisher: Steidl
Publication Date: 2020
Print Length: 880 pages
Language: English
Price: paid paid paid

Conceived and edited by film director Martin Bell, Mary Ellen Mark’s husband and collaborator for over 30 years, The Book of Everything celebrates in over 600 images and diverse texts Mark’s extraordinary life, work and vision. From 1963 to her death in 2015, Mark told brilliant, intimate, provocative stories of remarkable characters whom she would meet and then engage with―often in perpetuity. There was nothing casual or unprepared about Mark’s approach; she unfailingly empathized with the people and places she photographed.

For this comprehensive book Bell has selected images from Mark’s thousands of contact sheets and chromes―from over two million frames in total. These include her own now-iconic choices, those published once and since lost in time, as well as some of her as-yet-unpublished preferences. Bell complements these with a few selections of his own. Along with Mark’s photos made in compelling, often tragic circumstances, The Book of Everything includes recollections from friends, colleagues and many of those she photographed. Mark’s own thoughts reveal doubts and insecurities, her ideas about the individuals and topics she photographed, as well as the challenges of the business of photography.

The images of Mary Ellen Mark (1940–2015) are icons of documentary photography. Her 20 books include Ward 81 (1979), Falkland Road (1981) and Indian Circus (1993). Her last book Tiny: Streetwise Revisited (2015) is a culmination of 32 years documenting Erin Blackwell (Tiny), who was featured in Martin Bell’s 1985 film Streetwise and Mark’s 1988 book of the same name. Mark’s humanistic work has been exhibited and published in magazines worldwide.

Selected Books by This Photographer

Mary Ellen Mark: Passport

Aug 2026 - Steidl

Mary Ellen Mark


Mary Ellen Mark: Indian Circus

2024 - Steidl

Mary Ellen Mark


Mary Ellen Mark: Encounters

2023 - Steidl/C/O Berlin

Mary Ellen Mark, Sophia Greiff, Kathrin Schönegg


On the Portrait and the Moment

2015 - Aperture

Mary Ellen Mark


Mary Ellen Mark: Tiny, Streetwise Revisited

2015 - Aperture

Isabel Allende, John Irving, Martin Bell, Mary Ellen Mark


Mary Ellen Mark: Prom

2012 - J. Paul Getty Museum

Mary Ellen Mark

 

Seen Behind the Scene

2008 - Phaidon Press, Incorporated

Mary Ellen Mark

 

Mary Ellen Mark (55s)

2007 - Phaidon Press

Mary Ellen Mark, Charles Hagen

 

Books From the Same Publisher

Nan Goldin: Honey on a Razor Blade

Nov 2026 - Steidl

Nan Goldin


Raymond Meeks: A Commonplace Book

Oct 2026 - Steidl

Raymond Meeks


Helen Levitt: New York Archive / Color

Oct 2026 - Steidl

Helen Levitt

 

Mary Ellen Mark: Passport

Aug 2026 - Steidl

Mary Ellen Mark

 

Martin Schoeller: Drag Queens

Aug 2026 - Steidl

Martin Schoeller

 

AAP Magazine Travels 2026
 

expand_circle_rightLatest Books in This Category


Win a Solo Exhibition in November