Transl.: Richard Miller.

The Secret Paris of the 30s is one of the most remarkable photographic memoirs ever published. For years it was known that Brassai had taken a series of `secret photographs' that could not be published because of their daring nature. Alone, or in the company of friends, he discovered the forbidden Paris of the 1930s - its brothels, its whores, its pimps, its opium dens - the sordid yet bewitching bas-monde where high society mingled with the underworld. Brassai's photographs reveal a milieu previously only known through books such as the novels of Henry Miller (a frequent companion on his nocturnal rambles): the seamy, grimy yet infinitely exciting reality that tourists still think of when they seek `Paris by night'. These fascinating images are accompanied by Brassai's own text, in which he describes the extraordinary conditions under which he took his photographs.