Sam Haskins & The First Edition of Cowboy Kate

Over the course of a long career, photographer Sam Haskins worked in all facets of the field: industrial, commercial, fashion, even hiring out for corporate annual reports. For all that, his reputation rests primarily on one publication, Cowboy Kate (Bodley Head, Crown, 1965). "I did a few books because I wanted to do projects where I controlled the whole process, from conception to the final thing. As subject matter, I chose nudes. And of course, that's what I became famous for," Haskins ruefully recalled in a 2006 interview with journalist Jack Crager, published on occasion of the Rizzoli re-issuance of "Cowboy Kate and Other Stories," his most famous book.

Alongside David Hamilton and John Green, Haskins was one of a casual school of London based photographers who became known for risque and/or erotic photography. While some of it now appears dated, a cartoonish recollection of London-swings-like-a-pendulum-do circa the mid 1960's, Haskins and his informal trilogy ("Cowboy Kate," "November Girl" and "Five Girls") has only grown in stature; he's the only one of the group to be recognized in all three books of the canon, Parr, Roth and the Open Book. (The Rizzoli re-publication of "Kate" did not seriously affect the value of the book in the 1965 Bodley Head (UK) and Crown (US) editions, as is often the case. In fact, the Rizzoli re-issue actually seemed to slightly boost the value of the 1975 second edition, which Haskins self-published.)

Haskins, who now lives in Australia, continues to publish new books and to re-issue new editions of older publications, all of which find a receptive and appreciative audience. As time goes by, however, the evidence suggests that of all his work the impact and influence of "Cowboy Kate" will become his defining achievement.

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