Marc Riboud — Les trois bannières de la Chine, Galerie Delpire, Paris, 1967

21 × 13 cm. Offset print on card stock; black-and-white photographic reproduction to recto; printed exhibition text to verso with original French postage stamp (0.25 F, Mont-de-Marsan heraldic arms), handwritten address, and postal cancellation dated 15 February 1967. Good vintage condition with light age toning, minor handling wear, and evidence of postal circulation consistent with age.

Original mailed exhibition announcement card issued to coincide with the publication of Les trois bannières de la Chine by Robert Laffont. The exhibition presented a selection of Marc Riboud’s photographs from China at Galerie Delpire, 13 rue de l’Abbaye, Paris 6ᵉ, 15 février – 11 mars 1967. Vernissage: mercredi 15 février à 18h. Addressed by hand to Monsieur R. Cogniat, 110 Bd. Malesherbes, Paris 17.

Published in 1966, Les trois bannières de la Chine emerged from Riboud’s rare access to China during a period when the country remained largely closed to Western photographers. The accompanying exhibition at Robert Delpire’s influential Paris gallery extended the life of the photobook into the exhibition space, bringing together documentary photography, publishing, and exhibition culture at a pivotal moment in post-war French photography.

This copy records that circulation directly. The image functions as an exhibition announcement; the reverse becomes an administrative surface carrying typography, address, stamp, cancellation, and transit. The postal marks are not incidental. They confirm movement between publisher, gallery, and recipient, leaving the object somewhere between invitation, printed matter, and documentary trace.

Surviving mailed announcements from Delpire’s gallery are increasingly scarce, preserving not only the exhibition itself but also the networks through which photography circulated during the 1960s.

Shipping and handling included in the listed price. Carefully packed and shipped flat.