The Last Eye Witness

Limited to 100 copies per year 

Winner of the 2024 Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Award, in the category Books On A Motor Sporting Subject With No Price Limit. 

The pioneering motor racing photography of Maurice Louis Branger 1902-1914

Is this a motor racing book or an art book? In fact, it is both.

Published together for the first time, this unique collection features more than 160 images from celebrated photographer, Maurice Louis Branger.

Illustrating a pioneering age of motor racing, Branger’s original glass plate negatives are expertly reproduced and showcase the efforts of the bold and the brave, from 1902-1914.

From early city-to-city races such as the 1902 Paris-Vienna, to the Grand Prix ‘revival’ of 1914, this amazing account of one of motor racing’s most evocative and innovative periods includes authoritative, and superbly detailed accompanying text by Doug Nye, the world’s leading motorsport historian and author.

‘When Doug Nye first suggested this potential book to me,’ states publisher Philip Porter, ‘I was immediately intrigued. When I saw some sample images, I was utterly seduced.

‘One of the many challenges of publishing motoring books is the need to be sensible and be driven by the head, not the heart. With this one, I have failed! For me, the Porter Press team and of course our eminent author, this is a project very much driven by passion.’

Perhaps uniquely, this stunning 192-page record of those formative years is strictly limited to 100 books per year, plus just 10 copies of the hand-bound Collector's Edition per annum, worldwide.

Key Points:

• Beautifully reproduced from the original glass plate negatives
• A rare and highly atmospheric look at early motorsport
• For lovers of art books as well as petrolheads
• Perhaps uniquely, this book is limited to just 100 copies per year
• A passion project for all concerned