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A new edition of Vestiges of Grandeur was published in November 2011 and is featured in the Spring 2012 Chronicle Books catalog.

Vestiges of Grandeur:
The Plantations of Lousiana's River Road

San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1999
Written and Photographed by Richard Sexton
With aerial photographs by Alex S. MacLean
Introduction by Dr. Eugene Cizek, FAIA
Book design by Charles Routhier, Storehouse Co.
256 pages; 230 color photographs
ISBN: 0-8118-1817-9
Hardcover, $40 retail

A second gallery edition of Vestiges of Grandeur was published in February 2011. It features a signed and numbered first printing of the trade edition, a custom belgian linen slipcase, and an original, signed and numbered color pigment print of the cover image, "Stairway, Ashland Belle-Helene Plantation". The new gallery edition retails for $400 and is currently available at A Gallery for Fine Photography. The first gallery edition of Vestiges of Grandeur is available directly from the author.

Synopsis
Published in 1999, Vestiges of Grandeur is perhaps best described as a companion volume to New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence. This project focuses on the historic plantation architecture of the River Road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. In many ways, Vestiges of Grandeur is a refinement of the photo-essay approach that proved so successful in Elegance and Decadence. The subject matter, though, is more somber. Whereas Elegance and Decadence was a celebration, Vestiges of Grandeur is more of a lament. Also, Vestiges is more journalistically ambitious and seeks to present a more definitive picture of its subject.

Richard Sexton's text and photographs are supplemented by the aerial photographs of Alex S. MacLean, which are a vital component of the photo-essay. Preservation architect Eugene Cizek contributed an historical introduction.

Reviews
...beautifully photographed with images so vivid you can almost feel the damp heat and smell the decay.
- Jayne Clark, USA Today, December 10, 1999

Richard Sexton chronicles the landmarks, both vibrant and decaying, that line the banks of our most storied river, from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. His atmospheric photographs limn a landscape at once melancholy, contradictory, overripe, haunting, and scary.
- Allen Freeman, Preservation, Nov/Dec 1999

Vestiges of Grandeur...is a landmark book, a moment frozen in time. Eloquent, passionate, and heartfelt...this work belongs on every Louisiana bookshelf.
- Susan Larson, Times-Picayune, Nov. 5, 1999

With his gorgeous bookVestiges of Grandeur, Sexton does what no photographer really has done since Clarence John Laughlin shot the derelict plantation homes half a century ago. . . Though he has numerous books to his credit, Sexton's Louisiana photography is exceptionally organic. He writes about the "swampy infinity" of the River Road as if he grew up here, and nobody packs such a wallop with a shot of cracked ceiling plaster.
- Rheta Grimsley Johnson, syndicated columnist, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 4, 2000

Through photography and writing, this book looks at the truth behind the myths and offers an insightful, yet beautiful portrait of the River Road plantations. Even though you can read Vestiges of Grandeur for its factual information, its strength lies in the striking photographs that let you witness for yourself the power of the fact behind the fiction.
- Sara Askew Orr, Southern Living, March 2000

No one interested in Louisiana history should fail to get a copy of this book. It's not just pretty pictures. This might be the one coffee-table book that you want to give as a Christmas present this year. Do yourself a favor and take a look at it.
- Greg Langley, Book Editor, Baton Rouge Advocate, December 19, 1999

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