In 1947 Fred Stein published his first photobook 5th Avenue with the publishing house Pantheon Books. His first photobook, it was received with high praise, as can be seen in the reviews, and enhanced his professional reputation. The photobook starts at the south end of 5th Avenue and, over the course of 100 images, follows it north, to end in Harlem. The images capture well the diversity and changing character of the street and the variety of cultures, ethnicities and social conditions of the inhabitants can be seen as a metaphor for the city. Fred Stein was a sensitive photographer, his approach always humanistic and touched with humour as he captured life on the streets. Employing unusual perspectives, angles and details of everyday scenes, the book is dedicated to the historic street and captures the essence of metropolitan life through a mix of street views, architectural shots and pictures of people. Although the narrative of the book is provided by the walk from the south to the north end of 5th Avenue, the careful selection and arrangement of the images add to its impact. Two images on a double-page spread enter into a dialogue with one another and provide interesting juxtapositions as well as commonalities, so that flicking through the pages allows the reader to share Stein's experience of walking down the street. The same year, 1947, a French edition of 5th Avenue was published with the help of the émigré publishing house Querido, co-founded by the German émigré publisher Fritz H. Landshoff (the great uncle of Hermann Landshoff). Both founders, Kurt Wolff and Fritz H. Landshoff, were photographed by Fred Stein for his series on émigré authors and intellectuals in exile in New York.

Other photobooks with the topic on New York published by émigré photographers include: Manhattan Magic by Mario Bucovich, Chinatown U.S.A. by Elizabeth Coleman, Time Square by Rolf Tietgens and New York by Andreas Feininger as well as a collection of essays by Ann Tizian Leitich in her book New York.
The photobook had several functions for the émigré photographer. As a publishing medium it was independent of the art market and museums and favoured self-representation (Parr 2004, 9–11; Ziehe 2015, 9). It also allowed to secure the self-marketing, economic and financial conditions for emigrated photographers (Seeber 2015, 10–13), and offered the photographer an opportunity to build a professional reputation in exile. Furthermore, photographs taken before emigration could be brought before a wider public. (Grebe 2015, 171) Pantheon was not the only publishing house to support the creation of photobooks by émigré photographers. Among the others who did so were: J.J. Augustin (Horst P. Horst, George Hoyningen-Huene, André Kertész, Alexey Brodovitch); Oceana Press (Marion Palfi) and Schocken Books (Roman Vishniac). Other émigré photographers who published their work in book form were Ylla, Lilo Hess, Tim Gidal as well as Ruth Staudinger.