Search Results: sweet flypaper of life by hughes

New York, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955. Book. Illus. by DeCarava, Roy Photographer. Very Good+. Hardcover. Signed by Author & Illustrator. First Edition First Printing. Beautiful first edition with jacket. Boldly incscribed by Langston Huges on front end paper and also signed by Roy Decarava. Inscribed to Pulitzer prize winning playwright Elmer Rice and his wife in 1955, actress Betty Field. Inscription reads "Happy Holidays to Elmer and Betty - Sincerely, Langston - New York, Christmas, 1955. Under Hughes' signature it is signed separately "Roy DeCarava". The book is lightly foxed on the spine and has very mild tanning. Jacket has some wear and tearing on spine, but overall is in nice clean, whole condition..

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1955. First edition of the classic collaboration between Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes. Small octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by Langston Hughes on the front free endpaper, "Especially for Lucian Stanton whose photographs I very much enjoyed seeing- Sincerely- Langston Hughes New York Feb. 23, 1960." An excellent example in the original dust jacket. Roth 101, Parr & Badger, The Photobook I, 242; The Open Book, 160. The hardcover is much more uncommon than the wrapper edition. Acknowledged as the most influential black writer of his generation, and as one of the greatest American poets of all time here composed a fictional story to accompany DeCarava’s images, creating a lyrical tale about imaginary characters to go with photographs of real people" (Roth, 138). Hailed as "an important step forward" in the history of photobooks, Sweet Flypaper of Life proved especially significant in its "design, featuring a pacy, cinematic style. It… Read More

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955. 1st ed. Hardcover. Very Good/Fair. photos, 98p. dj. Original black cloth. 18cm. Cellophane tape reinforcement on front of jacket on and around the backstrip and at base of front panel. Jacket also edgeworn and has some staining and soil. INSCRIBED to R. Gordon Wasson by Hughes and also SIGNED by DeCarava. The first edition of this small classic was published in an edition of 3,000 hardcovers and 22,000 paperbacks. Wasson, who gained fame in later life in the field of ethnomycology because of his research and interest in psychedelic mushrooms, taught in the English Department of Columbia University in the Fall of 1921. Hughes was one of Wasson's students during the young poet's brief sojourn at Columbia. Hughes honored his old teacher in his inscription ("Especially for my former teacher, R. Gordon Wasson, who helped open my eyes to the sweet flypaper of life -- Sincerely, Langston Hughes"), The inscription is dated at New York on Nov. 15, 1955.

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955. Very Good. [New York]: [Simon and Schuster], [1955]. First Edition, Wrapper Issue. 12mo (18cm.); publisher's photo-illustrated card wrappers; 98pp.; photographic illus. throughout. Wrapper extremities quite toned and a bit rubbed, brief soil to rear cover, else Very Good, internally clean and sound. Inscribed and signed in green ink inside upper cover: "Especially for Warren - Sincerely Langston / New York, March 10, 1956." Over this DeCarava has cheekily added in black ink "Not for Warren but for Cicely! Roy DeCarava 6-9-56." Despite the misleadingly poor print quality, "The Sweet Flypaper of Life" has gained canonical status as one of the great photo book collaborations of the 20th century. In the early 1950s DeCarava was the first Black photographer awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, spending the year in his childhood home of Harlem capturing its inhabitants both in the private and public sphere. In 1954 he brought a portfolio of examples from this project to… Read More

Hill and Wang, 1967. Hardcover. Very good/Good. tall case. First Hill and Wang printing. Inscribed by deCarava on a slip of paper taped to the front endpaper, dated 1986. Dust jacket worn and chipped. Name written on front endpaper.