LANGSTON HUGHES & ROY DECARAVA | The Sweet Flypaper of Life - first printing, good condition

"We've had so many books about how bad life is," Langston Hughes says, "Maybe it's time to have one showing how good it is.” - from the back cover.

First printing, 1955. Tight softcover. 

Moderate wear and soiling to cover. Former owner's stamp and inscription on inside of cover. First and last few pages have small stains or foxing present. First few pages have tiny tear at one edge. Good condition.

The book is noted for its pioneering merging of image and text, which radially begins on the iconic front cover of only the softcover edition.  This is one of the few cases where the softcover is as sought-after as the hardcover. 

In 1954, DeCarava and Hughes met by chance on a Manhattan street corner. DeCarava, who had recently become the first African American photographer to receive a Guggenheim fellowship, had been struggling to find a publisher for his work.  Hughes convinced his own publisher, Simon & Schuster, to take on the project. The publisher agreed on the condition that Hughes provide an accompanying text. Hughes selected 140 photos which would feature the story’s characters.

Hughes’ story begins on the eve of the US Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, during the initial stages of the Civil Rights Movement.

Hughes’ fictional narrator is Sister Mary Bradley, a Southern grandmother of ten living in Harlem. She is the omnipresent eye, seeing her neighbors and family, young and old, and relates the challenges and promises of a new generation.  She says of the moment :

“ "For one thing," said Sister Mary, "I want to stay here and see what this integration the Supreme Court has done decreed is going to be like." “

Sister Mary’s only portrait is the final photo and the most striking.  The portrait depicts an elderly woman dressed up and smiling proudly at the camera. Below, the final caption : "Here I am.”

An iconic example of a subversive, collaborative work from writer and photographer.

Selected by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger for "The Photobook : A History Volume I". They write "It is also a book that had more impact in its cheaper paperback edition, since radically, Hughes's text begins on the cover"

Selected by Andrew Roth as one of the 101 most seminal photobooks of the 21st century. Roth writes "one of the most successful collaborations between a great writer and a great photographer every published."

4.1 x 7.1 inches