New York: Hill and Wang. 1967. Stated First Hill and Wang edition. First printing. Softcover. Good plus. A brilliant photographic view of black Harlem in the 1950's, presented as a fictional vignette seen through the eyes of a feisty, widowed woman, delighted to find her "feet caught in the sweet flypaper of life" and "...dogged if (she) want(s) to get loose."

Book is rubbed and lightly soiled with light wear. Little sunning to top half of the side edge front cover. Few scratches visible in the light. Some scuffing visible in the light. Rubbing to the spine. Internally, unmarked. Clean and bright. Nice tight binding. Awesome photography.

All in all a good quality first Hill and Wang edition of this important work. 96 pages. Profuse b/w photos. The Sweet Flypaper of Life describes, in words and pictures, what the authors have seen and known and felt deeply about their people. Life in Harlem may be hard: getting up each morning and going to work, knowing that today will be like yesterday and tomorrow. Yet there are rewards, moments, a man walking in the sun, a woman laughing, couples in the park, the watering of a garden on a window sill, a father's touch, a child's glance. '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.' Listed in Andrew Roth’s The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the 20th Century. Nicely reproduced. A great book.

A very nice copy of the first Hill and Wang 1967 soft cover edition and a wonderful collaboration of text by Langston Hughes and photography by Roy DeCarava.