Harlem Book Dead by Billops Camille Zee James (12 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. James Van Der Zee (illustrator). 1st Edition. Illlustrated wraps are mostly clean, with sepia text and photo illustration. Wraps show some edgewear, a scratch to the back cover. Corners are softened. See photos. Spine has sepia text and is bright with bumped ends. Binding is secure. End papers show little sign of age or wear. Illustrations are bright and clear. Interior is gently age-toned. Inside pages are free of writing and intentional marks. Text block edges are foxed. See photos.** PS2025.0702** 85 pages. 9 x 10.5 inches** A Very Good copy of this now uncommon book that records death and the rituals surrounding it. Photo-illustrated wraps printed in sepia are very good, with a scratch visible to the back cover. The interior is a little toned, with generously sized photographs and very readable text.** The photographs by James Van Der Zee (1886-1983), together with poetry by Owen Dodson and the conversational text captured by Camille Billops, "reveal the history of a time in Harlem, now past, when society cared for both the living and the dead, the belief that we must preserve a standard of pride representing order high in spiritual and temporal values." The setting is Harlem, but stress is laid on the universality of human experience.** "Postage for oversized and international shipping will be calculated by size and weight. AbeBooks shipping quotes are ESTIMATES only. Seller Inventory #010263"**.

Soft cover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Soft cover, [10] 85 pages, 27x22.5 cm., 10 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches. Photography of James Van Der Zee's portraits of the dead, with 18 plates and over 30 photographs in the text. Poetry by Owen Dodson, introduction by Camille Billops, with a Foreword by Toni Morrison. A touching portrait of the funeral rights of the Black community, with sepia tones. The front cover curls at the edges and is lighly worn. The interior is blemish free. Good+ condition.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good+. Profusely Illustrated (illustrator). 1st Paperback Edition. Large paperback, some very mild edge-tanning and a moderate curl to the corners of the front cover, no other remarkable flaws, the binding is clean, bright and tight and the contents are fine, includes photographs, poems and text, "reveal (s) the history of a time in Harlem, now past, when society cared for both the living and the dead, the belief that we must preserve a standard of pride representing order high in spiritual and temporal values" ; 85 pages.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. Profusely Illustrated (illustrator). 1st Edition. First edition, the issue in oversized illustrated wrappers. Richly illustrated throughout. A clean tight copy with no markings, some edgewear and light creasing to covers and a few bottom leaf edges with 3 leaves with neat tape repair to half an inch closed tears to extreme lower margin. Now uncommon.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. Foreword by Toni Morrison; Shiny white wraps with sepia titles & borders with photo to each cover; A very good paperback copy witwh small curl to front cover; 9"x10.5"; 85 pages.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. James Van Der Zee (illustrator). 1st Edition. First Printing. Scuffs on edges and spine.

hardcover. Condition: Good. Profusely Illustrated (illustrator). Good. SHIPS FROM MULTIPLE LOCATIONS. book.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Profusely Illustrated (illustrator). Excellent Condition.Excels in customer satisfaction, prompt replies, and quality checks.

hardcover. Condition: Good. Good first ediiton softcover. Some age toning to covers. Back cover is lightly curled at edge. Top corner is lightly bent at text block. Light edge and spinewear. Gently used with NO markings in text; binding is tight. An exciting and well preserved historical document. Pasadena's finest independent new and used bookstore since 1992.

Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., Morgan & Morgan, [1978]. 85 pp. B./w. / sepia photographs by James Van Der Zee. Orig. softcover. 8vo. - A neat copy. Near fine.Includes an introduction by Toni Morrison. - -James Van Der Zee (June 29, 1886 - May 15, 1983) was an African-American photographer best known for his portraits of black New Yorkers. He was specialized in funerals. This book includes many of his photographs, with his comments. The text, by Camille Billops, is primarily an interview with the artist at the age of 91. Includes poetry, by Owen Dodson, inspired by some of the photos.

Limited Edition. First edition, first printing. Number 42 of 60 copies, signed by James Van der Zee, Owen Dodson and Camille Billops on the front pastedown dated 11/12/78. [viii], 85 pp. Bound in publisher's brown cloth lettered in gilt. Near Fine with light wear at spine ends and corners, small ink stain at right edge of front free endpaper, and light toning to contents. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with a few small closed tears to edges, crease and spot of age staining at bottom corner of front flap, and miniscule stain to base of spine at verso. Throughout his legendary career as a Harlem Renaissance portrait photographer, James Van Der Zee documented life and, in these instances, death. A unique and poignant monograph of funerary portraits that draw the viewer into a sorrowful pageantry of loved ones lost. Each portrait is seamlessly paired with an allegorical persona poem written in a fictitious voice of the dead. Rare in the signed limited hardcover edition.

First Edition. First Printing, wrappered issue. Quarto (26.5cm); original pictorial card wrappers; [x],85,[1]pp; illus. Signed and inscribed by the three principal contributors to this volume: by Owen Dodson, in a contemporary hand, on the verso of the front wrapper ("To the Bartoks / Best always, Owen Dodson / Nov.12, 1978"), and by Camille Billops ("To Jennifer / Thank you for helping out / Love / Camille Billops") and James Van Der Zee on the half-title ("James Van Der Zee / Lenox, Mass / N.Y.C."). Trivial wear to extremities, with a subtle, upward curl starting at right edge of front wrapper; contents fresh; Near Fine. Collected post-mortem photographs taken by James Van Der Zee in Harlem morgues and funerals from approx. 1916 to 1969, many with lavish overlays of religious subjects. Most of the subjects are African-American, though he was hired to photograph a few white funerals. Includes many young children, some hit by cars, but many of whom died of pneumonia living in unheated apartments. A number, though not all, are accompanied with quite detached explanations by the photographer (pp.82-85), the most striking of which describes the death of a young female subject: "She was the one I think was shot by her sweetheart at a party with a noiseless gun. She complained of being sick at the party and friends said, 'Well, why don't you lay down?' and they taken [sic] her in the room and laid her down. After they undressed her and loosened her clothes, they saw the blood on her dress. They asked her about it and she said, 'I'll tell you tomorrow, yes, I'll tell you tomorrow.' She was just trying to give him a chance to get away" (p. 84). Text accompanying the photographs include untitled poems by Harlem Renaissance writer Owen Dodson and an interview with the photographer. With a brief foreword by the Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison. BLOCKSON 847.