Printed and Manuscript Americana

New York: The Viking Press, 1941. First edition. 4to. 152 pp. Illustrated with photographic reproductions by Edwin Rosskam. Publisher's drab buckram, spine printed in red, scattered spotting, unevenly toned; closed tear bottom edge pp. 97/98; in original price-clipped pictorial dust-jacket, light rubbing to spine ends, very light scattered wear along edges. Blockson 4421

A handsome first edition of this photodocumentary book with images of African Americans, taken by the Farm Security Administration and selected by Edwin Rosskam, and with text written by author Richard Wright. In the foreword, Wright explains his focus: "It is not, however, to celebrate or exalt the plight of the humble folk who swim in the depths that I select the conditions of their lives as examples of normality, but rather to seize upon that which is qualitative and abiding in Negro experience, to place within full and constant view the collective humanity whose triumphs and defeats are shared by the majority, whose gains in security mark an advance in the level of consciousness attained by the broad masses in their costly and tortuous upstream journey."