DeCarava, Roy and Langston Hughes. The Sweet Flypaper of Life. Photographs by Roy DeCarava.

Howard University Press, 1984.[ The first major publication by photographer Roy DeCarava, first issued in 1955. DeCarava was the first African American photographer to receive a Guggenheim fellowship.]  First Howard University edition. Summary: 

The Sweet Flypaper of Life (originally published in 1955 and reissued in 1984 by Howard University Press) is a classic collaborative photobook combining 141 black-and-white photographs by Roy DeCarava with narrative text by poet and writer Langston Hughes.

Key Contents & Features

• Narrative Framed by Sister Mary Bradley: The book is structured around a fictional narrative spoken by Sister Mary Bradley, a Harlem grandmother reflecting on her family, neighbors, and community. Hughes wrote the text in Black vernacular prose, directly responding to and integrating with DeCarava's photographs.

• Celebration of Everyday Harlem Life: Rejecting sensationalism and social-pathology tropes, the work offers an intimate, life-affirming portrait of ordinary Black life in 1950s Harlem—capturing children playing by open fire hydrants, subway rides, domestic moments, working-class labor, and street gatherings.

• Synthesis of Words and Imagery: Rather than using photographs merely as traditional illustrations or captions, the volume seamlessly weds text and image into a unified "photo-poetic" dialogue.

• 1984 Howard University Press Edition: Published as a enlarged hardcover edition (112 pages), this landmark reissue brought DeCarava and Hughes's out-of-print masterpiece back to public attention, cementing its place as an essential work of American photography and visual literature.

Copies available:

• Near fine with near fine dust jacket, discreet blind stamp of previous owner on flyleaf. 
• Fine in very good protected dust jacket with wear along top edge and spine, which is slightly faded. Inscribed to artist and photographer Ken Kaplowitz and SIGNED by DeCarava on title page, 3-22-1986. (Kaplowitz taught art and photography for 49 years at The College of New Jersey.) Also signed by Kaplowitz on front flyleaf.