Black Book. Foreword by Ntozake Shange
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986. 1st Edition. Large quarto, publisher's black cloth, spine stamped in silver, original photo-illustrated dust jacket.
Mapplethorpe's major aesthetic document, comprising 91 large-format duotone nudes and portraits of black men, all friends of the photographer's and taken in the early 1980s, before the ravages of AIDS: "If you went through the history of nude male photography, there were very few black subjects. I found that I could take pictures of black men that were so subtle, and the form was so photographical....Most of the blacks don’t have insurance and therefore can’t afford AZT....If I go through my Black Book, half of them are dead" (interview with Vanity Fair). With a foreword in verse by poet Ntozake Shange. First printing, with complete number row to copyright page. Small abrasion to bottom corners of upper pastedown and front endpaper; unclipped dust jacket with minor toning. Near fine. Item #13144
$100.00