Photographs by James Van Der Zee. Poems by Owen Dodson. Text by Camille Billops. Introduction by Toni Morrison. Afterword by Karla FC Holloway.
Available for the first time since 1978, The Harlem Book of the Dead showcases James Van Der Zee's unflinching creative vision
Originally published in 1978, The Harlem Book of the Dead is a haunting and beautiful document of Black funerary traditions in Harlem, capturing the community's mourning rituals through the lens of one of the Harlem Renaissance's most celebrated photographers. The publication is the most complete record of Van Der Zee's funerary photographs, featuring over three dozen portraits by the artist, who meticulously composed the setting and the subjects before using his renowned darkroom and retouching skills to superimpose celestial figures, poetry, biblical scenes or portraits onto the images to compensate for lack of adornments, such as flowers, or to fulfill the requests of his subjects or their families. These portraits are complemented and captioned by poems from Owen Dodson and a wide-ranging interview with Van Der Zee by the sculptor and filmmaker Camille Billops, who conceptualized and edited the publication. This facsimile edition reproduces the printing and specifications of the 1978 publication. The original foreword by Toni Morrison is included, and accompanied by a newly commissioned afterword by Karla FC Holloway, author of the canonical Passed On (2001). James Van Der Zee (1886–1983) began working as a photographer in 1915, and by the following year had opened his photography studio on West 135th Street in Harlem. His images of Black New Yorkers, together with celebrities such as Langston Hughes, Joe Louis and Marcus Garvey, form an indelible corpus of images of the Harlem Renaissance.
Van Der Zee’s gelatin silver prints are novel for recognizing the value of photographing Black deaths and the rituals that accompany them early, as well as for the narrative-structuring he presented that turned their deaths into richly-layered visual stories.
The New York Times Book Review
Walker Mimms
Van Der Zee helped commit Black Harlem, its people and its outings, to record. And there is no greater affirmation, this collection would suggest, than in its final ritual.
The New Yorker
Hilton Als
Just as Van Der Zee wanted to make his living subjects look a little better than they did, he wanted death—or, more accurately, grief—to look better than it was.
Air Mail
Maggie Turner
[Immortalizes] a forgotten cultural touchstone...
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For nearly fifty years, collectors have traded copies of the concise and perfect photography book, The Harlem Book of the Dead, produced in 1978 by artist and sculptor Camille Billops, scholar and poet Owen Dodson and photographer James Van Der Zee as an intuitive, collaborative documentation of Black funerary traditions in Harlem. This historic publication is now back in print in facsimile form from Primary Information, including Van Der Zee's photographs, Dodson's poems, Billops' interview with Van Der Zee, Toni Morrison’s original texts and a newly-commissioned afterword by Karla FC Holloway. “The Harlem Book of the Dead not only fully claimed twentieth-century Harlem as its origin story,” Morrison writes, “but also institutionalized that story. Billops selected and organized Dodson’s and Van Der Zee’s cooperative work and then framed it within a critical textual thread: her priceless conversational interview with Van Der Zee. Dodson’s poetry is a quieter accompaniment, notable as much for the visual space it claims in the composition of the book as for the way that his meticulous reading of the photographic subject is rendered into verse. James Van Der Zee’s extraordinary images are what finally locate this community and assign it the particularity of Harlem as the site of its creation—a decision that gave requisite and full acknowledgement to Black America’s most globally recognized homeplace. And, despite these artists’ collaboration, photography is its voice. And Der Zee is speaker for the dead.” continue to blog
FORMAT: Pbk, 9 x 10.5 in. / 104 pgs / 27 duotone / 29 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $24.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $24 ISBN: 9798991036726 PUBLISHER: Primary Information AVAILABLE: 10/14/2025 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by Primary Information. Photographs by James Van Der Zee. Poems by Owen Dodson. Text by Camille Billops. Introduction by Toni Morrison. Afterword by Karla FC Holloway.
Available for the first time since 1978, The Harlem Book of the Dead showcases James Van Der Zee's unflinching creative vision
Originally published in 1978, The Harlem Book of the Dead is a haunting and beautiful document of Black funerary traditions in Harlem, capturing the community's mourning rituals through the lens of one of the Harlem Renaissance's most celebrated photographers. The publication is the most complete record of Van Der Zee's funerary photographs, featuring over three dozen portraits by the artist, who meticulously composed the setting and the subjects before using his renowned darkroom and retouching skills to superimpose celestial figures, poetry, biblical scenes or portraits onto the images to compensate for lack of adornments, such as flowers, or to fulfill the requests of his subjects or their families.
These portraits are complemented and captioned by poems from Owen Dodson and a wide-ranging interview with Van Der Zee by the sculptor and filmmaker Camille Billops, who conceptualized and edited the publication. This facsimile edition reproduces the printing and specifications of the 1978 publication. The original foreword by Toni Morrison is included, and accompanied by a newly commissioned afterword by Karla FC Holloway, author of the canonical Passed On (2001).
James Van Der Zee (1886–1983) began working as a photographer in 1915, and by the following year had opened his photography studio on West 135th Street in Harlem. His images of Black New Yorkers, together with celebrities such as Langston Hughes, Joe Louis and Marcus Garvey, form an indelible corpus of images of the Harlem Renaissance.
