P.H. Polk: Photographs

(Atlanta): Nexus Press, 1980. Hardcover. Fine. First edition, deluxe issue. Essay by Pearl Cleage Lomax. Large square quarto. Illustrated with 62 full-page photographs by Polk, each identified by subject matter and by date of image, taken between 1929 and 1943. Quarter brown and beige cloth with Polk's signature in facsimile in gilt on front board, in publisher's two-part lidded box. Faintest toning, about fine. The deluxe issue, copy number 10 of 25 numbered copies Signed by P.H. Polk, with hand selected sheets, and with an original silver gelatin print photograph ("The Boss, 1932"), printed and Signed by Polk housed in a separate chemise.

The book concludes with a 12-page essay devoted to photographer P. H. Polk by Pearl Cleage Lomax entitled, "... Take my Picture, Mr. Polk.." and is Signed by Lomax at the end of the essay. The original silver print, measuring 8"x10" is signed by Polk in the lower margin of the original photograph. African-American photographer Polk was born in Bressemer, Alabama in 1898. He photographed primarily at Tuskegee Institute and environs, after enrolling as a student in 1916, where he studied photography. He worked as a portrait photographer in Atlanta in the 1930s and eventually returned to Alabama and became the "official photographer'" of the Tuskegee Institute. While the trade issue is relatively common, this deluxe issue is rare with *OCLC* noting a single copy.