FIRST EDITION OF APPALACHIA: A SELF-PORTRAIT

EWALD, Wendy, editor. Appalachia: A Self-Portrait. (Frankfort, Kentucky): Gnomon Press for Appalshop, (1979). Quarto, original photographic paper wrappers. $400.

First edition of this moving photobook on Appalachian life, exposing the late 20th-century tension between traditional life in the region and the intrusion of mining culture.

Edited by Wendy Ewald, this photobook attempts to show Appalachia at the end of the 20th century, highlighting the anxiety of a culture torn between old traditions and values and the temptations of a more modern life. In striking images, photographers from the region including Earl Dotter, Robert Cooper, Wendy Ewald, Will Endres, Lyn Adams, Shelby Adams, and Linda Mansberger capture Appalachian life from the simple beauty of local homes to the devastating effects of the mines. With a foreword by child psychologist Robert Coles and a text by Loyal Jones, an expert and writer on Appalachia as well as the former director of the Appalachian Center at Berea College in Kentucky.

Slightest rubbing to edges of wrappers. Fine condition.