LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN/A DEATH IN THE FAMILY/SHORTER FICTION by Agee, James (Author); Evans, Walker (Photographer) & Sragow, Michael (Editor) - 2005

New York City, NY: Library Of America, 2005. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/No Dust Jacket, As Issued.. New York City, NY: Library Of America, 2005. Hardcover. As New/None, As Issued. First Edition/First Printing. 825 pages. Retrospective collection of the author's greatest works. The First Slipcased Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent printings. Published in a small and limited first print run as a Slipcased Edition for distribution to libraries and LOA subscribers only. None of the copies was sold to the public. The Slipcased Edition has the same ISBN as the regular trade edition and is now rare. An austerely elegant production: Regular-sized volume format. Text by James Agee edited and annotated by Michael Sragow. Photographs by Walker Evans. Cream hard board slipcase. Printed to the highest standards on acid-free paper, utilizing sewn binding, closely woven rayon cloth boards, satin bound-in ribbon marker, and a page layout that is both readable and elegant. The book is guaranteed to last for several generations of readers and collectors (despite frequent and regular use, the estimated life span of Library of America Editions is 1000 years; un-used, they will last forever) . Without DJ, as issued. Re-presents James Agee's and Walker Evans' "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men". Possibly the greatest collaboration between an American writer and an American photographer ever. The title is ironic as the subject is The Great Depression, as Agee and Evans saw it in the lives of three sharecropper families in the South in 1936. Many of the photographs that Walker Evans originally selected for the 1940 First Edition were censored for being too depressing, an even greater irony. They were not restored until twenty years later in the 1960 Reissued Edition. The latter is reproduced in its entirety by The Library of America. The volume also includes "A Death In The Family", Agee's autobiographical novel, published for the very first time in the final Corrected Text; the novella, "The Morning Watch", and three short stories. An absolute "must-have" title for James Agee and Walker Evans collectors. <b><i> These titles are great books. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the First Slipcased Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: The First Slipcased Edition was distributed to libraries and LOA subscribers only. None of the copies was sold to the public. Please beware those shrinkwrapped/"sealed" copies: How do you know if it's the First Printing? The Seller doesn't and neither do you. A rare copy thus. </b></i> Two of the greatest American writer/artists of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER LIBRARY OF AMERICA TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1931082812.