The Joliet Prison Photographs, 1890-1930

Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University, 1981.

First Edition. Printed folder containing 8pp essay + 6 folded leaves with text facing each photograph; 7 photographs in total. A mild ex-library copy that does not appear to have ever been in circulation: card pocket to the inside cover, patch of discoloration across the spine as from a label. Otherwise Near Fine with faint sunning and creasing to the bottom of the folder with a bend to the bottom right corner throughout. Serving time for a drug charge, Lawson became an inmate photographer in the Joliet Prison Bureau of Identification, where he uncovered a stash of glass plate negatives from earlier inmate photographers ordered to produce photographs showing the humanitarian side of the prison for publicity. Stunning images from one of the most recognizable names in twentieth-century prisons, often referenced in literature and popular culture from mentions in 'The Blues Brothers' to Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, Edgar Lee Masters, and Saturday Night Live.