Originally published in 1978, The Harlem Book of the Dead documents Black funerary traditions in Harlem and the mourning rituals of the community through the photographs of James Van Der Zee, one of the most celebrated photographers of the Harlem Renaissance. More than three dozen portraits are captioned and complemented by poems by Owen Dodson and paired with a long interview with Van Der Zee and an introduction by the sculptor and filmmaker Camille Billops, who conceived and edited the book to echo the pairing of death's oldest companions, the portrait artist and the poet. Van Der Zee composed the setting and the subjects himself and used his darkroom and retouching skills to superimpose celestial figures, poetry, biblical scenes or portraits on the images, to make up for missing flowers and other adornments or to fulfil the wishes of the sitters and their families. The interview also traces his life and work and the circumstances of the people shown. This new edition adds a foreword by Toni Morrison and an afterword by Karla FC Holloway, author of Passed On. The cover has a decorative brown border around a photograph of a casket among flower arrangements in a church, and the pages shown online include the text of the interview.