The Naked Heartland: The Itinerant Photography of Bruce of Los Angeles by Bellas, Bruce - 2001

Simons Town, South Africa: Janssen Publishers CC, 2001. Book. Near Fine. Hardcover. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Hardcover, quarto size volume bound in black cloth, lettered in silver, in publisher's glossy pictorial black dust-jacket. 128 pages. Text by Kevin Bentley [foreword in English and German; subsequent text in English only]. Edited by Robert Mainardi. Profusely illustrated throughout with black and white photographs. No edition or date provided on colophon page. An edition of 500 copies was published in slipcase in 2000, this is most likely the first trade edition which dates from 2001. Before his gaining fame as a photographer of the masculine form in his adopted city of Los Angeles, Bruce Bellas traveled widely shooting his subjects when he could. The present volume documents his "...more "raw" nude male photography prior to his West Coast fame and the stylized physique model photos." 'Heartland' in the title refers to the locals where these pictures were taken, in this case mostly Nebraska in the late 1930's. No previous ownership marks. Slight spine cant from shelving, else a clean, tight, fresh and unmarked copy. Near fine in a near fine dust-jacket. Out-of-print and scarce title..