‘Progreso’ by Charles Harbutt (1986) (Signed)

“I first went to the Yucatan 1976. I’d been working in Miami and wanted to relax. The Yucatan was a short hop away: I like Mexican food and always shoot a lot in a new place. I’ve managed to get back there every year since. The Yucatan is a gentle place: less frantic and hidden than the big cities of the world. My days in Merida lounged from plaza to Cafi Express to market to plaza to Cafi Express – all in four short blocks. Sometimes I drove to a ruin or the beach. The food, happily, was not only Mexican, but Lebanese – from Levantine traders in the Caribbean. There was a great deal of fresh fish – Gulf shrimp, conch and sea turtle – a lot of garlic and a wonderfully creamy , dark beer. I think I was seduced by Mayan notions of progress: that time is cyclical; things don’t get better and better day-by-day, they just swirl around like dust in the street. Mostly, the pictures remind me of the small, northern New Jersey towns where I grew up, where days were filled with finding a girl or a job or a pleasant way to fill the time until tomorrow. Maybe, because I’m short and stocky, I felt at home: most Mayans past first blush tend to be chunky, so Merida is a city of chubby cops and chubby robbers, chubby Romeos and chubby Juliettas. I was the tallest man around. Maybe, just maybe, I was once a Mayan.”

Signed and dedicated by Harbutt to title page. Condition: Top right corner of front cover creased, otherwise very good.