Ralph Eugene Meatyard was an optician by trade. He photographed mainly on the weekends and mostly in and around Lexington, Kentucky, where he raised his family. In this, his best-known work, he cast his wife Madelyn as the mask-wearing central character Lucybelle Crater, a name adapted from a character in Flannery O'Connor's short story The Life You Save May Be Your Own (1953). Meatyard photographs his wife standing with several similarly masked friends and family members, including Jonathan Williams, who posthumously published this book. In the final photograph, Meatyard assumes the persona.

First edition; 4to (266 x 228 mm, 10½ x 9 in); black-and-white photographs printed in offset, minor foxing to edges and top edge of preliminary pages; cream endpapers, toned with binder's glue showing through, beige cloth-covered boards, titles stamped in black on spine and upper side, light foxing to joints, photo-illustrated dust-jacket, white, text in black, near-fine; [ii], 84, [2]pp.

The Book of 101 Books pp230-1; Auer Collection p577.