World Food Books

Remedios Varo
Science Fictions

2023, English
Hardcover, 184 pages, 30.5 x 21.6 cm
Published by Art Institute of Chicago / Chicago Museo de Arte Moderno / Mexico City

$85.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

This major new hardcover publication offers a definitive look at the artistic practice of Remedios Varo (1908–1963) following her emigration from Spain to Mexico City in 1941. Her work from 1955 to 1963 made a lasting contribution to modern art and the legacy of Surrealism. In Remedios Varo: Science Fictions, fresh historical and material findings establish the integral relationship between Varo’s layered interests—in alchemy, architecture, magic, mysticism, philosophy, and science—and her beguiling technical approach to art making. Essays detail specific works’ complex stories and spectacular surfaces. An illustrated taxonomy of Varo’s artistic techniques, including automatic mark making as well as careful manipulation of materials and media, offers new insights into the artist’s craft. An illustrated inventory of a major portion of Varo’s library—published here for the first time—reveals the artist’s engagement with a wide range of subjects. Stunning new photography of many of her artworks are presented within a dynamic geometric design inspired by the artist’s work. Situating Varo as a woman working in midcentury Mexico City and living among a tight-knit community of local and emigre artists, poets, and thinkers, the catalogue illuminates the complex worldview that shaped her search for individual and collective transcendence.

File under: Remedios Varo Art Institute of Chicago / Chicago Museo de Arte Moderno / Mexico City Surrealism Occult / Esoterica Art Painting Drawing Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic

High Static, Dead Lines: Sonic Spectres & the Object Hereafter
By Kristen Gallerneaux

2018, English
Softcover, 264 pages, 20.3 x 13.2 cm
Published by Strange Attractor / London

$40.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

A literary mix tape that explores the entwined boundaries between sound, material culture, landscape and esoteric belief.

Trees rigged up to the wireless radio heavens. A fax machine used to decode the language of hurricanes. A broadcast ghost that hijacked a television station to terrorize a city. A failed computer factory in the desert with a slap-back echo resounding into ruin.

In High Static, Dead Lines, media historian and artist Kristen Gallerneaux weaves a literary mix tape that explores the entwined boundaries between sound, material culture, landscape, and esoteric belief. Essays and fictocritical interludes are arranged to evoke a network of ley lines for the “sonic spectre” to travel through—a hypothetical presence that manifests itself as an invisible layer of noise alongside the conventional histories of technological artifacts.

The objects and stories within span from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, touching upon military, communications, and cultural history. A connective thread is the recurring presence of sound—audible, self-generative, and remembered—charting the contentious sonic histories of paranormal culture.

File under: Kristen Gallerneaux Strange Attractor / London Sound / Music Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Theory / Essay Occult / Esoterica

Angura (Underground Theatre) No. 3 (Shūji Terayama)
February, 1970 (Eros and Theater)

1970, Japanese
Softcover, 300 pages, 21 x 15 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Tenjō Sajiki / Tokyo

$360.00 - In stock -

(more...)

(...less)

Very rare copy of Angura (Underground Theatre) issue 3, 1970, the "Dramatic Theory Magazine" published in Tokyo by Shūji Terayama's radical avant-garde theatre company Tenjō Sajiki. With gorgeous graphic design and (Aleister Crowley) cover by graphic designer Heikichi Harata, this issue's special feature is ‘Eros and Theater’, edited by Shūji Terayama and Masahiko Akuta with contributions by Terayama, photographer Hajime Sawatari, writer Taruho Inagaki, director Takahiko Iimura, anthropologist Masao Yamaguchi, playwright Yasunari Takahashi, director and cinematographer Sakumi Hagiwara, film director Nobuhiro Kawanaka, playwright Rio Kishida, and many others. A very unique periodical that not only discusses in-depth the works of Angura theatre, but also the international avant-garde, inviting diverse critical perspectives on performance and anti- and living-theatre, sharing ground with Gutai and Fluxus. Illustrated throughout with drawings, diagrams and photographs, mixing themes of pop, protest, surrealism, and eros, plus texts and scripts in Japanese. A rare printed embodiment of Tenjō Sajiki, Terayama, Tadanori Yokoo and the Japanese underground.

Tenjō Sajiki was a Japanese independent theater troupe co-founded by Shūji Terayama, Kujō Kyōko, Yutaka Higashi, Tadanori Yokoo, and Fumiko Takagi. Led by Japanese avant-garde poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer Shūji Terayama, the prolific group was active between 1967 and 1983 (until Terayama's death). A major phenomenon on the Japanese Angura ("underground") theater scene, the group has produced a number of stage works marked by experimentalism, folklore influences, social provocation, grotesque eroticism and the flamboyant fantasy characteristic of Terayama's oeuvre. Tenjō Sajiki benefitted greatly from collaborations with a number of prominent artists, including musicians J. A. Seazer and Kan Mikami, and graphic designers Aquirax Uno and Tadanori Yokoo.

Shūji Terayama (1935 — 1983) was a Japanese avant-garde poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer. His works range from radio drama, experimental television, underground (Angura) theatre, countercultural essays, to Japanese New Wave and "expanded" cinema. Terayama is considered one of the most productive and provocative creative artists to come out of Japan, with a wide-reaching influence on many artists from the 1970s onward.

File under: Shuji Terayama Shūji Terayama Tenjo Sajiki Tenjō Sajiki Heikichi Harata Tadanori Yokoo Yasunari Takahashi Takahiko Iimura Hajime Sawatari Izumi Suzuki Tenjō Sajiki / Tokyo Eros Out-of-print / Rare Periodicals Art Performance / Dance / Theater Theory / Essay Film / Video Occult / Esoterica Counterculture

Modern Sexuality Bizarre
by Masami Akita (Merzbow)

1994, Japanese
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 212 pages, 13.6 cm x 19.4 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by Seikyūsha / Tokyo

$90.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

First hardcover edition of "Modern Sexuality Bizarre", written by Merzbow's Masami Akita and published only in Japan in 1994, an in-depth study of Japanese "abnormality" and the sexual bizarre in modern society, from its origins through to the culture of 'Ero-Guro Nonsense' — a period ranging from the end of the Taisho era (1912—1926) to the beginning of the Showa era (1926—1989). Akita discuss' the history of sexual media and the modern era of the bizarre with emphasis on its influence on psychology and sexual customs. From "The Dawn of Metamorphosis Research" and "Grotesque Trends" of modern pioneers of eroticism in Japan, including the legendary ero-guro magazines "Hentai Documents" and "Grotesque", their editors and authors Kitaaki Umehara and Kiyoshi Sakai, to othe rearly examples of modern obscene publishing, books of Showa modern bizarre, the modern female body and the beauty era, publishing of criminal sciences and the study of sexual criminals, the torture arts and Seiu Ito "the father of modern kinbaku", hentai psychology and the female viewpoint in criminal psychoogy, postwar marital theory, and more, all subjects illustrated in b/w. Merzbow is a noise project created in Tokyo, Japan in 1979 under the direction of noise technician Masami Akita. As well as a legendary underground noise artist, Akita is a prolific writer in Japan and frequently writes on the arts, music, erotica, esoterica, modern architecture, and animal rights, with articles on emerging subcultures and underground extreme cultures appearing in publications like SM Sniper, Studio Voice and Fool's Mate. His development of the Merzbow aesthetic ran parallel with a series of investigative books in which he catalogued and introduced a vast amount of hermetic types of music, sexual practices and autonomous creativity from the fringes to a fairly conservative (but not close-minded) mainstream Japanese audience. "Modern Sexuality Bizarre" is one of these very books.

First edition, Japanese text, fine copy with fine "textured" and illustrated dust jacket.

File under: Masami Akita (Merzbow) Seiu Ito Masami Akita (Merzbow) Kitaaki Umehara Kiyoshi Sakai Seikyūsha / Tokyo Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Eros Crime / Violence Out-of-print / Rare Art Counterculture Fetishism / BDSM Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language Occult / Esoterica Theory / Essay

ENCYCLOPEDIA ACEPHALICA
Georges Bataille, Michel Leiris, Marcel Griaule, Robert Desnos ...

1996, English
Softcover, 176 pages, 23 x 21 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Atlas Press / London

$65.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

First edition of the incredible and sadly long out-of-print Encyclopedia Acephalica, published by Atlas Press in 1996 as part of their mighty Atlas Arkhive : Documents of the Avant Garde series..

Bataille’s thought is complex, and his books make few concessions to the reader. The first series of texts here, however, were written for a wider audience by Bataille and his friends, in the form of a Critical Dictionary, and they provide a witty, poetic and concise introduction to his ideas. The Dictionary appeared in the magazine edited by Bataille, Documents, in the early 1930s, and includes entries from prominent ethnologists and cultural commentators of the day. The second series of texts here, the Da Costa Encyclopédique was published anonymously after the liberation of Paris in 1947 by members of the Acéphale group and writers associated with the Surrealists. Both cover the essential concepts of Bataille and his associates: sacred sociology; scatology, death and the erotic; base materialism; the aesthetics of the formless; sacrifice, the festival and the politics of the tumult etc: a new description of the limits of being human. Humour, albeit, sardonic, is not absent from these remarkable redefinitions of the most heterogeneous objects or ideas: Camel, Church, Dust, Museum, Spittle, Skyscraper, Threshold, Work – to name but a few.

While the Documents group was celebrated for joining together artists, authors, sociologists and ethnologists (among the most important of their time) in a literary and philosophical project, the Acéphale group was more mysterious. Until recently even its membership was only vaguely known, and its activities remained secret (these are explored in detail for the first time in English in The Sacred Conspiracy, published by Atlas Press, also available at World Food Books). The origins of the Da Costa only became known in 1993, the present volume revealed for the first time its principal compilers: Robert Lebel, Isabelle Waldberg and Marcel Duchamp, but the identity of the authors of a large part of it is still unknown.

Texts by Georges Bataille, Michel Leiris, Marcel Griaule, Carl Einstein, Robert Desnos and writers associated with the Acéphale and Surrealist groups.

Introduced by Alastair Brotchie. Translated by Iain White, Dominic Faccini, Annette Michelson, John Harman, Alexis Lykiard.

Very Good copy, with some light edge wear.

File under: Isabelle Waldberg Marcel Duchamp Jean Painlevé Eli Lotar André Masson Pierre Klossowski Robert Lebel Isabelle Waldberg Marcel Duchamp Georges Bataille Michel Leiris Marcel Griaule Carl Einstein Robert Desnos Alastair Brotchie Atlas Press / London Art Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay Surrealism Eros Occult / Esoterica Philosophy

ZONE : Fragments for a History of the Human Body, Part 1—3 (complete set)
Edited by Michel Feher with Ramona Naddaff and Nadia Tazi

1989, English
3 Vols. softcovers, 500 + 560 + 584 pages, 23.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Zone Books / New York

$190.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

Complete set (3 volumes) of ZONE : Fragments for a History of the Human Body, published in 1989 by Zone Books, and all long out-of-print. The forty-eight essays and photographic dossiers in these three volumes examine the history of the human body as a field where life and thought intersect. They show how different cultures at different times have entwined physical capacities and mental mechanisms in order to construct a body adapted to moral ideas or social circumstances — the body of a charismatic citizen or a visionary monk, a mirror image of the world or a reflection of the spirit.

Each volume emphasizes a particular perspective. Part 1 explores the human body’s relationship to the divine, to the bestial, and to the machines that imitate or simulate it. Part 2 covers the junctures between the body’s “outside” and “inside” by studying the manifestations — or production — of the soul and the expression of the emotions and, on another level, by examining the speculations inspired by cenesthesia, pain, and death. Part 3 brings into play the classical opposition between organ and function by showing how organs or bodily substances can be used to justify or challenge the way human societies function and, conversely, how political and social functions tend to make the bodies of the persons filling them the organs of a larger body — the social body or the universe as a whole.

Among the contributors to Fragments for a History of the Human Body are Mark Elvin, Catherine Gallagher, Françoise Héritier-Augé, Julia Kristeva, William R. LaFleur, Thomas W. Laqueur, Jacques Le Goff, Nicole Loraux, Mario Perniola, Hillel Schwartz, Jean Starobinski, Jean-Pierre Vernant, and Caroline Walker Bynum.

“ZONE is unequivocally the most innovative, informative, and intellectually stimulating journal I have ever encountered…It belongs in all but the smallest personal, public, and academic collections.” —Library Journal

Very Good copies all, only light wear, light page tanning. All first editions, second printings.

File under: Michel Feher Ramona Naddaff Nadia Tazi Hal Foster Mark Elvin Catherine Gallagher Françoise Héritier-Augé Julia Kristeva William R. LaFleur Thomas W. Laqueur Jacques Le Goff Nicole Loraux Mario Perniola Hillel Schwartz Jean Starobinski Jean-Pierre Vernant Caroline Walker Bynum Zone Books / New York Theory / Essay Psychoanalysis Health Ancient / Medieval / Gothic Renaissance / Neoclassicism / Romanticism Art Eros Fashion Group Shows / Collections Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language Occult / Esoterica Out-of-print / Rare Performance / Dance / Theater Philosophy Periodicals Sociology / Politics Feminism LGBTQ+

Drawing Blood No. 3
Spring / Summer 1996

1996, English
Softcover (staple-bound), 84 pages, 27.5 x 21.5 cm
Signed by Wes Benscoter,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Fresh Blood Studios / Texas

$200.00 - In stock -

(more...)

(...less)

Insanely rare copy of "The Deadliest Art Magazine Ever Unearthed", Drawing Blood, issue no. 3, Spring / Summer 1996, with cover art and hand-signed colour centrefold by Wes Benscoter (illustrator for Slayer, Mortician, Kreator, Deceased, Cattle Decapitation, etc). This short-lived underground dark fantasy art / death metal magazine was self-published and printed in Texas in the mid 1990s in very limited numbers, dedicating its pages to the demonic dark arts — a new generation of gothic horror fantasy artists, professional and unknown, lavishly reproducing their artworks in glossy colour and b/w galleries, alongside interviews with the artists. It also features a tremendous line-up of exclusive band interviews by the editors and fellow contributors — this issue has Cannibal Corpse, Celtic Frost, Napalm Death, Samael, At The Gates, Hypocrisy, Moonspell, Hellwitch, Horror of Horrors, Judecca, As The Sea Parts, Descend. Visual artists featured this issue include Wes Benscoter (cover and signed pin-up), Lars Fruth, Lorianne Crolla Mychajluk, Brian Viveros, Nina Kempf, Vincent Meyer, Alain Vourna, Nizin, Skott Kautman, Troy Dunmire, Ty Remy, Alan Clayton, Will Lee, Andy Knerr, Mark Riddick. Edited by S.C. Carr. Nothing else like it, and the best context for this work, before the great flattening of CG art and the internet.

Very Good copy, well preserved.

File under: Cannibal Corpse Celtic Frost Napalm Death Samael At The Gates Hypocrisy Moonspell Hellwitch Horror of Horrors Judecca As The Sea Parts Descend Wes Benscoter Lorianne Crolla Mychajluk Fresh Blood Studios / Texas Occult / Esoterica Out-of-print / Rare Periodicals Sound / Music Art Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Signed Books

L'Ecran Démoniaque
by Lotte H. Eisner

1965, French
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 288 pages, 22.5 x 16.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Eric Losfeld / Paris

$120.00 - In stock -

(more...)

(...less)

The definitive Eric Losfield, Editions du Terrain Vague, 1965 hardcover illustrated edition of L'Ecran Démoniaque by renowned German-French film critic Lotte H. Eisner (1896—1983). Emigrating from Nazi Germany in 1933, the journalist and film critic met Henri Langlois and together co-founded the Cinémathèque Française, in 1934. In 1952, Lotte H. Eisner published her critically acclaimed book on German expressionist film, L'Ecran Démoniaque (The Demon Screen). A beautiful edition, complete with full filmography, index and plates.

The Golden Age of German cinema began at the end of the First World War and ended shortly after the coming of sound. From The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari onwards the principal films of this period were characterized by two influences: literary Expressionism, and the innovations of the theatre directors of this period, in particular Max Reinhardt. This book demonstrates the connection between German Romanticism and the cinema through Expressionist writings. It discusses the influence of the theatre: the handling of crowds; the use of different levels, and of selective lighting on a predominately dark stage; the reliance on formalized gesture; the innovation of the intimate theatre. Against this background the principal films of the period are examined in detail. The author explains the key critical concepts of the time, and surveys not only the work of the great directors, such as Fritz Lang and F. W. Murnau, but also the contribution of their writers, cameramen, and designers.

As The Times Literary Supplement wrote, "Mme. Eisner is first and foremost a film critic, and one of the best in the world. She has all the necessary gifts." And it described the original French edition of this book as "one of the very few classics of writing on the film and arguably the best book on the cinema yet written."

Original French language.

Lotte H. Eisner (1896—1983) was a German-French writer, film critic, archivist and curator. Eisner worked initially as a film critic in Berlin, then in Paris where in 1936 she met Henri Langlois with whom she founded the Cinémathèque Française.

Very Good copy in VG dust jacket preserved under original plastic jacket, minor edge wear.

File under: Fritz Lang Max Reinhardt F. W. Murnau Lotte H. Eisner Eric Losfeld / Paris Occult / Esoterica Film / Video Out-of-print / Rare Art Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction

Writing As Sculpture, 1978—1987
by Louwrien Wijers (w. Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, Dalai Lama, Robert Filliou...)

1996, English
Softcover (stiff french-folds), 280 pages, 30 x 21 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Academy Editions / London

$140.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

"It was Joseph Beuys who made us think of thinking as sculpture. It was Robert Filliou who said that invention replaced composition and that this broke down the barriers between the arts. I found working with metal unique, I loved the materials and the tools. But vast sculpture that worked with the mental ability of living people seemed much more of a timely thing to me. That was 1977. I changed from metal sculpture to mental sculpture."—Louwrien Wijers

Rare first 1996 edition of this unique publication by Dutch Fluxus artist and writer Louwrien Wijers, published in London by Academy Editions.

Inspired by artists Joseph Beuys and Robert Filliou, this collection of interviews grew from the author's passionate belief that a meeting and cross-fertilisation of some of the world's greatest minds could help break down barriers between the different disciplines - art, science, spirituality and economics - leading to an increased global tolerance and understanding. This book contains ground-breaking interviews with some of the most significant thinkers of the late twentieth century including Dalai Lama, Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, Robert Filliou, David Bohm, Fritjof Capra, Sogyal Rinpoche, Rupert Sheldrake, Francisco Varela and Harish Johari. These previously unpublished documents date from the period 1978-1987. With the addition of a large number of rare archive photographs, this book constitutes a unique part of the history of the avant-garde as well as proposing a new holistic way of looking at the world.

Writing As Sculpture contains the longest interview ever given by Andy Warhol.

"This publication 'Writing as Sculpture' shows how Joseph Beuys sent me to Andy Warhol with the same questions I had put to him, and how Andy Warhol sent me on to the Dalai Lama of Tibet, again with the same questions. When the answers of the Dalai Lama were so very similar to the answers Joseph Beuys had given, I wrote him a postcard from Dharamsala, India, as soon as I let the Dalai Lama's abode. On the card - it was an Indian colourprint of the Tibetan flag - I said: 'Dear Joseph, you have a brother here in the Himalayas, who thinks exactly the same way about the problems of today as you do.' Back in Europe, talking to Joseph Beuys on the phone, he told me: 'Louwrien, I want to meet the Dalai Lama and I want to make a permanent co-operation with him. This way we will make Eurasia happen.'[...]"—Louwrien Wijers

File under: Nam June Paik Louwrien Wijers Joseph Beuys Andy Warhol Robert Filliou Louwrien Wijers Dalai Lama David Bohm Fritjof Capra Sogyal Rinpoche Rupert Sheldrake Francisco Varela Harish Johari Academy Editions / London Sculpture / Installation Art Theory / Essay Philosophy Out-of-print / Rare Group Shows / Collections Painting Occult / Esoterica Sociology / Politics

Music of the Whole Earth
by David Reck

1977, English
Softcover, 545 pages, 27.5 x 21.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Scribners / New York

$70.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

First edition of Music of the Whole Earth from 1977.

"I look upon the musician/composer," David Reck has said, "as a carpenter of sound (also a poet/philosopher/and highwire artist). I am delighted by the processes of making and building (the bricks can be invisible) and doing and thinking. I like to be surprised (by myself and others). But I study music, and play it, primarily for that magical touch, an emotional contact with music itself that mystically makes me (and others) more human, more attuned to the ecology of ourselves and the world."

In this extraordinary 545-page book, ethnomusicologist David Reck "invites you to discover the musical universe. MUSIC OF THE WHOLE EARTH explores the richness and variety of sound, instruments, and music from many different cultures and a great variety of musical traditions. Tribal, folk, and classical music of India, Tibet, China, Japan, the American Indians, Southeast Asia, Java and Bali, Oceania/Polynesia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas — including pop, rock, jazz, soul, and country. The mythical origins of music, endangered musics, ensembles, the ecology of sound, and music in relation to art, magic, ritual, theater, dance, and life-styles. The anatomy and mechanics of instruments, with special sections on how to make them yourself. Profusely illustrated with photographs, drawings, maps, and diagrams, MUSIC OF THE WHOLE EARTH narrows the gap between the audience and the performer and between our own musical culture and that of other peoples."

Very Good copy.

File under: David Reck Scribners / New York Sound / Music Performance / Dance / Theater Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay Ecology Ecology / Earth Occult / Esoterica Art

SHIGERU MIZUKI
YŌKAI ART BOOK

1970, Japanese
Hardcover (w. illustrated slipcase), 266 pages, 23.5 x 16 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Asahi Sonorama / Tokyo

$200.00 - In stock -

(more...)

(...less)

Rare first 1970 slipcased hardcover edition of manga master Shigeru Mizuki's absolute classic illustrated encyclopedia of his beloved Yōkai (Japanese supernatural beings and phenomena), published in this gorgeous hardcover edition in illustrated slipcase by Ashahi Sonorama, here for the first time in 1970 and long out-of-print. A must for any lover of the illustrated weird by a master of the genre.

Shigeru Mizuki (1922–2015) was one of Japan’s most respected artists. A creative prodigy, he lost an arm in World War II. After the war, Mizuki became one of the founders of Japan’s latest craze—manga. He invented the yokai genre with GeGeGe no Kitaro, his most famous character, who has been adapted for the screen several times, as anime, live action, and video games. In fact, a new anime series has been made every decade since 1968, capturing the imaginations of generations of Japanese children. A researcher of yokai and a real-life ghost hunter, Mizuki traveled to over sixty countries to engage in fieldwork based on spirit folklore. In his hometown of Sakaiminato, one can find Shigeru Mizuki Road, a street decorated with bronze statues of his Kitaro characters.

VG in VG dj. Beautiful copy.

File under: Shigeru Mizuki Asahi Sonorama / Tokyo Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Out-of-print / Rare Art Drawing Occult / Esoterica Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic

Shigeru Mizuki
Yōkai Art Book

1985, Japanese
Hardcover, 264 pages, 23 x 16 cm
Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Asahi Sonorama / Tokyo

$120.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

1985 revised edition of manga master Shigeru Mizuki's absolute classic 1970 illustrated encyclopedia of his beloved Yōkai (Japanese supernatural beings and phenomena), published in this gorgeous hardcover clothbound edition by Ashahi Sonorama, long out-of-print. A must for any lover of the illustrated weird by a master of the genre.

Shigeru Mizuki (1922–2015) was one of Japan’s most respected artists. A creative prodigy, he lost an arm in World War II. After the war, Mizuki became one of the founders of Japan’s latest craze—manga. He invented the yokai genre with GeGeGe no Kitaro, his most famous character, who has been adapted for the screen several times, as anime, live action, and video games. In fact, a new anime series has been made every decade since 1968, capturing the imaginations of generations of Japanese children. A researcher of yokai and a real-life ghost hunter, Mizuki traveled to over sixty countries to engage in fieldwork based on spirit folklore. In his hometown of Sakaiminato, one can find Shigeru Mizuki Road, a street decorated with bronze statues of his Kitaro characters.

VG in VG dj.

File under: Shigeru Mizuki Shigeru Mizuki Asahi Sonorama / Tokyo Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Art Drawing Out-of-print / Rare Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Occult / Esoterica Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic

Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery with a Dissertation on the More Celebrated of the Alchemical Philosophers Being an Attempt Towards the Recovery of the Ancient Experiment of Nature
by Mary Anne Atwood

1918 / ?, English
Softcover, 597 pages, 26.5 x 19 cm
Out of print title / used / good
Published by Kessinger / Montana

$70.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

Complete academic facsimile reprint of the original historical 1918 edition. Includes the introduction by Walter Leslie Wilmshurst.

"Alchemy is philosophy; it is the philosophy, the seeking out of the Sophia in the mind."—Walter Leslie Wilmshurst

Mary Anne wrote A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery... at her father’s request, and in parallel with his own composition of a lengthy poem on the same subject. Thomas South (her father) paid for the book to be published anonymously in 1850, but without having read it, trusting his daughter’s judgement. Reading it after publication, he believed Mary Anne had revealed many hermetic secrets that were better left unpublished, and therefore bought up the remaining stock and, with his daughter, burnt them, along with the unfinished manuscript of his poem. Only a few copies of the book survived. Ms. Atwood published nothing after A Suggestive Inquiry...

Chapters: Theory of Transmutation; The Golden Treatise; The True Subject; The Mysteries; Experimental Method; Manifestation of the Matter; Mental Requisites and Impediments; The Gross Work; The Six Keys; Rewards and Potencies.

Walter Leslie Wilmshurst, in his 1918 introduction to the reissue, laments that the thoughts of her later years did not find fruition in another work. He claims, however, that there is much to be found in her papers, of which he was then in possession.

Good copy with some general wear, fold to back cover, very light erase-able pencil marginalia from previous (almost entirely as an index to inside front cover, very little through contents).

File under: Mary Anne Atwood Walter Leslie Wilmshurst Kessinger / Montana Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language Occult / Esoterica Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay

Hidden Symbolism Of Alchemy And The Occult Arts
By Herbert Silberer

1971, English
Softcover, 452 pages, 21.4 x 13.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Dover / New York

$45.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

First English 1971 edition of Herbert Silberer's examinations of alchemy and the occult, and his attempts to correlate the two crafts to the pursuit of psychoanalysis. First published in 1917, this text represents the extensive investigations Herbert Silberer undertook in order to map occurrences in the occult with the ascendant psychoanalytic disciplines present in the Vienna School of which he was part. This text is marked by its depth of research, with sources such as Hermes Trismegistus, Flamel, Lacinius, Michael Meier, Paracelsus, and Boehme quoted and drawn upon in service of Silberer's thesis. The support of alchemy as a spiritual movement, on the same level as the yoga traditions of the Indian subcontinent, is also notable.

Very Good copy.

File under: Herbert Silberer Dover / New York Psychoanalysis Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay Occult / Esoterica Ancient / Medieval / Gothic Art

Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot
Daniel A.I.U. Higgs

2007, English
‎Hardcover (w. audio cd), 48 pages, 24 x 16 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by Thrill Jockey Record / Chicago

$10.00 $5.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

First, out-of-print edition. Baltimore's Higgs is best known for his work as the lyricist and frontman of Lungfish, whose work on Dischord spans three decades. This release is a limited edition CD + full colour 48-page hardcover book of Daniels's paintings and writings and the second release in the Thrill Jockey book series (the first being "Hokane" by Aki Tsuyuko). The CD of guitar and piano drones, jew's harp, and banjo recorded by Daniel is inserted in the front cover of the book.

As New.

File under: Daniel Higgs Thrill Jockey Record / Chicago Sound / Music Painting Art Performance / Dance / Theater Objects / Ephemera / A/V Out-of-print / Rare Occult / Esoterica SALE

Harmonies of Heaven and Earth : The Spiritual Dimension of Music from Antiquity to the Avant-Garde
By Joscelyn Godwin

1987, English
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 208 pages, 24 x 16.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by Thames and Hudson / London

$90.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

Scarce original 1987 hardcover edition of Harmonies of Heaven and Earth, published by Thames & Hudson, London. Joscelyn Godwin explores music's effects on matter, living things, and human behavior. Turning to metaphysical accounts of the higher worlds and theories of celestial harmony, the author follows the path of musical inspiration on its descent to Earth, illuminating the archetypal currents that lie beneath Western musical history.

The power of music is spiritual. It is, for many people, the principal point of access to a consciousness beyond that of ordinary life. Musicians and listeners alike can read analyses of the physics or the psychology, the technique or the history of music; but there is a contemporary need, as Joscelyn Godwin reveals in this challenging book, for informed discussion of the almost too obvious fact that there is something supernatural in musical experience. This is that universal dimension of which Plato, Kepler, Rameau and Novalis wrote, and of which Wagner said: 'I feel that I am one with this vibrating Force, that it is omniscient, and that I can draw upon it to an extent that is limited only by my own capacity." The spiritual power of music surfaces in folklore, myth and mystical experience, refusing as music always does- to be bound by narrow rationalism. It embraces Heaven as well as Earth, the music of the spheres as well as the music that is played and sung.

Joscelyn Godwin begins his closely argued study with music's perceived effects on matter, on plants, on animals and on human behaviour. He then turns inward, to the absorbing accounts that have been given of the higher worlds that are the birthplace of Harmony, and of the realm of pure Intelligence which lies both within and beyond. To hear music, however, we need composers and performers, and the argument then follows Harmony on its descent from Heaven to Earth. This descent takes place in the musician's inspiration, in the listener's experience, and in the world at large; for archetypal currents run beneath the surface of musical history, in the centuries that encompass the polyphony of Perotin or J.S. Bach and the psychic impact of Webern, Stockhausen and rock'n'roll. A self-contained final section embodies the fullest account ever given of ancient and modern theoretical systems of celestial harmony, from Pythagoras to Marius Schneider, Rudolf Steiner and Gurdjieff.

Joscelyn Godwin was born in Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England on January 16, 1945. He was educated as a chorister at Christ Church Cathedral School, Oxford, then at Radley College (Music Scholar), and Magdalene College, Cambridge (Music Scholar; B.A., 1965, Mus. B., 1966, M.A. 1969). Coming to the USA in 1966, he did graduate work in Musicology at Cornell University (Ph. D., 1969; dissertation: "The Music of Henry Cowell") and taught at Cleveland State University for two years before joining the Colgate University Music Department in 1971. He has taught at Colgate ever since.

Near Fine in VG—NF dust jacket. Beautifully preserved, unread.

File under: Karlheinz Stockhausen Jean-Philippe Rameau Pérotin Johann Sebastian Bach Anton Webern Plato Johannes Kepler Rudolf Steiner Joscelyn Godwin Novalis George Gurdjieff Marius Schneider Thames and Hudson / London Theory / Essay Sound / Music Out-of-print / Rare Philosophy Art Renaissance / Neoclassicism / Romanticism Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Ancient / Medieval / Gothic Occult / Esoterica

Remedios Varo
La Obra De Remedios Varo

1964, Spanish
Softcover (staple-bound), 36 pages, 21.5 x 21.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Museo de Arte Moderno / Mexico City Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes / Mexico City

$300.00 - In stock -

(more...)

(...less)

Very rare 1964 catalogue of surrealist Remedios Varo (1908—1963), recorded as the first book devoted solely to the work of Varo, published on the occasion of the major survey exhibition presented by the Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno and Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, August 3—31, 1964. Profusely illustrated throughout with the paintings of Varo reproduced in colour and b/w, plus portrait of the artist. Introduction by Horacio Flores-Sanchez, essays by Raul Flores Guerrero and Carlos Pellicer. Texts in Spanish. A wonderful historical document of a visionary artist.

Remedios Varo (1908—1963)
During her childhood in Spain, Varo was influenced by her engineer father, who taught her to draw, and her strict Catholic schooling, against which she rebelled. Following her graduation from art school, she pursued Surrealism and political change. She moved to Paris in 1937, later finding that she could not return to Spain following the Spanish Civil War. Varo associated and exhibited with the Surrealists, exploring magic, alchemy, and analytical psychology. As World War II threatened Paris, Spanish refugees came under threat. Varo was arrested and held in early 1940. After her release, she fled Paris in the face of the Nazi invasion, and by late 1941 had secured passage to Mexico. In Mexico, Varo remained friends with fellow refugees from her European Surrealist circle, including artist Leonora Carrington, who became her closest friend and collaborator. In the late 1940s, as she supported herself through commercial illustration, Varo began to develop her mature personal style. During succeeding decades, she devoted increased time and energy to her art, and she delved further into the fantastical sources that captured her imagination. Her death of a heart attack in 1963 occurred as she was reaching new renown.

Very Good copy with light wear to boards. Previous owner inscription to inside front cover.

File under: Remedios Varo Horacio Flores-Sanchez Raul Flores Guerrero Carlos Pellicer Museo de Arte Moderno / Mexico City Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes / Mexico City Surrealism Out-of-print / Rare Art Painting Feminism Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Drawing Occult / Esoterica

Mount Analogue
René Daumal

1968, English
Softcover, 106 pages, 20.5 x 14 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by City Lights Books / San Francisco

$120.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

Rare first City Lights 1968 English language edition of this classic allegorical adventure novel by early 20th-century French spiritual para-surrealist writer, critic, poet, and early, outspoken practitioner of pataphysics, René Daumal (1908-1944). Translated and introduced by Roger Shattuck.

A touchstone of Surrealism, Pataphysics, and Gurdjieffian mysticism, Mount Analogue was left unfinished (mid-sentence) at the author's early death from tuberculosis in 1944 and first published posthumously in French in 1952, and the book has inspired seekers of art and wisdom ever since - Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 film The Holy Mountain is a loose adaptation.

As Daumal writes, “Mount Analogue is the symbolic mountain—the way that unites Heaven and Earth, a way which must exist in material and human form, otherwise our situation would be without hope.”

Roger Shattuck’s 1959 translation, the first made into English, remains the best and closest in spirit to the deadly serious joking of the original.

VG copy with light tanning and foxing to book edges.

File under: Rene Daumal Roger Shattuck City Lights Books / San Francisco Surrealism Out-of-print / Rare Fiction / Poetry 'Pataphysics / Oulipo Occult / Esoterica Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction

Rasa, or Knowledge of the Self
by René Daumal

1982, English
Softcover, 108 pages, 20.2 x 13.4 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by New Directions / New York

$70.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

Rare first New Directions 1982 edition of Rasa, or Knowledge of the Self, by early 20th-century French spiritual para-surrealist writer, critic, poet, and early, outspoken practitioner of pataphysics, René Daumal (1908-1944). Translated with an introduction by Louise Landes Levi.

Rasa, or Knowledge of the Self; is the remarkable, and now very scarce, first gathering in English translation of essays and review articles on Hindu aesthetics and translations from the Sanskrit by the French writer Rene Daumal. A member of the Simplist group associated from 1928 to 1932 with the journal Le Grand feu ("The Great Game"), he began cultivating his East Indian studies as an extension of his active pursuit of the avant-garde. In 1932, he made the acquaintance of Uday Shankar, becoming secretary to the latter's Hindu dance troupe and accompanying it that year on its premier American tour. In his efforts to make Shankar's music and dance comprehensible to Western audiences, Daumal developed into a passionate spokesman for Indian culture, and his subsequent writings on the subject are far removed from the usual dry philological speculations of academic Orientalists. "To Approach the Hindu Poetic Art" differentiates between the Indian and European views of aesthetic experience, with special emphasis on the concept of rasa—that is, "taste" or "savor"—which Daumal sees at the heart of all Hindu art. Two essays—"On Indian Music" and "Concerning Uday Shankar"—were written at the time of Shankar's Western tour, while the selection of Daumal's "Oriental Book Reviews" deals with topics, such as The Tibetan Book of the Dead, which were only to spark general interest in the West decades later. The remaining sections of the collection are translations from the Sanskrit that attempt to resonate against language's deepest core.

Good copy with insect nibbles to cover edges.

File under: Uday Shankar Rene Daumal Louise Landes Levi New Directions / New York Surrealism Out-of-print / Rare Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language Whole Earth / Crafts Sound / Music Theory / Essay Occult / Esoterica Performance / Dance / Theater Art 'Pataphysics / Oulipo

Mount Analogue
by René Daumal

1986, English
Softcover, 118 pages, 20 x 13 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Penguin Books / London

$30.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

1986 King Penguin English language edition of this classic allegorical adventure novel by early 20th-century French spiritual para-surrealist writer, critic, poet, and early, outspoken practitioner of pataphysics, René Daumal (1908-1944). Translated and introduced by Roger Shattuck.

A touchstone of Surrealism, Pataphysics, and Gurdjieffian mysticism, Mount Analogue was left unfinished (mid-sentence) at the author's early death from tuberculosis in 1944 and first published posthumously in French in 1952, and the book has inspired seekers of art and wisdom ever since - Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 film The Holy Mountain is a loose adaptation.

As Daumal writes, “Mount Analogue is the symbolic mountain—the way that unites Heaven and Earth, a way which must exist in material and human form, otherwise our situation would be without hope.”

Roger Shattuck’s 1959 translation, the first made into English, remains the best and closest in spirit to the deadly serious joking of the original.

Good—VG copy with tanning to pages and single pinch to spine.

File under: Rene Daumal Roger Shattuck Penguin Books / London Surrealism Out-of-print / Rare Fiction / Poetry Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction 'Pataphysics / Oulipo Occult / Esoterica

Le Sang et La Rose No. 1, 1968

1968, Japanese / French
Softcover, 228 pages, 23 x 18 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Tensei Shuppan / Tokyo

$110.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

Revue de Érotologie, Homosexualité, Sadisme, Masochisme, Fétischisme, Narcissime, Infantilisme, Magie, Occultisme, Humour Noir, Complexe Psychisme. What more could you ask for? Le Sang Et La Rose is a masterpiece of the Japanese underground. A groundbreaking, powerful, yet short-lived Japanese arts and literary journal published in Tokyo from late 1968—mid 1969, published in a total of four luxurious, now collectible, volumes. The first three issues were edited by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (1928—1987), a legendary, controversial Japanese novelist, art critic, translator of French writers such as Jean Cocteau, Georges Bataille and Marquis de Sade, and specialist in medieval demonology. The importance of this magazine to the Japanese avant-garde and radical culture cannot be overstated.

Born from a period of political, social and economical turmoil in Japan, Le Sang Et La Rose may be understood as a emblematic distillation and product of the late ‘60s student rebellion and anti-authoritarian underground culture. Wilfully politically subversive, the publication drew upon a vast range of perspectives - from criticism, literature, obscure esoteric sciences, art, eroticism, radical avant-garde and a historical-rooted Japanese counterculture; featuring literature, theory, art, photography, illustration and graphic design from the most innovative and subversive Japanese and international (predominately French) artists, authors and critics, spanning the themes above. As instigator, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa in effect formulated the magazine’s design to be a spiritual and political operative that would weaponize its readers minds. This stance was made clear in the 1969 manifesto text — "My 1969" — in which Shibusawa discuss' how he perceived the ‘60s as being the age of ideas, ideas as weapons, and outlined a distain towards systems of power, moralism, State oppression, sanitised and harmless liberalism, dogmatic academic sciences and an outright distrust for ideological, progressive literary scholars who advocate "freedom of expression", but have never caused friction with the judicial power. The magazine sketched out an aim to push towards a new kind of personal freedom, intellect, autonomy and moral compass. Here, the concept of ‘erotism’ — as discussed by Georges Bataille in his highly influential 1957 book "Erotism: Death and Sensuality" — acts as a critical force. 

Issue no. 1 (1968) sets the scene perfectly, opening with Japanese author Yukio Mishima depicted as Saint Sebastian by photographer Kishin Shinoyama in a pictorial feature "Les Morts Masculines", a photographic homage to Georges Bataille that also features the photography of Eikoh Hosoe, Ikkō Narahara, Masahisa Fukase, and Osamu Hayasaki, with models including Butoh founder Tatsumi Hijikata, actor Akira Mita, author Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, actor Jin Nakayama, playwright Jūrō Kara, and others. Other features include " All Japanese are Perverse" — stories by Japanese writers including Yukio Mishima, Taruho Inagaki, Yutaka Haniya, Shinji Sōya; Henry Miller's letters to Anais Nin; a colour gallery of artwork by Belgian painter Paul Delvaux; articles on Vampire fantasy in the arts (including many original illustrations; Witches (illustrated by James Ensor); Oriental Eros, Ancient Indian poetry; Kama Sutra; female bi-sexuality; the history of gay (Danshoku) theatre in Japan; the full-colour art gallery "Masturbation Machine", featuring avant-garde artists Natsuyuki Nakanishi, Masuo Ikeda, Setsu Nagasawa, Carlos Marchioli, Kuniyoshi Kaneko, Masakazu Horiuchi, Tadanori Yokoo, Koji Suzuki, Tommy Ungerer; the fully illustrated museum supplement "Pain and Pleasure : On Torture" by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa with artworks throughout history; pornographic stories by Guillaume Apollinaire and Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne (who coined the term "Pornographer"); fiction by Pierre Morion (pseudo. André Pieyre de Mandiargues); critic Jin'ichi Uekusa on the controversial writings of Roger Peyrefitte, illustrations by Ernst, Bellmer, Labisse, Fini, Lam, and much more.

Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (1928—1987), was a well-known and controversial Japanese novelist, art critic, and translator of French writers such as Jean Cocteau, Georges Bataille and Marquis de Sade. In 1960 he and his publisher, Kyōji Ishii, were trialled for public obscenity over the publishing of Shibusawa's translation of de Sade's Juliette into the Japanese language. What was to be known as the "Sade Trial" took 9 years and although many of Japan's leading authors testified for the defense, in 1969 the Japanese Supreme Court ruled them guilty and charged. This did not deter Shibusawa, whose essays on black magic, demonology and eroticism were popular reading in Japan, and in 1981 he was awarded the 9th Izumi Kyoka Literature Prize.

Good copy with some spine damage and tanning/wear.

File under: Max Ernst Léonor Fini Felix Labisse Wilfredo Lam Hans Bellmer Paul Delvaux Natsuyuki Nakanishi Masuo Ikeda Setsu Nagasawa Carlos Marchioli Kuniyoshi Kaneko Masakazu Horiuchi Tadanori Yokoo Koji Suzuki Tommy Ungerer Tatsumi Hijikata Tatsuhiko Shibusawa Eikoh Hosoe Ikkō Narahara Masahisa Fukase Osamu Hayasaki Kishin Shinoyama James Ensor Tatsuhiko Shibusawa Jin'ichi Uekusa Roger Peyrefitte Yukio Mishima Taruho Inagaki Yutaka Haniya Shinji Sōya Henry Miller Suehiro Tanemura Guillaume Apollinaire Andre Pieyre De Mandiargues Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne Jūrō Kara Tensei Shuppan / Tokyo Fiction / Poetry Japanese Photography Occult / Esoterica Philosophy Photography Art Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Fetishism / BDSM LGBTQ+ Eros Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Out-of-print / Rare Periodicals Counterculture Surrealism Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Ancient / Medieval / Gothic

Le Sang et La Rose No. 4, 1969

1969, Japanese
Softcover, 286 pages, 23 x 18 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Tensei Shuppan / Tokyo

$140.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

Revue de Érotologie, Homosexualité, Sadisme, Masochisme, Fétischisme, Narcissime, Infantilisme, Magie, Occultisme, Humour Noir, Complexe Psychisme. What more could you ask for? Le Sang Et La Rose was a groundbreaking, powerful, yet short-lived Japanese arts and literary journal published in Tokyo from late 1968—mid 1969, in a total of four luxurious, now collectible, volumes. The first three issues were edited by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (1928—1987), a well-known and controversial Japanese novelist, art critic, and translator of French writers such as Jean Cocteau, Georges Bataille and Marquis de Sade, and this, the fourth final issue, and rarest of the four, edited by critic Masaaki Hiraoka and especially designed by self-taught painter, graphic designer and political activist, Kiyoshi Awazu (!)

Born from a period of political, social and economical turmoil in Japan, Le Sang Et La Rose may be understood as a emblematic distillation and product of the late ‘60s student rebellion and anti-authoritarian underground culture. Wilfully politically subversive, the publication drew upon a vast range of perspectives - from criticism, literature, obscure esoteric sciences, art, eroticism, radical avant garde and a historical-rooted Japanese counterculture; featuring literature, theory, art, photography, illustration and graphic design from the most innovative Japanese and international (predominately French) artists, authors and critics, spanning the themes above. Much like an instigator, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa in effect formulated the magazine’s design as principally to be a spiritual and political operative that would weaponize its readers minds. This stance was made clear in the 1969 manifesto text — "My 1969" — in which Shibusawa discuss' how he perceived the ‘60s as being the age of ideas, ideas as weapons, and outlined a distain towards systems of power, moralism, State oppression, sanitised and harmless liberalism, dogmatic academic sciences and an outright distrust for ideological, progressive literary scholars who advocate "freedom of expression", but have never caused friction with the judicial power. The magazine sketched out an aim to push towards a new kind of personal freedom, intellect, autonomy and moral compass. Here, the concept of ‘erotism’ — as discussed by Georges Bataille in his highly influential 1957 book "Erotism: Death and Sensuality" — acts as a critical force. 

Issue no. 4 includes photographic features by cinematographer Yasuhiro Yoshioka (Woman in the Dunes, Kwaidan, The Face of Another, Diary of a Shinjuku Thief), work by pioneering, self-taught visual artist and designer, Kiyoshi Awazu, Hans Bellmer, illustrations by the incredible Hiroshi Nakamura, sadomasochism in cinema, Ukiyo-e and Shunga art (erotic Japanese prints), writings by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, Yukio Mishima, Taruho Inagaki, Jun’nosuke Yoshiyuki, Kôichi Iijima, Jûrô Kara, Ikuya Kato, Minoru Yoshioka, Masaaki Hiraoka, Tadanori Yokoo, and Ryûichi Tamura.   Much more....

Very Good copy.

File under: Yasuhiro Yoshioka Kiyoshi Awazu Hans Bellmer Hiroshi Nakamura Tatsuhiko Shibusawa Yukio Mishima Taruho Inagaki Jun’nosuke Yoshiyuki Kôichi Iijima Jûrô Kara Ikuya Kato Minoru Yoshioka Ryûichi Tamura Masaaki Hiraoka Tadanori Yokoo Tensei Shuppan / Tokyo Periodicals Art Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Surrealism Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Eros Photography Japanese Photography Out-of-print / Rare Philosophy Theory / Essay Fiction / Poetry Counterculture Fetishism / BDSM Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Occult / Esoterica Ancient / Medieval / Gothic

The Dance of Moon and Sun : Ithell Colquhoun, British Women and Surrealism

2023, English
Hardcover, 256 pages, 25.4 x 18 cm
Published by Fulgur Press / UK

$84.00 - In stock -

(more...)

(...less)

Essays on the art and writings of the long-neglected British occultist and Surrealist.

Straddling the worlds of Surrealism, occultism and modernist literature, Ithell Colquhoun (1906-88) was widely respected in her lifetime, but her transgressive, esoteric and poetic paintings and writings were long neglected until Richard Shillitoe's 2009 book Ithell Colquhoun: Magician Born of Nature initiated her revaluation--followed by Fulgur's 2016 publication Decad of Intelligence, the Tate's 2019 acquisition of more than 5,000 Colquhoun works and Amy Hale's 2020 biography. Colquhoun occupies a unique place within the lineage of occult Surrealist painters such as Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo, as her presence in the 2022 Venice Biennale exhibition Milk of Dreams demonstrated.

This volume is the first critical examination of her diverse legacy, compiling papers from a 2018 conference on Colquhoun and her contemporaries Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini and Stella Snead. Contributors explore themes of authorship and agency, Colquhoun's drawing practice, her Celtic motifs, British Surrealism and alchemy.

File under: Ithell Colquhoun Leonora Carrington Leonor Fini Stella Snead Tilly Craig Victoria Ferentinou Fulgur Press / UK Surrealism Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Feminism Painting Drawing Art Theory / Essay Occult / Esoterica

Infernal Proteus (A Musical Herbal)

2002, English
Hardcover + 4 CD, 96 pages, 23.5 x 16 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by The Anja Offensive / Oregon

$45.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

First hardcover edition of this luxurious hardcover book and 4 x CD cross-pollination of sound and botany, published in 2022 by Anja Offensive in Oregon. 40 artists are invited to choose a plant, herb or tree they resonate with and craft a song to honour it. From free folk to industrial, neoclassical to dark ambient, each artist contributes to 4 discs with a playtime averaging 67 minutes per disc, as well as artwork, texts, passages, lyrics, quotations, credits to the lavish full-colour art book — a directory of artistic botanical dedications. Includes Makoto Kawabata, Steve Roden, Aube, Lotus Eaters, In Gowan Ring, Allerseelen, Troum, Michael Northam, Apoptose, and many more.

Very Good—Fine copy, all CDs fine.

File under: Makoto Kawabata Steve Roden Aube Lotus Eaters In Gowan Ring Allerseelen Troum Michael Northam Apoptose The Anja Offensive / Oregon Sound / Music Objects / Ephemera / A/V Out-of-print / Rare Ecology / Earth Occult / Esoterica