World Food Books

Unica Zürn et Hans Bellmer

1992, French / Japanese
Softcover (french-folds w. parchment dust-jacket and obi-strip),
Ed. of 950, first hand-numbered ed. 19/50,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Taito Vision / Tokyo

$180.00 - In stock -

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Stunning, very rare Japanese publication collecting the works of married Surrealist artist-couple Unica Zürn and Hans Bellmer, issued in a limited edition of 950 copies by Taito Vision in 1992. This copy scarcer still, being one of the first edition of 50 hand-numbered copies (no.19/50). Contents include colour reproductions of Unica Zürn's print series "Oracles et Spectacles", published in 1967 after a series of drawings created by Zürn during a 1960 hospitalization caused by a clinically diagnosed psychotic episode. They are accompanied here by a selection of her anagrammatic poetry and a hommage to Zürn by husband Bellmer. These are followed by colour reproductions of Hans Bellmer's "Petit Traité de Morale" print series from 1966-68. Accompanied by biographies, a series of texts in Japanese, a full catalogue and portraits of the artists. A stunning book making these wonderful print editions by two important Surrealists available together in book-form.

Very Good copy in Very Good dust jacket protected in publisher's removable parchment jacket and publisher's obi-strip (both not pictured here, both with some tanning and wear). A most complete and limited copy.

File under: Unica Zürn Hans Bellmer Taito Vision / Tokyo Surrealism Out-of-print / Rare Art Drawing Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Eros Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Painting

Floating Islands
by Joyce Mansour

2026, English
Softcover, 115 pages, 20.2 x 12.8 cm
Published by Invisible Publishing / Canada

$42.00 - Out of stock

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Three works that bookend Joyce Mansour's two decades of published fiction.

"Floating Islands" is Joyce Mansour's most personal and unsettling work of prose. Set almost entirely within a hospital in Geneva, this work chronicles the slow collapse of boundaries between visitor and patient, authority and submission, imagination and extinction. What begins as an act of filial duty becomes an existential entrapment, as the narrator is absorbed into the institution's rhythms and hierarchies.

Doctors and nurses embody a cruel vitality, their health weaponized against the dying. Patients drift through states of dependency, hallucination, and rage. Bodies leak, fail, and betray their owners, while language splinters under the pressure of describing what polite discourse refuses to name. The hospital is a place for arrivals and departures, and it is where Mansour stages her own farewell: "Floating Islands," her final work of narrative prose, marks an important shift in her creative life in which she begins to look outward, rather than inward, for inspiration.

Rooted in Surrealism yet strikingly contemporary, "Floating Islands" (1973) is collected here alongside Mansour's earliest prose works, "Julius Caesar" (1955) and "The Parrot" (1956), a combination that reads as both culmination and reckoning: a final confrontation with mortality, authorship, and the limits of imagination.

File under: Joyce Mansour Joyce Mansour Invisible Publishing / Canada Fiction / Poetry Art Surrealism Transgressive / Visceral / Abject

Xanadu, Pennsylvania
by Alex Osman

2026, English
Softcover, 188 pages, 15.2 x ‎10.2 cm
Published by Filthy Loot / Ames

$25.00 - In stock -

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Welcome to Xanadu, PA. In this town, Olivia Newton-John reigns, her music videos appear on every TV, fist fights are common, some children kill while others make trouble, hearts are broken, and drugs and alcohol are household items. This was once a thriving small town. I don’t know what went wrong. But one thing’s for sure: You can't escape her out here.

File under: Alex Osman Filthy Loot / Ames Fiction / Poetry Transgressive / Visceral / Abject

Meat is Murder!: New Edition: An Illustrated Guide to Cannibal Culture
by Mikita Brottman

1997 / 2001, English
Softcover, 246 pages, 24.5 x 17 cm
Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Creation Books / London

$65.00 - In stock -

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2001 updated edition of Brottman's classic study of cannibalism in film, first issued in 1997.

Violent death, murder, mutilation, gluttony and defaecation, ritualism, bodily extremes; cannibalism combines these taboo themes to represent one of the most symbolically charged narratives in the human psychic repertoire. As a grotesque figure of power, threat, and primal appetites, the cannibal has played a formidable and enduring role in the tales told by members of all cultures - whether oral, written, or filmic - and embodies the ultimate extent of transgressive behaviour to which human beings can be driven.

Meat Is Murder! is a unique and explicit exploration of cannibal culture from classical myth to contemporary film and fiction. It features an in-depth illustrated critique of cannibalism as portrayed in the cinema, from mondo and exploitation films such as Cannibal Holocaust to arthouse classics and horror movies such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It also details the atrocious crimes of real-life cannibals such as Albert Fish, Ed Gein, Jeffrey Dahmer and Andrei Chikatilo.

This improved, expanded edition includes a brand new chapter on cannibal zombie films such as Dawn Of The Dead, Zombie Flesh Eaters and Braindead, plus 8 color pages of cannibal carnage and screen gore, and is fully updated.

VG copy with some wear to covers/extremities.

File under: Mikita Brottman Creation Books / London Film / Video Crime / Violence Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay Art

Killing for Culture: Death Film from Mondo to Snuff
by David Kerekes & David Slater

1995 / 1998, English
Softcover, 286 pages, 24.5 x 17 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Creation Books / London

$80.00 - In stock -

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From Peeping Tom to Videodrome, Mondo Cane to "shockumentaries", Faces of Death to live TV suicides.

The 1994 cult classic, in the updated and revised 1995 edition, Killing for Culture: Death Film from Mondo to Snuff by David Kerekes & David Slater, the definitive investigation into that controversial and inflammatory of all urban myths: the "snuff" movie. Including: Feature film, Mondo film, Death film, and a comprehensive filmography and index. Illustrated by rare and stunning photographs from cinema, documentary and real life, Killing for Culture is a vital book which examines and questions the human obsession with images of violence, dismemberment and death, and the way our society is coping with an increased profusion of these disturbing yet compelling images from all quarters.

G—VG copy with light wear to covers, previous owner's name to inside front cover. 1998 print of 1995 ed.

File under: David Kerekes David Slater Creation Books / London Film / Video Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Crime / Violence Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction

Deathtripping: The Cinema of Transgression
by Jack Sargeant

1995 / 1999, English
Softcover, 272 pages, 24.5 x 17 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Creation Books / London

$80.00 - In stock -

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Expanded 1999 print of the first 1995 Creation edition of Deathtripping, the first illustrated history, account and critique of the "Cinema Of Transgression", providing a long-overdue and comprehensive documentation of this essential modern sub-cultural movement and its roots in the New York art/rock and underground film scenes. Including interviews with key transgressive film-makers, including Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, Casandra Stark, Beth B, Tommy Turner, Tessa Hughes-Freeland, plus collaborators Lydia Lunch, Joe Coleman and David Wojnarowicz; studies of more recent film-makers including Jeri Cain Rossi, Richard Baylor, Todd Phillips; a brief history of underground/trash cinema: Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, George and Mike Kuchar, John Waters; notes and essays on the philosophy and aesthetics of transgression; extensive film analysis; index and bibliography. Heavily illustrated with rare and often disturbing photographs, Deathtripping is a unique document, the definitive guide to the roots, philosophy and development of a style of film-making whose influence and impact can no longer be ignored.

WARNING: CONTAINS ADULT MATERIAL

VG copy.

File under: Richard Kern Nick Zedd Casandra Stark Beth B Tommy Turner Tessa Hughes-Freeland Lydia Lunch Joe Coleman David Wojnarowicz Jeri Cain Rossi Richard Baylor Todd Phillips Andy Warhol Jack Smith George Kuchar Mike Kuchar John Waters Jack Sargeant Creation Books / London Eros Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Art Film / Video Sound / Music Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay Fetishism / BDSM LGBTQ+ Drugs / Psychedelia Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Counterculture

Hans Bellmer
Ars Erotica (Bellmer-Graphik)

1970, German
Softcover (w. dust jacket), 118 pages, 21 x 17 cm
Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Studio 69 / Cologne

$100.00 - Out of stock

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First edition, edited and designed by Galerie Sydow's Heinrich Sydow-Zirkwitz, this beautiful book of Hans Bellmer's graphic works was published as a special project between Studio 69 in Cologne and Galerie Sydow in Frankfurt to accompany the exhibition "Ars Erotica" in 1970. Handsomely printed with spot-colour over-printing and illustrated throughout with Bellmer's graphic famous graphic series' "Bellmer à Sade" (1961), "Petite Traité de Morale" (1965) and illustrations for Georges Bataille's "Madame Edwarda" (1965). Includes text by Horst Albert Glaser. A very handsome collection and one of the nicest Bellmer books.

Very Good copy in Good dust jacket with light tanning to spine/edges, dustiness.

File under: Hans Bellmer Heinrich Sydow-Zirkwitz Horst Albert Glaser Georges Bataille Comte de Lautreamont Studio 69 / Cologne Art Out-of-print / Rare Eros Drawing Surrealism Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque

Scene of Death
Corpse Photo Collection

1984, Japanese / English
Slipcase, corrugated envelope, 64 looseleaf plates, 29.7 x 21 cm
Stamped and numbered,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by B-Sellers / Japan

$300.00 - In stock -

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Very rare first stunning printing of Scene of Death, a rare 1984 death photo collection, published by B-Sellers in Japan only, compiled by Noriaki Nakagawa, Hitomi Komukai, and Yoichi Shihata. An elaborate and beautiful print production of the macabre. Housed in an illustrated slipcase within a stamped, button-and-tie-bound corrugated envelope, 64 looseleaf monochrome photographic plates reproduce images from "Atlas der Gerichtsmedizin", an absolutely fascinating collection by Weiman / Prokop, first published in 1963. Atlas der Gerichtsmedizin was originally a serious German scientific reference book for criminal investigators and those in the medical field — a photo scrapbook of thousands of images of graphic human death scenes — suffocation and strangulation, drowning and death by water, death by burning and electrocution, crimes of passion, abuse and neglect, and more. In turn, this visual opus became a bible of reference imagery to a wave of musicians, artists and authors during the industrial avant-garde, from Throbbing Gristle to Paul Buck to Atrax Morgue. This meticulous and unique Japanese offering further influenced many Japanese artists in the 1980s—1990's. Later re-printed in 1994.

Stamped and numbed first printing.

"We believe the scenes of death is, in one sense, the most erotic of human nature. It is at the time of death that man no longer can attempt to control his inner self and therefore the real self appears vividly. Here we have opened the doors to a topic that is usually not only hidden but also shut out of the minds of man. Please share our excitement and take a glance into the world of hidden eroticism"—Scene of Death blurb.

VG—NF copy in VG—NF slipcase, all plates still wrapped in seldom preserved internal obi strip. Some wear/rusting to envelope buttons.

File under: B-Sellers / Japan Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Crime / Violence Photography Out-of-print / Rare

Nightmare USA : The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents
by Stephen Thrower

2007, English
Hardcover, 528 pages, 25 x 28.9 cm
Published by FAB Press / UK

$110.00 - Out of stock

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Running to 528 large-format pages, Nightmare USA is a veritable encyclopedia of grindhouse cinema - it's one of the most acclaimed genre film books ever published, and after having Sold Out three times over already, it's finally back in print!

From Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill) to Eli Roth (Hostel), the young guns of modern Hollywood just can't get enough of that exploitation film high. That's because, between 1970 and 1985, American Exploitation movies went berserk. With censorship relaxed, and the gate to excess wide open, horror offered a vibrant alternative to the mainstream of American cinema. Luridly titled wonders like The Headless Eyes, Scream Bloody Murder and Hitch Hike to Hell were everywhere, from the drive-ins of Texas to the grindhouses of New York. Massively popular around the world, American exploitation movies added immensely to the richness of the nation's cinema.

Built on five years of research, Nightmare USA explores the development of America's subterranean horror film industry, spotlighting some of the wildest films imaginable from an era unchecked by censorship or 'good taste.' Ranging from cult favourites like I Drink Your Blood to stylish mind-benders like Messiah of Evil and shockers like Don't Go in the House, Nightmare USA goes where no other in-depth study has gone before, revealing the fascinating true stories behind classics and obscurities alike. Author Stephen Thrower has explored the attics and cellars of American cinema, delved beneath the floorboards, peered between the walls, searching for the strangest, most exotic cine-lifeforms... Nightmare USA is the reader's guide to what lies beyond the mainstream of American horror, dispelling the shadows to meet the men and women behind fifteen years of screen terror: the Exploitation Independents!

This massive overview of the Horror genre's development through the 1970s and 1980s features: In-depth EXCLUSIVE interviews with twenty-five grindhouse movie makers, many of whom are discussing their work for the first time ever in print, including David Durston (I Drink Your Blood), Robert Endelson (Fight for Your Life), Frederick Friedel (Axe), Don Jones (Schoolgirls in Chains); and Joseph Ellison (Don't Go in the House). Over 175 individual films reviewed, with full cast and crew credits. Vast quantities of previously unpublished stills, posters, press-books, plus behind-the-scenes photographs from the filmmakers' own collections.

File under: Stephen Thrower FAB Press / UK Film / Video Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Theory / Essay Transgressive / Visceral / Abject

OUT OF ACTIONS: Between Performance and The Object, 1949-1979
by Paul Schimmel

1998, English
Softcover, 408 pages, 31 x 22 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Thames and Hudson / London

$55.00 - Out of stock

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First edition of Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object, 1949-1979, edited by Paul Schimmel, published in 1998. with essays by Kristine Stiles, Guy Brett, Hubert Klocker, Shinichiro Osaki, and Paul Schimmel.

Published to coincide with the first major museum exhibition to examine the complex relationship linking the creative process, action or performance, and works of art in the postwar period. Featuring nearly one hundred and fifty artists and collaboratives from approximately twenty countries in Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Japan, and North and South America—including figures associated with the New York School, Nouveaux Realistes, Fluxus, Viennese Actionists, Hi Red Center, Arte Povera, the Gutai group, happenings, process art, and performance art—the exhibition centered on how the possibilities and implications of using time and process as elements of art were realized by a number of international movements during this influential thirty-year period.

Covering three decades of significant and original art, this lavishly illustrated book features work by more than one hundred artists from across the world who have had a profound impact on the relationship between visual and performance art in the postwar era.

Includes the work of: Marina Abramović, Vito Acconci, Genpei Akasegawa, Laurie Anderson, Eleanor Antin, Rasheed Araeen, Mowry Baden, Artur Barrio, Jerzy Beres, Joseph Beuys, Mark Boyle & Joan Hills, George Brecht, Stuart Brisley, Robert Delford Brown, Rhett Delford Brown, Günter Brus, Chris Burden, James Lee Byars, John Cage, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Lygia Clark, Pinchas Cohen Gan, Collective Action Group, Houston Conwill, Paul Cotton, COUM Transmissions, Guy de Cointet, Jim Dine, John Duncan, Felipe Ehrenberg, Roberto Evangelista, VALIE EXPORT, Robert Filliou, Rose Finn-Kelcey, Sherman Fleming, Lucio Fontana, Terry Fox, Howard Fried, Gideon Gechtman, Jochen Gerz, Gilbert & George, Alberto Greco, Ion Grigorescu, Victor Grippo, Red Grooms, Guerrilla Art Action Group, David Hammons, Al Hansen, Maren Hassinger, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Dick Higgins, Tatsumi Hijikata, Susan Hiller, Hi Red Center, Rebecca Horn, Tehching Hsieh, Joan Jonas, Kim Jones, Michel Journiac, Akira Kanayama, Tadeusz Kantor, Allan Kaprow, Mike Kelley, Jürgen Klauke, Yves Klein, Milan Knížák, Alison Knowles, Komar & Melamid, Jannis Kounellis, Shigeko Kubota, Tetsumi Kudo, Yayoi Kusama, Leslie Labowitz, Suzanne Lacy, John Latham, Jean-Jacques Lebel, Lea Lublin, George Maciunas, Leopoldo Maler, Piero Manzoni, Tom Marioni, Cusi Masuda, Georges Mathieu, Gordon Matta-Clark, Paul McCarthy, Bruce McLean, David Medalla, Cildo Meireles, Ana Mendieta, Gustav Metzger, Marta Minujín, Jan Mlčoch, Linda Montano, Charlotte Moorman, Robert Morris, Otto Muehl, Saburo Murakami, Natsuyuki Nakanishi, Bruce Nauman, Paul Neagu, Senga Nengudi, Joshua Neustein, Hermann Nitsch, Hélio Oiticica, Claes Oldenburg, Yoko Ono, Orlan, Raphael Montañez Ortiz, Lorenzo Pace, Nam June Paik, Gina Pane, Lygia Pape, Giuseppe Pinot Gallizio, Adrian Piper, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Jackson Pollock, William Pope.L, Robert Rauschenberg, Carlyle Reedy, Klaus Rinke, Ulrike Rosenbach, Dieter Roth, Zorka Ságlová, Niki de Saint Phalle, Alfons Schilling, Tomas Schmit, Carolee Schneemann, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Bonnie Ora Sherk, Shōzō Shimamoto, Ushio Shinohara, Kazuo Shiraga, Barbara T. Smith, Daniel Spoerri, Petr Štembera, Wolfgang Stöerchle, Jirō Takamatsu, Atsuko Tanaka, Mark Thompson, Jean Tinguely, Rasa Todosijević, Kerry Trengove, Ulay, Ben Vautier, Wolf Vostell, Franz Erhard Walther, Peter Weibel, Franz West, Hannah Wilke, Emmett Williams, Zaj.

Their work encompasses sculpture, artists' publications, drawings, photographs, and the ephemera that arises from the performance, as well as documentary film and video stills.

Published in conjunction with a major touring exhibition organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Out of Actions illuminates the unique relationship between action, destruction, performance, and the creative process, in essays by acclaimed art historians. Covering an unprecedented range of material, the book offers the first critical comparisons of work that has previously been viewed as distinctly regional and unrelated.

With 450 illustrations, 200 in colour.

VG copy with light wear and "The Grid" written in red marker on the block side (?).

File under: Joseph Beuys Chris Burden John Cage Lygia Clark Yves Klein John Latham Bruce Nauman Hélio Oiticica Claes Oldenburg Yoko Ono Robert Rauschenberg Niki de Saint Phalle Carolee Schneemann Atsuko Tanaka Jean Tinguely Marina Abramovič Jerzy Bereś Zorka Saglova Raphael Montanez Ortiz Petr Stembera Wolfgang Stoerchle Rasa Todosijevic Vito Acconci Genpei Akasegawa Laurie Anderson Eleanor Antin Rasheed Araeen Mowry Baden Artur Barrio Mark Boyle & Joan Hills George Brecht Stuart Brisley Robert Delford Brown Rhett Delford Brown Günter Brus James Lee Byars Marc Camille Chaimowicz Pinchas Cohen Gan Collective Action Group Houston Conwill Paul Cotton COUM Transmissions Guy de Cointet Jim Dine John Duncan Felipe Ehrenberg Roberto Evangelista VALIE EXPORT Robert Filliou Rose Finn-Kelcey Sherman Fleming Lucio Fontana Terry Fox Howard Fried Gideon Gechtman Jochen Gerz Gilbert & George Alberto Greco Ion Grigorescu Victor Grippo Red Grooms Guerrilla Art Action Group David Hammons Al Hansen Maren Hassinger Lynn Hershman Leeson Dick Higgins Tatsumi Hijikata Susan Hiller Hi Red Center Rebecca Horn Tehching Hsieh Joan Jonas Kim Jones Michel Journiac Akira Kanayama Tadeusz Kantor Allan Kaprow Mike Kelley Jürgen Klauke Milan Knížák Alison Knowles Komar & Melamid Jannis Kounellis Shigeko Kubota Tetsumi Kudo Yayoi Kusama Leslie Labowitz Suzanne Lacy Jean-Jacques Lebel Lea Lublin George Maciunas Leopoldo Maler Piero Manzoni Tom Marioni Cusi Masuda Georges Mathieu Gordon Matta-Clark Paul McCarthy Bruce McLean David Medalla Cildo Meireles Ana Mendieta Gustav Metzger Marta Minujín Jan Mlčoch Linda Montano Charlotte Moorman Robert Morris Otto Muehl Saburo Murakami Natsuyuki Nakanishi Paul Neagu Senga Nengudi Joshua Neustein Hermann Nitsch Orlan Lorenzo Pace Nam June Paik Gina Pane Lygia Pape Giuseppe Pinot Gallizio Adrian Piper Michelangelo Pistoletto Jackson Pollock William Pope.L Carlyle Reedy Klaus Rinke Ulrike Rosenbach Dieter Roth Alfons Schilling Tomas Schmit Rudolf Schwarzkogler Bonnie Ora Sherk Shōzō Shimamoto Ushio Shinohara Kazuo Shiraga Barbara T. Smith Daniel Spoerri Jirō Takamatsu Mark Thompson Kerry Trengove Ulay Ben Vautier Wolf Vostell Franz Erhard Walther Peter Weibel Franz West Hannah Wilke Emmett Williams Zaj Paul Schimmel Kristine Stiles Guy Brett Hubert Klocker Shinichiro Osaki Thames and Hudson / London Group Shows / Collections Out-of-print / Rare Performance / Dance / Theater Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Sound / Music Fluxus Nouveau Réalisme / Zero / Kinetic Dada Art Sculpture / Installation Film / Video Conceptual Art Feminism Sociology / Politics Theory / Essay Painting Drawing

On the Verge of Nothing: Pessimism’s Impossible Beyond
by Gary J. Shipley

2021, English
Softcover,‎ 202 pages, 21.6 x 14 cm
Published by Nine-Banded Books / West Virginia

$38.00 - Out of stock

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"Gary Shipley’s On the Verge of Nothing moves according to a patient logic, asking us to consider what follows when we begin from pessimism, rather than arriving at it. Through Shipley’s ciphers – Nietzsche, Pessoa, Lispector, contemporary performance art – pessimism is illuminated as at once unliveable and unconsolable, and yet unavoidable. Reading On the Verge of Nothing, the primordial philosophical question of “how to live” now takes on contours that are colder, more detached, and yet, somehow, deeply engaged."– Eugene Thacker, author of Infinite Resignation

"Beginning insistently with the end of thought, this panegyric of the pointless offers a withering post-pessimistic ethics and aesthetics of diversionary tactics for life in the void. Territories traversed include dreams and delusions, the limits and purpose of self-consciousness, human animality, and the paradox of feeling-thinking. Gary J Shipley’s lucid, often pitiless diagnoses; rigorous, informed, and tight arguments; bons mots and essential apercus – larded with a rich compost of quotation (Pessoa, Lispector, Cioran, Kafka, etc.) – pursue a relentless thrashing of thought, sketching both a Bartlett’s and a Baedeker of our inevitable doom. These essays, aphorisms, fragments, and quotations have been shored not against but amidst ruin. Experimental, exploratory soundings and performances, a fantasia for the end of the world: this word horde is an essential drug for addicts of the impossible."–Stuart Kendall, author of Georges Bataille

"Pessimism is the tenor of our times, even if it is rarely fully embraced. Gary J. Shipley’s important book not only embraces pessimism, it offers a way to make life liveable not in the modality of morose resignation, but with enthusiasm. This is an achievement, even for pessimists who regard all achievement as ultimately futile."–Scott Wilson, author of The Order of Joy (from the Foreword)

File under: Gary J. Shipley Nine-Banded Books / West Virginia Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Philosophy Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language Art Performance / Dance / Theater Theory / Essay

Toshio Saeki
Picture Scroll of Pathos (signed)

2004, Japanese
Hardcover (w. slipcase), 48 pages, 27 x 19 cm
Signed and numbered edition,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Seirin Kogeisha / Tokyo

$320.00 - In stock -

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Very rare first Japanese edition of Picture Scroll of Pathos by ero-guro master Toshio Saeki (1945—2019), limited to only 1000 copies, numbered and this special copy signed by Saeki inside the cover! A gorgeous and rarely seen collection of Saeki's early manga works and picture stories that were originally published in the early 70's and thought to be lost, here reproduced impeccably in black and white with stunning multi-panel colour fold-out spreads. Hardcover bound in illustrated slipcase. Most complete.

Toshio Saeki (1945—2019) was an illusive Japanese illustrator and painter, and icon of 1970s Tokyo counterculture, known for combining Japanese folklore, Yōkai spirits and elements of Western art with his own sophisticated aesthetics to create a unique, sensational world of eros, dark humour, and horror. Given the title “Erotic Engineer” by Timothy Leary, Saeki's provocative art broke all sexual taboos, questioned Japanese ideology and traditional views on love, desire and gender roles. Saeki’s surgically-precise graphic work is closely related to the Japanese cultural phenomenon ‘Erotic, Grotesque, Nonsense’ (ero, guro, nansensu).

“Toshio Saeki conjures death with a pen”—Shūji Terayama, 1969.

Fine copy with Fine dj, slipcase. Signed in bold silver pen by Saeki.

File under: Toshio Saeki Seirin Kogeisha / Tokyo Eros Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Drawing Painting Art Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Fetishism / BDSM Out-of-print / Rare Signed Books Transgressive / Visceral / Abject

Toshio Saeki
The Earliest Works of Toshio Saeki (signed)

2002, Japanese
Hardcover in slipcase w. illustrated paste-on, unpaginated, 21.5 x 15 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by Seirin Kogeisha / Tokyo

$380.00 - In stock -

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Signed copy of the first, limited, number-stamped edition of "The Earliest Works of Toshio Saeki" by the Japanese master of Ero guro, published by Seirin-Kogei-Sha in 2002 and long out-of-print. Before Saeki worked in his later palette of bright flat colours, he expressed the darker and more chaotic aspects of unbridled eroticism in stark black and white, with the occasional and dramatic splash of a single primary colour. In this lavishly illustrated book, Saeki's disturbing iconography reveals links to the past and simultaneously indicates the even more bizarre twists his work would take in the future. The Earliest Works also shows the early inspirations of Toshio Saeki, Tomi Ungerer's effect being a most clear one. Broken into three chapters: Earliest Works, Uncollected Works, and Unpublished Studies from 1969, the book also includes a chronological record and notes by Yuji Yamashita. An incredible book! Signed by Saeki in metallic silver to inside cover.

Toshio Saeki (1945—2019) was an illusive Japanese illustrator and painter, and icon of 1970s Tokyo counterculture, known for combining Japanese folklore, Yōkai spirits and elements of Western art with his own sophisticated aesthetics to create a unique, sensational world of eros, dark humour, and horror. Given the title “Erotic Engineer” by Timothy Leary, Saeki's provocative art broke all sexual taboos, questioned Japanese ideology and traditional views on love, desire and gender roles. Saeki’s surgically-precise graphic work is closely related to the Japanese cultural phenomenon ‘Erotic, Grotesque, Nonsense’ (ero, guro, nansensu).

“Toshio Saeki conjures death with a pen”—Shūji Terayama, 1969.

Perfect fine hardcover copy housed in fine slipcase, beautifully preserved.

File under: Toshio Saeki Seirin Kogeisha / Tokyo Signed Books Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Painting Drawing Art Out-of-print / Rare Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Fetishism / BDSM Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Eros Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic

The Sacred Conspiracy : The Internal Papers of the Secret Society of Acephale and Lecturers to the College of Sociology
by Georges Bataille

2018, English
Hardcover, 480 pages, 17.4 x 23.2 cm
Published by Atlas Press / London

$74.00 - In stock -

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Georges Bataille's secret society, long the stuff of legend, is now revealed in its texts, meditations, rules and prohibitions.

This book recounts what must be one of the most unusual intellectual journeys of modern times, in which the influential philosopher, cultural theorist and occasional pornographer Georges Bataille (1897-1962), having spent the early 1930s in far-left groups opposing the rise of fascism, abandoned that approach in order to transfer the struggle onto "the mythological plane."

In 1937, Bataille founded two groups in order to explore the combinations of power and the "sacred" at work in society. The first group, the College of Sociology, gave lectures that were intended to reveal the hidden undercurrents within a society on the verge of catastrophe. The second group was Acéphale, a genuine secret society and anti-religion whose emblem was a headless figure that, in part, represented the death of God. Until the discovery a few years ago of the group's internal papers (which include theoretical texts, meditations, minutes of meetings, rules and prohibitions and even a membership list), almost nothing was known of its activities.

This book is the first to collect a representative selection of the writings of Bataille, and of those close to him, in the years leading up to World War II. The texts published here comprise lectures given to the College of Sociology by Bataille, Roger Caillois and Michel Leiris, essays from the Acéphale journal and a large cache of the internal papers from the secret society. A desperate narrative unfolds, wherein Bataille risked all in a wholly unreasonable quest--with a few fellow travelers, he undertook what he later described as a "journey out of this world."

Additional texts by Roger Caillois, Pierre Klossowski, Michel Leiris, and by Georges Ambrosino, Pierre Andler, Michel Carrouges, Jacques Chavy, Jean Dautry, Henri Dobier, Henri Dussat, Imre Kelemen, Jean Rollin, Patrick Waldberg.
And with drawings by André Masson

Highest recommendation!

File under: Pierre Klossowski André Masson Georges Bataille Roger Caillois Michel Leiris Pierre Klossowski Georges Ambrosino Pierre Andler Michel Carrouges Jacques Chavy Jean Dautry Henri Dobier Henri Dussat Imre Kelemen Jean Rollin Patrick Waldberg Atlas Press / London Philosophy Theory / Essay Surrealism Occult / Esoterica Art Fiction / Poetry Drawing Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Anthropology

Hans Bellmer: The Anatomy of Anxiety
by Sue Taylor

2002, English
Softcover, 310 pages, 23 x 18 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by The MIT Press / Massachusetts

$110.00 - In stock -

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First 2002 paperback edition of this out-of-print study on Bellmer.

"The German-born surrealist Hans Bellmer (1902-1975), best known for his life-size pubescent dolls, devoted an artistic lifetime to creating sexualized images of the female body-distorted, dismembered, or menaced in sinister scenarios. In this book Sue Taylor draws on psychoanalytic theory to suggest why Bellmer was so driven by erotomania as well as a desire for revenge, suffering, and the safety of the womb. Tracing a repressed homoerotic attachment to his father, castration anxiety, and an unconscious sense of guilt, Taylor proposes that a feminine identification informs all the disquieting aspects of Bellmer's art.

Most scholarship to date has focused on Bellmer's work of the 1930s, especially the infamous dolls and the photographs he made of them. Taylor extends her discussion to the sexually explicit prints, drawings, paintings, and photographs he produced throughout the ensuing three decades. The book includes a color frontispiece and 121 black-and-white images (eight published here for the first time), as well as appendixes containing several significant texts by Bellmer previously unavailable in English.

Sue Taylor is Assistant Professor of Art History at Portland State University, Oregon.

"While ultimately subscribing to the conventional wisdom that the misogynist implications of Bellmer's many sinister images can never be altogether dismissed, [Taylor] insists that we look beyond their manifest content towards their latent meanings. Her tone and method is thus a long way from the punitive... literalism and crudity of much Bellmer criticism."—R. S. Short, Times Literary Supplement

"An impressive book by any standards. Every page displays intelligence, erudition and visual acuity."—Metapsychology

VG copy, light edge wear, faint edge tanning.

File under: Hans Bellmer Sue Taylor The MIT Press / Massachusetts Eros Gender Studies / Sexuality Out-of-print / Rare Surrealism Sculpture / Installation Photography Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Fetishism / BDSM Painting

Yaso
Special Feature : Gothic

2003, Japanese
Softcover, 160 pages, 24 x 18 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by Atelier Peyotl / Tokyo

$60.00 - Out of stock

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"Gothic" Special Feature Issue of cult Japanese underground magazine Yaso, published in 2003, edited by Yuichi Konno and Atelier Peyotl (publishers of Night Vision/Yaso/Peyotl/Wave/Silvester Club...). Heavily illustrated with texts in Japanese with in-depth profiles, interviews with and essays on Trevor Brown, Gottfried Helnwein, Kuniyoshi Kaneko, ero-manga master Keizo Miyanishi, influential Gothic Lolita illustrator Mitsukazu Mihara, Floria Sigismondi, Marilyn Manson, Alice Auaa, loads of "Modern Primitive" material (piercing, body modification, body performance, etc.), and much more...

Near Fine copy.

File under: Bauhaus Siouxsie and The Banshees Trevor Brown Floria Sigismondi Gottfried Helnwein Kuniyoshi Kaneko Keizo Miyanishi Mitsukazu Mihara Atelier Peyotl / Tokyo Photography Japanese Photography Counterculture Sound / Music Out-of-print / Rare Periodicals Fashion Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Surrealism Eros Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Fetishism / BDSM LGBTQ+ Performance / Dance / Theater

Yaso
Special Feature : Hans Bellmer — Poupée

2010, Japanese
Softcover, 208 pages, 24 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by Atelier Peyotl / Tokyo

$55.00 - In stock -

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Incredible Hans Bellmer special feature Issue of cult Japanese underground magazine Yaso, published in 2010, edited by Yuichi Konno and Atelier Peyotl (publishers of Night Vision/Yaso/Peyotl/Wave/Silvester Club...). Being a magazine specialising in the doll arts it was only natural that they would dedicate an entire issue to the ground-breaking work of German Surrealist Hans Bellmer and the development of his dolls, and pay homage to his immense influence on Japanese doll artists by discussing his work with them. Heavily illustrated with reproductions of Bellmer's iconic doll photography and drawings, alongside reproduced and translated original texts, extensive chronology of Bellmer and Unica Zürn, the drawing and anagram work of his partner Zürn, an invaluable bibliography of publications related to Bellmer to date, and many portraits of the artist. There is an extensive chronicle of doll history and development stretching from 1902—2010 and a large part of the issue is made up of heavily illustrated exclusive interviews with Japanese artists influenced by the legacy of Bellmer, including Simon Yotsuya, Nori Doi, Ryo Yoshida, Tatsumi Hijikata, Makoto Onozuka, Kishin Shinoyama, Minori Nawata, and more, surveys contemporary doll artists Volks, PEACH-PIT, naruto, Hizuki, Tari Nakagawa, Minori Nawata, Os, Akihiko Aono, mican, Ayumi, Masanao, Katan Amano, Nishioka Bro. & Sis., and many more, and includes essays by Sue Taylor, Alice Mahon, Kumi Ogata... absolutely packed with content and a valuable Bellmer reference in the context of his Japanese influence on the arts.

Good copy woth knock/crease to top–right corner, light wear.

File under: Hans Bellmer Unica Zürn Simon Yotsuya Nori Doi Ryo Yoshida Tatsumi Hijikata Makoto Onozuka Kishin Shinoyama Minori Nawata Katan Amano Akihiko Aono Tari Nakagawa Hans Bellmer Unica Zürn Atelier Peyotl / Tokyo Drawing Sculpture / Installation Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Fetishism / BDSM Eros Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Out-of-print / Rare Periodicals Theory / Essay Art Surrealism Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic

Peeper
October 1982

1982, Japanese
Softcover (staple–bound), 82 pages, 27 x 20.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by Soryusha / Tokyo Tatsumi / Tokyo

$80.00 - In stock -

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Very early issue of Peeper magazine, a highly collected subcultural sex industry voyeur magazine printed in Tokyo during the 1980s. Established by Tatsumi Publishing in 1981 as a supplement to Soft Focus magazine, Peeper was created in the wake of the explosive popularity of mainstream "Peeping Tom" picture-weeklies of the era and the booming world of Tokyo's sex industry of pink salons, no-pan kissas, soaplands, and love hotels in their hey day, before the crack–downs. Think Nobuyoshi Araki's Tokyo Lucky Hole, but a magazine. Peeper (like Look, Focus, Soft Focus, et al.) filled their pages with everything the 1980s Japanese adult nightlife had to offer, especially focusing on the bars, clubs, and, most importantly, the girls – the pink hostesses and Fuzoku-jou who drove their popularity. There is a lot of all–access photography of hanging out with the women and the regulars of the clubs, just like Tokyo Lucky Hole. Black and white and colour photography throughout on all aspects of the goings–on in the dungeons and bathhouses, with lots of fun and loads of deviancy, from beauty parades to peeping tom public sex, adult manga to kinbaku. The magazine was primarily an excuse for the many contributing photographers to take "close-up" peeper/voyeur/FLASH photography of women (ala Kohei Yoshiyuki and Ikko Kagari). The magazine called out for amateur voyeur photography to run each issue.

Mature readers only!

Good copy, wear/dustiness to covers.

File under: Soryusha / Tokyo Tatsumi / Tokyo Periodicals Eros Fetishism / BDSM Out-of-print / Rare Counterculture Transgressive / Visceral / Abject

Peeper
January 1981

1981, Japanese
Softcover (staple–bound), 82 pages, 27 x 20.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Tatsumi / Tokyo Soryusha / Tokyo

$80.00 - In stock -

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Very early issue of Peeper magazine, a highly collected subcultural sex industry voyeur magazine printed in Tokyo during the 1980s. Established by Tatsumi Publishing in 1981 as a supplement to Soft Focus magazine, Peeper was created in the wake of the explosive popularity of mainstream "Peeping Tom" picture-weeklies of the era and the booming world of Tokyo's sex industry of pink salons, no-pan kissas, soaplands, and love hotels in their hey day, before the crack–downs. Think Nobuyoshi Araki's Tokyo Lucky Hole, but a magazine. Peeper (like Look, Focus, Soft Focus, et al.) filled their pages with everything the 1980s Japanese adult nightlife had to offer, especially focusing on the bars, clubs, and, most importantly, the girls – the pink hostesses and Fuzoku-jou who drove their popularity. There is a lot of all–access photography of hanging out with the women and the regulars of the clubs, just like Tokyo Lucky Hole. Black and white and colour photography throughout on all aspects of the goings–on in the dungeons and bathhouses, with lots of fun and loads of deviancy, from beauty parades to peeping tom public sex, adult manga to kinbaku. The magazine was primarily an excuse for the many contributing photographers to take "close-up" peeper/voyeur/FLASH photography of women (ala Kohei Yoshiyuki and Ikko Kagari). The magazine called out for amateur voyeur photography to run each issue.

Mature readers only!

Very Good copy, light wear.

File under: Tatsumi / Tokyo Soryusha / Tokyo Eros Fetishism / BDSM Out-of-print / Rare Periodicals Counterculture Transgressive / Visceral / Abject

NEGATIVE SPACE
by B. R. Yeager

2020, English
Softcover, 382 pages, 20 x 12.5 cm
Published by Apocalypse Party / Philadelphia

$40.00 - In stock -

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"Like smoke off a collision between Dennis Cooper’s George Miles Cycle and Beyond The Black Rainbow, absorbing the energy of mind control, reincarnation, parallel universes, altered states, school shootings, obsession, suicidal ideation, and so much else, B.R. Yeager’s multi-valent voicing of drugged up, occult youth reveals fresh tunnels into the gray space between the body and the spirit, the living and the dead, providing a well-aimed shot in the arm for the world of conceptual contemporary horror."
—Blake Butler, author of Three Hundred Million

“Ever wonder where teenage children go at night? Perhaps it’s best not knowing the answer. There’s something amiss in Kinsfield, a drab, boring city much like your own, except for the teenage suicide epidemic, stagnant, ineffectual parents, cultish behavior that borders on psychosis, and strings, strings everywhere. B.R. Yeager’s Negative Space is a hypnotic collage of message boards, memes, and ruined bodies twisting at the end of a rope. Most modern novels have lost all concept of magic. B.R. Yeager’s Negative Space is a stunning refutation of the quotidian.”
—James Nulick, author of Haunted Girlfriend & Valencia

File under: B. R. Yeager Apocalypse Party / Philadelphia Fiction / Poetry Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Transgressive / Visceral / Abject

"... And You Will Live In Terror!"
John Martin Explores 'The Beyond' by Lucio Fulci

1994, English
Softcover (staple bound), 68 pages, 21 x 15 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Yellow Press / UK

$50.00 - Out of stock

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Rare English film digest / fanzine by celebrated genre writer and editor of Giallo Pages, John Martin, "... And You Will Live In Terror!", published by Yellow Press is devoted entirely to Italian master Lucio Fulci's incredible 1981 Southern Gothic supernatural horror film, The Beyond, story created. Written by Dardano Sacchetti, and starring Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck, its plot follows a woman who inherits a hotel in rural Louisiana that was once the site of a horrific murder, and which may be a gateway to hell. It is the second film in Fulci's Gates of Hell trilogy after City of the Living Dead (1980), and was followed by The House by the Cemetery (1981). The Beyond ranks among Fulci's most celebrated films, and has gained an international cult following. This little book reproduces all of its glory in glossy full-colour and b/w, packed with film stills, lobby cards, posters and other visual documents, accompanying Martin's texts and production details. Martin is an author, editor and authority on the British "video nasties" phenomenon and all things exploitation all'italiana.

Very Good copy.

File under: Lucio Fulci John Martin Yellow Press / UK Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Film / Video Out-of-print / Rare

ART! TRASH! TERROR!: Adventures in Strange Cinema
by Chris Alexander

2025, English
Softcover, 455 pages, 24 x 17 cm
Published by Headpress / Oxford

$65.00 - In stock -

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From filmmaker, former Fangoria editor-in-chief, and Corman/Poe author Chris Alexander comes ART! TRASH! TERROR! Adventures in Strange Cinema, a treasure trove of in-depth essays and edifying interviews that celebrate some of the most eccentric and unforgettable movies in cult cinema history. From recognized classics (George A. Romero's Dawn Of The Dead, David Lynch's The Elephant Man) to misunderstood masterpieces (Michael Mann's The Keep, Boris Sagal's The Omega Man) to unfairly maligned curios (Kostas Karagiannis' Land Of The Minotaur, Brett Leonard's Hideaway), the author takes an alternately serious and playful but always personal look at several strains of international horror, dark fantasy, and exploitation film -- motion pictures that transform, transgress, challenge, infuriate, shock, and entertain.

Connecting these passionate and critical essays are insightful interviews with revered talents, such as John Waters (writer/director, Cecil B. Demented), Michael Winner (director, The Sentinel), Nicolas Cage (actor, Vampire's Kiss), Gene Simmons (co-founder/bassist, KISS), William Crain (director, Blacula), William Lustig (director, Maniac), Werner Herzog (director, Nosferatu: Phantom Der Nacht) and many more, as well as witty, heartfelt memoirs charting the author's oddball experiences on the fringes of Hollywood and beyond.

Illustrated with more than 200 startling photographs!

File under: Chris Alexander Headpress / Oxford Art Film / Video Theory / Essay Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction

Story of O
by Pauline Réage

1975, English
Softcover, 174 pages, 18 x 11 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Corgi / London

$30.00 - In stock -

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1975 Corgi English edition of Story of O, one of the most famous erotic novels of all time, by French literary critic, journalist, and novelist, Anne Cécile Desclos (1907—1998), under the pen name Pauline Réage. The original French text published in 1954 by Jean-Jacques Pauvert, with the first English translation published by Olympia Press in 1965.

"STORY OF O — notorious as an underground novel, remarkable as a rare instance of pornography sublimed to purest art — appeared first under mysterious circumstances at Paris in 1954 ... STORY OF O is neither a fantasy nor a case history. With its alternate beginnings and endings; its simple direct style (like that of a fable); its curious air of abstraction, of independence from time, place and personality, what it resembles most is a legend — the spiritual history of a saint and martyr. ... Commencing with the simplest of situations, the story gradually opens out into a Daedalian maze of perverse relationships — a clandestine society of sinister formality and elegance where the primary bond is mutual complicity in dedication to the pleasures of sadism and masochism...."—New York Times Book Review

In February 1955, Story of O won the French literature prize Prix des Deux Magots, but the French authorities still brought obscenity charges against the publisher. The charges were rejected by the courts, but a publicity ban was imposed for a number of years.

Only just before her death did the book's author Anne Desclos reveal her true identity in regards to the book. Jean Paulhan, the author's lover and the person to whom she wrote Story of O in the form of love letters, wrote the preface, "Happiness in Slavery". Paulhan admired the Marquis de Sade's work and told Desclos that a woman could not write like de Sade. Desclos took this as a challenge and wrote the book. Paulhan was so impressed that he sent it to a publisher. In the preface, he goes out of his way to appear as if he does not know who wrote it.

"A remarkable piece of work"—Harold Pinter

"I do believe that Pauline Réage has confounded all her critics and made pornography (if that is what it is) an art"—Brian Aldiss

"A rare thing, a pornographic book well written and without a trace of obscenity"—Graham Greene

"A highly literary and imaginative work, the brilliance of whose style leaves one in no doubt whatever of the author's genius... a profoundly disturbing book, as well as a black tour-de-force"—Spectator

"Here all kinds of terrors await us, but like a baby taking its mother's milk all pains are assuaged.
Touched by the magic of love, everything is transformed. STORY OF O is a deeply moral homily"
—J.G. Ballard

Very Good copy, light wear only,

File under: Pauline Réage Corgi / London Eros Fetishism / BDSM Out-of-print / Rare Fiction / Poetry Transgressive / Visceral / Abject

The Only House: A Novel
by Ed Wood

2024, English
Softcover, 152 pages, 20.3 x 12.7 cm
Published by Severin / Los Angeles Encyclopocalypse / Los Angeles

$25.00 - Out of stock

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“Do you think I was born just before I came through that door?
Baby, I know exactly what this place is
and you better get it through your head what it is!”

Only their sick sexual hangups could bring young newlyweds Danny and Shirley Carpenter to the house at 9 Devil Lane. For it is here, in this musty old mansion, that the necromancer Madame Heles and her sensual assistant Tanya perform their strange rites of the erotic occult. There will be those who serve, those who must be serviced, and when the clock strikes midnight, the dark ceremony of carnal desire can officially begin. But will this nightmare of ecstasy unleash the ultimate torrent of lewd hungers or reveal the most depraved secrets of all?

First published in 1972, The Only House follows the central plot and characters of Wood’s adult feature NECROMANIA: A TALE OF WEIRD LOVE! with jaw-dropping detours into additional sordid scenarios. It is a literary odyssey of feverish melodrama, pink angora sweaters, and perversely delectable filth that could come only from the mind of Edward D. Wood, Jr.

File under: Ed Wood Ed Wood Severin / Los Angeles Encyclopocalypse / Los Angeles Eros Fetishism / BDSM Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Film / Video Fiction / Poetry Occult / Esoterica Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction