The Beautiful Book
[New York]: [Dead Language Press], [1962].
First edition. Signed by Jack Smith on verso of front wrap, inscribed to poet Kirby Congdon "To Kirby with choked up strangled emotions...... Jack." [20] pp. Illustrated with 19 gelatin silver contact prints, comprising 18 photographs by Smith mounted on yellow pages, and one portrait of Smith by Ken Jacobs, mounted on the inner rear wrapper. Bound in publisher's saddle-stitched card stock illustrated wrappers with a design in black and green. Very Good with toning and light foxing to wrappers, tiny hole to front wrap around one staple, some foxing and offsetting to pages, typical discoloration to photos. One of likely 60 or so copies ever produced; even more scarce signed.
A very important 20th century artist's book. Present are 18 photographs by Smith and the portrait of Smith by Jacobs, as is the case with the majority of copies. The Beautiful Book was produced in an intended edition of 200, though it is generally claimed that only sixty or so copies were ever completed. It was the only collection of Smith's photographs published in his lifetime, featuring images of New York artists.
Jack Smith was a filmmaker, actor, and pioneer of underground cinema. He is generally acclaimed as a founding father of American performance art, and has been critically recognized as a master photographer, though his photographic works are rare and remain largely unknown. The most famous of Smith's productions is the 1963 film Flaming Creatures, a campy satire of Hollywood B movies and tribute to actress Maria Montez. Authorities considered some scenes to be pornographic and copies of the movie were confiscated at the premiere, and it was subsequently banned from public view. The movie gained notoriety when footage was screened during Congressional hearings, and right-wing politician Strom Thurmond mentioned it in anti-porn speeches. Like this book, with its transgressively open-minded approach to sexuality (including drag queens, intersex individuals, and an orgy) the film was on the bleeding edge of the counterculture; it would be decades before mainstream culture began to catch up.
Price: $40,000.00