BERMAN, Wallace.
Semina, No. 7, 1961.
Larkspur, CA: Privately printed and hand-assembled by Wallace Berman, 1961.: 1961
- $7,500
Limited to 200 copies. Folder with an altered photographic still of actress Susan Hayward on the cover. Laid into a pocket inside the folder are 18 inserts of various sizes printing photographs, texts, and drawings. This issue is devoted entirely to work by Berman---the only issue solely authored by him---and it features some of his most memorable images, including ones of Shirley and Tosh, to whom this issue is dedicated. It's the last issue that Berman created in his Larkspur houseboat before returning to LA, the "city of degenerate angels" that Berman was so happy to leave in 1957 after his Ferus Gallery bust. This issue has been described as being both autobiographical and elegiac, and Farnsworth in his paper on Semina 7 observes that: "Semina 7's imagery can be read as a swansong to the end of what is already seen as the artist's most hermetic period. Semina 7's somber mood, its tributes to recently deceased artists and other culturally marginalized figures---all set for the first time in the artist's own voice---can be understood as a eulogy to Berman's own secluded self." Exceptionally bright folder (minute tap to three corners), a couple of barely perceptible small stains to the pocket holding the inserts (a couple of which are slightly toned at the edges), but an unusually crisp copy overall. An important issue featuring some of Berman's best images, and scarce, especially in this condition.
More from Skyline Books
Folding Christmas greeting from Johnny Brewton and X-Ray Book Co. featuring a quote from Bukowski on the cover.
BUKOWSKI, Charles & BREWTON, Johnny. Nicely printed in light gray on charcoal stock. Bukowski's quote is: "My Beerdrunk Soul is Sadder Than All the Dead Christmas Trees of the World." Fine.- $15
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Handbill announcing the “Folklore Center Traveling Hootenanny” at Town Hall in NYC, 1962.
DYLAN, Bob. At the top of the sheet is a charming color illustration of dancing-and-music-playing hootenanny country folk against the backdrop of the NYC skyline. The text reads: "A special hootenanny will take place from the stage of Town Hall. Members of the audience will be selected to sing from the stage in this exciting event. Bring your guitars and banjos." It lists Bob Dylan, Sandy Bull, Judy Collins, Lynn Gold, John Lee Hooker, and Ian & Sylvia as participants. Dylan was still relatively unknow at this time, the hootenanny taking place after the release of his first LP, but before the second. At the event he sang songs from both albums as well as ones that later appeared on his third. Noted at the bottom is the fact that tickets can be purchased at the Folklore Center in Greenwich Village who sponsored this event. The Folklore Center was an early hangout for Dylan when he first arrived in the city where he became friends with its proprietor, Izzy Young, one of Dylan's earliest supporters about whom he wrote the song "Talking Folklore Center." The "traveling" hootenany, originally intended to tour colleges around the country, never made it beyond this one-time event. Tiny loss to tips of top corners, old creases where once folded in eighths, very good. One of the rarest paper items from this period when Dylan's career was still in its earliest phase.- $3,500
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La Fleur de Coca: Pantomime.
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Mont St. Michel.
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Confessionali from Six by Six (6 x 6) Set Five.
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Welcome Hippies by This Way.
CHEN, C. M. 32mo. Pamphlet. First edition. Published as No. 52 in the Chen Booklet Series. The author describes the hippie dropout lifestyle in great depth and the trouble it leads to, including lots of references to LSD. This booklet in which Chen suggests that Buddhism offers a superior and lasting "high" was distributed to his compatriots in the United States who handed it out for free to the many hippies who were exploring LSD and non-Western religions at the time. "A hippie reported 'Man! when I am upon weed, I'm really livin'. I float up and up and up until I'm miles above the earth. Then baby I begin to come apart, my hands leave my wrists, my arms and legs leave my body, and I just flooooat all over the universe' But after the function of the LSD was over, was he still high? He did not report." Minute closed edge tear to cover and first several pages, else near fine. Scarce.- $100
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Placemat from the Best Western hotel in Livingston, Montana inscribed by Richard Brautigan.
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Trout Fishing in America.
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Acid Party.
YEWKER, Anthony. First edition of this Paperback Original. "Her blood was pounding at her temples.She knew it was not only due to the prospect of the LSD party, she was going to make love to Nico." Cover illustration of promiscuous trippers. One of the scarcest LSD exploitation titles, we haven't seen a copy in many years let alone in this superb condition. Only 3 copies on OCLC. A fine, fresh copy.- $400
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Poster announcing a celebration for the 1968 Vernal Equinox.
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Poster boldly printing in psychedelic lettering: “A Puff Of Kief in the Morning Makes a Man As Strong As a Hundred Camels in the Courtyard”.
GRIFFIN, Rick. Second and more striking printing as this was done in psychedelic colors whereas the first was b&w. Features an elaborate drawing of a hookah emitting smoke with marijuana leaves behind it. Produced to be sold in headshops of the period. Fine (20" x 14").- $75
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Poster announcing “Psychedelic Art First West Coast Show” held at the Electric Tibet in Berkeley, 1967.
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[LA: Privately published, 1966].
Handbill announcing the "Freak-In" at the Shrine Exposition Hall in LA, 1966. Handbill, printed in black on yellow stock, for this early event from the burgeoning LA hip scene, taking place the same month LSD became illegal and preceding the famous riots on Sunset Strip. The featured performer was seven-year-old soul singer Little Gary Ferguson, and among the other performers were The Mugwumgs soon to be renamed The Mamas & the Papas. However, the most intriguing attraction was "The world-famous artist and sculptor VITO with his wife, his child and his entire entourage of dancers and freakers." Vito Paulekas was a noted bohemian and bizarre character in the LA hippie scene who was the leader of a band of "freaks" who lived a semi-communal lifestyle and engaged in "sex orgies and free-form dancing whenever they could." Their dancing at various clubs often overshadowed the main performers. He rented a rehearsal space to Arthur Lee and Love, as well as the Byrds, and he and his troupe (some of of whom became The GTO's a.k.a. Girls Together Outrageously) accompanied the Byrds on their national tour. Vito fell-in with Frank Zappa and he and his friend Carl Franzoni contributed to the Mothers first LP "Freak Out" (he also recorded a single of his own as "Vito and the Hands" titled "Where It's At"). Vito has been credited with first using the term "freaks" and "freak out" to describe the hippie scene, and he also appeared in several documentaries of the period including Mondo Hollywood and You Are What You Eat. The Freak-In was an Acid Test inspired event emblematic of the period offering "light show nirvana and optical psychout" and "The Way Out with the ecstatic sounds of eternity," as well as being a high-profile gig for Vito, a hugely influential, though under-publicized, member of the LA freak scene. Fine.- $60
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Poster by Rick Griffin announcing the Human Be-In.
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Yab-Yum poster.
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