Guffan, Mick

Bastard Out of Mitchum with: Tangerine Press Ephemera ("Never Mind, Comrade" Broadflyer)

London, England: Tangerine Press, 2022. Limited First Edition. Hardcover. With "Scrap" from the James Joyce Library Signed by Mick Guffan. “Easy really. / Dollop of sin here / slight paunch there. / Throw in a double-chin / some bitten-to-the-quick fingernails / a lifetime of sleepless nights and / near heart attacks. / Getting there, getting closer… / Burn your birth certificate / (as if you needed to be told) / and watch the way / love skews. / Tell me Heaven stank / that it is not worth fussing over / and I will believe you. / Make me unfurl— / a peddler of lies / lying to the lied to. / Those years badly spent— / I am no party of beasts / and the last chapter / is no / fun either.” (“Build the Bastard Dead,” Pg. 1). “Bastard Out of Mitchum” is the third work by Mick Guffan (1953-2006) to be released by Michael Curran’s Tangerine Press, the others being 2021’s “Bent for the Job” and 2018’s “Inner London Buddha.” Guffan has received more and more recognition as of late, with an honorable mention even in the UK’s premier left-wing newspaper, The Guardian, in which the esteemed UK author Howard Cunnell writes, “The former taxi driver, airplane cleaner, carpenter and poet Mick Guffan may be a ghost or a pseudonym, or a fabrication. Either way, he is elusive.” Elusive, indeed; if not for the dutiful work of Tangerine Press, Guffan—half-part Basho, half-part Bukowski—might ruefully be swept into the storm drains of history. Limited Edition Hardcover “handbound in boards by Tangerine Press, London,” per colophon; No. 35/50 numbered copies with “Signature Scraps” featuring Guffan’s signature in black pen ink. The “signature scraps,” -- provided (per copyright page) by the James Joyce Library, Dublin, -- feature Guffan’s even more elusive signature scrawled upon them. Guffan signature, on scrap in thin, black pen ink, reads: “Mick Guffan.” Also included in this lot is a gorgeous promotional poster for Claudia Bierschenk’s “Never Mind, Comrade: Life Behind the Iron Curtain 1982-89,” a forthcoming Tangerine Press publication. In part, it reads: “Claudia Bierschenk was thirteen years old when the Berlin Wall came down. In this intimate memoir, the author reveals a world ruled by ideology, restrictions, half-truths, superstition, but also magic and humour. With a child’s curiosity, she observes the grown ups’ strange behaviour as they cope with this day to day existence of living on the ‘wrong side’ of the Iron Curtain.’” Sounds deeply interesting to History Junkies like your Devoted Curators here at Third Mind Books! Book in very fine condition, bordering on ‘as new’ designation with only slightest shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners; small packet containing Guffan signature scrap (as well as the scrap itself) in similarly very fine condition. Biershenck “broadflyer” also very fine & folded at center (as issued). Very Fine. [Item #5018]

Price: $150.00 save 20% $120.00