Coleman, Victor; Collins, Paul

Mal Arme (Letter Drop III) with: Ephemera

ISBN: 9781897388297
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: BookThug, 2008. First Edition. Signed by VIctor Coleman to Robin Eichele. “Welcome to doubt and a poetry that cuts, disturbs and will make you nervous; that rides the line of a mind in motion then jumps the track. Imagery rich and personal, restless and reflecting that does not seek to please but turns relentlessly to bite the hand that feeds it. The astute and sometimes paranoid montages of Paul Collins provide a surprising visual response and environment for the playing out of the narrative in Coleman’s poetry.”--(David Bolduc, from back cover.) Offered today is a truly rare and special collectible, the 2008 collection of experimental poetry, Mal Arme by Victor Coleman (b. 1944) and illustrator, Paul Collins. Mal Arme represents the third stage of a series of Oulipian books by Victor Coleman that started with LETTER DROP, continued with MI SING, and will conclude with The Occasional Troubadour. The first three columns each consist of 26 lipograms, lettered A through Z, wherein the A poems have no As, the B poems have no Bs, and so on and so forth. The first book excavated an assortment of texts ranging from the 1928 edition (the 9th) of Sir Morell MacKenzie’s Hygiene of the Vocal Organs to such fictions as Tom Swift and His House on Wheels. In MI SING, Coleman reverts to a single text for its sources and inspiration: Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. The current text plays close attention to the prose writings of Stephane Mallarme in translation. Surreal, dream-like, erudite, and accented by beautiful illustrations by Paul Collins, Mal Arme is a collection that is as awe-inspiring as it is rare! For more by Victor Coleman see item #7411, and 7413. From the collection of scholar, poet and our dear friend Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & co-founder of the Detroit Artists’ Workshop with the late, great John Sinclair (1941-2024). We have found and retained between the colophon and back cover a flyer for David Mirvish Books in Toronto, Canada; the flyer contains a schedule of events hosted at the store from Oct 4, 2008 to Jan 1, 2009. Signed in pencil at the title page, author Victor Coleman has signed his initials and left an inscription that reads: “For Robin ‘Night of the Living Intended’ w/love V.C.” Softcover. First edition as stated at copyright page, presumed first printing though not explicated as such thereon. Book is in very fine condition with only light wear to fine edges and minor smudging to front and back covers. Very Fine. [Item #7407]

Price: $60.00