Ballard, J.G.

Why I Want To Fuck Ronald Reagan (Complete Package)

Brighton, England: Unicorn Bookshop, 1968. Limited First Edition. Stapled Wrappers; Single Sheets; and Plastic Bag Invitation. “Motion-picture studies of Ronald Reagan reveal characteristic patterns of facila tonus and musculature associated with homo-erotic [sic] behavior. The continuing tension of buccal sphincters and the recessive tongue role tally with earlier studies of facial rigidity (c.f. Adolf Hitler, Nixon). Slow motion cine-films of campaign speeches exercised a marked erotic effect upon an audience of spastic children. Even with mature adults the verbal material was found to have minimal effect, as demonstrated by substitution of an edited tape giving diametrically opposed opinions” (from “Tallis Became Increasingly Obsessed,” the second wild entry in this most Swiftian volume). The wildly rare, boundary-breaking piece of political satire, Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan by the English novelist, essayist, and satirist, J.G. Ballard (1930-2009), complete with a virtually unobtainable assemblage of materials relating to its publication (& subsequent obscenity trial). Unicorn Bookshop founder and publisher, Bill Butler (1934-1977) entered the pantheon of the censored in 1968 with his publishing of this work — Ballard’s incendiary, almost Burroughsian assault on the future 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan (1911-2004). Reagan was Governor of California in 1968, but he was already wading into Presidential politics: his eye on a lofty piece of real estate at the center of the swamp (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, of course). Ballard’s interest in Reagan was described by the author in his preface to the 1990 reissue of his novel, The Atrocity Exhibition — which was published two years after Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan, in 1970. “In his commercials,” Ballard writes, “Reagan used the smooth, teleprompter-perfect tones of the TV auto-salesman to project a political message that was absolutely the reverse of bland and reassuring. A complete discontinuity existed between Reagan’s manner and body language, on the one hand, and his scarily simplistic right-wing message on the other. Above all, it struck me that Reagan was the first politician to exploit the fact that his TV audience would not be listening too closely, if at all, to what he was saying, and indeed might well assume, from his manner and presentation, that he was saying the exact opposite of the words actually emerging from his mouth.” The highly-stylized approach to satire that Ballard employed in his psychosexual lambasting of Reagan took the form of a medical report, in essence. The entries read like something composed by a long-lost colleague & friend of Dr. Benway’s — the work of a fellow twisted graduate from the Interzone Medical School. As such, they’re riotous and quite fun: even when heavy-handed. For the crime of publishing this, Butler was held up on charges of “possessing obscene articles for commercial publication,” and had to pay upwards of £50,000 in today’s money in legal fees. As the author, Mike Holliday writes in a capsule history of the Unicorn trial, “The law on obscenity in the UK centered on the notion that an article - a book, magazine, or photograph - had to have a tendency to deprave and corrupt those who were likely to view it. The 1959 Obscene Publications Act had provided a defense if it could be shown that publication was in the public interest — for example, because of the article's literary value. There followed a series of Court cases - sometimes great theatre, sometimes personal tragedy, and sometimes unpleasant listening - as the implications of the law were fought over in a society whose beliefs and tastes were rapidly changing.” Butler got caught up in this maelstrom, and our friends across the pond were not to be saved by the generous and triumphal reading of the First Amendment, for which they have no equivalent. Despite the continued, widely-documented struggles on the American side of that proverbial pond, we had a First Amendment, and the benefit of precedent. This, in combination resulted in the legal framework[s] that the American avant-garde was continually allowed to benefit from. No such salve or remedy was applicable for the great Bill Butler: who was convicted of his crimes in a Brighton Magistrates Court in 1968, and had to suffer the consequences; financial, psychic, and otherwise. Two years later, Butler infamously wrote to a friend and asked him “to forgive his temper, explaining that his memory had, to all useful purposes, stopped at the date of the police raid on his bookshop,” adding, “I am, after all this, paranoid.” We at Third Mind Books obtained the contents of this listing in their entirety from a living link to the Unicorn Bookshop and key associate of Butler’s, as lengthily noted in the provenance notation, below. Before proceeding, we submit the following to institutions & collectors who are serious about potentially adding this once-in-a-lifetime lot to your holdings: its contents, in whole not only comprise the capsulized legacy of the Unicorn Bookshop, but individual items within the lot —(especially the sheaf of trial-related correspondence, as well as the two invitations, which are “likely-to-never-see-it-again” level-rare) — make this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for collectors and institutions inclusive of both Mimeograph Revolution literature, and political thought & expression in the 20th century. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate in the UK who managed the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England with Bill Butler (1934-1977), the famed American-expatriate bookseller & publisher). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published many outstanding productions by WSB, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see an example with our item no. 8217). After prevailing against censorious harassment efforts, Unicorn closed & Butler died in short order. Cupidi went on to found the Public House Bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but is also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been honored to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining treasures of Unicorn & Public House, some of which have become the stuff of myth. [1] Large-format pamphlet in stapled wrappers, one of 250 copies per colophon (see photos) with: [2] facsimiles of Unicorn Bookshop letters, legal documents, & press cuttings — 19 separate pieces in total; printed alternately on recto & verso; all on single sheets of varying sizes; [3] Red Invitation to “the Burning of the / Little Red Schoolbook / in honour of Mrs. Mary / Whitehouse,” (a comic dig at the notorious activist & educator from Britain, Mary Whitehouse [1910-2001], who was known, primarily for her strident commitment to the politics of social conservatism); [4] and finally, the rarest element of all: the plastic-bag invite to the opening of the London Arts Laboratory, which took place on Friday, October 3rd, 1968. The bag, as the pictures indicate, is fully sealed; with all elements of the Warholian potpourri housed therein retained, as issued. While copies of the pamphlet, alone appear on the market occasionally, a lot like this, featuring invites & the suite of related correspondence described above, is never offered. This is because it simply doesn’t exist anywhere else: and the only man who could make our chancing upon it possible [as antiquarian booksellers] is the individual referenced in the provenance notation, Richard Cupidi, who knew Butler personally as well as professionally; who worked at the Unicorn Bookshop, himself; and who carried on the legacy of Butler’s bookstore for many years after the latter’s untimely death in October 1977. A vital, historic assemblage in every respect. All items in Near Fine-Very Fine condition, a fact attested to by the pictures attached to this listing, which we encourage viewers of this lot to reference in lieu of our trademarked approach to condition-grading (given the length and depth of this curation). That said, don't hesitate to contact us, should you have a particular question regarding any aspect of this lot. As we welcome correspondence with all interested parties; and would be especially happy to provide more information to serious individual, & institutional inquirers. Due to the value of this item, a handling fee of $95.00 will be added for shipping and insurance. Near Fine-Very Fine. [Item #8366]

Price: $12,500.00