Various (Miller, Richard (Editor); Butler, Bill; Clark, Thomas A.; Nuttall, Jeff; Pennington, Jim et al.)

Blackcountry Meat Chronicle No. 17

Birmingham, England, UK: B.M.C. Press, 1969. First Printing. Unbound Sheets and Artwork in Plastic Sleeve with Two Mixed Bags. This enormously intriguing small press assemblage, edited by Richard Miller and Alvin Stinton, features poetry, artworks, and incendiary prose by the great English King of the Mimeograph Revolution, Jeff Nuttall (1933-2004), our beloved friend & colleague Jim Pennington, the publisher-printer-editor behind the legendary Aloes Books imprint, and the great Bill Butler (1934-1977), of whom readers can learn more about below, along with works by a few others about whom we don’t know all that much. We do know, however, that this issue of Blackcountry Meat is one of the rarest publications of the Mimeograph Revolution, with no copies of this issue available anywhere. In fact, there’s only one copy of this magazine we found reference to — and that’s the second issue (TMB Item No. 8734). According to Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), there’s only one copy of that issue available institutionally; additionally, our research indicates there's only one copy available on the market. As a magazine, the Blackcountry Meat Chronicle is not even in the classic Granary Books publication, A Secret Location on the Lower East Side, which is crazy. What we do know, however, is that the copy offered here comes with all the Duchampian tip-ins — including the “mixed bags” (see pictures) — that were included, originally with this classic mimeographed oddity. Unbound sheets and artwork in plastic sleeve with two mixed bags: the first-&-only printing of this wild, talented, and often hilarious relic from the Mimeograph Revolution. 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 William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see for example our item no.s 8217, 8366). 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 gems of Unicorn & Public House, including this. In Good-Near Fine condition with only moderate-to-enunciated shelf-wear, rubbing, some light bumping, and occasional bump-creasing to fine-edges & corners of particular single sheets; also, pasted to the cover of the issue are a series of words and phrases — some of which have fallen off the front cover, but all of which are retained (the loose ones just floated to the bottom of the plastic sleeve, and are included with the assemblage in totality as offered, here); other than this, we have the usual, expected exhibits of age-toning & use-related wear typical of a vintage collectible from this milieu; otherwise, generally clean. Good-Near Fine. [Item #8732]

Price: $600.00