Mayor, David

Extra: Some Words and Visions

Devon, England: Beau Geste Press, 1971. Limited First Edition. Large-Format Booklet Bound At Top Edge. "spaghetti has its own production rate" (unpaginated). Extra: Some Words and Visions is an early artist book by David Mayor (b. 1948), co-founder of the Beau Geste Press, published in 1971 in a limited edition of 100 copies. Mayor established Beau Geste Press while studying at Exeter University in the early 1970s, in collaboration with husband/wife duo Felipe Ehrenberg (1943-2017) & Martha Hellion (b. 1937), through which he became a central figure in the international Fluxus movement. Operating from a farmhouse in Devon, England, Beau Geste Press printed the work of visual poets, neo-Dadaists, and international artists affiliated with Fluxus, keeping all stages of the book-making process from design and printing to distribution under one roof. Extra predates Mayor's landmark organization of the Fluxus touring exhibition and its catalogue Fluxshoe (see Item No. 8824) and represents his earliest work as an artist-publisher. Extra appears to be a satirical or philosophical conceptualization on the life cycle of spaghetti. Mayor has presumably contributed the rudimentary & surrealistic hand-drawn elements on each page. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate in the UK who managed the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England for founder 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 curiosity. Large-Format Booklet Bound At Top Edge: Limited Edition & printing per verso endpage/back cover colophon: "47/100." A most collectible early Fluxus/Mayor oddity in its rarest contemporary form with very relevant association & very distinguished provenance. In relatively fine condition with mild-to-moderate age-toning & moderate spot-staining to front, back covers & spine; mild-to-moderate creasing/bumping of corners to bottom of front cover; several very small, non-penetrative dimples at/near fine edge of center back cover; mild-to-moderate age-toning & rubbing to text block; several instances of spot-staining to bottom of same. Interior fine with mild age-toning to page leaves; mild-to-moderate creasing/bumping of corners to same; mild-to-moderate spot-staining mostly to fine edges of inner front & back covers. Fine-Very Fine. [Item #8882]

Price: $200.00