Nuttall, Jeff

Pig

London, England, UK: Fulcrum Press, 1969. First Edition. Hardcover. “At the back of the house (trodden-in plaster on hall lino 20s jazz-modern geometric pattern in browns) was the suds yard (soap slime on the grate grid) — decent brick and the flags and nurtured bunch-grass growing from grit all smelling bland and carbolic of soap, those king foetal slimes, smell of a fat mam’s hands — Pears Soap ovals of her loosely cradled breasts as she stoops to cat-lick your cheeks with spit on a hanky for where is that archetypal mother mooTHER!! Haunting me with bellows bloomers — fond ballooning caricature of airborn motherhood — That’s not her in the washhouse (yellowed foot – an old man’s toes whorled lemondrops stuck from a crumpled burlap — paraffin between the cracked flags – Jurgens / Mrs Christie behind the firewood) but a tired old man squatting on an orange crate writing on the flags with the musical point of an old Nazi bayonet: / How long can they lock out the blood…”--Jeff Nuttall, Pg. 9. Jeff Nuttall (1933-2004) was an English poet, performer, author, actor, teacher, painter, sculptor, jazz musician, anarchist and social commentator who was a key part of the British 1960s counter-culture. Offered today is the 1969 work Pig A triptych of interconnected short works of alternative fiction comprises Jeff Nuttall’s Pig, which was first published in 1969, shortly after his landmark cultural study, Bomb Culture. ‘I’ll manage some voices next time,’ says a character in ‘The Train’, but in fact a gallery cast of voices and characters emerges throughout the work that includes ‘The Rain’ as well as ‘The Coast’. There’s Jurgens, Mrs Flanders, Mickey/Mickey Boy/Mike Flanders, Andrew Hand, Doctor Gnome, Elvira Death, Miss Fawnfoot, George Gland (‘a man who looks like a pig’), and others, all painted onto a tableaux that ranges from the coast to the pub, from the doctor’s surgey to the train lines of the north, from east London to the Midlands. Rich in language that is finely nuanced, as in all Jeff Nuttall’s work, Pig ultimately goes to the heart of the human condition. Befitting the period in which it was constructed, it also reflects the work of other champions of experimentation, such as Gysin, Beilles, and of course William S Burroughs (1914-1997) whose preface starts this wondrous book & whose work Nuttall was the first to promote in the United Kingdom. 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 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 treasures of Unicorn & Public House, including this gem. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket. First UK edition as stated at copyright page, presumed first printing though not explicated thereon. Book in very fine condition with only minor wear to fine edges. Dust jacket in very fine condition with minor wear to fine edges, moderate smudging/scratching and spotting at front and back covers, and light discoloration due to age-toning to same. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #8978]

Price: $60.00