1978réf. 1410998Toronto Ontario Canada: Rumour Publications 1978. First Edition First Printing. Softcover. Octavo 145 pages. In Very Good condition. Encased in protective mylar covering. Spine black with tan lettering. Mild discoloration on top of front cover. Mild general shelf wear. Previous owner sticker on title page. Signed by Acker on title page. Shelved in Case 6. 1410998. Shelved Dupont Bookstore. Rumour Publications unknown books
1988réf. 555467New York: Grove Press 1988. Softcover. Fine. Uncorrected proof. Octavo. 377pp. Near fine with tiny bump at corner and neat scrape. Signed by the author. Grove Press unknown books
1988réf. 555464New York: Grove Press 1988. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First edition. Quarto. 410pp. Fine in else fine dust jacket with a touch of sunning on the spine. Signed by the author. Grove Press hardcover books
réf. 5422761983. Unbound. Very Good. Manuscript. Four lined octavo sheets holograph rectos only. Very good with creases from being mailed small stain on the first page and typical ragged edge from being removed from a spiral bound notebook. Signed and date on the last page along with a word count: "Kathy Acker 1983. app. 950 words." Accompanied by the mailing envelope and a one-page Autograph Note Signed to editor Malcolm Imrie apologizing for her handwriting and how she is looking forward to seeing him. An essay about embracing nihilism as a means of escape - along with a move to London - ending with a sexually brutal metaphor that takes place inside the hallway of a tenement building in New York. Not for the weary though typical stuff for Acker. A short work intended for an unstated English literary magazine which we could not identify suggesting this is possibly unpublished. unknown books
réf. 43804New York: Various 1991. Very good overall. Collection of five different versions of Acker's first critically acclaimed work - including a pre-publication copy of her own corrected typescript. The pre-publication copy gives key insight not only into Acker's writing methods but also raises interesting questions about the intended structure of the finished story and highlights the mutable interpretations regarding the published presentation of her prose writing via four different versions included herein. This copy was sent by Acker in late 1979 to friend and fellow experimental writer Paul Buck. The pages have clearly been xeroxed on several different machines with different paper stock and print qualities evident in different sections and pp. 29 is an original typescript passage with visible typed corrections and numbered in holograph in Acker's distinctive hand which has been taped onto the verso of a sheet of letterhead for "Performing Artservices Inc. 463 West St NY" an organization that provided management and administrative services to avant-garde artists. Included with this document are four published editions of the story. The first although not always credited thus was in International Times vol. 5 no 5. January/February 1980. Run as "New York City '79" over the centerspread this version is closest to the typescript form. There is persuasive evidence that the editors of I.T. were working from a similar photocopy and whether instructed thus by Acker or not they took the cut-up style of the piece at face value and ran it as a series of fragments differentiated from one another by the use of typefaces and with no cohesive order. Probably due to space constraints this version is also heavily abridged however the notable omissions of the three statements about lesbians suggests that there was also a degree of selective censorship at work. The first publication of the complete text followed in July 1980 in the pages of San Diego magazine Crawl Out Your Window Issue 7. Here the sentences - which run over multiple pages in the typescript - are conventionalized into standard lines. There are also slight textual differences with a couple of additional sentences added. The first stand-alone publication came in Top Stories 9 1981 which incorporated photographs by Anne Turyn. These images again mutate the text and raise further questions about Acker's editorial intention; the typescript title-page bears the uncompleted subheading "Photographs by" but gives no further allusions to this content. The final example is the 1991 Semiotexte collection HANNIBAL LECTOR MT FATHER which shows still further textual edits. In terms of form the most marked difference between the typescript copy and the published editions that followed is the way in which the text is divided into a series of passages or episodes numbered at the head of the page. These can be full paragraphs or single sentences or for example the word "syphilis" which has an entire page to itself. This deliberate distribution of white space surrounding the single word which in later editions is returned to the conventional layout of a sentence adds nuance and valence to the story which is arguably altered in transcription. In the key collection of Acker Papers at Duke University there is a comparable copy described thus in their catalogue: "60-page photocopied typescript corrected in the photocopy with original note on the title page My Copy by Acker". We have not been able to locate an original typescript suggesting that this format with Acker's holograph corrections in the copy is as primary a resource for this text as is currently known. A revealing collection about Acker's Pushcart Prize-winning work showing both her working methods and intentions while simultaneously demonstrating their editorial undoing across numerous editions. Photocopy of typescript with one page original typescript bearing top-copy typed corrections and holograph number that page taped to verso of letterhead. 60pp. printed on recto only stapled at top right corner with neat tape reinforcement over staple on title page. Light wear to title page and final sheet tail edge of two oversized sheets rubbed. Taped revision loose from browned tape mounts. With four published appearances featuring the story also provided. [Various] unknown books
1992réf. 400032New York: Pantheon Books 1992. Softcover. Fine. Uncorrected proof. Printed wrappers. Fine. A collection of Acker's three multipart novels: The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula I Dreamt I Became a Nymphomaniac!: Imagining and The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec. The proof is uncommon. Pantheon Books unknown books
1996réf. 583461New York: Grove Press 1996. Softcover. Near Fine. Uncorrected proof. Glossy illustrated wrappers. Slight edgewear else near fine. Grove Press unknown books
1996réf. 199481New York: Grove Press 1996. First edition and first printing. Hardcover. 277 pages. A grrrl pirate story loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island." A tight near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with some minor wear. Grove Press unknown books
1996réf. 539562New York: Grove Press 1996. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First edition. Illustrated by S. Clay Wilson. Octavo. 277pp. Fine in fine dust jacket. Acker would collaborated with British band The Mekons for an album of the same name with Wilson cover art and her narration. Grove Press hardcover books
1996réf. 508293New York: Grove Press 1996. Softcover. Fine. Uncorrected proof. Octavo. Glossy printed wrappers. Fine. Grove Press unknown books
1996réf. 127696New York: Grove Press 1996. Softcover. Fine. First edition. Fine in wrappers. Paperback. Book is fine except for remainder mark. Nice clean copy. Grove Press unknown books
1972réf. 539752San Francisco or Berkeley: Papyrus Press 1972. Softcover. Near Fine. Photocopy. Octavo sheets printed rectos only. 62pp. Uneven sheets side stapled. Light wear still fine. Accompanied by original mailing envelope stamped with The Black Tarantula return address and hand addressed by Acker to Robert Bertholf the influential poetry professor and former curator of The Poetry Collection at Buffalo along with a Autograph Note on the rear flap: "As promised. Please excuse lousy quality of xerox. Love." A photocopy of the pages of Acker's first solely authored work sent to Bertholf in lieu of an original copy; the mailing cancel date read "May 16 1974" two years after the book's publication. Interestingly the first page of the photocopy shows not the all-black front cover which would been impossible to reproduce but the title page showing Acker's note "Myself A" likely indicating the copy was made using her own personal copy. While not an original copy a unique artifact produced by the author using her own copy of her rare first book and sent by her through the mail like several of her earliest works. Papyrus Press unknown books
réf. 160809010No place: Self published 1975. First Edition. Paperback. Very Good. A complete set in six parts: "The Case of the Murdered Twerp" "Longing for Better Things" "Stop It Ted I Screamed" "How Love Can Lead Youngsters to Murder" "The Future" and "The Life of Johnny Rocco." Very good on average with wraps showing toning light smudging and general handling. Volume IV has previous owner name inside front cover and light creasing. A postmodern cut-up novel in the vein of William S. Burroughs Brion Gysin and the Situationists. Early works by Acker in complete runs are scarce as they were often issued in parts either handed out to friends or sold by subscription. [Self published] paperback books
1981réf. 86209Buffalo NY: Top Stories 1981. First Edition. Octavo. 21cm. Publisher's illustrated stiff card wraps. 24pp. Light wear to extremities a couple of small scratches to the front panel; internally clean ink stamp of "Top Stories" NYC address to copyright page. A very good clean copy. An early piece of searing Acker prose dealing with themes of abuse crime and sexuality illustrated with photographs by Anne Turyn. Originally published in "Crawl Out Your Window" journal a year prior. "Top Stories" was created by Turyn and distributed by Hallwalls a small indie gallery space and publishing house in Buffalo. Top Stories unknown books
réf. 8000126PA: The Pennsylvania German Society 2020. Bound in stiff white boards in matching dust jackets. These two volumes are in "new" condition -- still both wrapped in the original cellophane wrappers. A collection of German birth and baptismal certificates Fraktur Art. 305 pp. / 309 pp. Illustrated throughout and indexed to assist in one's research. First Edition. Hard Cover. Mint/Mint. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. The Pennsylvania German Society Hardcover books
2012réf. UACKCOM00LRAmherst University 2012. Fine. Acker Jennifer editor. The Common #4. Amherst Massachusetts: Amherst University 2012. 215pp. 8vo. Paperback. Book condition: Near fine. Amherst University paperback books
1994réf. 170907San Luis Obispo CA: Garden Street Press 1994. First edition. Softcover. A paperback original collection of poems. A fine copy in wrappers. Signed and very warmly inscribed by Acker to poet Marie Ponsot on the title page. A nice association copy. Garden Street Press unknown books
1977réf. 1300Complete run in seven fascicles 666384808391198 pp. - final issue is a double number of the literary magazine published by Paul De Barros and Daphne Marlatt. Chiefly text. Oblong 8vo. Very good. Perfect bound and stab-stapled illus. wrappers. 1300 A scarce complete set of the important and influential journal of postmodern experimental prose notable for early publications of Acker's Blood and Guts in High School and the beginning of Great Expectations. Sets of Periodics are rare in the marketplace and uncommon among physical holdings though many North American institutions have access to an online version offered by Reveal Digital's Independent Voices. Periodics includes contributions by Kathy Acker Michael Ondaatje George Bowering Larry Eigner Penny Chalmers Michael Rumaker Barry Gifford David Young Michael Palmer David McFadden Ann Ireland Douglas Barbour David Benedetti Lyn Hejinian David Young Penny Kemp bpNichol Charles Bernstein Fred Wah Duncan McNaughton Gladys Hindmarch James Sherry Laura Chester John Brandi Margaret Randall Douglas Messerli Michael Andre Jean Trelease Day Gerry Gilbert Tom Whalen and numerous others. Periodics books
réf. 146188N.p.: N.p. 1976. Archive of six autograph letters signed and one typed letter signed from Kathy Acker to fellow experimental novelist Rudolph Wurlitzer twenty five pages total undated but written during the first half of 1976 based on dates mentioned in the body of one of the letters. From the collection of Rudolph Wurlitzer with provenance. Acker and Wurlitzer were in a relationship begun while they were both in New York and continuing briefly after he left the city for Nova Scotia where he was a the time of this correspondence. Two of the letters directly address their relationship and correspond to letters written by Wurlitzer as quoted in Chris Kraus' 2017 biography of the late writer "After Kathy Acker." The letters offered here were not available to Kraus something she mentions when discussing the relationship with Wurlitzer and have never been published or previously available for sale. In addition to Acker's frank discussion of her feelings toward Wurlitzer the letters take a broadly confessional tone as Acker discusses her mental and emotional state as well as her conflicted feelings regarding the writing she was doing at the time. She writes candidly about feelings of isolation introversion and exhaustion with life in New York and its attendant social obligations presenting a version of Acker that is at odds with both her own self-mythologizing and her already established persona as a post-punk literary icon and chronicler of the downtown avant garde scene. Acker is similarly candid regarding her own writing mentioning both "The Adult Life of Toulouse-Lautrec" and "Florida" both 1978 as in-progress saying of the former "the hell with Toulouse I wanted to finish it off with hell and this is hell" and of the later that it "is about characters. Have to make characters grow." She goes into some detail regarding her feelings about "The Life of Johnny Rocco" section of "Toulouse" calling it "a horrible book" and noting that she's "scared of this book. Scared to type it up. Something very raw about me in it" but also noting that the "only good thing" about the book is that it was "the first time I created a real character who isn't me." Finally Acker speaks at length about the books and films she is consuming in particular noting the influence of Japanese literature and cinema on her work and often relating them to her own ambitions as a writer. She quotes a long passage from William Faulkner's "Go Down Moses" and compares her work unfavorably to it briefly discusses Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" mentions reading Yukio Mishima Osamu Dazai and Yasunari Kawabata and in one letter provides a lengthy synopsis of the plot of all three films in Hiroshi Inagaki's "Samurai Trilogy" before briefly relating the themes of the film to her relationship with Wurlitzer. Of the influence of Japanese literature she notes her desire in her own writing for "simple paragraphs each paragraph an image. 1 2 3. The flow absolutely like straight line.like those incredible Japanese novels I've been reading." Autograph letters signed on 7 x 8.25 inch lined notebook paper. 23 pages rectos only. Near Fine with faint horizontal folds. Typed letter signed on 8.5 x 11 paper. Two pages rectos only. Near Fine folded twice for mailing. N.p. unknown books
1974réf. 85928San Francisco: Tales of San Francisco; Dykes 1974. First Edition. Octavo. 21.5cm. Original white paper wraps. 25pp. pagination runs 167-192 contiguous with previous parts. Strong and clean with some toning to the spine area and some areas of soiling to the white covers light edgewear; internally clean and fresh. A very good copy. The sixth and final instalment of Acker's second novel published by Acker under the pseudonym "The Black Tarantula" and issued in parts before having a single volume publication in 1980. Scarce and ephemeral issued in very small numbers and mailed to their recipients and very characteristically part novel part aggressively stated expression of existence. Tales of San Francisco; Dykes unknown books
1989réf. 167397London: British Film Institute BFI 1989. Softcover. First UK Edition. Includes 18 essays on Warhol's film work. Very Good plus in perfect-bound wrappers lightly toned on the wrapper edges. British Film Institute [BFI] unknown books
1973réf. 72238San Francisco: Empty Elevator Shaft Press c. 1973. 63 pp. A few light spots to front cover else near fine in illustrated wrappers. Three prose poems by Acker along with work by Eigner Gitin Potts Mariah Voelcker and many others. The first and only issue. San Francisco: Empty Elevator Shaft Press unknown books
1983réf. 573344Providence Rhode Island: Tom Ahern / Diana's Monthly Press 1983. Softcover. Near Fine. First edition. Cover by Gail Porter. Trade paperback. Illustrated. Light wear very near fine. Features "Museum of Modern Rat" by Stephen Spera; "Translations of the Diaries of Laura the Schoolgirl" by Kathy Acker; "Losing the Form in Darkness from the Waterfront Journals" by David Wojnarowicz; "The Ill-Tempered Caviller & The Flinstones Variations" by Peter Cherches; "Bibi-la-Bibiste" by Raymonde Linossier translated and with an introduction by Keith Waldrop; "Species of Intoxication" by Michael Gizzi; and "American Transmissions & See Atoms Lifeless" by "I Adult Strong." According to the title page this book constitutes Volume IX of Diana's Monthly. Tom Ahern / Diana's Monthly Press unknown books
1948réf. 27263Paris: Éditions surréalistes 1948. First edition. 13 p. 17 cm. Wrappers fine. One of 30 numbered copies on Marais paper. Fine. An anti-clerical tract signed in type by Adolphe Acker Sarane Alexandrian Maurice Baskine Jean-Louis Bédouin Hans Bellmer Jean Bergstrasser Roger Bergstrasser Maurice Blanchard Joë Bousquet Francis Bouvet Victor Brauner André Breton Jean Brun Pierre Cuvillier Pierre Demarne Charles Duits Jean Ferry André Frédérique Guy Gillequin Arthur Harfaux Jindrich Heisler Georges Henein Maurice Henry Jacques Hérold Véra Hérold Marcel Jean Alain Jouffroy Nadine Kraïnik Jerzy Kujawski Pierre Lé Stan Lélio Pierre Mabille Jehan Mayoux Francis Meunier Nora Mitrani Henri Parisot Henri Pastoureau Benjamin Péret Gaston Puel Louis Quesnel Jean-Dominique Rey Claude Richard Jean Schuster Iaroslav Serpan Seigle Hansrudy Stauffacher Claude Tarnaud Toyen Clovis Trouille Robert Valançay Jean Vidal Patrick Waldberg. Éditions surréalistes unknown books
1981réf. 410380San Francisco California: Third Man 1981. Softcover. Near Fine. Magazine. Octavo. Perfectbound. Modest rubbing near fine. Contributors include Alan Bernheimer Stephen Rodefer Barrett Watten Carla Harryman Michael Palmer Kathy Acker Kit Robinson and Lyn Hejinian. Third Man unknown books