Hell

2001 · ref. 2320 — New York: powerHouse Books 2001. First Edition. Hardcover octavo in printed dust jacket. White illustrated boards with black lettering. 245pp. Corners gently bumped' horizontal indentation running from fore edge halfway to spine on front board; else clean and sound; Very Good . Clean unclipped dust jacket also holds the same indentation mark to front; trace edge wear besides; Near Fine. Exhaustive compendium of previously uncollected writing from punk musician poet and visual artist Richard Hell inscribed to title page in red ink to former bandmate collaborator and best friend Tom Verlaine: "Thank you Tom / hope all's well / yrs / Hell / October 2001". Hell and Verlaine met as high school students Richard Meyers and Tom Miller in Delaware and developed their identities alongside and against each other -- running away to New York City and forming the pivotal punk band Television together before their well-documented falling out in the mid-1970s. It wasn't until decades later when both men had settled into quieter and more individuated lives of less-public creative production that they resumed any sense of rapport. Hell related to this bookseller that he would see Verlaine browsing the dollar racks outside Manhattan's Strand Bookstore occasionally presenting him with his latest book as their tensions thawed. Hot and Cold contains much content from their time of collaboration with poems from their jointly-created alter ego "Theresa Stern" as well as essays and photos regarding the Television/CBGB's days. powerHouse Books hardcover