Books

First edition, one of a planned edition of 200 copies; 4to (225 x 190 mm, 8 3/4 x 7 1/2 in); 20 gelatin silver contact photographs (55 x 55 mm, 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 in) mounted on yellow pages, minor occasional mirroring; wire-stitched card covers printed in black and yellow after a design by Marian Zazeela, slight crease to foot of spine, stray ink marks to inside covers with minor offsetting to first and last pages, bottom wire pulling at spine, near-fine; [20pp]. Jack Smith is a key figure in the cultural history of Downtown New York; his influence is foundational in the history of experimental film, queer cinema, and performance art, helping transform the artistic landscape of New York. This copy of The Beautiful Book includes an additional image, meaning it contains 20 gelatin silver photographs instead of the usual 19 (18 photographs by Smith and one portrait of Smith by Ken Jacobs). Except for the additional photograph, the sequence of the images remains consistent with other copies but with one print orientated differently. The Beautiful Book was produced in an intended but unrealised edition of 200 copies. Jack Smith, Piero Heliczer, and their associates assembled the books during the late spring and early summer of 1962 before shooting began on Smith's film Flaming Creatures (1963), one of the most notorious underground films of the 1960s, which became a test case of censorship laws. The Beautiful Book contains photographs taken during an extended series of photo sessions at his Lower East Side apartment between 1961 and 1962. Smith planned to give them to Jonas Mekas's Film Culture magazine as a series titled '16 Immortal Photographs'. However, Film Culture declined to publish the work, so he produced The Beautiful Book with Piero Heliczer's The Dead Language Press instead. Flaming Creature p77; The Open Book pp190-1.

An iconic work, 'The Beautiful Book' is known for its eloquent prose and historical significance.