[VARIOUS] — Francesco Clemente and Raymond Foye. Collection of the first 42 Hanuman Books (Series I-VII)

[VARIOUS] — Francesco Clemente and Raymond Foye [eds]. Collection of the first 42 Hanuman Books (Series I-VII). New York and Madras: Hanuman Books, 1986-1990

42 vols, 16mo (105 x 67 mm). Fuck Journal signed by Flanagan on the title-page, 16 vols with illustrations. 41 vols smyth-sewn in card wraps, one vol in cloth (Trinidad, #23), with pictorial dustjackets; dustjackets with minor toning, rubbing, and spots, vol 3 (Myles) with small chip at foot of joint, vol 15 (Mueller), vol 19 (Denby), and vol 21 (Indiana) each with single tiny closed tear at extremities. This wear notwithstanding, overall exceptionally bright, tight copies. Very good to near fine.

FIRST EDITIONS of Series I-VII, with a signed copy of Bob Flanagan’s Fuck Journal and the rare cloth issue of David Trinidad’s Three Stories.

The first 42 titles published by Hanuman Books, the legendary small press founded by Raymond Foye and Francesco Clemente. Founded in 1986, Hanuman published these pocket-sized, handmade books, a format influenced by Indian prayer books. While the press was run out of New York’s Chelsea Hotel, the volumes were printed in Madras (now Chennai), where they were produced on handmade paper utilizing vibrant vegetable dyes, and bound by local fishermen. 

The series featured the contemporary avant-garde, queer literature, experimental art, and lesser-known texts in translation, and was particularly notable for its international and intergenerational editorial vision. Present here are two of their more notorious titles, Cookie Mueller’s Fan Mail ... and a signed copy of Bob Flanagan’s Fuck Journal, both of which resulted in the Indian government leveling obscenity charges against the press. While some copies were destroyed, others were detained until the cases were resolved in the courts.

There were ultimately 50 titles in the Hanuman canon, with 48 numbered copies and two unnumbered. The press was recently revived as Hanuman Editions, reissuing some of the original titles and seeking to continue its original editorial vision. Sets of first editions with this level of completeness are scarce. 

Comprising: 

1. John Wieners, A Superficial Estimation (1986); 2. David Trinidad, November (1986); 3. Eileen Myles, Bread and Water (1987); 4. Taylor Mead, Son of Andy Warhol (1986); 5. Francis Picabia, Who Knows (1986); 6. Henri Michaux, By Surprise (1987); 7. Amy Gerstler, Primitive Man (1987); 8. John Ashbery, The Ice Storm (1987); 9. Herbert Huncke, Guilty of Everything (1987); 10. Manuel Rosenthal, Satie, Ravel, Poulenc (1987); 11. Rene Daumal, A Fundamental Experiment (1987); 12. Bob Flanagan, Fuck Journal (1987); 13. John Wieners, Conjugal Contraries & Quart (1987); 14. Willem de Kooning, Collected Writings (1988); 15. Cookie Mueller, Fan Mail, Prankletters, and Crank Calls (1989); 16. Sandro Penna, Confused Dream (1988); 17. Vincent Katz, Cabal of Zealots (1988); 18. Alain Danielou, Fools of Gold (1988); 19. Edward Denby, Willem de Kooning (1988); 20. Max Beckmann, On My Painting (1988); 21. Gary Indiana, White Trash Boulevard (1988); 22. Jean Genet, Rembrandt (1988); 23. David Trinidad, Three Stories (1988); 24. Allen Ginsberg, Your Reason and Blake’s System (1988); 25. Rene Guenon, Oriental Metaphysics (1989); 26. Eileen Myles, 1969 (1989); 27. Gregory Corso, Mind Field (1989); 28. Rene Daumal, The Lie of the Truth (1989); 29. Elaine Equi, Views Without Rooms (1989); 30. Ronald Firbank, Firbankiana (1989); 31. David Hockney, Picasso (1990); 32. Simone Weil, On the Lord’s Prayer (1990); 33. Jack Smith, Historical Treasures (1990); 34. Cookie Mueller, Garden of Ashes (1990); 35. Beauregard Houston-Montgomery, Pouf Pieces (1990); 36. Bob Dylan, Saved! The Gospel of Speeches (1990); 37. Richard Hell, Artifact (1990); 38. Henry Geldzahler, Looking at Pictures (1990); 39. Francis Picabia, Yesno (1990); 40. Robert Creeley, Autobiography (1990); 41. Dodie Bellamy, Feminine Hijinx (1990); 42. Jack Kerouac, Safe in Heaven Dead (1994).

PROVENANCE: Ira Silverberg

#1068