Cronin, Isaac and Spangler, Tyler. The Dictionary of Unhapiness. Berkeley CA: Little Black Cart (Cruel Hospice), 2014. 80 p.; profusely ill.;  25.5 x 20 cm. Illustrated blue cover with text in black. Introduction by Cronin.

The result of a collaboration between Isaac Cronin – one of early pro-Situationists the late 1960s and the co-creator of the Council for the Eruption of the Marvelous – and contemporary visual artist Tyler Spangler (http://tylerspangler.com/), this book superposes digital collages with Situationist-influenced writing. Sample entries of this dictionary include:

AIR: Widely prevalent gas, soon to be the subject of an extensive marketing campaign

BULIMIA: Metaphor for the state of mind of the consumer that allows maximum growth of the market system

CHILD: Proof of disposable income

HUMAN RESOURCE: Concentration camp inmate who gets to take a shower with soap so long as he doesn’t complain about the lack of hot water

…and so forth.

Debord, Guy. Xã Hội Diễn Cảnh  La Société du Spectacle. Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Tri Thức, 2014. 295 p.; 20 x 12 cm. Illustrated white cover (similar to Gallimard’s) with text in black, publisher’s white band with text in black

First Vietnamese edition of Guy Debord’s masterpiece, translated by Nguyen Tong. Annotated and introduced by Nguyen Tong. Includes an extensive bibliography and an index in the postface.

Debord, Guy. スペクタクルの社会  La Société du Spectacle. Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1993. 288 p.; 20 x 15 cm. Illustrated white cover with text in black, publisher’s white band with text in black

First Japanese edition of Guy Debord’s masterpiece, translated by Kinoshita Makoto. Includes a postface by the translator on “History of the Situationist International” and “Notes on the translation”. The paperback edition was published 10 years later.

Frey, Edith; Frey, Theo; Garmault, Jean; Holl, Herbert. Pour une Critique de l’Avant-Gardisme: l’Unique et sa Propriete – Suivi de Documents Relatifs a l’Eclatement de l’Internationale Situationniste. Strasbourg: n.p., 1967. 12 p. (+9 loose sheets +2 loose double sheets); 27.3 x 21.6 cm.

Scarce, with only four copies on OCLC (Yale, Michigan, Internationale Institute of Social History, Getty Institute)

 Important pamphlet published by a group of recent SI excludees known as the “Garnautins” (Theo Frey, Jean Garnault, Herbert Holl and Edith Frey), and perhaps the earliest documented criticism of the S.I. Includes a pamphlet and 5 documents laid in the back cover: See below :

1) ” Circulaire de l’Internationale Situationniste” signed by Michèle Bernstein, Guy Debord, Mustapha Khayati, Donald Nicholson-Smith, René Vienet concerning the exclusion of Théo Frey, Jean Garnault and Herbert Holl following a meeting of the S.I. dated 15 January 1967 (1 page leaflet)

2) In response, a resignation letter entitled “La Vérité est révolutionnaire”, dated 16 January 1967 and signed by Théo Frey, Jean Garnault, Herbert Holl and Edith Frey (2-page leaflet)

3) Another leaflet entitled “De la merde en milieu situationniste”, dated 19 January 1967. Frey, Garnault and Holl attack Debord and Khayati and claim that they resigned from and were not excluded from the S.I. (3-page leaflet)

4) A photocopy of the supplement to Internationale Situationniste entitled “Attention ! Trois provocateurs”, dated 22 January 1967 and signed by Bernstein, Debord, Khayati, J.-V. Martin, Nicholson-Smith, Raoul Vaneigem, Vienet. Stapled to it is Frey, Garnault and Holl’s response, “Appel à tous les étudiants en état de porter les armes !, produit des « Scheidemann-Noske”, fictitiously signed by the Office des Etudiants de Berlin. Includes original text in German and translation in French

5) “Rien que de la merde, mais toute la merde” offers a more in-depth criticism of the S.I and Debord in particular. It is dated 2 February 1967 (5 page leaflet)

Vienet, Rene. La Dialectique Peut-elle Casser des Briques? Paris: n.p., 1973. 32 x 23,5 cm; ill.; double-sided color poster (front: ill. film screenshot, back: blue paper with text in black).

Film poster for Vienet’s famous detourned film. Front: illustrated screen filmost. Back:press reviews and film synopsis. A much larger poster was also issued.

Scarce. 2 copies in the trade, none on OCLC.

Khayati, Mustapha / Internationale Situationniste. Da Miseria No Meio Estudiantil. Coimbra (Portugal): Fenda, 1983. 44 p.; 21  x 10.5 cm; illustrated light brown wrappers with 6 portraits and text in dark brown

Portuguese translation of De la Misere en Milieu Etudiant. Translation by Julio Henriques.

Reproduces (in Portuguese) the introduction that first appeared in Ten Days that Shook the University in 1967. Also includes a brief note by the translator, in which he states that the pamphlet has previously been distributed in Portugal, but no other editions (or accounts of these early publications) can be found. Thus, this may very well be the first edition.

Not see in the trade, with a single copy found on OCLC (At the National Library of Portugal). As is often the case with editions of La Misere en Milieu Etudiant, the text is available online: http://www.cedap.assis.unesp.br/cantolibertario/textos/0121.htm

I thought I would make a brief interlude and explain my project and how you can help.

My objective is simple: acquire, curate and make available rare or hard-to-find Situationist or Situationist-inspired texts. While Europeans (through the International Institute of Social History) have easy access to such material, it is more difficult in the United States – despite excellent holdings at the Labadie (Michigan), Yale and the Tamiment/Wagner (NYU). Once my work is done – in 2,5,10 or 15 years – I will gift my collection to an institution that 1) has a policy of open readership (i.e., anybody is welcomed to access their holdings) and 2) has a project to digitize texts that are not otherwise available online

I have been accused of engaging in commodity fetishism. Ultimately, however, this is about the best way to preserve and share texts that are critical to understanding the social and political history of the 20th century. This blog constitutes a first step.

How can you help? In several ways:1) provide a guest entry – I will feature a rare/unusual item you’d like to share with this blog’s readership; 2) share comments – improve the quality of the bibliographic information provided on this blog; 3) contact me with offers – if you have rare/unusual Situ or pro/post-situ texts that I could borrow or buy from you, please reach out

Thanks again for reading this blog