Memoires by Debord & Jorn [1959] – with a unique cover

25 Saturday Oct 2014

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Debord, Guy and Jorn, Asger. Mémoires: Structures Portantes d’Asger Jorn. Copenhagen: Internationale Situationniste, 1959. n.p. [64 p.]; ill.; 28 x 21 cm. White card wrappers with Viks no.2 sandpaper cover.

Memoires is the product of a collaboration between Guy Debord and Asger Jorn in the early years of the Situationist International. Printed in vivid colors – the work of Danish masterprinters Permild & Rosengreen – it is viewed by some as the most important art book of the twentieth century.

The making of Memoires is the subject of full-length book by Troels Andersen (curator of the Silkerborg Museum of Arts): Erindriger om Asger Jorn. Suffice to say that Debord and Jorn had “worked” together two years earlier – after stealing a large stock of magazines and newspapers, they spent a drunken afternoon collaging elements together. After transferring these collages to litographic plates, Jorn poured ink over them and the resulting plates were etched and printed. Thus, Fin de Copenhague was born (1957), printed in 200 copies. Memoires constitutes a continuation of this unique partnership

Memoires is perhaps best known for its unique cover: a single sheet of heavy grade sandpaper (specifically Viks no.2 grade), wrapped around the book’s inner cover but otherwise unattached to the white card wrappers. The intent was that Memoires would damage books next to it on a library shelf.

Our copy of Memoires offers a unique presentation: the traditional sandpaper sheet is replaced with a cover made of 110 razor blades. The work of Michel Guet, an artist and writer who was close friends with Ralph Rumney, it is an homage to Jorn & Debord.

500 copies of Memoires were originally issued. However, the book is in high demand and thus rare in the trade. We have yet to encounter another copy with the Michel Guet cover; private sources lead us to believe this may have been a one-of-a-kind artwork

Gonzalvez 84, Raspaud & Voyer 108

For more information:

Donne, Boris. Pour Memoires. Paris: Allia, 2004. Perhaps the most ambitious and complete attempt at deciphering Memoires.

Edwards, Richard. Uneasy Arrangements: Looking at Guy Debord’s Memoires. http://remixhumanities.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/uneasy-arrangements-looking-at-guy-debords-memoires/

Nolle, Christian. Books of Warfare: The Collaboration between Guy Debord & Asger Jorn from 1957-1959. http://virose.pt/vector/b_13/nolle.html

“Memoires”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mémoires

Cahier pour un Paysage a Inventer

13 Thursday Feb 2014

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Asger Jorn, Gaston Miron, Guy Debord, Internationale Situationniste, Patrick Straram, Quebec

Straram, Patrick. Cahier pour un Paysage a Inventer. n.p. [Montreal]: n.p., May 1960. 103 p.; 26.5 x 21 cm; white cover with text in orange and black

First and only issue of this Situationist-influenced, Quebec-based periodical. Produced by Patrick Straram following his expatriation to Canada, this publication includes articles, poems and critical texts by Quebec writers (Gaston Miron, Marie-France O’Leary, Paul-Marie Lapointe, Gilles Hénault, Serge Garant, Marcel Dubé…) and members of the Internationale Situationniste (Asger Jorn, Gilles Ivain, Guy-Ernest Debord…).

Born in Paris in 1934, Patrick Straram was a member of the Internationale Lettriste and a close (and early) friend of Guy Debord and Ivan Chtcheglov. He left the I.L. in 1954 when he fled to Canada to avoid military service. He remained close to Debord for several, as attested by their warm and friend letters to each other.

This association copy belonged to Gaston Miron (1928-1996), one of the poets featured in the Cahier. Miron signed his name on the front cover and heavily annotated his brief text (“Notes d’un homme d’ici”). Miron was an important poet, writer and editor of Quebec’s quiet revolution, as well as a highly visible member of Quebec’s nationalist and independence movements.

Not found in the trade with only three copies on OCLC, all in Canada (Sherbrooke, Montreal, UQAM)

Situationist Times [1962-1967]

02 Sunday Jun 2013

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Asger Jorn, Boo-Hooray, Jacqueline de Jong, Situationist International, Situationist Times

De Jong, Jacqueline (Ed.) Situationist Times 1-6. Hengelo, Copenhagen and Paris: Rhodos / International Science, 1962-1967. 64-200 p..; ill.; 22 x 28 cm; illustrated wrappers in different colors

The Situationist Times was originally intended as an orthodox Situationist periodical to run alongside IS, but at Goteborg, it was decided that a second paper would be too expensive, besides presenting the problem of translation into English. Jacqueline de Jong, after her expulsion, launched and edited the magazine single handed, though many of the photographs and ideas were supplied by Jorn (Ford). Contributors included: Theo Wolvecamp, de Jong, Armando, Vanderkamm, Gruppe SPUR, de Boer, Edle Hansen, Singer, Gordon Fazarkely, M. Bucaille, G. Hay, Asger Jorn, P. Schat, Noel Arnaud, Pierre Alechinsky, Boris Vian, and many others.

Issues were published in runs of 1,000-2,000 copies, with some focused on specific topics. Issue no.3 dealt with the Typology of Knots, Issue no.4 with labyrinths, and Issue no.5 with rings and chains. and Issue no.6 was simply comprised of 33 color lithographs. An issue no.7 was to be published, but lack of funds prevented it release

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Situationist Times, Boo-Hooray Gallery released a facsimile reprint of all six issues in a limited-edition box of 1,000. While De Jong initially supported effort – led by Johan Kugelberg – she later expressed her disappointment and is working on creating an errata (http://jacquelinedejong.com/internationale-situationniste/) . Nonetheless, this reprint makes this long out of print magazine available to the general public

Featured below are all six original issues, as well as a leaflet advertising the publication of the fourth issue