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Charles Henri FordAutograph manuscript, "From Distilled Birthmarks"Kathmandu: Charles Henri Ford and the Bardo Matrix Press, ca 1970s. Manuscript in blue ink on handmade lokta paper with woodblock text and device. Inscribed “for Ira [Cohen].” 8 pp on 2 sheets. Approx. 9 ½ x 7 ¼ in. Some toning, creasing, one or two small holes; nonetheless clean, bright, and intact, particularly given the quality of the paper.Autograph manuscript, being an excerpt from Charles Henri Ford’s poetic text “Distilled Birthmarks,” dedicated and inscribed to his close friend Ira Cohen, poet and publisher of Bardo Matrix Press. This work of Ford's is unpublished and evidently only recorded in archival holdings. Written during his time living in Nepal, the lokta paper on which the work is written features a Bardo Matrix printer's woodcut device of a hybrid rose-mushroom image. Below the woodcut, printed text reads, “The Rose Trail Ends at the Drugged Mushroom.” Also printed is “The Silver Amanita,” presumably a psychedelic wink at the white Amanita mushrooms found in Nepal.Condition as described in catalogue note. For further information on the condition of this lot please email <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:info@boo-hooray.com">info@boo-hooray.com</a>. All lots are sold on an "as is" basis at the time of sale. Images form a part of the condition description for each lot, though images online may represent hues and shades which differ from the actual item.

Charles Henri Ford — Unpublished autograph manuscript, "From Distilled Birthmarks"

Everything with and without a spine.

Patti SmithAutograph manuscript, “Alchemical Roll Call,” mailed to Harry Smith, with annotations in H. Smith's hand[New York]: np, 1970. 48 pieces of paper, composing 12 hand-drawn and autograph manuscript sheets; 3 sets of 12 xeroxed pages; one laser printed sheet. Each piece of the original manuscript roughly measures 5 1/4 x 3 5/8 in, with four of them adding up to a 10 1/2 x 7 1/4 in sheet; xeroxes measure 11 x 8 1/2 in. Annotations in pencil in Harry Smith's hand. Light discoloration to xeroxes; one set of the xeroxes with hand-coloring.Autograph manuscript poem composed by Patti Smith in 1970, "Alchemical Roll Call,” dedicated and mailed to the polymath filmmaker, ethnologist, and Neo-Gnostic bishop Harry Smith; the latter Smith is perhaps best remembered for his masterwork Heaven and Earth Magic, and for his influential Anthology of American Folk Music.Bookseller Philip Smith, who co-curated an exhibition on Harry Smith at Maccarone and contributed to The Whitney's 2023-24 exhibition "Fragments of a Faith Forgotten: The Art of Harry Smith," notes that the elements of the manuscript closely correlate to collaged elements in Heaven and Earth Magic; he further notes that the parenthetical annotations and "(orig)" appear to be in Harry Smith's hand.Written before Patti Smith’s musical career took off, this manuscript features Smith’s surrealist drawings and poems, already exhibiting a proto-punk/stick-figure humor &amp; sensibility alongside accomplished illustrations and turns of phrases. In her memoir Just Kids, Smith writes that "Alchemical Roll Call" “was an illustrated poem encoding the things that Harry and [she] had discussed about alchemy.” After the poem's dedicatee received it, he then, mysteriously, tore the sheets into quarters.Boo-Hooray would like to thank Philip Smith for his assistance in the cataloging of this lot. Condition as described in catalogue note. For further information on the condition of this lot please email <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:info@boo-hooray.com">info@boo-hooray.com</a>. All lots are sold on an "as is" basis at the time of sale. Images form a part of the condition description for each lot, though images online may represent hues and shades which differ from the actual item.

Patti Smith — Autograph manuscript mailed to Harry Smith, the poem's dedicatee, with his annotations

A complete run of ta'BOX [avant-garde Danish assemblage publication with cannabis cookies]Copenhagen: Panel 13, 1969-1970. Six issues, encased in plastic bags, five as issued; including the exceedingly rare ta'BOX 2 1/2 and two examples of the first issue. From 13 1/2 x 9 1/2 in to 14 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. Various conditions, but overall, nice examples; one copy of the first issue with perforations to the bag of powder enclosed in the original assemblage.A complete run of the five issues of ta'BOX, the Danish avant-garde assemblage publication that captured the material instability of the 1960s. Containing not only poetry and offset prints, the publication also featured posters, envelopes, documentary material, handbills, issues of other magazines from the left wing or counterculture, spruce cones, gun powder, matches, and the notorious cannabis cookies — two of which are present here.Along with issues 1-4, included here is the exceedingly rare issue ta'BOX 2 1/2, which was the only one not originally enclosed in a plastic bag, but in a brown envelope. Issue 2 1/2 was distributed at Festival 200, an important event in the history of avant-garde in Scandinavia (see the following lot for more information on the festival).ta'BOX was published by Panel 13, the composer Henning Christiansen’s (very) small press, which had published artists’ books by Hans-Jørgen Nielsen, Per Kirkeby and the composer himself in 1965. (For more on Panel 13 and its context, as well as examples of publications, see the following lot). The work was originally to be published by h.m. bergs forlag, but the editors' decision to include cannabis cookies was too much for the traditional publisher. Key contributors included Nielsen, Kirkeby, Peter Jensen, Lene Adler Pedersen, Henning Christiansen, and Hein Heinsen.ta'BOX documents the response of the Danish avant-garde to the student and worker revolts of 1968 — specifically the ruthless criticism of the arts, which were accused of passive, sycophantic support for capitalist society. ta'BOX responded by bridging fine art with everyday life through youthful revolt. This meant that poetry and art prints, the traditional forms of an arts publication, were packaged alongside leftist ephemera, prank items, acorns, collages, the aforementioned cannabis cookies, and more, in a literally deconstructed publication housed in a plastic bag. The ephemera includes a program statement for Slump I, an experimental settlement-cum-temporary-commune that set up artists and activists in tents with the aim of establishing collective art and social projects. ta'BOX makes its debt to Fluxus known by repeatedly printing "Fluxus Zone Nord" in its issues.Given the irregular and purposefully haphazard assemblage of materials, it is not possible to establish "completion" of any issue, as such. We do note, however, that the cannabis cookie from the inaugural issue is absent, likely enjoyed many decades ago. However, perhaps to your consolation, issue no. 1 does include a slightly oversized match, a green stick of wood, and a bag of what appears to be gunpowder. Issue nos. 2 1/2 and 4 do include their psychoactive cookies. The two examples of the first issue included here have, predictably, different contents.An extraordinary document of counter-cultural art. All issues are very scarce, but no. 2 1/2 is extremely rare; we can trace only one other copy in the auction records.Condition as described in catalogue note. For further information on the condition of this lot please email <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:info@boo-hooray.com">info@boo-hooray.com</a>. All lots are sold on an "as is" basis at the time of sale. Images form a part of the condition description for each lot, though images online may represent hues and shades which differ from the actual item.

A complete run of ta'BOX [avant-garde Danish assemblage publication with cannabis cookies]

Henning Prins, Leif Varmark, Ole Stig Andersen, Ole Grünbaum, et al, eds.HætsjjCopenhagen: Eks-Skolens Trykkeri, 1968-1970. Offset, silkscreen, one photomechanical reproduction. Most numbers unbound folios; one saddle-stapled in illustrated wraps (#43), one single sheet (#21, in facsimile and presumably incomplete), several “Bulletins” with unbound folios loosely inserted into posters (as issued); one corner-stapled pamphlet, annotated in an unknown hand. More than 100 sheets; most numbers 4 pp on one sheet; #43 with folded poster loosely inserted as issued. Various sizes, but most 12 x 9 in. All numbers in exceptional condition.A near complete run of Hætsjj, the Danish avant-garde artists’ “newspaper” — rarely (if ever) seen at this level of completeness, let alone in this condition. A phonetic spelling of the Danish word “hetz” (“smear” or "slander" campaign), this publication was issued, for a time, almost daily and was sold on the streets amidst the burgeoning avant-garde, collectivist movements. The publication ran from 1968 to 1970 in 48 numbers. Present here are numbers 1-7, 10-11, 13, 15, 17-18, 21 (presumably incomplete and in facsimile), 22-23, 25-30, 32-34, 36, 38, 40-43, two different versions of #45 (issued a day apart), one unnumbered issue, and four unnumbered folios (possibly inserts). Also present are numbers 1-11, 13-15 of the Hætsjj “Bulletins” for different events, performances, and happenings at the Festival 200 of 1969 — each bulletin a stunning work of art in its own right. Additionally, the lot contains four numbers of the Henning Christiansen’s Panel 13 (#1-2, 4-5), a contemporary, similarly produced publication by his press of the same name, including the Panel 13 manifesto. An eight-page pamphlet, excerpted from Ole Grünbaum’s memoir, about the founding of Hætsjj and its context accompanies these.Hætsjj arose from a pivotal moment in Danish experimental art. In 1966, The Experimental School (“Ex-School”), an important avant-garde art school set up as an alternative to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, moved into a condemned building near Fredrik’s Church in the Indre By. There, the Ex-School powerfully nurtured the vanguard: in their first year in that abandoned building they hosted Nam June Paik and Charlotte Moorman, as well as Joseph Beuys, who gave his first performance with the dead hare there. Next door to this collective live-work experiment “was an equally run-down flat which was used as a headquarters for a loose group among whom was the main organiser of the Danish Provo Movement, inspired by the Dutch Provos” (Ørum, 798). The Danish Provos and their associates were organizing and creating art derived from Situationist and Fluxus aims and aesthetics; indeed, “during the late 1960s they even made similar art objects, such as treated book art and assemblages in the typical style of the underground drug culture” (ibid).The concomitant developments in offset printing techniques made it possible for these artist-organizers to produce their own newspaper for their community cheaply. The leftist politics, art-making, performance pieces, and collectivist experiments in living mixing in these two buildings alone was a potent blend of revolutionary, avant-garde spirit — and the groups collaborated extensively on each other’s publications. Originally founded and edited by Henning Prins and Leif Varmark, their initial goal was to be a mouthpiece of the underground movement, to “incite against the authorities and against those who choose to cooperate with them in any way.” Members of both the Provos and the Ex-School contributed to Hætsjj, but the editorial oversight was eventually handed off predominantly to Ole Stig Andersen and Ole Grünbaum, and the artists at the nearby Gallery 101 (home to Joseph Beuys’ “Eurasia” actions), such as Bjørn Nørgaard and Peter Louis-Jensen.The first issue was published just days after the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and following comments from Denmark’s then-Prime Minister Hilmar Baunsgård, that “violent demonstrations” were “the greatest threat to democracy.” The incendiary publication was issued as direct counterpoint to this pacifying, bourgeois ideology, and was made up of local, underground news, political commentary, parody, pornographic political collage, and critical commentary on art and publishing. It “was not political art, but a political activity which was part of the spectrum of activities ranging from art to everyday life, social events and political activities undertaken by the extended Ex-School circle during the late 1960s” (ibid). The publication comprised the work, thinking, art, and organizing, of innumerable groups with divergent aims and methods — but who were united in their commitment to the counterculture. This heterogeneous mix was in fact part of the publication’s power. Guided by neither a manifesto nor a strict aesthetic program, and published in the form of a newspaper, it offered an image of an alternative world: a self-determined yet collectivist social reality, one governed by freedom of expression, rather than the murderous machinery of capital. Indeed, “Detailed instructions on how to produce an issue of Hætsjj were published in the paper as an encouragement to everyone to contribute or to establish their own newspaper” (ibid).The Bulletins included here were produced for the seminal Festival 200 of 1969. Organized in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Charlottenborg exhibition hall, the festival featured avant-garde artists across Scandinavia. It functioned as an important site of cross-pollination for these groups similarly dedicated to reimagining the social order, collectivist living, and insurgent art.All copies of Hætsjj are extremely rare. Each beautifully made issue is a remarkable work of revolutionary ambition. Not only an important, scarcely seen record of the European vanguard, these are still genuinely inspirational works at the intersections of collectivist thought, political organizing, and anti-commercial expression.Reference: Tania Ørum, "Counterculture," in A Cultural History of the Avant-Garde in the Nordic Countries 1950-1975 (2016).Condition as described in catalogue note. For further information on the condition of this lot please email <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:info@boo-hooray.com">info@boo-hooray.com</a>. All lots are sold on an "as is" basis at the time of sale. Images form a part of the condition description for each lot, though images online may represent hues and shades which differ from the actual item.

[Joseph Beuys, Ex-School, Danish Provos, Bjørn Nørgaard, Fluxus] — Hætsjj [near complete]

Jorgen Nash and Sven MalvinMordet på Ubbeboda Center [The Murder of Ubbeboda Center]Orkelljunga, Sweden: Editions Bauhaus Situationiste, 1978. Xerox, serigraph, and offset. Green cloth, spine with gilt-lettered, pebbled cloth label. 11 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. With 38 pp booklet (9 1/2 x 6 3/4 in) bound in, and with [7] pp side-stapled packet (11 3/4 x 8 3/4 in) loosely inserted. Signed and numbered by Sven Malvin on the front free-endpaper. Text in Swedish. A few strain stains to cloth, spine lightly sunned and with minor fraying to label, front free-endpaper starting, side-stapled packet toned at outer margins booklet with one bifolium disbound and loosely inserted; nonetheless an excellent copy overall.Number 61 of only 100 copies, hand-numbered and signed by Sven Malvin. This massive, sprawling artists' publication by Jorgen Nash and Malvin was published in the aftermath of the destruction of the Situationist commune at the Uddeboda Center, which was associated with the second Situationist International (otherwise known as the Bauhaus Situationiste). Mordet på Ubbeboda Center is a mythic avant-garde work among devotees of the Situationists, with approximately 700 pages featuring serigraphs, multiple paper-sizes, inserts, and documentation of artworks, events, and symposia held a the Uddeboda Center. In multiple languages, the book documents the international scenw hich circulated around the commune and its members. Included with this work si a stapled pamphlet with information regarding the work in Swedish.Exceedingly rare. We can trace only two copies in the auction records, and this work is uncommonly seen in the trade. OCLC traces only 3 copies as of November 2025, with none outside of Scandinavia.Condition as described in catalogue note. For further information on the condition of this lot please email <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:info@boo-hooray.com">info@boo-hooray.com</a>. All lots are sold on an "as is" basis at the time of sale. Images form a part of the condition description for each lot, though images online may represent hues and shades which differ from the actual item.

Jorgen Nash and Sven Malvin — Mordet på Ubbeboda Center [The Murder of Ubbeboda Center]

Mikhail BulgakovMaster i Margarita [The Master and Margarita], samizdat edition[USSR]: np, ca. 1980. Dot matrix. Contemporary maroon buckram, pale blue endpapers. 229 pp. 12 x 8 in. A bit shaken, minor soiling to rear board, corners bumped.The Master and Margarita is one of the essential works of Soviet satire. Bulgakov wrote the novel between 1928 and 1940, restarting it many times before his death in 1940. A heavily censored version was first published in Moscow Magazine in 1967. The first official publication of the uncensored text arrived in 1989 and would not have been possible without the distribution of samizdat printings such as this one.While samizdat were initially produced by hand or typewriter, this copy was printed using a computer and captures the fascinating juncture of Soviet dissident practices and digital technology. Beginning in the late 1970s, during the early days of computing, employees at institutions in the Soviet Union managed to print banned texts using line (or drum) printers, usually during night shifts as the use of duplication technology was tightly controlled by the state. By the 1980s, such printers produced text at a rate of several hundred lines per minute. The files containing the texts could be moved from mainframe to mainframe using magnetic tape.Condition as described in catalogue note. For further information on the condition of this lot please email <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:info@boo-hooray.com">info@boo-hooray.com</a>. All lots are sold on an "as is" basis at the time of sale. Images form a part of the condition description for each lot, though images online may represent hues and shades which differ from the actual item.

Charles Henri Ford — Unpublished autograph manuscript, "From Distilled Birthmarks"

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