Coming this summer….a blessed compendium featuring articles, short stories, verses, columns, literary essays, alphabets, metrical translations, monologues, talks, cartoons, rounds, lipogrammatic smut, a puppet show, a ventriloquism routine, and a one-act play. 248 pages of pure, unadulterated Skinner. Holy cow!
Watch this space,
The infamous Victorian monthly magazine The Pearl was published in London from July 1879 to December 1880 and was subsequently shut down by the authorities for publishing obscene literature. Each issue was devoted to explicit erotic stories, sex in high society, incest and flagellation, interspersed with ribald parodies, poems and naughty limericks. This selection of the best of The Pearl—over 330 pages!— is drawn from all of its original 18 issues and provides a fascinating look at the secret obsessions behind the Puritan’s mask. Step inside and enjoy a raunchy romp through the Victorian underground.
from the New Urge “Classics of Passion” series
HIDDEN GEMS: THE BEST OF THE PEARL, A JOURNAL OF FACETIAE AND VOLUPTUOUS READING
Anonymous
Selected and with an introduction by William Hamilton
334 pp., trade paperback, $14.95
Available in flaming full color, this collection of matchbook art by Norman Conquest includes reproductions of mixed media multiple editions, one-of-a kinds, and virtual creations produced over the years.
In 1989, while a fiery debate over flag-burning raged in Washington, D.C., the artist created his notorious “Beuyscout Matchbook” — a multiple edition of 100 examples.
Other works of political satire followed such as his “generic protest” series which included an “Impeach Him/Her Now!” matchbook.
There were also humorous works aimed at the art world, such as “Drool” (1991).
This unique chapbook features color reproductions of these rare, incendiary objects.
BURN THIS BOOK
by Norman Conquest
30 pp., 5.25″ x 8.25″
Perfect-bound, color illustrations
$10
Love knows no virtue, no profit; it loves and forgives and suffers everything, because it must
Originally published in 1870, the notorious novel Venus in Furs quickly became a landmark work of erotic literature. Written by the Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (who inspired Krafft-Ebing to coin the term masochism), the book’s themes of female dominance and sadomasochism are legendary. This compact new edition features stunning collage illustrations by French artist Nelly Sanchez.
This is the first volume in the New Urge “Classics of Passion” collector’s series.
On July 4, 2012, we published Alphonse Allais’s MASKS in a limited edition of 50 copies—the first title in our Absurdist Texts & Documents series. The chapbook quickly sold out and, today, is a coveted collector’s item. Since we’ve received many requests to reprint the book, we’re pleased to announce a revised and expanded edition. Translated from the French, adapted and illustrated by Norman Conquest, this new volume also features a most Allaisian introduction & notes on the text by the great Doug Skinner. Originally published in France under the title Un drame bien parisien (1890), this darkly humorous tale is quintessential Allais—a pataphysical text admired by the Surrealists (André Breton included it in his seminal Anthologie de l’humour noir). It was also celebrated by the French group Oulipo, and has been the subject of scholarly studies by the writer and semiotician Umberto Eco, Francis Corblin, and others. 
This is the first illustrated edition of this mini masterpiece. If you missed out on our first edition, now’s you chance to own a copy. MASKS Alphonse Allais Translation & illustrations by Norman Conquest With an introduction & notes on the text by Doug Skinner Absurdist Texts & Documents No. 1 Revised & Expanded Second Edition 50 pp., perfect-bound; illustrated; Special limited launch price: $12.00 (*$14 after June 4th)
This collection of rousing sporting tales mashes literary history and sports lore into a satirical inferno—skewering academic jargon and postmodern analysis with a razor-sharp, poison-tipped foil. Mark Axelrod mischievously injects the ancients with steroids and offers statistics to prove how little we know about the origin of our favorite pastimes. Here you’ll discover the “Baudelaire-Bird Connection or, How the Boston Celtics Got To Be That Way”; the obscure “Russian Sport of Face Slapping”; “Metaleptic Parabasis or, the Fine Art of High Jumping”; “Jai-Alai Machu Picchu,” and many other strange feats of Physical Lit-ness.
Armed with these wickedly funny tales you can head to the nearest sports bar or poetry reading and laugh your ass off.
DANTE’S FOIL & OTHER SPORTING TALES is a Black Scat Gold Medal Finalist.
blackscatbooks.com 