from Doug Skinner‘s SHORTEN THE CLASSICS series.
May Allais
Doug Skinner has shared some delicious Alphonse Allais tidbits—including a very rare photo of the master at his desk—over on the Ullage Group blog.
Meanwhile, volume three of Mr. Skinner’s translation of Allais’s Captain Cap is in the works.
For those interested in collecting the entire 4-volume set, copies of the first two are still available.
Captain Cap (Vol. I): Captain Cap Before the Electorate
Captain Cap (Vol. II): The Apparent Symbiosis Between the Boa and Giraffe
Happy May Day!
There will be no June Gloom here…
Get out your markers and circle June 1st. That’s publication day for How I Became an Idiot by Francisque Sarcey. Sarcey (1827-1899) was an esteemed French drama critic and the butt of derision at the cabaret Le Chat noir. He reviewed the premiere of Alfred Jarry‘s Ubu Roi with this visionary verdict: “…a filthy fraud which deserves nothing but the silence of contempt.”
Yes, he was a visionary idiot.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S IRONY.
In the good hands of Alphonse Allais, Sarcey became an Ubuesque piñata for the avant-garde artists and writers of Montmartre. The absurdist master wrote a series of wicked columns for the newspaper Le Chat noir under the name Francisque Sarcey and, as you might imagine, merdre hit the fan. Pies and fists were flying and high society was aghast.
Be prepared for some nasty laughs in How I Became an Idiot. Never before in English, this rare collection has been translated from the French by the great Doug Skinner and is being issued in an extremely limited edition of 60 copies.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: THIS TITLE IS OUT OF PRINT
Read more about forthcoming Interim Editions on the Bookends page here.
T.S. on American Publishers (1957)
“The way they work, they examine a manuscript for a
while and then they may say ‘Oh yes, this is like Look
Homeward Angel,’ and then they look up the sales
record of Look Homeward Angel, and if that’s all right
they’ll take it. But if the manuscript happens to be
just a bit original, you can save yourself the postage…
unless it’s five or six hundred pages, of course, then
they’re rather apt to take it, anything; they got that
idea from big cars—you know, ‘What’s good for
General Motors…by Cracky!’ ” —Terry Southern
from HOT HEART OF BOAR & Other Tastes
illustration by Norman Conquest, from Hot Heart of Boar
M. Kasper Pub Party at Amherst Books
M. Kasper will be signing copies of Kirghiz Steppes: Accumulated Verbo-Visuals this Thursday, the 25th, at 4:30 pm, at Amherst Books (8 Main St. Amherst MA).
If you’re in western Massachusetts, don’t miss this bash.
Kirghiz Steppes is a unique, limited edition album featuring the artist’s one-page pieces mixing words and pictures—parodies, comics, captioned collages, concrete poems, etc.—made since the 1970′s.
OUT OF PRINT
Awesome Love-Like Relationships
We know you think we’re awesome and love Black Scat Books, but do you like us? I mean really-really like us?
Well now you can prove it. We’ve just launched an awesome page over on farcebook, so please take a moment and “like” us.
Just click here and show us how awesome you are.
It would truly be awesome if all the bloggers on WordPress (who inform us daily how awesome our posts are) actually purchased some of our books. Awesome! Yes, believe it or not, we receive WP email notifications 24/7 from fundamentalists, work-at-home moms, video game entrepreneurs, auto-body parts manufacturers, big game hunters, radio talk-show hosts, et. al. Considering the nature of what we publish, that’s pretty awesome in itself.
Anyhoo… as awesome as these posts may be, our books are far more awesome—trust me.
Since we’re acutely aware of this particular post’s innate awesomeness (heck, we wrote it), there’s no need to remind us…just like us on farcebook and buy a book.
Then we’ll let you know how awesome you are.
Promise.
A new page is lurking…
What’s new?
Well we’ve added “Bookends” to our navigation bar—a new page that should excite hardcore Scat-addicts seeking the inside dope. It’s a quiet place for idle chatter, gossip, and behind-the-scenes tidbits, such as notes on our cover designs, revealing author fetishes, and the key to cryptic Black Scat nomenclature. In other words, information too esoteric for the front page.
Is God Dead Again?
That question will be answered in the order in which it was received. But if you can’t wait that long, pick up a copy of C. S. Hibbard‘s THE OTHER SIDE: THE SHOCKING TRUTH BEHIND 100 CLASSIC PAINTINGS—just out from Black Scat.
Upon its release in the U.K. in 2009, The Other Side quickly became a bestseller. It has been translated into half a dozen languages and over two million copies have sold worldwide. Black Scat Books is honored to offer this provocative work to the American public in a new trade paperback edition—featuring 100 color reproductions, as well as a foreword by noted art historian Paul Forristal.
Includes paintings by 40 of the world’s greatest artists: Allais, Altdorfer, Bosch, Botticelli, Bruegel, Caravaggio, Chagall, Cranach, Dali, DeVries, Ernst, Giacometti, Giotto, Goya, Greco, Holbein, Klee, Klimt, Leonardo, Magritte, Memling, Michelangelo, Millet, Monet, Paolo Uccello, Raffaello, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rousseau, Rubens, Schiele, Seurat, Tansey, Uccello, Van der Weyden, Van Eyck, Van Gogh, Velasquez, Vermeer, Veronese.
Cecil Sears Hibbard is the author of the acclaimed study Art & Religion: The Bohemian Divide (2005), and a collection of incendiary essays: Leonardo’s Smile & Other Seductions (2007). His novel The Architect was nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize.
***UPDATE***We regret to announce that C. S. Hibbard has cancelled his U.S. book tour due to concerns for his personal safety. He will not be signing copies of The Other Side at City Lights in San Francisco (May 1); Book Soup in Los Angeles (May 3); Barnes and Noble / Mission Valley, San Diego (May 4). If you purchased tickets for the party at Chateau Marmont on May 6th, refunds will be provided here.
Moo-na Lisa, mon amour
From Austria with love comes this collage by Monika Mori (a.k.a. MOO). Here Ms. Mori reveals her lighter side in a Munch-like self-portrait. Everyone loves a good Ménage à trois, and we think this collaboration between three fine artists is particularly noteworthy. (What do you say, Marcel?)
Sly smiles aside… consider Mori’s provocative abstracts in her collection Shattered Rainbow, published last year by Black Scat Books.
Take a peek. Then support your local artist.
blackscatbooks.com 