The Cement Fuck
Cleveland: Renegade Press, 1966. First edition. 4to, mimeographed from typescript on rectos only, and side-stapled, with an original painting print by Mara to cover, and "under the sheets i touch me," a mimeograph stencil as print by levy tipped onto the verso of the second sheet. One of a limited edition of 110 copies.
The first and only edition of this rare early artist's book of concrete poetry by levy. A key early work in that it includes levy's foreward, "What does concrete poetry mean?" in which he explicitly lays out the political impetus for his use of the form, explicity tying it to the anti-war movement and the perceived failure of traditional poetry to attack the semiotic underpinnings of the war drive and the Vietnam War. "Concrete is an Action, such as WAR."
Secondly, the print by levy, entitled "under the sheets i touch me," consists of an actual mimeograph stencil bound in, which has offset onto the facing page, replicating the printing action of a Mimeograph machine on the sheet onto which it is tipped, and bringing the materiality of levy's process to the fore as it relates to the nature of the form and the Mimeograph Revolution. The title of the print suggest that the reader should lift the end of the print and view this offsetting, one of the most remarkable pageworks of the Mimeograph Revolution. A startling work that is also an incredibly important artists' book addressing political protest and the materiality of the artists' book in a unique way, a key American artists' book of the decade.
Two light crease lines throughout, with some light soiling and smudging to covers. The stencil print has partially affixed to the page onto which it is tipped, with some paper remnants affixing to verso of print - the stencil used in this copy was heavily covered with sticky ink. Very good. Item #28366