The Future is Unwritten: Letterism 1947-2014 Vol. 1 Catalog 17 Division Leap 6635 N. Baltimore Ave. Ste. 111 Portland, OR 97203 www.divisionleap.com [email protected] 503 206 7291 “Radically anticipating Herbert Marcuse, Paul Goodman, and their Letterism is a movement whose influence is as widespread as it is unacknowledged. From punk to concrete poetry to experimental film, from the development of youth culture to the student uprisings of 1968 and epigones in the 1960s new left, Isou the formation of the Situationist International, most postwar avant-garde movements owe a debt to it’s rev- produced an analysis of youth as olutionary theories, yet it remains largely overlooked in studies of the period (some notable exceptions are listed in the bibliography that follows the text). an inevitably revolutionary social sector - revolutionary on its own This catalog contains over one hundred items devoted to Letterism and Inismo. To the best of our knowl- edge it is the first devoted to either of these movements in the US. It contains a number of publications terms, which meant that the terms which have little or no institutional representation on these shores, and represents a valuable opportunity for of revolution had to be seen in a future research. new way.” A number of the items in this catalog were collected by the anarchist scholar Pietro Ferrua, who was closely associated with members of both Letterism and Inismo and who has written a great deal about both move- ments. Ferrua organized the first international conference on Letterism here in Portland in 1979 [see #62]. Beginning with his work as a teenager for the resistance in Italy during WWII, he’s had a long history of Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces p. 269 activism, for which he has been kicked out of more countries than many of us have visited. It is an honor to deal with the collection. Photographs of all items are available on our website, www.divisionleap.com Division Leap is a rare bookstore in the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland. We welcome visitors by ap- pointment. Since 2005 we’ve specialized in the research and placement of archives, collections, zines and ephemera relating to art, social movements, outsider narratives, independent publishing, and the intersec- tions between them. We welcome visitors by appointment. Print and electronic catalogs issued regularly; please contact us if you would like to be added to our mailing list. Thanks for reading - Adam, Kate, Jack, James, and Sam. All items subject to prior sale. Please call or email to reserve. Payment due with order. Institutions gladly billed according to their needs. All items returnable within two weeks of receipt; advance notice is appreciat- ed. Usual terms to the trade. 1. Isou, Isidore. Introduction a une Nouvelle Poesie et a une Nouvelle Musique. Paris: Gallimard, 1947. 12mo, 414 pp, printed wraps. Mention of 3eme edition at title page. A fair only copy, missing over half of the back strip, and extensively chipped, with several clumsy cellotape repairs. A battered copy, but formerly the copy belonging to the anarchist and scholar Pietro Ferrua. There are scattered check marks and underlining throughout the text, possibly Ferrua’s. Isou’s first book, which was at first turned down by Gallimard just after Isou got to Paris, but was later accepted after he quickly began to develop a certain notoriety, especially after disrupting denouncing events on behalf of other writers and artists. The book contains Isou’s manifesto of Lettrist poetry; the latter portion is printed on coated paper and prints a number of visual and sound poems, including the text of “CRIS POUR 5,000,000 DE JUIFS EGORGES”, his important poem about the Holocaust, in which echoes of Yiddish and other European languages are atomized in reaction to the horrors of the war from which he himself was a recent fugitive. 100 2. Lemaître, Maurice [Jean Isidore Isou]. Le film est déjà commencé ? Séance de cinéma. Paris: Encyclopédie du Cinéma, 1952. First edition. 12mo, 181 pp, wraps and illustrated dust jacket. Illustrat- ed with reproductions of film. With a preface by Isidore Isou. The script and related texts of Lemaître’s first film, and the second film from the movement, which he had made the year prior at the age of 25. Lemaître’s film included writing and other interventions directly on the 2 film. The screenplay includes much off-screen material, such as playing Griffith’s Intolerance an hour prior to showing the film, and for not letting the audience enter until an hour after the announced opening time and subjecting them to ice water dousings, etc. The opening of the film ended in fights and was closed by police- which had already been written into the scenario of the film. The usual toning, else a fine copy in a near fine example of the striking dust jacket. 75 Go home Mister Chaplin! 3. Debord, Guy et al. Finis Les Pieds Plats. [Paris]: l’Internationale Lettriste, [1952]. 8 1.2 x 11”, mimeographed from typescript on recto only. Signed in plate by Serge Berna, Jean-L. Brau, Guy-Ernst Debord, and Gil WJ. Wolman. Perhaps the most notorious Lettriste manifesto, a salvo against Charlie Chaplin, which was distributed by hurling the leaflet out at the crowd of people attending a press conference by Chaplin on October 29, 1952. As one might expect, Isou took umbrage at this handbill, prompting the split amongst the party and the formation of Lettriste Internationale, which would in turn lead to the formation of the Situationist Inter- national. In the tract Chaplin is attacked for emotional blackmail and mercenary interests; as Greil Marcus points out in Lipstick Traces, the sentiment of the broadside would be echoed a few months later in Pauline Kael’s first film review. Paper toned, with several closed edge tears to left margin, not affecting text. Very good. Rare. The first copy we’ve handled; OCLC locates only one holding, the Yale copy. [Berreby p. 147] 2000 3 4. Lemaître, Maurice. Qu’est Que Le Lettrisme? Et la Mouvement Isouien. Lourdes: Fischbacher, 1953. First edition. Paris: Fischbacher, 1954. First edition, one of 770 regular paper copies (of an entire edition of 950). 12mo. 158 pp. Bound in quarter red crushed morocco titled in gilt with four raised bands at spine, and marbled boards, with the original photographically illustrated wraps bound in. One of the foundational texts of the movement in a handsome binding. Originally issued in wraps, this ap- pears to be a regular paper copy that has been rebound. Very good, with boards rubbed through at extreities and a; 1” closed tear to front wrap. 250 5. Lemaître, Maurice. Isidore Isou: Base critique de l’ouvrage ou Introduction à une biogra- phie créatrice. Paris: Le Cheval Marin, 1954. First edition. 4to, 31 pp, original printed wraps. One of 200 numbered copies. With Centre de Créativité sticker to rear panel and title page. This overview and introduction to the thought of Isou is a relatively early Lettriste publication. 2” tear to paper at foot of spine, some toning, else very good. 150 6. Isou, Isidore. Initiation a la Haute Volupte. Paris: Escaliers de Lausanne, 1960. First edition. 8vo, 496 pp, printed wraps. Profusely illustrated with erotic drawings. Entirely uncut. Wraps a bit soiled, with a touch of tide marking to lower margins of front panel and spine only, not penetrating into the interior; very good. 4 The erotic aspects of this work led to it being banned by French authorities until 1977. 200 7. Lemaître, Maurice. Carnets D’Un Fanatique Tomes I et II. Dix Ans de Lettrisme. Edition Augmentee. Paris: Centre de Créativité / Jean Grassin, 1960. First edition thus. Two volumes. 8vo. 248 + 67 pp. Each volume bound in glossy wraps and housed in a printed folder. This copy still sealed, with the original print- ed belly band still intact, and scarce thus. Near fine with a small hole to shrinkwrap and small resulting tear to belly band. 100 8. Lemaître, Maurice and Isidore Isou. La Danse at Le Mime Ciselants. Lettristes et Hyper- graphiques. 6 Paris: Grassin, 1960. First edition. 8vo. 64 pp. Printed wraps. Illustrated with 4 duotone reproductions of photographs of Lettrist performances. Signed by Lemaître at the first blank. “Centre de Créativité” stamp to rear cover and first blank, some faint toning but a presentable very good copy, completely uncut. 125 9. [Spacagna, Jacques, ed.]. Nouvelle Generation no. 2. La Jeunesse Interroge Le Lettrisme. Paris: Nouvelle Generation, 1962. First edition. 4to, eight leaves mimeographed on rectos only and stapled once in the upper left hand corner. 9 The second issue, of only two published, of this review which was written and published by students, most of them still in their teens, with the aid of Isou and Lemaître. The aim of the review was to promote Letterist ideas in regard to modern literature, and this issue is largely taken up with questions of Letterist poetry. Near fine. 300 10. Lemaître, Maurice. Poésie nouvelle, Second supplément au No. 20: La dictature lettriste. Paris: Poésie Nouvelle, 1962. First edition. 4to, 5p stapled in upper left corner, mimeographed on rectos only. On pink paper. Text in French. Supplement to issue 20 of the Lettrist magazine, comprising an essay by Lemaître titled “Attention!” This is the last of a set of eight supplements to issues 17-20, all published with the subtitle “La dictature lettriste: bulletin du mouvement lettriste et hypergraphique et du soulèvement de la jeunesse.” Some toning and edgewear, with a few tiny tears and chips to corners. Very good. 100 11. Isou, Isidore. Oeuvres de Spectacle.