{"title":"Kathy Acker","description":"\u003cp\u003eWorks by Kathy Acker available at The New Rare.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"art-scribe-no-51","title":"Art Scribe No. 51 (March–April 1985) — Basquiat, Kathy Acker, Lynne Cooke","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eArt Scribe No. 51\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarch–April 1985\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCover: Bruce McLean\u003cbr\u003eFeaturing: Jean-Michel Basquiat (ICA London)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoftcover magazine\u003cbr\u003ePublished: March–April 1985\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Artscribe Ltd\u003cbr\u003eEditor: Matthew Collings\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eContents:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e– Jean Michel Basquiat — review by Kathy Acker (p.52)\u003cbr\u003e– Neo-Primitivism — essay by Lynne Cooke (p.16)\u003cbr\u003e– Bruce McLean interview by Mel Gooding\u003cbr\u003e– Reviews: Jonathan Borofsky, Richard Wilson, Ger van Elk, Ian McKeever, Chagall, among others\u003cbr\u003e– Report: 2nd International Contemporary Art Fair\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA mid-1980s London art magazine capturing Basquiat at a precise moment of reception in the UK. He appears twice here — first through Kathy Acker’s review of his ICA exhibition, written with her characteristic urgency, and again within Lynne Cooke’s essay on Neo-Primitivism, where his work is folded into a broader critical debate around authorship, instinct, and cultural projection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe issue sits at an intersection: literary critique, institutional framing, and the British art context encountering Basquiat in real time. The Bruce McLean cover further grounds it within the language of British conceptual and post-performance practice of the period.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor Basquiat-focused collectors, this functions less as a magazine and more as a document of early critical positioning — before the narrative settled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike and follow for more rare art books and ephemera.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"THE NEW RARE","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53035119149394,"sku":null,"price":150.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/5636\/1554\/files\/Basquiat01.jpg?v=1774539700"},{"product_id":"kathy-acker-pussycat-fever-1995","title":"Kathy Acker — Pussycat Fever, AK Press, 1995","description":"\u003cp\u003eAK Press, 1995\u003cbr\u003ePaperback\u003cbr\u003e75 pp.\u003cbr\u003e14 × 22 cm\u003cbr\u003eBlack-and-white illustrations\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eText by Kathy Acker, with illustrations by Diane DiMassa and collages by Freddie Baer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA small paperback object positioned between fiction, comic, and printed disturbance. The cover carries its own terms: desire, violence, sex, danger, price, barcode. Acker’s name sits above the image, already functioning as author, persona, and circulation device.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInside, language and image move in parallel. DiMassa’s drawings extend the text into a graphic register of bodies, jokes, threat, and refusal. Baer’s collage work interrupts the surface further, keeping the book close to zine, pamphlet, and underground comic production.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book does not resolve into a stable literary object. It behaves more like a portable fragment: handled, read, passed on, absorbed into Acker’s wider economy of self-mythology, plagiarism, sexuality, and breakdown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Very good. Minor signs of wear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginal period item.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"AK Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53298655002962,"sku":"ACKER-PUSSYCAT-1995","price":80.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/5636\/1554\/files\/Acker_-Kathy.-Pussycat-Fever_-1995-1-cover.jpg?v=1777305162"},{"product_id":"kathy-acker-blood-and-guts-in-high-school-japanese-1992","title":"Kathy Acker — Blood and Guts in High School, Hakusuisha, Tokyo, 1992 (Japanese edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003eHakusuisha, Tokyo, 1992\u003cbr\u003eJapanese edition\u003cbr\u003eTranslated by Sachie Watanabe\u003cbr\u003eHardcover with dust jacket\u003cbr\u003e263 pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJapanese edition of Kathy Acker’s \u003cem\u003eBlood and Guts in High School\u003c\/em\u003e, published by Hakusuisha in 1992.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAcker’s text is carried into another language system: English title, Japanese title, blue printed surface, white jacket, translated body. The object does not simply reproduce the book; it relocates it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInside, the instability of the original remains visible through translation, handwriting, repetition, and diagram. The photographed spread holds several languages at once: English, Japanese, Persian script, phonetic instruction, bodily vocabulary. The page becomes lesson, wound, and index.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe edition places Acker inside a different publishing context, where the work’s violence and fragmentation are retained but visually reordered. Translation becomes part of the object’s structure: not secondary, but material.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Very good. Light wear to dust jacket, minor edge wear and handling marks consistent with age. Interior clean.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginal period item.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hakusuisha","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53300341997906,"sku":"ACKER-BLOODGUTS-JP-1992","price":100.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/5636\/1554\/files\/Acker_-Kathy.-Japanese-edition_-Blood-and-Guts-in-high-school--cover.jpg?v=1777319662"},{"product_id":"kathy-acker-blood-and-guts-in-high-school-grove-press-1984","title":"Kathy Acker — Blood and Guts in High School, Grove Press, New York, 1984","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eKathy Acker — Blood and Guts in High School\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGrove Press, New York, 1984\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSoftcover\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOffset-printed wrappers\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eApprox. 165 pp.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGrove Press softcover issue of Blood and Guts in High School, published in 1984 after the text’s earlier fragmented circulation in the late 1970s.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOriginal illustrated wrappers by Sue Coe: black field, red titling, image as signal. Interior pages combine narrative, diagram, letter, drawing, mistranslation, transcription, and appropriated material. The book does not settle into a single literary form. It distributes itself across available supports.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJaney appears less as a fixed character than as a point of passage: sexual, geographic, linguistic, institutional. The body is moved through systems. The text follows by breaking sequence, importing fragments, and refusing stable address.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs object, the book belongs to the moment when experimental writing, punk-adjacent publishing, feminist rupture, and visual interruption enter the paperback field. A mass-market form carrying a damaged, unstable structure.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCondition: very good. Light surface wear to covers, minor edge softening consistent with handling and age. Internally clean.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOriginal period item.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTHE NEW RARE\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"THE NEW RARE","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53300409368914,"sku":"ACKER-BLOODGUTS-GROVE-1984","price":100.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/5636\/1554\/files\/Acker_-Kathy.-Blood-and-Guts-in-High-School_-1984--cover.jpg?v=1777322140"},{"product_id":"kathy-acker-algeria-french-edition-dtv-paris-1988","title":"Kathy Acker — Algeria (French edition), Le Dernier Terrain Vague \/ DTV, Paris, 1988","description":"\u003cp\u003eAlgeria: Une suite d’incantations parce que rien d’autre ne marche\u003cbr\u003eLe Dernier Terrain Vague \/ DTV Compact Livre, Paris, 1988\u003cbr\u003eFrench translation by Thierry Marignac\u003cbr\u003eCover and illustrations by Kiki Picasso\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e11 × 15 cm · 166 pages · Softcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e good vintage condition. Light cover wear, corner softening, page toning, and small creases visible. The marks remain part of the record: handling, reading, storage, transfer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrench edition of Kathy Acker’s \u003cem\u003eAlgeria\u003c\/em\u003e, published by Le Dernier Terrain Vague in 1988. A compact, highly charged object: Acker’s text carried into French through DTV’s underground publishing structure, with cover and image work by Kiki Picasso — the Bazooka-affiliated graphic artist whose adopted name already performed a kind of theft, provocation, and cultural interference.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe pairing is exact. Acker’s writing dismantled authorship, sexuality, narrative, and literary property from inside the page. Kiki Picasso’s visual language operated in a parallel register: graphic assault, media noise, appropriation, and anti-respectable image culture. Together, the book becomes more than a translation. It becomes a small subversive object: American underground text, French punk graphic surface, Algerian title, and DTV distribution structure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLiterature as transfer system. Design as contamination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShipping and handling included. Ships protected; international shipping available.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The New Rare","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53604241375570,"sku":"ACKER-DTV-CAT-1988","price":100.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/5636\/1554\/files\/Acker_Kathy._Algeria_French_translation_._1988_front.jpg?v=1780129370"},{"product_id":"kathy-acker-great-expectations-1982","title":"Kathy Acker — Great Expectations (1982)","description":"\u003cp\u003eKathy Acker, \u003cem\u003eGreat Expectations\u003c\/em\u003e. San Francisco: Open Book Publications, 1982. Paperback original. 128 pp. 13.5 × 21 cm. Printed wrappers; black-and-white cover illustration; original $5.95 price to rear. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition: Fair.\u003c\/strong\u003e Spine worn and tattered, with rubbing, toning, handling marks, edge wear, and softened corners to covers. Interior pages remain in good condition. Complete and readable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAcker's \u003cem\u003eGreat Expectations\u003c\/em\u003e rewrites Dickens through plagiarism, autobiography, sexuality, violence, and literary theft. Published in 1982, it belongs to her key early period, when appropriation became not just a method but a form of attack. The first chapter announces itself directly: Plagiarism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rear cover carries praise attributed to Alain Robbe-Grillet — a detail that sits perfectly within the book's own unstable authorship. Whether taken as endorsement, mask, literary joke, or suspect quotation, it adds another layer to the object: Acker's plagiarism reflected back onto the commercial surface of the book itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA strong early Acker object. Tattered, handled, and still sharp.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The New Rare","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53612050219346,"sku":"ACKER-OPENBOOK-CAT-1982","price":105.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/5636\/1554\/files\/Acker_-Kathy.-Great-Expectations.-1982--cover.jpg?v=1780249277"},{"product_id":"kathy-acker-hannibal-lecter-my-father-1991","title":"Kathy Acker — Hannibal Lecter, My Father (1991)","description":"\u003cp\u003eKathy Acker, \u003cem\u003eHannibal Lecter, My Father\u003c\/em\u003e. New York: Semiotext(e), Native Agents Series, 1991. Paperback. 148 pp. 11 × 18 cm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition: Good.\u003c\/strong\u003e Light foxing to the front pages, minor shelf wear and handling marks to covers, binding sound, text clean overall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA first edition of one of Kathy Acker's most provocative late works, published by Semiotext(e)'s influential Native Agents series. Combining autobiography, appropriation, literary theft, pornography, criticism, and fiction, \u003cem\u003eHannibal Lecter, My Father\u003c\/em\u003e occupies the territory Acker spent her career constructing: a space where authorship becomes unstable and identity is assembled from borrowed parts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cover itself announces the book's central strategy: \u003cem\u003eThis writing is all fake (copied from other writing) so you should go away and not read any of it.\u003c\/em\u003e It functions as both warning and manifesto. By 1991, Acker had already become one of the defining figures of experimental American writing, openly incorporating and rewriting texts by authors ranging from Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson to Georges Bataille. Plagiarism, in her hands, became method rather than transgression.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book also sits within a broader history of literary impersonation and appropriation. Acker famously wrote her own promotional endorsement for an earlier publication and attributed it to French novelist and theorist Alain Robbe-Grillet, collapsing the distinction between author, critic, and publicity machine. That gesture echoes throughout this volume, where originality is treated less as a virtue than as a fiction maintained by institutions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIssued by Semiotext(e) during a period when the press was introducing radical theory, experimental literature, and countercultural writing to American readers, this remains one of Acker's most sought-after titles from the Native Agents series. The striking pink cover, portrait photograph, and confrontational text have made it one of the most recognizable editions associated with her work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn important document from a writer whose influence extends well beyond literature into contemporary art, appropriation practices, feminist writing, and questions of authorship that continue to resonate today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShipping and handling included in the listed price.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Semiotext(e)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53612098847058,"sku":"ACKER-SEMIOTEXTE-CAT-1991","price":100.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/5636\/1554\/files\/Acker_-Kathy.-Hannibal-Lecter_-My-Father-cover.jpg?v=1780250309"},{"product_id":"kathy-acker-adult-life-toulouse-lautrec-1978","title":"Kathy Acker — The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec by Henri Toulouse Lautrec (1978)","description":"\u003cp\u003eKathy Acker, \u003cem\u003eThe Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec by Henri Toulouse Lautrec\u003c\/em\u003e. New York: TVRT Press \/ Printed Matter, 1978. Softcover. 201 pp. 11.5 × 16.5 cm. Offset printed wrappers with black-and-white cover image. Drawings by William Wegman.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition: Good.\u003c\/strong\u003e Light marking, rubbing, age wear, and surface scuffing to covers. Interior pages clean.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEarly Kathy Acker title, first issued through TVRT Press and Printed Matter in 1978. The book gathers Acker's serial project into a complete paperback edition, using false authorship, biography, plagiarism, sexuality, and literary cut-up as material. Published before her wider 1980s recognition, it belongs to the downtown New York context around artists' books, performance, punk writing, and Printed Matter's early distribution network.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAcker takes Toulouse-Lautrec less as subject than as borrowed structure. The artist's name becomes a mask; biography becomes fiction; the book becomes an unstable printed support for authorship under pressure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShipping and handling included in listed price.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"TVRT Press \/ Printed Matter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53612177981778,"sku":"ACKER-TVRT-CAT-1978","price":200.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/5636\/1554\/files\/Acker_Kathy._The_Adult_Life_of_Toulouse_Lautrec_by_Henri_Toulouse_Lautrec._1978_front.jpg?v=1780251415"}],"url":"https:\/\/thenewrare.com\/collections\/kathy-acker.oembed","provider":"The New Rare","version":"1.0","type":"link"}