KATHY ACKER — Rip-Off Red, Girl Detective and The Burning Bombing of America, Grove Press, New York, 2002

First edition, first publication of both texts, published by Grove Press, New York, 2002. Cover design by Marcia Salo; cover photograph by Kate Simon. Illustrated softcover; 202 pages; 14 × 21 cm. ISBN 0-8021-3920-5.

Condition: very good; light rubbing and minor surface scratching to wrappers, with gentle edge and corner wear. Binding appears firm. Interior condition not confirmed.

Written during the early 1970s but unpublished during Acker’s lifetime, the two short novels were recovered and issued posthumously by Grove Press in 2002. The Burning Bombing of America dates from around 1972, while Rip-Off Red, Girl Detective was developed across 1972–73. This volume was their first book publication.

Rip-Off Red takes the conventions of Raymond Chandler-style detective fiction and redirects them through sex, queer identity and early-1970s New York. The Burning Bombing of America shifts into an apocalyptic account of social collapse, combining class politics with imagery drawn from the Book of Revelation. Together they show Acker testing genre before the appropriation strategies of her later novels became widely recognised.

Kate Simon’s portrait places Acker against the blurred New York skyline, while Marcia Salo’s orange Gothic typography converts her surname into a graphic emblem. An early body of writing returns through the already established image of its author.

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