Joe Brainard erotic art: "gAy BCs" /Poem by Jonathan Williams RARE Finial Press

Description

SPECIAL NOTE: We have been selling copies of this unusual book on eBay slowly but steadily for some years, but now our inventory is getting very low. Each copy offered in this listing is uncirculated and in near-mint condition, but may have minor cover defects (such as traces of rust on the staples, age-toning, one or two tiny spots, etc.). WRITE FOR SPECIFIC DEFECT INFORMATION BEFORE MAKING YOUR PURCHASE.
The remaining copies of this 1976 small press limited edition offered in this listing are numbered 741, 742, and 743.
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Explicit, naughty, witty, drawn with obvious gusto, the book
gAy BCs
is a must for fans of Joe Brainard's art. A great item for anyone interested in frank visual celebration of gay love-making.
NOTE: Of Brainard's 26 drawings, 14 prominently show penises in some detail. Thus the two illustrations shown above are, in that respect, atypical.
In 1975, artist Joe Brainard provided illustrations for a 1974 short poem, "gAy BCs", by Jonathan Williams, the late poet, photographer, and publisher (Jargon Press). The remarkable results were printed in a limited edition by A.Doyle Moore's FINIAL PRESS, winner of a number of awards for book design.
When a major Brainard retrospective exhibition visited New York's P.S. 1 Art Center in the fall of 2001, the New York Times carried a highly appreciative essay on Brainard's work. That exhibit marked the beginning of a new and growing appreciation of Brainard's work that has continued ever since.
But Brainard's homoerotic art has always been harder to find than the more mainstream stuff. This is your chance!
gAy BCs
reproduces each of Brainard's illustrations at 100% of original size, 4 x 4 inches.
Moore achieved amazing faithfulness to Brainard's original pencil/graphite drawings by judicious choices of ink and paper. The book is printed on Strathmore Grandee papers using Griffo types. 24 pages, in wraps. Unusual shape: 11 wide, 6 7/8 inches high. Fine example of small press book design and production.
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HISTORY OF THIS RARE "LOST" JOE BRAINARD WORK
At the time of its publication,
gAy BCs
was too daring for mainstream booksellers; but the adult bookstores of the day also rejected it, judging it too tame for their clientele. So Moore, who was never motivated by money, consigned most of the edition of 1000 numbered copies to his basement shelves, where a substantial fraction of the edition was subsequently lost to water damage.
Before 2001, fewer than a dozen copies had been sold. A total of two hundred or so copies were distributed to the author and illustrator and their friends at the time of publication and shortly after Brainard's death.
For 25 years the only other people to see the book were Moore's students, to whom he showed it to demonstrate how to create faithful reproductions of fine drawings.