A Valentine for Nöel: Four Variations on a Theme
A Valentine for Nöel: Four Variations on a Theme

A Valentine for Nöel: Four Variations on a Theme

Stuttgart: Edition Hansjörg Mayer, 1973. One of a 100 limited deluxe copies, this being no. 12. 8vo softcover in plain white paper wrappers with a yellow dust jacket offset printed in black and white. Inside pages printed in black, brown, green, red, and blue. Unpaginated. Inscribed by the artist on the title page in black marker “And for Debbie and Guenter”.

The front cover of this artists’ book features twenty-six handwritten women’s names in alphabetical order from A – Z, all of which have been crossed out except for the name Nöel. The back cover features twenty-six handwritten men’s names, all of which have been crossed out except the author’s own name. The content of the book is divided up into four chapters which include IBM, Ego Hego Shego, Soldier, and Fête Duchampêtre. IBM is a standardized ‘do-it-yourself event’ where one chooses twenty-six words at random to make a poem. Ego Hego Shego is a flip book-like chapter where handwritten fragments of letters printed in brown come together to form a phrase on the final page. Soldier, one of the more profound works in this book, features the word ‘soldier’ set in all uppercase printed in blue repeating thirty-nine times from the top to the bottom of the page. Beginning with the second page, the letters ‘die’ within the word ‘soldier’ change from the color blue to red. Each subsequent page gets one additional red ‘die’ added to it. Another very flip book-like chapter, but certainly more poignant. The final scheme follows suit with fragments of texts printed in green which ultimately come together to form the word ‘Marcel’. An inspiring, playful, interactive, and thoughtful book by a highly regarded member of Fluxus, lovingly dedicated to his wife Ann.

Very good with some darkening and toning to margins of the book, rubbing to dust jacket, and a ghost mark from a previous price sticker in the top-right corner. Item #36

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