Fan Mail, Frank Letters, and Crank Calls
Madras/New York: Hanuman Books, 1988. 1st Edition. 32mo, publisher’s red textured heavy stock wraps, original illustrated dust jacket.
First edition of writer, actress, and downtown It Girl Cookie Mueller’s book of fictional letters and phone-calls. Known for her roles in John Waters’s early films (particularly Pink Flamingos), Mueller wrote for downtown magazines in the 1970s and 80s, including a health column for the East Village Eye and art criticism for Details. This collection was issued as number 15 in art critic Raymond Foye and Italian painter Francesco Clemente's Hanuman Books series. Founded in 1986, the small press, whose administrative and editorial functions were housed in the Chelsea Hotel, produced their series of small handmade books in Madras, India. Fan Mail is Mueller’s first entry in the series (the second being Garden of Ashes, her final published work.) It was infamously one of two Hanuman titles targeted by Indian obscenity laws (the other being Bob Flanagan’s Fuck Journal), due to Mueller’s inclusion of an image of a Priapus sculpture, a large penis being the primary symbol of the Greek god. Illustrated with color photos. Newsclipping from November 15, 1989 announcing Mueller's death laid in. Faint embrowning to front endpaper from clipping. Unclipped dust jacket with darker embrowning to upper flap, and light rubbing and edgewear. Very good. Scarce. Item #12264
$500.00