Scenes from Lautreamont's Maldoror (small portfolio of ten collages)
NP: Harry O. Morris, 1983. First printing. Paperback. Glossy eggshell folder measuring 11.25 x 8.75 inches, housing 10 plates in b/w of collages that use Morris's own photographs plus other imagery. Very good. RARE, no copies located by OCLC/Worldcat. Morris is a surrealist artist who has a great reputation as an illustrator of horror works, particularly by Thomas Ligotti and Richard Matheson; some of his illustrations appear in limited editions published by the Centipede Press. Ligotti reviewed this in a 1983 issue of Grimoire, and wrote, in part: "It is not fear that inhabits such a series as Scenes from Lautreamont's Maldoror. Fear implies hope, and these images are as far from hope as they are from the morning newspaper and the evening news, as well as from all the daily agitations which fill the hours between. Neither is it shock or fright, horror or terror that forms the center of these scenes. Or rather, such states so permeate Harry Morris's collagework as to institute them as the norm, to expand these irruptions in reality until they come to fill every square inch of it. And thus reality's volatile moments are smoothed out into an even atmosphere of dread, a climate of all horror and no hope, a place where nothing bothers to move toward or away from doom and desolation. Everything already lives there, and there is nowhere else to turn. This is, above all, a stable universe; its scenes, in dread, are forever fixed." And in a 1994 interview in Horror Magazine, Morris replied to a question about this portfolio, "Stylistically, I think, the most noteworthy aspect of the Maldoror portfolio is that I am using at least portions of my own photographs in the images for about the first time. J.K. Potter is a very large influence here, and he indeed directly shifted my way of thinking by introducing me to taking my own photographs and methods of retouching. Potter was very encouraging about the folio, and I think this led to my getting my first real illustrating work, Toplin, from Scream/Press, a year or so later. You are quite right when you say this comes from my "depressing stuff'/schizophrenic period; however, about midway or a quarter into it (if it is ever over ... certainly less intense now than then). I think the single event that started this outlook was seeing Argento's Suspiria for the first time back in 1977 under ideal circumstances. This was shortly followed by a plunge into other spiritual horrors via seeing Polanski's The Tenant, in 1978. Another important change happened that year, in that I bought and moved into this creepy old house after living with my parents for some 29 years. All these events, along with correspondence/ encouragement from G. Sutton Breiding, led to one awful night on May 19, 1979, which I hope to keep a mystery. After an initial period of recovery and turnabout, major events started happening one after the other-namely, Sutton visiting here for a week and seeing Eraserhead together, beginning correspondence with the remarkable Thomas Ligotti, who so eloquently and precisely went to the core of the horror and showed me the frightening beauty/ attraction therein, which, amongst other things, awakened a new fire in Nyctalops. Also, around the time of Sutton's visit I became involved in the fledgling Albuquerque punk scene, which gave me friends and an avenue to vent my anger and horror. A saviour to my sanity which led to meeting Christine and our marriage. Another fortress against the horror." Very Good. Item #H23331
Price: $250.00