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Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Art Edition "Hollywood Acid Test"

About the Item

C-print, 21.8 x 28.8 cm on 22.9 x 33 cm paper (8.6 x 11.8 in. on 9 x 13 in. paper); hardcover volume in a slipcase, letterpress-printed text, two different paper stocks, plus tip-ins, 24 x 34 cm (9.4 x 13.4 in.), 356 pages. “Larry Schiller is the one who came up with so many of these primal pictures. It was he who broke the story in the first place!” —Tom Wolfe In 1964, famed writer Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters set off across America on a “Transcontinental Bus Tour,” headed for the New York World’s Fair. Kesey’s journey, in the company of his Merry Pranksters, lies at the heart of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, an as-if-first-hand account of the group’s antics and ethos by Tom Wolfe, wunderkind of the New Journalism movement. This Art Edition presents Wolfe’s era-defining text in letterpress, along with facsimile reproductions of his manuscript pages, ephemera of the period, and photographs of the acid scene by Lawrence Schiller and Ted Streshinksy. The accompanying print, The Hollywood Acid Test, February 25, 1966 by Lawrence Schiller, captures a defining event in the LSD craze. While The Grateful Dead provided the live music, Pranksters including Lee Quarnstrom and Mountain Girl curated the movies, “audioptics,” and “stroboscopic ballet machine.” The costumed revelers dancing into the small hours of the night endures as one of Schiller’s most iconic images from his coverage of the LSD scene. It was the lone color photo reproduced in the best-selling book LSD (1966) and featured on the cover of the Capitol Records LP of the same name and year. Schiller brought his own strobe light to hang high in the rafters so he could shoot the picture at a slow shutter speed, simultaneously capturing the natural light and multiple images under the effect of the strobe. It was three days before he saw the images from that adrenalin-filled night, one of the color frames catching his eye. “This image is alive,” he says. “Nothing else matters.” Marking the year of original publication, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is limited to 1,968 signed copies. Copies No. 101–200 come with the signed black-and-white-fiber-based gelatin silver print The Hollywood Acid Test, 1966, by Lawrence Schiller. Also available as: Art Edition (No. 1–100) with an alternative print, Me and My Shadow. Collector’s Edition (No. 200–1,968), each signed by Tom Wolfe. The authors Tom Wolfe is the author of a dozen books, among them such contemporary classics as The Bonfire of the Vanities, The Right Stuff, and I Am Charlotte Simmons. He lives in New York City. Lawrence Schiller began his career as a photojournalist for Life, Time, and Paris Match, photographing some of the most iconic figures of the 1960s, from Lee Harvey Oswald to Robert F. Kennedy, from Ali and Foreman to Redford and Newman. His book projects include the Pulitzer Prize–winning book The Executioner’s Song, by Norman Mailer, five New York Times bestsellers, and Marilyn & Me. He has directed or produced 20 motion pictures for television; The Executioner’s Song and Peter the Great won five Emmys. Ted Streshinsky (1923–2003) was a photojournalist best known for his coverage of the social and political turmoil of the 1960s and ’70s in California, from migrant worker strikes to antiwar protests. His wide-ranging portrayal of the counterculture in San Francisco included the hippies, and Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters on the high-voltage night of the Acid Test Graduation.
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  • Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Art Edition "Me and My Shadow"
    By Lawrence Schiller, Ted Streshinsky, Tom Wolfe
    Located in Los Angeles, CA
    Fiber-based gelatin silver print, 21.8 x 28.8 cm on 22.9 x 33 cm paper (8.6 x 11.8 in. on 9 x 13 in. paper); hardcover volume in a slipcase, letterpress-printed text, two different paper stocks, and tip-ins, 24 x 34 cm (9.4 x 13.4 in.), 356 pages. In 1964, famed writer Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters set off across America on a “Transcontinental Bus Tour,” headed for the New York World’s Fair. Kesey’s journey, in the company of his Merry Pranksters, lies at the heart of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, an as-if-first-hand account of the group’s antics and ethos by Tom Wolfe, wunderkind of the New Journalism movement. This Art Edition presents Wolfe’s era-defining text in letterpress, along with facsimile reproductions of his manuscript pages, ephemera of the period, and photographs of the acid scene by Lawrence Schiller and Ted Streshinsky. The accompanying print, Me and My Shadow, by Lawrence Schiller, was photographed at the Hollywood Acid Test on February 25, 1966. As the first photojournalist to capture the acid scene from the inside, Schiller began with a single contact in Berkeley, California, and built a large network of young, receptive subjects who allowed him to document their experiences with LSD starting in late 1965. At first, he was a fly on the wall as groups of friends tripped in the privacy of their homes. By early 1966 he had met the Merry Pranksters and was invited to the Acid Test in Hollywood. During the Test, Kool-Aid laced with a heavy dose of LSD was served up from an industrial-sized pot. Participants turned on the Grateful Dead’s music and tuned in to the burgeoning psychedelic scene. Schiller’s image of a tripster “freaking freely” with his own shadow—long believed to be Neal Cassady—appeared in Life magazine in March 1966 in a photo essay which served to introduce the nation to the sweeping new LSD epidemic. For Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne...
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    Salgado’s masterpiece: Genesis, earth eternal. A photographic homage to our planet in its natural state. Two volumes bound in full leather, limited to five editions of 100 numbered and signed sets. Every set comes with a gelatin silver print, signed by Sebastião Salgado and printed under his personal supervision. “My love letter to the planet.” Sebastião Salgado. Art Edition C-No. 201-300. Black-browed albatrosses, Falkland Islands, 2009. Gelatin silver print. 24,5 x 33,5 cm / 10 x 13 in. (image), 30 x 40 cm / 12 x 16 in. (sheet) (Frame not included). The Art Edition comes with a book Stand designed by Tadao Ando. The Genesis book Stand was conceived by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, the only living person to have won architecture’s four most prestigious prizes. Ando’s simple and innovative design consists of two “twin” pieces of wood, bound together with leather, into which a third piece of wood can be slotted to form a sturdy, elegant display. Fine print: Genesis is printed on a traditional coated 250 gsm art paper from the German paper mill Scheufelen that is no longer available on the market and was produced specially for Taschen. The black and white pictures are reproduced in a four-color separation process, with two blacks and two shades of grey; the density of the blacks achieved rivals that of the finest silver gelatin prints. GENESIS was printed and bound in an Italian workshop utilizing traditional craftsmanship techniques that are unique worldwide in this field, using Italian Cialinen fabric for the cover. The Ando book Stand was hand made in Spain, and the leather originates from Britain. Precious cargo: The two volumes come carefully packaged along with the Stand in a robust custom-made wooden crate to preserve and protect them. Attention: total weight is 59 kg (130 lb)! Art Edition limited to 100 numbered and signed sets. Two volumes bound in full leather. Every set includes a book Stand in cheerywood veneer designed by Tadao Ando. Also included is a cloth-bound caption book. Every set comes with a gelatin silver print, signed by Sebastião Salgado and printed under his personal supervision. Delivered in a wooden cargo box...
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  • Sebastião Salgado, Genesis, Art Edition D
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    Salgado’s masterpiece: Genesis, Earth eternal. A photographic homage to our planet in its natural state. Two volumes bound in full leather, limited to five editions of 100 numbered and signed sets. Every set comes with a gelatin silver print, signed by Sebastião Salgado and printed under his personal supervision. “My love letter to the planet.” Sebastião Salgado. Art edition D-No. 301-400. Marine iguana, Gala´pagos, Ecuador, 2004. Gelatin silver print. Measures: 33.5 x 25 cm/13 x 10 in. (image), 40 x 30 cm/16 x 12 in. (sheet). (Frame not included). The art edition comes with a book Stand designed by Tadao Ando. The Genesis book stand was conceived by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, the only living person to have won architecture’s four most prestigious prizes. Ando’s simple and innovative design consists of two “twin” pieces of wood, bound together with leather, into which a third piece of wood can be slotted to form a sturdy, elegant display. Fine print: Genesis is printed on a traditional coated 250 gsm art paper from the German paper mill Scheufelen that is no longer available on the market and was produced specially for Taschen. The black and white pictures are reproduced in a four-color separation process, with two blacks and two shades of grey; the density of the blacks achieved rivals that of the finest silver gelatin prints. GENESIS was printed and bound in an Italian workshop utilizing traditional craftsmanship techniques that are unique worldwide in this field, using Italian Cialinen fabric for the cover. The Ando book Stand was hand made in Spain, and the leather originates from Britain. Precious cargo: The two volumes come carefully packaged along with the stand in a robust custom-made wooden crate to preserve and protect them. Attention: total weight is 59 kg (130 lb)! Art Edition limited to 100 numbered and signed sets. Two volumes bound in full leather. Every set includes a book stand in cherrywood veneer designed by Tadao Ando. Also included is a cloth-bound caption book. Every set comes with a gelatin silver print, signed by Sebastia~o Salgado and printed under his personal supervision. Delivered in a wooden cargo box...
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