X-Ray Number Seven by Brewton, Johnny (Editor/Publisher) - 1998

San Francisco: X-Ray Book Co, 1998. First and Limited Edition. Original wraps. Near fine. No. 182 of 200 copies (plus 26 lettered), octavo size, approx. 60 pp. An imaginative compendium of a wide variety of materials, submissions, and artwork, assembled and published by Johnny Brewton, an "artist, musician, designer, letterpress printer and small press publisher." With contributions by E. James Armstrong, George Albon, "artnoose", John M. Bennett, Paul Blake, Johnny Brewton, John Brewton Sr., Charles Bukowski, Billy Childish, Allen Cohen, Ann Cohen, Wanda Coleman, Mike Daily, Jason Davis, J. Todd Dockery, Mark Faigenbaum, Dan Fante, Picasso Gaglione, S.S. Harrison, Ellis Kelley, Francis Kohler, Michael Montfort, Giselle Oriolo, Joolee Peezlee, Bern Porter, Hubert Selby Jr., Panu Thusberg, Charlie Weinberger, ruth weiss, and A.D. Winans.

According to the bio on Brewton's wordpress site, he "founded X-Ray Book Co. in 1993, publishing limited edition art literary collaborations which have made their way into the permanent collection of The Getty Museum Serials dept. and various University libraries worldwide."

This work, "X-Ray Number Seven", '[f]eatues [sic] an interview with Hubert Selby Jr. by J.T. Dockery plus a series of letterpress broadsides by Wanda Coleman, Bukowski, Billy Childish, Dan Fante, A.D. Winans also, John Brewton Sr., Allen Cohen, Bern Porter Chapbook insert and more."

Unusual and scarce in the trade, we find no copies online as of this writing, only a single auction record, and OCLC locates two holdings.

___DESCRIPTION: Bound with clear acetate "wraps" held by a black plastic VeloBind, contains a variety of decorated, silkscreened, and printed broadsides, smaller pieces enclosed in glassine envelopes, and re-purposed pages from vintage books, with many of the invidual pieces hand-numbered by the artist/author and a few signed; octavo size (8.5" by 7"), with 30 unpaginated leaves, one leaf with a glassine envelope containing a photograph of Charles Bukowski (taken by Michael Montfort) and six small letterpress-printed broadsides by Charles Bukowski, Ruth Weiss, Wanda Coleman, A.D. Winans, Dan Fante, and Billy Childish.

___CONDITION: Fine overall, unexpectedly so with an item consisting in large part of fairly ephemeral materials; the binding is strong, the acetate wraps clean with perhaps a miniscule light stray mark or two, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; we are grading near fine due to some light sunning on the orange page underneath the front acetate wrap.

___CITATION: Note that the information on Johnny Brewton and contents of this book from Brewton's wordpress site and the web site of xray book company.

___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.

___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help.