367, [6] pages : chiefly colour illustrations ; 18 cm.
General Note
Printed and bound in West Germany by Staib+Mayer, Stuttgart. Published by arrangement with Edition Hansjörg Mayer. [Imprint].
`Hoping that the reader would want to meet the book head on I have put the introduction at the end.’ Authors Preface.
`Self-evidently this work owes an incalculable debt to William Hurrell Mallock, the unwitting collaborator in its making. If supplementary fame accrues thereby to his name, may it compensate for any bruising of his spirit.’ [Author’s note].
Summary Note
`In this unique fiction word and image meet with a richness scarcely seen since Blake. Already with a cult following via literarily and art magazines it is now available for the first time in book form produced under the direction of its author.
He writes `I took a forgotten Victorian novel found by chance. I plundered, mined, and undermined its text to make it yield the ghosts of other possible stories, scenes, poems, erotic incidents and surrealist catastrophies which seemed to lurk within its wall of words. As I worked on it, I replaced the text I’d stripped away with visual images of all kinds. It began to tell and depict, amongst other memories, dreams and reflections, the sad story of Bill Toge, one of love’s casualties.’
Within this small format Tom Phillips has made the arts connect, bringing Wagner’s idea of `a comprehensive work of art’ to pocket-book proportions.’ [Dust jacket].
Binding Note
Purple cloth binding, lettered in gilt on spine: `Tom Phillips. A Humument. T&H.’ Dustjacket with title and illustration.