"This Book is Dedicated to the Future"
SMITH, Patti Babel. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.1978.
8vo. Blue card wrappers with black lettering to cover and spine; proposed blurb stuck onto inside cover; pp. [x], 176; Blue ink writing detailing publication date, price, pagination and ISBN to front cover; small split to front hinge at foot, slight fading to spine and toning to extremities; very good copy.
Uncorrected proof copy prior to the insertion of illustrations.
"Art is committed thru the greed of the architect, the lust of a woman and the eye of a child..
Babel is legendary avant-garde musician and writer, Patti Smith's, "first 'establishment' volume of poetry, prose, reflections, observations, drawings and sexual fantasies and exercises"(blurb). Famous for melding her music with her poetry, Babel, her first mainstream publication, would play catalyst to a lifetime of loud and unique expression.
Three years prior to Babel, The Patti Smith Group had recorded their famous debut album, Horses, which boldly combined spoken word with punk rock. In the same year as the publication of Babel in 1978, they would go on to release Easter, which was their most commercially successful record.
In 2005, Smith was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and five years later would achieve The National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids, the powerful tale of her life in Manhattan in the late 1970's and her intimate relationship with close friend, the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe; a realisation of his dying wish. It was nominated for a variety of accolades and swiftly became a New York Times bestseller.
#2121691