SMITH, Patti. Early Work: 1970-1979. London: Plexus. 1994.
8vo. Original cloth backed boards with spine lettered in silver; illustrated dust jacket with B/W photograph of the author by Robert Mapplethorpe; pp. x, [4], 177, [3], photographic illustrations in text; minimal residue from a now absent price label to front flap; otherwise fine.
First UK edition of the early works, some previously unpublished, of an icon and master of genre blending.
"All the works gathered for this volume were written in the Seventies … which we assaulted - blurring and expanding the perimeters of love, consciousness and remorse. Driven with the collective hope to raise aspects of art, poetry, rock n' roll, even charity that had not been raised before…" (p. 9).
Notorious for fusing her poetry with her music, the legendary Patti Smith would release her record Piss Factory in 1974 which many heralded one of the most influential pieces, and anthem, of the pre punk-rock scene of 1970s New York. Early Work: 1970-1979 comprises fragments of writing spanning the crucial decade during which she made a cult impact on America's undergound scene and began a legacy of breaking boundaries in art. It also contains obscure poems as well as prose from her chapbooks, Seventh Heaven, Ha! Ha! Houdini and Witt as well as her iconic Babel, demonstrating both the meditation and rebellion within her creations.
Patti Smith would go on to write Just Kids, a memoir of the often turbulent but ever enduring relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (whose photographs are featured here) and their united experience of poverty and artistry up until Mapplethorpe's premature death in 1989. It would go on to win the 2010 National Book Award for Nonfiction. She describes Mapplethorpe's legacy: "Much has been said about Robert, and more will be added. Young men will adopt his gait. Young girls will wear white dresses and mourn his curls. He will be condemned and adored. His excesses damned or romanticized. In the end, truth will be found in his work, the corporeal body of the artist”. Throughout, the text is complemented by beautiful, intimate photographic illustrations by Judy Linn, Edward Maxey and more.
The more recent writings of Patti Smith, Wool-Gathering (1992), M Train (2015) and Devotion (2017), to name but a few, have been published to substantial critical acclaim.
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