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191.
The Cosmic Bicycle + archive.
SF: Straight Arrow, 1971. First edition. 4to. Printed wrps., unpaginated (c. 160pp.).
The artist's first book, reproducing 78 collages, most of them full-page, including 8 in colour. This copy has been SIGNED by Sätty on the half-title page and inscribed by him to "George the printer" (George Fox of Stecher-Traung-Schmidt, San Francisco).
In addition, Sätty has annotated this early production copy on the blank pages opposite several of the illustrations, as explained by a pencilled note in an unknown hand to the verso of the accompanying publisher's promotional sheet: "Satty's critique concerning press quality etc. This first copy out of the bindery with Satty's titling".
Some of Sätty's annotations refer to printing flaws, others add brief descriptive notes or titles, and a few provide humorous observations (for example, a collage incorporating an illustration of a large bush baby includes the remark "it ate the artist", and another, featuring a group of distressed looking monkeys, features his comment "The Manson family in the eyes of the law").
Accompanied by uncut proof sheets and an archive of documents relating to the book's production, including manufacturing quotes and an invoice from George Fox, and correspondence between him and Straight Arrow's art director, Jon Goodchild.
A typed letter, signed to the printer from Alan Rinzler (President of Straight Arrow), begins: "Just received a first copy of Cosmic Bicycle which looks generally quite good but is flawed, unfortunately, by off-register work, bad (crooked) stripping and other minor but regrettable mistakes, the extent of which we will convey specifically when Satty delivers a marked copy early next week. It looks not so bad overall, though, and hopefully will sell a few copies." This copy is the marked one Rinzler refers to, and a later copy examined by this cataloguer reveals that most, though not all, of the minor flaws Sätty points out were subsequently rectified.
Also included is the publisher's printed invite to the book's launch party, held at Sätty's studio in San Francisco on August 16, 1971; a printed invite to the opening of Sätty's one-man show at the Goethe Center in San Francisco in November 1971; printed press sheets for the joint Sätty-David Singer exhibition held at The Poster gallery in Los Angeles (1972); and an erotic Valentine's Day Rolling Stone card from February 1971.
Sätty (originally Wilfried Podriech) adopted his name from a character in a play he performed in at school in Germany. He arrived in San Francisco in 1961, and around 1967 began creating posters for Joe McHugh's company East Totem West in Mill Valley (see item #134). He also designed three posters for Bill Graham in 1970 and 1971, and later illustrated a book on Bram Stoker, a collection of stories by Edgar Allan Poe, and an edition of 'The Hasheesh Eater' by Fitz Hugh Ludlow. He died in 1982 after falling from the ladder that led to his basement studio.
Minor wear to extremities, o/w Near Fine. Laid in to a sample hardcover binding case.
