London: RAAS, nd. (c. late 1965). Stapled wrps., 16pp. Printed in Blackpool. The booklet’s opening page declares that “RAAS stands for the UNITY and SOLIDARITY of ALL coloured peoples and in particular the coloured minority of Britain. RAAS stands for the elimination of racial friction.” Subsequent sections identify “the problem” (racial discrimination), describe the organisation’s origins (“RAAS was created in January 1965 as a result of the amalgamation of three smaller bodies… Its founder is Michael De Freitas, better known to the Press as Michael X”), and outline some of its aims (“To unify all coloured people in..... More about What is RAAS

Foolscap sheets, 112pp. (+ carbon copy, seven pages of which are included in the top copy in place of missing pp. 28-34). The meeting was recorded at Michael Abdul Malik’s home, probably the flat in Compayne Gardens, West Hampstead previously occupied by the playwright Bernard Kops. The exact date is unknown, and it’s unclear who instigated the meeting, though it seems likely that Bill Levy, who recorded it, may have wanted to bring Malik together with Richard Alpert for a possible feature in International Times (brief extracts from the conversation were published in International Times #17, and, later..... More about TRANSCRIPT. Original typed transcript of a conversation between Richard Alpert, Michael Abdul...

22.5x14.3cm. Photographer’s stamps to verso, with subject’s name written out in black ink. Probably printed in the 1980s. The exact circumstances are unclear, but the photographer informed this cataloguer that the session took place at some point in either 1966 or 1967 at a flat in Fitzjohn’s Avenue, Swiss Cottage, then being rented to a BBC cameraman, and that having got the pictures “the roll of film went off on the next plane to New York to be published in the New York Times”, though he “never saw the published pictures”. The address in Fitzjohn’s Avenue is likely..... More about PHOTOGRAPH. An original b/w photograph of Michael X by Harold Chapman

22x15.5cm. Press Association stamp to verso, with printer’s pencilled markings and fragment of caption label attached. The image portrays Malik speaking to the press, dressed in his collarless silk shirt (purchased, Miles remembers, from Dodo on Parkway in Camden Town), and appearing quite pleased, perhaps because he’d been informed that his case had been remanded until September 8. The meeting on July 24 at Reading’s Rainbow Centre where Malik gave the speech was originally intended to feature the recently deported Stokely Carmichael as speaker. Slight corner creasing, o/w Very Good. More about PRESS PHOTOGRAPH. An original b/w press photograph of Michael X, taken outside Reading...

London: André Deutsch, 1968. First edition. 8vo. Red boards. 207pp. Dw. photographs of Michael Abdul Malik by Horace Ové. Copies, even unsigned, are not common. Michael X took a quantity with him to Trinidad in 1971, all of which were lost in the fire that engulfed his house. A Pathé newsreel from 1972 shows a stack of them at Christina Gardens (Michael's agricultural commune in Arima, near Port of Spain), and a photograph accompanying VS Naipaul’s article for The Sunday Times Magazine two years later shows a page from a charred copy found in the burnt out embers (see..... More about From Michael de Freitas to Michael X

Total duration 42.03 mins. Original tape professionally repaired and re-engineered, with sound quality digitally enhanced; rehoused in a BASF replacement cassette (original Philips cassette with handwritten note to label also included), and including a transfer to CD. The first part of the recording (20.11 mins.) consists of Malik telling the story of how a bench warrant had been issued for his arrest after his failure to appear in court on a charge of possession of cannabis, and of how the warrant was withdrawn when it became known that the police had neglected to notify him of the trial..... More about AUDIO RECORDING. A cassette tape recording of Michael Abdul Malik speaking to Bill Levy, recorded...

The first three lines of the address have been inked out for publication in Oz #43 (also included here), where its appearance was described as “The first in a series of famous last postcards”. 9x14cm. 57 words, written entirely in block capitals. Very Good plus. The card, featuring a colour photo of “Banks Brewery, British Guiana”, reads: “THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE - PEACE - TROPICAL SUNSHINE - COCONUTS AND PINEAPPLES THAT NEED ONLY TO BE PICKED. NO COLD - NO PARKING METERS - TELLY - BINGO - HAKIM JUST FOUNDED FIRST CARIBBEAN PUBLISHING COMPANY MOST EXCITING..... More about Autograph postcard sent from Gale Benson in Port of Spain, Trinidad to Oz magazine editor Jim...

London: Compendium, November 1973. First edition. Stapled wrps., 54pp. Photo-illustrated. Edited and with biographical notes by William Levy and John Michell. Levy’s copy, with his name written in ink to upper wrapper and a handwritten list loosely inserted featuring the names of those to whom the book had either been sold to or given (among them Simon Vinkenoog, Jim Haynes, Roel van Duyn, Gerard Bellaart, Mike Zwerin, Olaf Stoop, Richard Neville and Philip O’Connor). The editors’ intention was for the book to publicise and engender compassion for Malik’s plight, and to raise money for his wife..... More about SOUVENIR PROGRAMME FOR THE OFFICIAL LYNCHING OF MICHAEL ABDUL MALIK with Poems, Stories, Sayings...

Publisher’s proof pages (original photocopies, quarto size sheets, along with several irregularly sized proof pages in similar format to the published edition; John Michell has added the word “Official” in ink to the title on the front cover sheet of the latter). Together with: a handwritten list of corrections to the printer from John Michell; an ALS to Michell from The Cokaygne Press’s printer and designer, Nic Turner, dated November 20, 1973, with Michell’s ink addendum (to Bill Levy) explaining that “I’ve sent corrections, all should be perfect… Like it? John”; and a copy of the finished book..... More about SOUVENIR PROGRAMME FOR THE OFFICIAL LYNCHING OF MICHAEL ABDUL MALIK with Poems, Stories, Sayings...

London: Hart-Davis, MacGibbon, 1977. First edition. Black boards. 8vo. 221pp. + 8pp. photo-insert. An account of Michael X’s life and its tragic dénouement, co-written by Sunday Times reporter Derek Humphry and BBC TV journalist David Tindall. Photographs include Michael X in the Black House in 1969; alongside John and Yoko in Christina Gardens; and a shot from February 1965 of Malcolm X speaking while de Freitas and others listen (legend has it that during Malcolm’s tour of England Michael was booked into a hotel as Malcolm’s 'brother', a request that was taken literally, thus inadvertantly providing him with..... More about False Messiah: The Story of Michael X

London: Century, 2008. First edition. 8vo. Wrps. (no h/c issued), 287pp. SIGNED and inscribed by the author on the title page: “To Hoppy & Sue who were there then all very best John Williams”. John 'Hoppy' Hopkins, who first met Michael de Freitas in Notting Hill in the early sixties, is referred to (and quoted) extensively throughout the book. Publisher’s printed publicity sheet loosely inserted, together with an invite to the book launch (briefly annotated by Hoppy). Faint reading creases to spine, o/w Very Good plus. More about Michael X: A Life in Black & White

Np. (Amsterdam): The International Community, 2008. 4to. Stapled wrps., 12pp. Fine. More about The Beast of Britain

Ed. Stephen Spender and Melvin J. Lasky. One of the most significant articles published on Michael X, described by John Williams (who devotes five pages to it in his biography) as “one of the few really serious attempts to get to grips with what Michael stood for.” It includes MacInnes’ perceptive impressions of him, based on a series of meetings, and the ideas he expressed in the piece exerted a considerable influence on Michael’s thinking. Also: Peter Weiss; Arthur Koestler; Gavin Ewart; DJ Enright; Charles Tomlinson; Jan Kott; Alfred Kazin; more. Minor soiling to back cover, o/w Near Fine. More about “Michael and the Cloak of Colour” by Colin MacInnes (8pp.) in ENCOUNTER Vol. XXV, #6 (London:...

Ed. Jack Henry Moore. Special “Supplement - Summer Sadness For John Hopkins” double-sided poster featuring psychedelic artwork by Michael English of a hippie girl with butterfly wings and flowers. Printed offset in yellow and black on white stock. 57x39.4cm. Verso prints Malik’s text, referred to during his conversation with Richard Alpert (item #48): “This morning… I wrote this article in 14.5… about the Arab culture, so I did this thing… And it brought such strange things, like I had a phone call this morning from a young Jewish friend of mine who wants to have an Arab-Islamic be-in…..... More about “Everyone Cease Fire” in INTERNATIONAL TIMES #14.5 (London: June 9, 1967

Ed. Bill Levy. Illustrated with Horace Ové’s (uncredited) photograph of Michael X sharing the stage with Stokely Carmichael at the Dialectics of Liberation Congress at the Roundhouse. Also: Courtney Tulloch on the London Free School (of which he was a co-founder); centrespread prints the lyrics to “Absolutely Free” (after MGM refused to put them on the record sleeve), with special introductions by Zappa + Robert Davidson’s photo of him sitting on the toilet; front cover by Robert Basara; letters from Willard Maas and Peter Golding; new management at Middle Earth; William Burroughs: “23 Skidoo Eristic Elite” (1pp.); Miles..... More about “Michael X On Violence” in INTERNATIONAL TIMES #18 (London: August 31, 1967

Ed. Bill Levy. Also: on the same page, Roy Sawh (“orator of a growing black consciousness in Britain”) on free speech (Sawh had recently been arrested at Speakers’ Corner, charged with incitement under the Race Relations Act and fined £130); front cover photograph of two naked men (“The IT Boys”) by Malcolm Hart, accompanied by Conservative MP Hugh Fraser’s homophobic comment on the recently passed Sexual Offences Act; Bill Levy on why he gives space to Michael X in IT: “I find myself more in agreement with Michael X than almost any other single person with whom I...... More about “Michael and the ‘White Monkees’ ” by Tod Lloyd (half-page, with photo) on Michael X’s...

Ed. Richard Neville. Michael writes, in part, about his trial in Reading, where he represented himself, and comments that “what was really needed were interpreters” (it was part of his defence argument that he was speaking a different language to that of the white establishment; both William Burroughs and Alexander Trocchi offered to act as interpreters). A letter from Guy Gladstone printed below reports on Michael’s unsuccessful appeal in December 1967. Also: Flying Saucer issue, part-edited by Jon Goodchild and Martin Sharp; The London Diggers’ Love Commune; “A hand-out from The Anti-University of London”; Neil Oram text-photo-collage; letter..... More about “From Michael X, Swansea”, a letter written from jail, in OZ #9 (London: Oz Publications Ink...

Newspaper format, printed offset-litho. 8pp. Photo-illustrated. The rare first issue of this Black community newspaper, edited (though not stated) by Courtney Tulloch from Frank Crichlow’s Mangrove Restaurant on All Saints Road (advertised on the last page). The paper’s contents feature “James Baldwin: The Black Experience” (an edited transcript of him speaking to the West Indian Students Centre in February 1968), and a review of “Black Skin White Mask” by Frantz Fanon, combined with local Ladbroke Grove/Notting Hill news, advice on housing, and a story on the recent parade by the Bread and Puppet Theatre group in St Stephen’s..... More about Small publisher’s ad. for “From Michael de Freitas to Michael X” in THE HUSTLER #1 (London:...

Ed. John Wilcock. Tabloid format, folded, as issued. Also: “Hakim Jamal meets The Rev. Aftermathy” (civil rights leader Rev. Ralph David Abernathy); Izzy Young on the Newport Folk Festival; “4 New Fug Songs” by Tuli Kupferberg; John Bryan in New York; news from London (“Toughest new paper in London is The Hustler”); racism in England, with reproductions of postcards produced by JLTY (of Kensington Park Road) printing photographs of street graffiti; “right-wing Tory opportunist” Enoch Powell (his racist speech to the West Midlands Area Conservative Political Centre was made in April 1968); Cybernetic Serendipity at the ICA (1pp.), with texts..... More about “Black Power Michael”, a half-page review of “From Michael de Freitas to Michael X”,...

A half-page article by Michael X (uncredited) in which he writes about “building a complex in Holloway Road, Islington” (the Black House). Also: brief news of Mangrove Restaurant raids; the Master Musicians of Jajouka; ‘Plug and Socket’ (Quintessence; free concerts, incl. report on the Stones in Hyde Park, plus letter from Pete Jenner; John Coltrane; Jefferson Airplane centrespread interview, reprinted from the Chicago Kaleidoscope; album reviews); ads. for Implosion, Oz magazine, “Some of It”; more. Slight edge-fraying, o/w Very Good (unfolded). More about “Tell It Like It Is” in IT #61 (London: August 1, 1969

Edited and published by Richard Neville. Tabloid newspaper format. Robertson’s report from Trinidad on Malik’s trial and the squalid conditions experienced by him on death row, reprinted from the New Statesman (January 11), with a brief introduction from Richard Neville. Also: shortage of dope in Australia; “Men Against Sexism: A blast at the local lads from an Australian brother living in England” (3pp.); Roger Hutchinson; John Fahey; review of Bowie’s “Pinups”; more. Old central horizontal fold, o/w Very Good. The thirteenth of the twenty-five issues of The Living Daylights published between October 1973 and April 1974. More about “The Execution of Michael X” (1pp.) by Geoffrey Robertson (one of Michael’s several...

Tabloid. 8pp. + 8pp. Free Festivals supplement. Also prints Heathcote Williams’s “The Queen of Swing” (see also item #63). Also: the Ruff, Tuff, Creem Puff Estate Agency (the estate agent for squatters); poems by Sinclair Beiles; news from the Cannes Film Festival by Jim Haynes. Old central horizontal fold, o/w Very Good. More about “Obituary - Michael Abdul Malik” by John Michell in INTERNATIONAL TIMES Vol. 3, #2/IT #169...