Recent Arrivals from Johnson Rare Books & Archives

Gillette, New Jersey, 1979. An early New Jersey "punk" and rock and roll zine, assembled by Todd Abramson who at one time was a partner in running Hoboken, New Jersey's infamous music club Maxwell's. This publication captures the spirit of the up-and-coming East Coast punk scene with bands like Romantics, Flamin' Groovies, Fleshtones, The Zantees, and Roky Erickson. Most… Read more about this item

Seattle, Washington, 1989. Radical punk zine from Seattle with interviews, demo reviews, and punk news, featuring mostly anarcho crust like Vortex and hardcore punk like Warzone, with a leftist political message. Also includes an interview with Paul Watson from the animal right's group Sea Shepherd, an ALF (Animal Liberation Front) collage, and a call to arms on the front… Read more about this item

St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, 1985. A very scarce punk rock "summer fun issue" from remote Newfoundland, Canada and probably the "hub" of hardcore for this part of the country. Features a plethora of scratchy punk drawings, album reviews, and interviews with The Freeze, Asexuals, E.A.T.E.R., and other Canadian punk bands. Also includes a Vancouver scene report and a report… Read more about this item

Pomona, New Jersey, 1993. Collection of five issues of Skin Trade described as a "punk/sex" zine featuring a provocative assemblage of pornographic imagery and punk record and live show reviews. Starting as a DIY photomechanically-reproduced zine, the publication evolved into print; it is a magazine where "sex and music collide". Editor Floyd Hardwick's views and comments could be intended… Read more about this item

Phoenix, Arizona, 1998. Newsprint zine with numerous record reviews and thoughtful interviews with Simon Wright and Tracy G. of Dio, Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, Gary Meskil and Tom Klimchuck of Pro-Pain, etc. Features a satiric Q&A column and a couple of live show reviews, including the editor's long-awaited trip to Milwaukee Metal Fest. Heavy on text, with some… Read more about this item

Arlington, Texas, 1991. Created at the height of the industrial and alternative rock music scene, as it mentions Lollapalooza on the editorial page. Interviews with the Hollowmen, Godflesh, and cartoonist John Crawford (illustration on the cover), as well as record and show reviews, comics, games, and miscellaneous cultural debris. Includes an editorial piece on Tipper Gore's Parents Music Resource… Read more about this item

Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1876. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Lanier described the areas of Florida along the Oklawaha River, about Jacksonville, Gainesville, Lake City, St. Augustine, the St. Johns, and the Keys; he wrote with a sense of humor" (Thomas D. Clark, Travels in the New South). Octavo: 336, ix p. with numerous illustrations. Original green cloth binding,… Read more about this item

Brookline, Massachusetts, 1989. In her introduction, editor Alyssa Cringe writes, "This is the first issue and as you will see contains basically just interviews, but I do have plans to expand it to include reviews and opinions." Elizabeth Flynn continues with the quote of the issue: "Is it not better to even die fighting for something than to have… Read more about this item

Long Beach, California, 1991. Interesting "audio visual fanzine" produced in the riot grrrl-era, covering not only punk but also various aspects of subversive early '90s culture, including industrial music. Created by Anji Bee after the demise of her earlier hardcore punk zine, Positive Influence. Features interviews with Slug, Henry Rollins, Ethyl Meatplow, Frontline Assembly, Geko, and Freebass, as well… Read more about this item

Ivalo, Finland, 1985. Finnish punk zine with an anarchist and anti-police message. Features politically leftist punk, crust, death metal, and rock bands, mainly from Finland, and includes interviews with Flux of Pink Indians and Anti-sect. The rear panel reproduces a drawing by Pushead. Text in Finnish. Digest size (5 3/4" x 8 1/4"): 38 p. with black-and-white illustrations. Photomechanically… Read more about this item

Barcelona, Spain, 1999. Warning: this publication can offend weak people!!" Not for casual metalheads, this death and gore fanzine features mainly European extreme death metal bands and uses the words "sick" and "brutal" a lot. Includes an interview with a female metalhead who started off tape trading in the early days, as well as demo reviews, distribution lists, and… Read more about this item

London: The Aleph, 2017. Not a fanzine, per say, but a dark art and folk exploration into regional lore and mystery landscapes. "The View from Saddleworth Moor" contains 12 images made during a single night upon Saddleworth Moor, the supposed final resting place of Keith Bennett, notorius murderer Ian Brady's penultimate victim, whose final resting place he took to… Read more about this item

Long Beach, California, 1984. Raw and uncensored punk zine from back when mohawks and skateboarding were all the rage. Interviews with Uniform Choice, DOA, Decry, Psycho, Faded Glory, and Resistance. Assembled in the cut and paste style with lots of scribbled cartoon punks and collage art. The rear panel is filled with live show reviews: Social Distortion, Butthole Surfers,… Read more about this item

Northampton, Massachusetts, 2004. The first four issues are later printings; the final four are presumed to be first printings. It is unknown whether more than eight issues were published. In the introduction to the first issue, editor David Strong writes, "I decided to start this 'zine as an outlet for my obsession with hearses. However, it is not… Read more about this item

London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd, 1950. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. The second collection of Firbank's novels includes Caprice (1917), Inclinations (1916), and Vainglory (1915). A series of animated tableaux filled with beautiful, eccentric women pursuing pleasure in the most wicked, perverse, irresponsible ways, written by an extraordinary Englishman who dared to be as original in… Read more about this item

San Rafael, California: Insight Editions, 2021. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Signed by Graham Nash on the half-title. In this curated collection of art and photography from his personal archive, Nash's life as a musician and artist unfolds in vivid detail. Best known as a founding member of the Hollies and supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash, he developed a… Read more about this item

New York: Doubleday, Page & Co, 1901. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. First edition, first printing, first state. Like the tentacles of an octopus, the tracks of the railroad reached out across California, as if to grasp everything of value in the state Based on an actual, bloody dispute between wheat farmers and the Southern Pacific Railroad in… Read more about this item

Chicago: Knight & Leonard Co., Printers, 1887. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Newspaperman Douglas Gunn (1841-91) arrived in San Diego in 1868 and soon became involved with various projects having the good of the city in mind. He established the metropolitan police force, organized a company of the National Guard, was instrumental in bringing the Santa Fe Railway… Read more about this item

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1902. First Edition. Hardcover. Good. Signed and dated by Gertrude Atherton on the title page. "As quoted by Lawrence Clark Powell, in his California Classics, bibliographer and historian Phil Townsend Hanna proclaimed Atherton's Splendid Idle Forties as 'the finest stories ever written about early California.' While agreeing with Hanna, Powell went on to… Read more about this item

Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1971. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Reprint, with a new foreword by the author. Inscribed and dated by Carey McWilliams on the front flyleaf. Important and influential, this book provides a historical sketch of the Japanese in California drawn largely from secondary materials, and a first-hand description of the attitudes that arose following the attack… Read more about this item