David Wojnarowicz

A signed copy of Wojnarowicz's first book, with a brief but revealing autograph note from him laid in.

• David Wojnarowicz (American).
• London: Aloes Books, 1982.
• [2], 52, [2] pages.
• Signed by Wojnarowicz on the title page: "David Wojnarowicz NYC '83."
• Small autograph note in Wojnarowicz's hand conveying the book loosely laid in; approximately 50 words, on a piece of scrap paper.
• With a rear cover blurb by William S. Burroughs.
• Original saddle-stapled black-and-white pictorial wrappers, featuring a photograph by Wojnarowicz.

"If men hassle me on the street I wish I could just raise my hand and suddenly there would be dimes welded on their eyeballs so they couldn't see where they were going; make their cigarette smoke go back into their cigarettes like a film going backwards."

A selection of monologues from "junkies, prostitutes, male hustlers, truck drivers, hobos, young outlaws, runaway kids, criminal types, and perpetual drifters" (Diaries) the artist began gathering as early as 1974 during his travels hitchhiking and train-hopping across America, Sounds in the Distance marks this influential multimedia artist and AIDS activist's first book. Issued in an edition of 500 copies, according to our colleagues at Granary Books, "Jim Pennington, printer and editor at [publisher] Aloes, reports that Bookslinger, their sole American distributor, may well have pulped their considerable stock when they went out of business circa 1984." A scarce book (OCLC notes just 7 scattered copies in the US), it is quite rare signed. The brief autograph note from Wojnarowicz loosely laid into this copy explains: "The guy in the cover photo was sleeping near Beaubourg Museum in Paris. One of the local drunks." An excellent example of this important debut.