Order and Chaos Chez Hans Reichel by Miller, Henry - 1966

Tucson: Loujon Press, 1966 Introduction by Lawrence Durrell. Illustrated with an original photograph of Miller by Ina Paulandre. First edition, limited "A-Z Leather Inscription" Crimson Oasis issue of 26 lettered copies. Signed by Miller on the limitation page. Finely bound in quarter red morocco and light tan cloth by The Schuberth Bookbindery of San Francisco, lettered in gilt; in the original pictorial dust jacket, illustrated after Reichel’s artwork; housed in the publisher’s slipcase, with orange cork panels lettered in black. Book fine; dust jacket with a very shallow chip to the spine head, part of the original green obi band to the rear flap present; slipcase with a hint of wear to the spine, else fine. Overall, a bright and attractive copy of this striking book, one of the scarce "Crimson Oasis" lettered copies, signed by Miller. Shifreen & Jackson A157a. Order and Chaos chez Hans Reichel is a collection of the letters and drawings Henry Miller sent to his friend Hans Reichel, the artist who taught him to paint with watercolors, from December 1937 – February 1938. Both men lived in Paris during the 1930s, a formative time in Miller’s writing career that yielded a high volume of artistic creativity and many important literary connections. While living in as a starving artist in Paris, Miller wrote and published his first three novels: Tropic of Cancer (1934), Black Spring (1936), and Tropic of Capricorn (1938). In his postscript for Order and Chaos, Miller reflects on the significance of this time period: "Out of this potpourri of food and fun some writing got done, some painting, and a lot of living. It’s hard now to tell which was more important. They went together, that is all I can say." Since his life influenced his writing, Miller naturally considered his writing personal; as Durrell writes in his introduction, "he adored the notion that something personal, in his own writing, adorned with his own characteristic water-colours, would be a treasured gift for a close friend." He continues to explain that "Reichel’s book was probably the first and its text reflects the period in very exact fashion – gaiety, poverty, insouciance all mingled with the strong sense of truth and importance of such work as we were doing: even though the world around us was crumbling to bits." Accordingly, Miller’s letters to Reichel not only provide a unique glimpse into Miller’s life in Paris and his creative processes at that time, but also represent the personal nature of Miller’s writing, especially at the beginning of his formal writing career. Literary content aside, Order and Chaos chez Hans Reichel is a striking work of book art whose construction complements Miller’s emphatic, sometimes erratic text. The book uses paper from Japan, Italy, and Portugal to create a stunning book object; for example, Durell’s introduction and the book’s preliminary leaves are printed on stepped pages with colored edges that create a multicolored fan, the limitation page is printed on orange cork, and Reichel’s self-portrait is printed in metallic silver ink on black paper. Miller’s bibliographers note that Order and Chaos chez Hans Reichel won the prestigious award for typography and Type Direction & Design in the Type Directors Club Annual Awards Show in New York City and proclaim it both "a feast for both visual and tactile senses" and "one of the best books published in 1966." Notably, Order and Chaos chez Hans Reichel was published by Louise "Gypsy Lou" and John Webb at the Loujon Press as the third installment of their Gypsy Lou series, which also included Charles Bukowski’s It Catches My Heart in Its Hands (1963) and Crucifix of a Deathhand (1965). Loujon’s fourth and final installment was Henry Miller’s Insomnia, or The Devil at Large (1970).. Signed by Author. First Edition.. Hard Cover. Fine.