Inner Portraits

Slymar, CA: Glenn Bray, 1982. Soft cover. Very Good. Slymar, CA: Glenn Bray, 1982. First edition. 94pp; illus. Large 4to., 12.25 x 11 in. Signature-bound in wraps. Very good, with creasing and some light curling to top corners. Laid in are the following: five 8.5 x 11 in. illustrated color sheets advertising other books and prints published by Bray, including works by Szukalski; one postcard illustrated with Szukalski's "Threefaced Moscovite Hyenagog"; a TLS requesting additional "products and services," presumably a letter sent by the original owner to Bray; all in fine condition. A selection of sculpted, painted, and drafted portraits by Szukalski (1893-1987), with anecdotes and observations from the Polish-born artist on facing pages. Subjects range from the world-historical (Boleslaw Chroby, Bertrand Russell), to the archetypal ("Cynic"), to the fantastic ("A Centaur"). The second volume of Szukalski's work (following 1980's Troughful of Pearls / Behold The Protong) published by noted comic art collector Glenn Bray, who has been one of Szukalski's most ardent promoters since befriending the artist in the 1970s, and who recently starred in the 2018 Netflix documentary Struggle: The Life and Lost Art in Szukalski. Though reprinted with additional content in 2000 and again in 2019, first editions of Inner Portraits are uncommon both in the trade and institutionally, with OCLC locating just five holdings of this privately-printed 1982 issue. This copy with additional advertising materials from Bray, as itemized above.