A humument: a treated Victorian novel

Synopsis

In 1966 The Artist Tom Phillips Discovered A Human Document (1892), An Obscure Victorian Romance By W.h. Mallock, And Set Himself The Task Of Altering Every Page, By Painting, Collage Or Cut-up Techniques, To Create An Entirely New Version. Some Of Mallock's Original Text Remains In Tact And Through The Illustrated Pages The Character Of Bill Toge, Phillips's Anti-hero, And His Romantic Plight Emerges. First Published In 1973, The Book Quickly Established Itself As A Cult Classic. Since Then, The Artist Has Been Working Towards A Complete Revision Of His Original, Adding New Pages In Successive Editions. That Process Is Now Finished. This 50th Anniversary Edition Presents, For The First Time, An Entirely New And Complete Version Of 'a Humument'. This Edition Includes A Revised Introduction By The Artist, Reflecting On The Last 50 Years' Work On This Project, And 92 New Illustrated Pages. A Special Limited Edition Is Also Available: This Presents A Copy Of The 50th Anniversary Edition In A Clamshell Box With A Limited-edition Print, Signed By The Artist. In 1966, Tom Phillips Took A Forgotten Nineteenth-century Novel, W. H. Mallock’s A Human Document, And Began Working Over The Extant Text To Create Something New.the Artist Writes, “i Plundered, Mined, And Undermined Its Text To Make It Yield The Ghosts Of Other Possible Stories, Scenes, Poems, Erotic Incidents, And Surrealist Catastrophes Which Seemed To Lurk Within Its Wall Of Words. As I Worked On It, I Replaced The Text I’d Stripped Away With Visual Images Of All Kinds. It Began To Tell And Depict, Among Other Memories, Dreams, And Reflections, The Sad Story Of Bill Toge, One Of Love’s Casualties.” After Its First Publication In Book Form In 1980, A Humument Rapidly Became A Cult Classic. This Sixth And Final Edition, Published To Celebrate The Fiftieth Anniversary Of Tom Phillips’ First Experiments With A Human Document, Presents For The First Time An Entirely Revised And Complete Version Of A Humument, And Will Bring To A Close Half A Century’s Artistic Endeavor.--publisher's Website (viewed 19 May 2017). Tom Phillips. Includes Notes On A Humument By Tom Phillips. [14] Pages Following Text. Previous Editions: (1970) 1980, 1986, 1998, 2004, 2012. The English Painter, Writer, And Composer Tom Phillips Curated The Groundbreaking Exhibition “africa: The Art Of The Continent” At The Royal Academy In 1992. He Is Himself A Collector Of African Art, Specializing In The Arts Of Ghana And The Ivory Coast. His Other Books Include The Postcard Century.--publisher's Website (viewed 19 May 2017).