"Better Books | Better Bookz" (2018)

London, England: Koenig Books with Karlsruhe, Germany: ZKM [Center for Art and Media] (book, catalogue), 2018.
11.25" x 8.625" x 1.25", 320 pages, softcover, ISBN 978-3-96098-458-0.

Better Books | Better Bookz: Art, Anarchy, Apostasy, Counter-culture & the New Avant-Garde, edited by Rozemin Keshvani, Axel Heil, and Peter Weibel, as published in softcover by Koenig Books (London, England) with the support of ZKM (Karlsruhe, Germany) in 2018. This includes essays from Rozemin Keshvani and Barry Miles as well as contributions from Philip Cohen, Stephen Dwoskin, John Hopkins, Graham Keen, Bruce Lacey, Gustav Metzger, Jeff Nuttall, Frank Popper, Criton Tomazos, and Islwyn Watkins.

This followed the exhibition "Better Books: Art, Anarchy, and Apostasy," curated by Rozemin Keshvani at ZKM Center for Art and Media (Karlsruhe, Germany), between 3 November 2012 and 6 January 2013. Design concept by Axel Heil. Editorial staff included Jens Lutz and Claudia Voigtländer. Copy edited by Gloria Custance. Graphic design by Andreas Tetzlaff and Sabine Pflitsch. Lithography by Christian Ertel and Dieter Schleicher. Produced by Antonio Spano.

This book covers the history of Better Books and those figures close to it, such as "Bob Cobbing, William S. Burroughs, Barry Flanagan, Allen Ginsberg, Bruce Lacey, John Latham, Barry Miles, Gustav Metzger, Jeff Nuttall, Jeffrey Shaw, John Sharkey, Alexander Trocchi, and countless others." There are mentions of Burroughs throughout, and multiple illustrations of Burroughs' works and related items (such as Jeff Nuttall's My Own Mag).

Contents: 

• Peter Weibel and Philipp Ziegler: "Preface: ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe"
• Ellen Reksterberg and Pontus Kyander: "Preface; Trondheim kunstmuseum"
• Rozemin Keshvani: "From Beat to Concrete – Better Books, Art, Counter-culture London and the New Avant-garde":
• "Gateway to the World"
• "Better Books – The Hotspot"
• "Events, Installations, and Happenings"
• "Sigma"
• "The sTigma"
• "When Poets Ruled the World"
• "The People Show"
• "London Film-makers' Co-operative"
• "The Art of Liquid Crystals"
• "The End of a Chapter"
• Barry Miles: "Better Books... International Times... Indica..."
• Christopher Logue: "Archives I: To My Fellow Artists"
• Peter Currel-Brown: "Archives 2: Peace News Letter"
• Alexander Trocchi: "Archives 3: Invisible Insurrection of a Million Minds"
• Philip Cohen: "Archives 4: Short Happenings at Better Books"
• Jeff Nuttall: "Archives 5: A Life Examined – Fragments from an Unfinished Journal"
• Jeff Nuttall: "Archives 6: My Own Mag"
• Islwyn Watkins, Ruth Rosenthal, and Rozemin Keshvani: "Islwyn Watkins and Ruth Rosenthal in conversation with Rozemin Keshvani"
• Criton Tomazos and Rozemin Keshvani: "Criton Tomazos in conversation with Rozemin Keshvani"
• Criton Tomazos: "Archives 9: The Cage | Photomontage Album"
• Dick Wilcocks: "Archives 8: sTigma – a Kick at Soporifics"
• Bruce Lacey and Rozemin Keshvani: "Bruce Lacey in conversation with Rozemin Keshvani"
• Frank Popper: "Archives 9: Auto-destructive and Kinetic Art"
• Gustav Metzger and Rozemin Keshvani: "Gustav Metzger in conversation with Rozemin Keshvani"
• various: "Archives 10: DIAS, Destruction in Art Symposion"
• John "Hoppy" Hopkins and Rozemin Keshvani: "John 'Hoppy' Hopkins in conversation with Rozemin Keshvani"
• Jeff Nuttall, John Darling, Laura Gilbert, Syd Palmer, and Mark Long: "Archives 11: The People Show"
• John Latham, Jeffrey Shaw, and Jeffrey Sawtell: "Archives 12: Book Plumbing"
• Jeffrey Shaw, Tjebbe van Tijen, and Willem Breuker: "Archives 13: Emergences of Continuous Forms"
• Stephen Dwoskin and Rozemin Keshvani: "Stephen Dwoskin in conversation with Rozemin Keshvani"
• Graham Keen and Rozemin Keshvani: "Graham Keen in conversation with Rozemin Keshvani"
• Chronology of Key Moments
• Key Protagonists
• Rozemin Keshvani: "Authors Note"
• Photo Credits