ABAA-member Ken Sanders, owner of Ken Sanders Rare Books in Salt Lake City, has announced an exciting new tactic in the battle to keep his famous bookstore afloat. After offering "investment" gift certificates during the early days of the pandemic, and then launching a successful GoFundMe campaign, Sanders has now partnered with a local brewery to create small-batch beers in commemorative cans celebrating the characters of Edward Abbey's famous novel The Monkey Wrench Gang featuring artwork by the noted cartoonist R. Crumb. Sanders credits Colby Frazier, one of the owners of Fisher Brewery, for "proposing the idea as a fundraiser for KSRB."
Salt Lake City's Fisher Beer are crafting six different small-batch brews and have been releasing one approximately every two weeks since the end of November. The batches have been selling out quickly, as this podcast report from Roger McDonough of KCPW.org reports. Edward Abbey fans outside Utah who want to get hold of these commemorative cans will have to settle for a set of empties, as Utah law prevents beer from being shipped out of the state. Commemorative six packs containing each of the cans can be ordered from the brewery for delivery after the final batch is released. Ken Sanders is also currently making a few individual empty cans and a commemorative poster available on abaa.org -- while stocks last!
Sanders originally commissioned R. Crumb to create the artwork for a calender project to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Monkey Wrench Gang. They appear in a 1985 edition of the novel published by Sanders' Dream Garden Press. Sanders notes that "the Gang were notorious for drinking beer and measuring miles by six-packs," making commemorative cans a uniquely apt way to celebrate the novel. Sanders concluded that "Edward Abbey's books and ideas are more alive now than ever and his words and passion are needed as an andidote to the greed power and poison that is sickening our country."
Seldom Seen Smith Commemorative Monkey Wrench Gang Beer Can
A. Fisher Brewing Company; Ken Sanders Rare Books, 2020. New. Empty, factory-sealed beer can depicting R. Crumb's illustration of Seldom Seen, one of the main protagonists from Ed Abbey's "The Monkey Wrench Gang." This factory-sealed can commemorates the collaboration between A. Fisher Brewing Co. and Ken Sanders Rare Books. This is an empty, factory-sealed can. No alcohol or liquids contained inside.
Offered by Ken Sanders Rare Books.
Bonnie Abbzug Commemorative Monkey Wrench Gang Beer Can
A. Fisher Brewing Company; Ken Sanders Rare Books, 2020. New. Empty, factory-sealed beer can depicting R. Crumb's illustration of Bonnie Abbzug, one of the main protagonists from Ed Abbey's "The Monkey Wrench Gang." This factory-sealed can commemorates the collaboration between A. Fisher Brewing Co. and Ken Sanders Rare Books. This is an empty, factory-sealed can. No alcohol or liquids contained inside.
Offered by Ken Sanders Rare Books.
Seldom Seen Smith" Wheat Ale with Trio of Hops Commemorative Monkey Wrench Gang Beer Poster
A. Fisher Brewing Company; Ken Sanders Rare Books, 2020. Limited Silkscreen Print. New. R. Crumb. [14.5'' x 13.25''] Gold and black screen-printed poster depicting one of R. Crumb's illustrations of "'Seldom Seen' Smith," one of the main protagonists from Ed Abbey's "The Monkey Wrench Gang," as adapted for a beer label in a collaboration between A. Fisher Brewing Co. and Ken Sanders Rare Books. The fourth of six posters commemorating "The Monkey Wrench Gang" beer that was produced in a collaboration between A. Fisher Brewing Company and Ken Sanders Rare Books.
Offered by Ken Sanders Rare Books.
by ABBEY, EDWARD
Salt Lake City: Dream Garden Press, 2017. Sixth printing. Hardcover. New. Robert Crumb. 356pp. Octavo [23.5 cm] Black cloth with silver stamped title on front board and backstrip. Fine/Fine. New book, in shrinkwrap, with no flaws. A dozen full-page illustrations and 30 chapter head illustrations by legendary sixties underground comix illustration and American icon, R. Crumb. Colorful R. Crumb dust jacket as well. Plus full page photograph of Edward Abbey and R. Crumb in Arches National Park.
The late great Edward Abbey published twenty-one books during his lifetime (two posthumously). Both The Monkey Wrench Gang and Desert Solitaire have gone on to become what the author always dreaded: "classics", and have now each sold more than one million copies each.
Offered by Ken Sanders Rare Books.