South of Heaven with Prospectus

San Francisco: The Arion Press, 2010. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Limited Edition. Hardcover. The semi-autobiographical collision of American labor history and pulpy noir by the hardboiled crime novelist Jim Thompson, following a young migrant laborer working on a Texas oil pipeline, is here letterpress printed in Pabst Old Style on German mouldmade Schiller paper, bound in dramatic black cloth with explosive red paper panels, and illustrated in 44 illustrations by Raymond Pettibon, pulling quotations from the text, printed by duo-tone offset lithography on a red sheet from the French Paper Company. This edition is limited to 400 numbered and 26 lettered copies, this being number 201, with each copy signed by the Pettibon. Thompson's longtime editor and friend Arnold Hano introduces this edition, writing: "While South of Heaven survives, the underclass of working America, what Gorky termed the lower depths, stands a chance of rising."

Edition limited to 400 numbered copies for sale and 26 lettered copies for complimentary distribution, this being number 201, with each copy signed by artist Raymond Pettibon to colophon. 12 1/8" X 9 1/8". 183pp. Bound in black cloth with red paper "explosions" to boards and red paper title label to spine, issued in a protective mylar jacket. Perhaps the barest whiff of cigar smoke to pages, else fine. Accompanied by the publisher's prospectus in original envelope. This is the 90th publication of The Arion Press. (Inventory #: 14250)