Flowers of Evil/Les Fleurs du Mal

South Dennis, MA: 21st Editions, 2006. One of 65 copies, signed by Hosoe, editor John Wood, and publisher Steven Albahari. Hardcover. Very fine. Folio. (34)pp + 10 platinum prints, each one signed by Hosoe, interpolated + 1 additional print, likewise signed, housed in separate folder. Hosoe's surrealist images capture juxtapositions in human bodies one to another or to objects. The stark contrasts between black and white in the service of eroticism evoke Robert Mapplethorpe, while the presentation of the body as architecture and letterform recalls Man Ray's images of Nusch for his and Paul Eluard's Facile. A suitable pairing of influences, given the ecstatic but tortured nature of Baudelaire's splenic excursus on the modern condition. And immense project, composed in Monotype Walbaum by Michael and Winifred Bixler, with typography and presswork executed by Michael Russem and Mollie Zamoni at the Kat Ran Press. Bound by Peter Geraty in matte black anodized aluminum boards backed in black leather, with Japanese title in glossy black at upper cover. Very fine. Housed in silk-covered folding case. With the original shipping case.