ASPEN: The Magazine in a Box

(New York): (Roaring Fork / Aspen Magazine), 1971. First edition. Very good plus to near fine overall.. Complete ten-issue run of this elaborately produced and hugely influential artists' magazine, one of the defining publications of the 1960s. Intricate and ornate, ASPEN appeared irregularly over the second half of the 1960s and through ten issues assembled one of the most impressive rosters of writers and artists to appear in any magazine of the time: J.G. Ballard (an excerpt from CRASH), Roland Barthes ("Death of the Author"), Samuel Beckett, William Burroughs, John Cage, John Cale, Merce Cunningham, Willem De Kooning, Duchamp, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass, Dan Graham, Al Hansen, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, John Lennon, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, George Maciunas, Angus MacLise, Marshall McLuhan, Jonas Mekas, Charlotte Moorman, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Robert Rauschenberg, Lou Reed, Ed Ruscha, Richard Serra, Susan Sontag, The Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol, La Monte Young, to name only a fraction.

Yet where ASPEN truly excelled was in its innovative design: "Commissioning contemporary artists to design and guest-edit the magazine, [Johnson] transformed ASPEN into a miniature traveling gallery [that attested] to the potential of the magazine as a new kind of artistic medium" (Allen 43). Johnson described ASPEN as "the first three-dimensional magazine"; issues came in a variety of enclosures and formats, and included numerous flexi-disks of both spoken word and music (13 in all), puzzles and other elements for readers to assemble, die-cut inserts, flipbooks, and even a Super-8 movie. While never a financial success (what little advertising was sold was relegated to entirely separate portions of each issue and hence were easily overlooked by readers), ASPEN has gone on to wield enormous influence on subsequent publications, from NEST, to AVALANCHE, to MCSWEENEY'S. It remains an important document of "minimalism, conceptual art, and related practices" (ibid). A quintessential magazine of the era. 10 volumes, various formats and sizes. Vol. 1, No. 1: complete in original box. Box with some creasing and minor scuffing; very good. Contents fine. Vol. 1, No. 2: complete in original box. Box split at fold, but intact at hinge. About very good. Contents fine. Vol. 1, No. 3: complete in original box. Box has touches of wear; near fine. Contents fine. Vol. 1, No. 4: complete in original box. Box with some rubbing, scuffing, and bumping. Three spots of residue to rear panel. Overall sound and very good. Contents fine. Issue 5+6 (Fall & Winter 1967): Lacking only green, black, and white Aspen renewal order form (duplicate subscription form present, however), else complete in original box. Box rubbed with some spotting and wear. Very good. Contents generally near fine. No. 6A: complete in original mailing envelope. Envelope worn; very good. Contents fine. Aspen 7 (British Box): complete in original box. Box worn, as common. Tape repair to one corner. Some tear and creasing. Very good minus. Contents fine. Aspen No. 8 (Fall/Winter): Complete in original printed folder. Folder with some wear and toning; very good. Contents some toning and minor edgewear here and there; near fine. Aspen No. 9 (Winter/Spring): complete in original folder. Folder has some splitting at spine, but sound. Minor wear, very good. Contents generally fine. Aspen 10: complete with original unfolded box. Box and contents fine. Also includes: original 1965 subscriber's letter, and nine clipped advertisements for ASPEN from such publications as THE EVERGREEN REVIEW, NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, and elsewhere.