The Philistine Traveler: A Slideopera: for Kodachrome Slides and Tape Recorder. Signed, Limited Edition.

New Haven, Connecticut: Philistine Press, 1954. Complete in two volumes. First edition, number 42 of one thousand copies signed by Jones & Kent at the colophon. Tall quartos (12.5" x 10.5"), unpaginated. Plastic comb bound Chinese grass cloth over paper with ribbon ties, in a corrugated box with illustration and printed label.

Fraying at edges, moderate foxing & toning, box with edge wear, toning & soiling, easily Good or better

An amazing production profusely illustrated & printed on 80 pound Mohawk construction paper in various colors. The set can be found in significant institutional collections including the Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Beineke Rare Book Library at Yale. The Slide Opera is designed to be presented in a series of slides integrating music, poetry, and moving paintings.

In a recent exchange with the archivist at the William Kent Charitable Foundation, we are informed that the stated limitation of one thousand copies was more of projection and, in fact, collaborators Jones & Kent only produced about 500 copies in total. The archivist notes that this copy, number 42, is the lowest he has ever seen Additionally, he points out that the illustration on the slipcase presents with subtle changes in later numbers, as early as number 45.