GILL, Madge (artist), Edited by David Tibet & Henry Boxer. Essay by Roger Cardinal.

Myrninerest [ with original postcard sketch by Gill ].

London: The Spheres, 2013. Special Edition. Hardcover. Small octavo. Bound in off-white "Natuur" cloth, with blocked image on the front board (different to that of the standard edition) and titling to spine. 232pp (plates section printed on rectos only). Printed endpapers. Special edition, limited to 75 hand-numbered copies, each of which included AN ORIGINAL POSTCARD ARTWORK of "The Spheres" by Madge Gill. This is further one of a small number of copies that had a special bookplate tipped in at the front SIGNED for Weiser Antiquarian Books by Henry Boxer and David Tibet at the time of the book's launch in 2014. The first ever publication devoted exclusively to the work of Madge Gill (1882 - 1961), a woman from the East End of London, who from 1919 onwards produced a vast number of artworks under the guidance of her "spirit-guide" Myrninerest. Although she did exhibit her art during her lifetime, Gill "made clear that she had no intention of selling her work, insisting that it did not belong to her but to Myrninerest." Much of Gill/Myrninerest's work took the form of strange and haunting black and white ink drawings of women which she executed on postcards, 108 of which are reproduced in this book at their original size. The images are prefaced by short appreciations by each of the editors: David Tibet, musician, artist and author with a long term interest in Gill/Myrninerest, and Henry Boxer, one of the world's leading dealers in Outsider and Visionary Art and champion of Gill/Myrninerest's work. These pieces are followed by a longer (5 page) biographical essay, "Visions of Myrninerest," by Roger Cardinal, an expert on Madge Gill (whose biography he is currently working on) and the person who coined the phrase "Outsider Art" which he used as the title of his ground-breaking book of the subject (first published in 1972). These special editions included an original abstract sketch of "The Spheres" by Gill on a postcard ( 5 1/2" x 3 3/8"; 140mm x 83mm) drawn by Madge Gill in the 1940s (note the drawings are NOT those of the women represented in the book). This copy includes in ink drawing dated by Gill March 12th 1942 on the text-side. The book has just the slightest hint of shelf-wear but is otherwise "as new" and thus in near-Fine condition. The postcard has a hint of smudging but is close to near-fine. No dust jacket issued. Item #73285

Price: $675.00