June 1, 2014
Tosh Berman
Published March 2015 by the synaesthesia press.
Chapbook. Letterpress printed by hand on a Vandercook OS 219 using a combination of hand-set type and polymer plates. Hand-sewn into wrappers. Signed by the author. Tipped-in color illustrations. Issued in four variant cover colors with no particular priority: Steel Blue, Factory Green, Safety Orange, and Kraft Speckletone.
Edition of 300 copies.
June 1, 2014 is a memoir piece by Tosh Berman recalling a remarkable moment in his family’s history. In the spring of 1967, Tosh’s father, the artist Wallace Berman, received a letter from London containing a photograph and a request from Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, seeking permission to reproduce Wallace Berman’s image on the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Tosh recounts his first impression of the now-iconic album cover and reflects on the strange intersection of family history, art, and popular culture. The piece later appeared in expanded form in Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman’s World (City Lights Books, 2019).
Originally published on Tosh Berman’s Facebook page as part of the “2014 Series,” a year-long project in which he posted a short vignette every day throughout 2014.
Design, printing, and binding by Jim Camp.
