Tosh Berman — June 1, 2014 (2015) | Limited Edition Chapbook from synaesthesia press

Description

the synaesthesia press is proud to present June 1, 2014 by Tosh Berman — a hand-made, limited-edition chapbook published in March 2015.

I designed and letterpress printed the book by hand on my Vandercook OS 219, using a mix of hand-set type and polymer plates. Each copy was then hand-sewn, signed by Tosh, and includes tipped-in color illustrations. Four variant covers were printed — Steel Blue, Factory Green, Safety Orange, and Kraft Speckletone — in roughly equal numbers.

Tosh’s text is remarkable: he recalls the spring of 1967, when his father, Wallace Berman, received a letter from London. Inside was a photograph and a formal request from Brian Epstein, then manager of The Beatles, asking permission to use Wallace’s image on the cover of what would become Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Tosh describes his first impression of that now-iconic cover — a stark, funeral-like scene with the flatness of Kabuki theater — months before the world ever saw it.

June 1, 2014 is a sharp, memorable piece—essential if you follow Tosh Berman’s work, Wallace Berman’s legacy, or the history of The Beatles. The piece later resurfaced in Tosh’s memoir Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman’s World (City Lights Books, 2019), but here it stands alone as part of his “2014 Series,” a yearlong project of writing and posting a vignette every day in that year to his Facebook friends. (Since then, Tosh has abandoned that platform and is now very active on Substack.)

Copies remain available at the original publication price of $24.95. You’re welcome to request a cover color; if it’s in stock, I’ll happily accommodate. Booksellers: please inquire for trade discounts.