The Valium Addict (Issues 1 & 2)

Kern, Richard

Published by An H.A.Product (A Division of Theoretical Productions), printed by Montanaprinners, an M.H.I. Enterprise, New York, 1981

No. 1, March '81, and No. 2, April 81 May '81.14, [2] pp. and 16, [2] pp. Bound in original pictorial self-wrappers, stapled. Very Good+ or better with light wear at corners of both issues, a little soiling in covers of first issue, light red offsetting on front cover of second issue. Uncommon, OCLC locates four libraries holding any copies of this title. The rare first two issues of The Valium Addict, American filmmaker, writer, and photographer Richard Kern's successor to his first zine, The Heroin Addict, which had run in seven issues from 1978 to 1981. The Valium Addict, in turn, ran in six issues, from 1981 to 1983, with "Dumb Fucker" included in its title in the fourth issue and replacing the earlier title in the fifth and sixth. The zine features a combination of drawings, photographs, collages, and text by Stewart Wilson, Holly George, Bunny Ryals, Ronnie Burk, Melissa Tomich, Waylon Tucker, Montanna Houston, Mike Poindexter, Rene Dickens, Patrick Mack, Steve Neumann, Mary Otto, John McCormac, and Kern. Kern notes in a 2016 interview at NYU's Fales Library that the zines were made on a Xerox 9500 at the Ford Foundation, where Houston worked: "It was like the first Xerox machine that made photo quality printing in black and white. So, we would go there and print at night. He'd let us in and we could print just like thousands of magazines." The print wing of the No Wave / East Village experimental scene of the early '80s. Seller Inventory # 140944693

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Valium Addict (Issues 1 & 2)
Publisher: An H.A.Product (A Division of Theoretical Productions), printed by Montanaprinners, an M.H.I. Enterprise, New York
Publication Date: 1981
Edition: First edition.