Maggs Bros Ltd. Rare Books, Manuscripts, Autographs and first editions.

Original poster maquette/design. 52.5 x 77.5 cm., in gold, purples, silver, green and black on green 'sugar' paper, signed on verso by Bedford. Stockwell, [London], n.d.,

Some fading, tape repairs on verso. We can find no similars on OCLC. From Cobbing's estate. by way of the trade. We cannot trace the artist.In his rôle as manager of the important countercultural bookshop 'Better Books',Cobbing fostered a rich environment of Happenings Performance Art. This poster design is for Jeff Nuttall, Mark Long, John Darling and Sid Palmer's 'People Show No.13' a presentation of 'Golden Slumbers' in the basement of Better Books. The People Show was formed in December of 1966 and the hand-drawn poster here is for performances in July and August with no year given. If the Show was following chronological and numerical conventions, the poster must be around 1967 as this cataloguer has seen another printed poster, in the same hand and lavish psychedelic style, for a performance of No.4 with Ono's 'Bottoms' film at RIBA. Nuttall described the People Show as a "..theatre group who combine techniques from music hall, happening, straight drama, cabaret, funhouse, and children's party, [who] sometimes ventured out of their domain in Better Books [sic] basement to perform at UFO" (p-222 Bomb Culture).Miles notes that the original show was formed when Nuttall ensconced in the Abbey Art Centre in the farthest reaches of North London "...knocked on the doors of the assortment of huts and chalets surrounding him.." (p-232 London Calling, 2010). At one of the shows staged in the basement of Better Books was the space was divided up with cardboard with "..Nuttall's fat beer belly protruding through a large circular hole, one of Laura's [Gilbert] breasts through another, smaller hole, Mark's [Long] feet stuck out through a hole at the bottom of the third alcove" (p-233 ibid). Much "monosyllabic grunting" (op cit) ensued.

COBBING, Bob... Stock Code: MO52956