Rare Book of the Day – The Convict Bird, William T. Vollmann. Signed Limited First Edition. (Vollmann's first book!)
The Convict Bird, William T. Vollmann. Signed Limited First Edition.
William T. Vollmann is a criminally underrated writer. If I had to compare him to anyone, I'd say he's the love child of Pynchon's hyper-kinetic intellectual and verbose fiction writing and Hunter S. Thompson's rather reckless gonzo journalism. He is a novelist, journalist, war correspondent, short story writer, and essayist. In 2004 McSweeneys published Rising Up and Rising Down, a 3,300 page, heavily illustrated, seven-volume treatise on violence which was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. A heavily abridged version was later published that year which, despite Vollmann's own admission that he abridged it "for the money", I highly recommend.
The Convict Bird is Vollmann's first book, self-published by his own CoTangent Press in 1987. It's dubbed a "Children's Book" and is written in the manner of a children's rhyme, but is about a friend of Vollmann’s serving a life sentence in prison. It’s illustrated with Vollmann’s drawings and, at only sixteen pages, is a deeply eerie piece. Some research reveals that Vollmann’s friend is Veronica Compton, a “groupie” of The Hillside Strangler duo. Compton formed an intimate relationship with one of the killers, Kenneth Bianchi, while he was behind bars. Bianchi convinced Compton to try and murder someone in the style of The Hillside Strangler in an effort to convince authorities that the real killers will still at large. Compton failed, and her attempted copycat murder put her behind bars. For some reason Vollmann wrote this for her, and a portion of each book's sale went to her benefit.
It was presented in an edition of 100 signed and numbered copies, 10 of which were a collaboration between Vollmann and sculptor Matt Heckert, and featured a binding of studded black steel, hinges, a padlock, and a bookmark made from a street prostitute's hair. This copy is number 58:
Signature page:
Back cover:
One of Vollmann's illustrations:
Vollmann:
More info here:
