Something Else was an early publisher of Concrete poetry and other works by Fluxus artists throughout the 1960s. During the 1960s in New York City some of the artists who worked at the Something Else Press included Editor-in-Chief Emmett Williams, artist Alison Knowles, poet Larry Freifeld,[1][2][3] novelist Mary Flanagan, artist Ronnie Landfield,[4][5] and publisher/founder Dick Higgins. Fluxus artist and scholar Ken Friedman acted as general manager for Higgins from California in 1970 and 1971. Originally located in Chelsea in Manhattan, the Something Else Press eventually relocated to West Glover, in northern Vermont in the 1970s.[6]
Changesedit
While Higgins was always owner and publisher of the press, other individuals served as editor, including Emmett Williams and Jan Herman. Herman took the job in 1973 and served until the press folded a year later. Higgins is quoted as saying about Herman:
[T]oo much an editor, and too little a fund-raiser. His idea of doing business was to wrap books and mail them away – for that one has assistants (mailing books IS fun if one can afford the time) – and he spent too little time looking for production money from foundations and wealthy people. So the press went kaput the following year...
— Ruhe, "Letter to H.R. December 27, 1976", Fluxus, The Most Radical and Experimental Art Movement of the Sixties[7]
Since Higgins had personal wealth, this account could be disputed. The press collapsed when Higgins's fortunes turned, and there was virtually no funding base in rural Vermont.
Herman disputes Higgins' account.
Complete List of Something Else Press publicationsedit
1960sedit
Jefferson's Birthday/Postface – Dick Higgins – 1964
The Mythological Travels of a Modern Sir John Mandeville, being an account of the Magic, Meatballs and other Monkey Business Peculiar to the Sojourn of Daniel Spoerri on the Isle of Symi, together with divers speculations thereon – Daniel Spoerri – 1970
Fantastic Architecture – Wolf Vostell, Dick Higgins – 1970
One Thousand American Fungi (1902 edition) – Charles McIlvaine, Robert K. MacAdam – 1973
The Ten Week Garden – Cary Scher – 1973
A Book Concluding with As a Wife Has a Cow – Gertrude Stein – 1973
How to Write – Gertrude Stein – 1973
A Valentine for Noel – Emmett Williams – 1973
Bio-Music – Manford L. Eaton – 1974
Something Else Yearbook – ed. Jan Herman – 1974
Other publicationsedit
Alongside book publications, Dick Higgins published a series of pamphlets titled The Great Bear Pamphlets. A collection of The Great Bear Pamphlets is available on UbuWeb. The Great Bear Pamphlets included essays, manifestos, and artist statements by Jackson Mac Low, Allan Kaprow, Alison Knowles, John Cage, Claes Oldenburg, Diter Rot, David Antin, and many others.
The Great Bear Pamphlets were reprinted in facsimile editions by Primary Information in 2007. Primary Information also republished Something Else Press' An Anthology of Concrete Poetry in a facsimile edition in 2013.[2]
In 2018, Siglio Press published a posthumous collection of Dick Higgins's writings titled Fluxus, Intermedia and the Something Else Press. Selected Writings by Dick Higginsedited by Steve Clay of Granary Books and Fluxus artist Ken Friedman.[9]
Notesedit
^Larry Freifeld. "Biography & Other Galleries". The Camera Museum. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
^"Finding aid for the Dick Higgins papers, 1960–1994 (bulk 1972–1993)". Online Archive of California. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
^"Biography". RoGallery. Archived from the original on August 17, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
^Ronnie Landfield. "Autobiographical Statement, 1997–2010". Ronnie Landfield Modern Painter. Archived from the original on September 18, 2016. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
^Clay, Steve. "Something Else Press: Exploring the Ways and Means of Communication" (PDF). University of Dundee Visual Research Centre. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 18, 2006. Retrieved April 2, 2009.
Higgins, Dick (1966). "Intermedia". Something Else Newsletter. Something Else Press.
Ruhé, Harry (1979). Fluxus: The Most Radical and Experimental Art Movement of the Sixties. Leidsekruisstraat 10, Amsterdam. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Frank, Peter (1983). Something Else Press: an annotated bibliography. [New Paltz, NY]: McPherson. ISBN 0-914232-40-1. OCLC 9155222.
Higgins, Hannah (December 12, 2002). Fluxus Experience. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-520-22867-2. Retrieved April 2, 2009.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
Williams, Emmett, ed. (February 28, 2014). An Anthology of Concrete Poetry. Primary Information. ISBN 978-0-9851364-3-7.
Higgins, Dick (November 2018). Clay, Steve; Friedman, Friedman (eds.). Intermedia, Fluxus and the Something Else Press: Selected Writings by Dick Higgins. Catskill, New York: Siglio Press. ISBN 978-1-938221-20-0.
Further readingedit
The Great Bear Pamphlets at UbuWeb
Exhibition at the Visual Research Centre in Dundee
Dick Higgins Collection at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
External linksedit
Primary Information's official webpage, publisher of The Great Bear Pamphlets and An Anthology of Concrete Poetry facsimiles