Jiří Valoch | Optical Book

Jiří Valoch

Optical Book

Brescia, Italy: Edizioni Amodulo, 1970

[24] pp., 20 x 20 cm., staple-bound

Edition of 1000 unsigned copies

A rare artist book consisting of a single thin vertical red line in varying positions. 

Jiri Valoch | Word Works

Jiri Valoch

Word Works

Berlin, Germany: Rainer Verlag, 1984

[unpaginated], 15 x 10 cm., softcover

Edition of 500

An artist's book featuring semantic studies and text pieces created between 1974-1982.

Jiri Valoch | Unlucky Number

Jiří Valoch 

Gronk: Unlucky Number: 13 Minipamphs. No.7 

Toronto, Canada: Ganglia Press, 1970

26 pp., 30 x 23 cm., loose leaves

Edition of 400

Jiří Valoch | Poem for bpNichol

Jiří Valoch

Poem for bpNichol

Toronto, Canada: GrOnk, 1988

print on yellow paper

5.4 x 15 cm 

Edition of 89

Jiri Valoch | Four very similar ideas

Jiri Valoch

Four very similar ideas

Self-published, 1974/76

38 x 54 cm.

Edition of 70 [+15 AP] signed, dated and numbered copies

Serigraphy on thick paper.

Jiri Valoch | Werken 1964 - 1982

Jiri Valoch

Werken 1964 - 1982

Eindhoven, Netherlands: Het Apollohuis, 1983

158 pp., 29 x 21 cm., softcover

Edition of 30 numbered copies

Titled as though it were an extensive overview documenting nearly two decades of output, this book is actually a photocopied collection of works sent by Valoch to artist Herman de Vries over the years. He serves as editor for the collection and provides a forward. The text is in Dutch and English and the book is produced in a very small edition size. 

Jiri Valoch | Do It Yourself

Jiří Valoch

Do it yourself, 1971-1974

Amsterdam, Netherlands: Kontexts Publications, 1975

8 pp., 7.5 x 10.7 cm., staple-bound

Edition of 100 signed and numbered copies

Following Do It Yourself 1: Signs and Do It Yourself 2: Dialogues (both from 1972), this 8 page title collects three years worth of score based works that also function as poetic writing prompts.

Examples: 

"A transparent poem about the air"

"Any poem with clouds"

"Long poem about death"

Jiří Valoch | Do it yourself, 1971-1974

Jiří Valoch

Do it yourself, 1971-1974

Amsterdam, The Netherlands: KONTEXTS Publications, 1975

[8] pp., 8 x 11 cm., staple-bound

Edition of 100 signed and numbered copies

A small artists’ book by Jirí Valoch featuring a selection of poetic writing prompts from the early seventies. The work is signed and numbered by Valoch in dark blue ink on last page.

Available from The Idea of the Book, for $150.00 US, here. 

The Pipe: Recent Czech Concrete Poetry

bpNichol and Jiri Valoch [editors]

The Pipe: Recent Czech Concrete Poetry

Toronto, Canada: Ganglia Press, 1973

[26] pp., 32.5 x 23.5 cm., loose leaves

Edition of 750

bpNichol began grOnk with David UU (David W. Harris) in 1967, as an offshoot of Ganglia Press. The imprint was mostly devoted mostly to visual poetry. A series of sporadic pamphlets and booklets continued under the imprint until Nichol's death in 1988. More than a hundred grOnk items were published, with The Pipe one of the most ambitious (most others were cheaply produced mimeographed and stapled booklets). 

Published as gRoNK series 6, numbers 6&7, and printed at Coach House Press, this collection of Czech poets was edited by Nichol and the poet/artist Jiri Valoch. The collection featured concrete poetry (presented both typographically and photographically) by artists living in Czechoslovakia, with the exception of Ludwig Feller, a resident of West Germany.

Twenty six loose cards of different sizes (one folded) were housed in a cardboard box. The contents include: 

Karel Trinkewitz: "poem-object", "text", "poem-object", "poem-object"

Jiri Valock: "hommage to stockhausen" (1967), "textfragment" (1970), "poem score (random text 1970)", "typewriter poem (1965), "found concrete poem (1970)

Jan Wojnar: "processual poem" (1970), "processual poem" (1970), "processual poem" (1970)

Karel Milota & Jaroslav Koch: "a question and its romantic parasits"

Ladislav Nebesky: "number poem", "number poem"

Ludvik Feller: Untitled, Untitled

 J. H. Kocman: "All written on this page is a poem by J H Kocman" (pictured above)

Karel Adamus:"four variations of poem" (1970)

Jaroslav Malina: "three photopoems"

Jiri Valoch: "air (landpoem - 1970)"

Josef Honys: "poem", "knight-text"

Ladislav Nebesky: Untitled

Produced in an edition of 750 copies, the box is now rare and valued at a few hundred dollars, depending on condition.

This copy was recently added to Micah Lexier's collection, purchased from Monkey's Paw in Toronto. 

 

Jiří Valoch

Jiří Valoch turns 76 today. 

Jiří Valoch | Do it yourself

Jiří Valoch
Do it yourself, 1971-1974
Amsterdam, The Netherlands: KONTEXTS Publications, 1975
8 pp., 8 x 11 cm.,
Edition of 100 signed and numbered copies