Hanuman Books was founded by American art critic and editor Raymond Foye and Italian painter Francesco Clemente in 1986. The name - as well as the striking format - were influenced by Indian prayer books collected on a trip to India in 1985. "The books, small in size and bright in color, were always dedicated to the writings of a particular guru or saint, and were intended to be carried around with ease in a shirt pocket for potential contemplation throughout daily life." The editors elected to publish a series of similarly designed books to showcase contemporary writing, hard-to-find translations, and "exquisite expressions" of poets and artists. They named the press after Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god. They decided to publish twelve books a year in two batches of six, released in the spring and fall. Foye often chose younger American writers; Clemente sought out works in translation, including René Daumal, Henri Michaux, and Francis Picabia. Hanuman Books also approached well-known writers and visual artists, including John Ashbery, William Burroughs, Willem de Kooning, Allen Ginsberg, and Patti Smith. The administration and editorial functions were managed by Foye at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City. Clemente was responsible for crafting Hanuman Books logo, and also conceptualised the overall design. Hanuman books were printed on a letter press at C.T. Nachiappan's Kalakshetra Press in Madras, India. The pages were sewn together by local fishermen and others. All of the books have the same 3" x 4" dimensions except for René Ricard's God with Revolver, which exceeded the format's limit of twelve thousand words. George Scrivani, who was the editor at Kalakshetra Press, liaised with Foye via telephone, fax and mail in order to exchange corrections, and then shipped the books by boat from Madras to New York. Indian obscenity laws affected the publication of two books. Cookie Mueller's Fan Mail, Frank Letters and Crank Calls contained a picture of Priapus, a Roman fertility god, which was deemed obscene, and the shipment was held up. Nachiappan himself destroyed the first print-run of Bob Flanagan's Fuck Journal in order to avoid prosecution under anti-obscenity laws, which applied to printers as well as publishers. He was convinced by Foye to print five hundred clandestine copies, however, which were smuggled to the United States. The books were distributed on an informal basis from the Chelsea Hotel. The editors also employed professional distributors which placed Hanuman books in bookstores and museums. They were often sold near cash registers because of their unique size, and sold for four or five dollars. The last Hanuman books were published in 1993.
Series I John Wieners, Superficial Estimation David Trinidad, November Eilen Myles, Bread and Water Taylor Mead, Son of Andy Warhol Francis Picabia, Who Knows Henri Michaux, By Surprise Series II Amy Gerstler, Primitive Man John Ashbery, The Ice Storm Herbert Huncke, Guilty of Everything Manuel Rosenthal, Satie, Ravel, Poulenc René Daumal, A Fundamental Experiment John Weiners, Conjugal Contraries & Quart Series III Bob Flanagan, Fuck Journal Willem De Kooning, Collected Writings Cookie Mueller, Fan Mail, Frank Letters, and Crank Calls Sandro Penna, Confused Dream Vincent Katz, Cabal of Zealots Alain Danielou, Fools of God Series IV Edwin Denby, Willem de Kooning Max Beckmann, On My Painting Gary Indiana, White Trash Boulevard Jean Genet, Rembrandt David Trinidad, Three Stories Allen Ginsberg, Your Reason and Blake’s System Series V René Guénon, Oriental Metaphysics Eileen Myles, 1969 Gregory Corso, Mind Field René Daumal, The Lie of the Truth Elaine Equi, Views Without Rooms Ronald Firbank, Firbankiana Series VI David Hockney, Picasso St. Teresa/Simone Weil, On the Lord’s Prayer Jack Smith, Historical Treasures Cookie Mueller, Garden of Ashes Beauregard Houston-Montgomery, Pouf Pieces Bob Dylan, Saved! The Gospel Speeches of Bob Dylan Series VII Richard Hell, Artifact: Notebooks from Hell 1974-1980 Henry Geldzahler, Looking at Pictures Francis Picabia, Yes No Robert Creeley, Autobiography Dodie Bellamy, Feminine Hijinx Jack Kerouac, Safe in Heaven Dead Series VIII Candy Darling, Candy Darling Nick Zedd, Bleed Part One Patti Smith, Woolgathering William Burroughs, Painting and Guns Robert Hunter, Idiot’s Delight Robert Frank, One Hour Unnumbered Jack Kerouac, Manhattan Sketches René Ricard, God with Revolver
Recognition
"...the Hanuman canon, a publishing endeavor that articulated a new vision of a possible avant-garde lineage in its short life span between 1986 and 1993, linking the energies and efforts of the eighties Lower East Side with threads from earlier poets, painters, musicians, and thinkers. If you were to line up the whole Hanuman pantheon on a shelf chronologically and take a random core sample of a few titles... you would be mining several distinct trajectories of literature, art, music, and underground culture from the past century."
