ERICKSON, Rev. Roger Roky Kynard. Openers.

Austin: Pyramid Publishing Co., 1972. First Printing (stated). Signed "Roky Erickson & Evilhook Wildlife ET" with doodles on front free endpaper. Octavo (22.5 x 14 cm). Bound in white cloth boards with gilt device on front and lettering down spine. No dustjacket as issued. Boards show a good bit of soiling and smudging along with some scuffs and dents and a sticker shadow at top corner, but gilt lettering and device are still bright. Light, sparse foxing to endpapers. Binding is solid and pages are unmarked.

This collection was written during the three and a half years the 13th Floor Elevators frontman spent at the Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Austin, Texas, following several escapes from the Austin State Hospital, where he had previously been held after pleading "Not guilty by reason of insanity" to the charge of possession of a single marijuana joint. While at Rusk, Erickson underwent involuntary electroconvulsive therapy, Thorazine treatments, and started a band—The Missing Links—with fellow inmates. The manuscript for Openers is rumored to have been smuggled out of the hospital, and when asked about it in a 2010 VICE interview, Erickson said the collection's publication was handled by his family in order to raise money for a lawyer. Scarce, especially signed, with some cosmetic bumps and bruises not unfitting its authorship and composition.

$1,250.00
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