Arcana:

(AMOK). Swezey, Stuart & Brian King, Editors. Los Angeles. 1986-2000.: Amok. First Editions. 4to. Illustrated Wrappers. Near Fine or Better.. 32 + 52 + 100 + 374 + 476 + 562pp, profusely illustrated in b&w. Before there was an internet for such things, if one wanted to investigate Serial Killers, The Illuminati, Alien Autopsies, Conspiracy Theories, Mind Control, Tiki Exoticism, Bondage and Domination, Sensory Deprivation, and any manner of transgressive topics, the Amok shop on Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles was your veritable Library of Alexandria. Starting as a modest storefront bookstore, Amok branched out in the eighties and nineties to become a far reaching mail-order empire where one could find the most obscure books, pamphlets, tracts, screeds, video tapes, cassettes, and the like on anything from Survival Research Laboratory to Ed Gein to MK-ULTRA. Their five highly informative - and sought after - catalogues of wares referred to as "Dispatches" were published in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1999. Additionally, an anthology of writings on Autoerotic Fatalities, Trepanation, Gualtiero Jacopetti, Cargo Cult, NSK, Self-Mutilation Amputee Fetish, Infrasound, and Psych-Our was issued in 1995 as the "Amok Journal: Sensurround Edition." The first four installments are on newsprint, and show just a bit of age-toning to their textblocks. Number four is the uncommon first printing with the monochrome cover reproduction of one of artist Jim Shaw's thrift store paintings. All are first printings but for the fifth installment, which is the second printing from 2000. A most handsome, truly rare complete set of the five "Dispatches" plus the "Amok Journal" featuring nearly two thousand pages that illuminate and explore the darkest reaches of mankind - and beyond - each of which is additionally SIGNED in black ink by Amok editor and publisher, Stuart Swezey. Inventory Number: 026691