2009 (prod. 2009) edition of 10
26 x 9 ½”. 350-page Codex. Constructed from three trade paperbacks disassembled and made into one. Coptic stitched and cased in embossed leather with original paperback covers set into inner front- and back-covers. Issued in an armored-glass windowed 26 x 11 ¼ x 5” bigleaf maple box inlaid with madrone and pepperwood, with text giving material provenance silk-screened inside box cover. 3 books was held for release until late 2010. Offered only in series.
3 books is a collage combining the only three nationally distributed trade paperback books on Northern California marijuana cultivation, all released at the peak of the first cycle of major media interest in domestic pot-growing: T.C. Boyle’s Budding Prospects, Steve Chapple’s Outlaws in Babylon, and Ray Raphael’s Cash Crop: An American Dream.
All three books were published at approximately the same time: 1984 and 1985. Each take distinct voices, as retitled in 3 books: “pastoral,” “gonzo report” and “self-portrait,” respectively. Using the coincidence of the original concurrent publication dates,
3 books presents readers with contrasts in meaning as well as inciting the possibility of new meanings by combining these books into a single volume.