Uncommon Variant, Signed
Eureka
Publication: [Arcata and Eureka, CA]: [Bug Press and Eureka Printing Co.], 1976. First Edition.
Notes: An important, large-format monograph of early portrait and urban landscape drawings, with both versions of the variant plate (the only such copy known to us).
This self-published book reproduces black-and-white drawings created while Wong was living in Old Town, Eureka, many depicting figures and architectural scenes rendered in the fluid, expressive style that the artist called his Human Instamatic work. Several images include overprinted red chop marks. In a contemporary Eureka Times-Standard article, Wong explained his method: "I pretend I have an imaginary piece of glass in front of whatever I am drawing... I am like a human camera with long exposure." He added, "Distortion is what everyone really sees. People's eyes are round and filled with jelly. They're not square and hard" (April 28, 1977).
Wong (1946–1999) was born in Portland, grew up in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and studied ceramics at Humboldt State (now Cal Poly Humboldt). While best known for his later work documenting New York’s Lower East Side, his time in Eureka was foundational, and this is the most substantial printed record of his early work and the development of his visual vocabulary.
Wong has been the subject of several retrospective exhibitions and monographs and his collection of graffiti art was the subject of a 2025 show at the Museum of the City of New York. The show "Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief" toured Europe in 2023 and 2024.
Oblong folio (13 x 11 inches). [i], 32 leaves printed recto only. Plastic comb-bound along the top edge. Introduction by John Ross printed opposite the first drawing. While not credited, Eureka was offset printed by Bug Press and Eureka Printing Co. The book is dated 1976 and was completed in the spring of 1977.
Your cataloguer previously identified two variants of plate 11 in copies of Eureka. This is the first copy seen with both versions, "Gary Smith Time & Date Unknown Playing Soldier’s Joy" and "Table Bluff." Since the "Table Bluff" image does not have a page number (unlike the rest of the images, including "Gary Smith..."), it seems likely that it replaced "Gary Smith."
For reference, the collation of this copy is as follows, with text in brackets indicating supplied numbers and titles.
[i]. [Title page]; 1. Introduction [with a detail from a drawing titled "Joaquin"]; 2. [Locomotive]; 3. [Train] Jan 24th 1977; 4. [Metal Yard]; 5. [Boy on Bicycle]; 6. Eureka Basin; 7. [Crabs] March 5th 1977; 8. Stern of the Fishing Boat "Migrant"...; 9. Bihn, Jane,...; 10. Monday Night Jam...; [11 bis.]. Table Bluff; 11. Gary Smith...; 12. [Band] April 22 1975; 13. [Elton John]; 14. [Pinball] March 30 1977; 15. [Pinball Machines]; 16. [Motel]; 17. Gail; 18. [Weatherby's]; 19. [Car]; 20. "World Famous Stump House"; 21. "Disarmed"; 22. World Famous Carson House; 23. The Secret Garden of Romano Gabriel; 24. [Shoes]; 25. [T-Bone Cafe]; 26. [Calendar]; 27. Vance Hotel; 28. [Hotel Hallway]; 29. Andres Pascal; 30. Ten Eyed Williams; 31. [Buddha and Clowns].
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing). A fine copy.
Item No: #366402
Price: $6,000