Underground Treasures: 18 years, 1,344 pages = Classic Crumb

By John Freeman on March 26, 2014

Specialist publisher Taschen has just published an upmarket English edition of the Robert Crumb Sketchbooks – a special slipcase release priced at £650.

This six-book boxed set is based on the original hard-bound, slip-cased, seven-volume series released by the German publisher Zweitausendeins between 1981 and 1997 but, unlike that previous edition, which included every doodle ever made by the preeminent underground artist, the Taschen edition has been personally edited by the notoriously fastidious artist to include only what he considers his best work, reproduced directly from the original sketchbooks.

Each book in the set contains 224 pages, for a total of 1,344 pages of prime Crumb from the artist’s most prolific, early period, and includes a handwritten introduction, many pages of original colour works, and 50 redrawn images distinctly different from the original works.

Each set in this 1,000-copy limited edition also includes a signed, authenticated colour art print of a collectible Crumb original.

With Robert Crumb’s original art setting records at auction (the cover art for Mr. Natural #1 sold for $101,575 (£61,370) at the Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries in 2007), Taschen says this limited edition with signed print is sure to increase in value and be sought both as an investment by collectors.

I’d have to agree that it would make a stunning addition to any Crumb fan’s library. But only very rich ones…

Taschen: www.taschen.com

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.