Box 1

3 ½ x 4 inches. “Thanx for EAT. Should I marry this girl?” Recto: Photograph of a woman’s face, stylistically augmented with brown ink, signed and dated by artist in same.

Scalloped edges. Magazine cutout of woman collaged with autograph text. Recto: Photograph of Apollo 11 liftoff.

“A very hot day in Jerusalem. (It’s a very old city the place where Jesus was tried and put on the cross) It’s very old and you get a feeling from the stones that a great deal of history has gone by. The Crusaders in the 15th cent. came here and faught [sic] with the Turks. Destroying many old churches – today the Arabs Jews and Christians all share the same holy places – quite a scene.” Recto: photograph of Arab shepherd carrying a sheep.

Series of eleven postcards detailing his travels in the Middle East. The postcards depict the following images: 1) Istanbul; 2) The gold throne of Holiday, Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul; 3) Interior of the Eski Cami “Old Mosque,” Edirne, Turkey; 4) band playing Mehter, ancient Turkish military music; 5) Stone bird at Persepolis; 6) Doorway at Persepolis; 7-11) images of the Hajj, including people gathered at Mount Arafat.

Addressed in ink to Tommy Mew with return address stamp: “Cabaret Voltaire / 6266 Madeline Street, Apt. 97 / San Diego, California 92115.” With three additional rubber stamps: “Tommy Mew / The Mad Diarist / Art Dept. Berry College / Mt. Berry, GA. 30149,” “Do you like Ray Johnson?” and “SECRET,” the latter added to with autograph blue pen: “it’s a SECRET…ssssh…. T.M.” Also with“S HITchcock” stamp.

4 x 6 inches. Holes punched out at corners. Pasted monkey has five small pieces cut out. Red stamp on verso.

4 x 6 inches. Holes punched out at corners. Pasted elephant has five small pieces cut out.

4 x 6 inches. Folded in half. Holes punched out at corners, with wire rings through them. Second smaller (2 x 3 inches) card with advertisement is affixed to the larger card with looped wire, and the bottom is adhered in pop-up style.

“Ray Gun: ‘They’re paying 850 a seat for this lipline, dahling.’ So I took my dynamo with me Wens; I didn’t know the gun was loaded. Hope 2 dance at Uncle Paul’s again. Seeing you So-Sue une.” Recto: photograph of young woman holding a cigarette, looking out a window.

Irregular shape, approximately 3 ½ x 3 inches. Typed on verso of a Banana Productions business card: “Dear Ray, Please alter, initial and mail to: Harley Lond/Intermedia, 2431 Echo Park Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90026.” With collage pieces attached: magazine cutout of the letter S, torn strip of yellow paper with both autograph and typescript text.

4 ¾ x 7 ½ inches. Covered with rubber stamps in purple ink: “Nueva York,” “More Ursuline Ducks,” “Avenue B School of Art,” “November 13th,” “Raw,” and two thumbprints. Also stamped “Guaranteed hand painted by artist G. Berkowitz / 101 Ave. B. / New York.”

6 ½ x 3 ¾ inches. Postmarked March 28, 1966, addressed to Ray Johnson. Contains assorted collage elements, including newspaper and magazine clippings, a jam label, and part of a luggage tag; all elements less than 4 ½ x 3 inches.

4 ½ x 3 ½ inches. Flattened tin pistol on card, captioned in red marker, with rubber “Ray Johnsong” [sic] stamp. In franked envelope, postmarked March 15, 1968, addressed to Ray Johnson, with printed return address for the Museum of Modern Art.

Four postcards from the series, 7 x 4 ½ inches each. Franked, postmarked January–July 1972, all addressed to Billy Kluver. Photographs by Philip Steinmetz.

“Any of these people can be drawn on MS MAKE AFACE: JANE FIRE DAVID EBONY SUSAN SPRINGFIELD ROBIN CRUTCHFIELD WENDY SNYDER. IT CAME FROM GUY VERYZER. I’M EATING A CHOCOLATE EGG. I’M CHOCKING [sic] TO DEATH.” Recto: printed text in a grid: “The tomb of the golden […],” with some letters connected by arrows and with added letters in autograph green ink to make additional words: David, Ebony, Suesan, Red, Jane, Fire, and Robin. Also with added “Ms. Make-A-Face” sticker in center.

“Robert Maplethorp [sic] and I finally TACKED and he’s VERY NICE. I’m going to get him to do an image bank post card. Girard [sic] Malanga and I have never TACKED. I have the feeling he’s not VERY nice.” Recto: seven of spades with image of a naked woman, attached to the front with a white label sticker, with added rubber stamps: “three,” “Indian,” “3,” “From the estate of Earnest W. Atkins,” “Green,” “The Snub Club,” “little,” “Norma,” and “By Geoff Hendricks.”

Geometric design in black pen, blue and red marker, and leaves on verso. Autograph text reads: “Joe Dallasaudro? / Andy Warhol?”

4 x 3 inches. Copied image and rubber stamps: “First of the red hot dadads / Buster Cleveland 1943-2043” and “Marcel Wouldn’t Like it.”“No Rush” stamped four times in red. In franked envelope, postmarked July 11, 1978, addressed to Ray Johnson from Buster Cleveland.

Franked, postmarked October 18, 1977. Contains newspaper clipping with image of window repairman taped to back, and two fragments of photographs of thin strips of paper and masking tape; approximately 3 x 3 ½ inches each.