NINA SIMONE'S GUM

First edition, first printing. Signed by the author. Original white paper-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. Illustrated with colour photographs. A fine copy, the binding square and tight, the contents clean throughout and without previous owners' stamps or inscriptions. Complete with the very lightly rubbed dustwrapper which has a 'signed by the author' label on the front panel. Not price-clipped (£20 on the front flap).

Signed by Warren Ellis in black ink on the half-title. The story of a piece of gum left on a piano by Nina Simone during a show in 1999 which was then taken and reverently kept by Warren Ellis for 20 years. In 2019 Nick Cave asked Ellis if he had anything to contribute to his 'Stranger than Kindness' exhibition, sparking a chain of events leading to the transformation of the gum into something of a holy relic. "Nina Simone's Gum reveals how something seemingly insignificant and disposable can form beautiful connections between people. It is a story of about the meanings we bestow on objects and experiences, and how these things can become imbued with spirituality. It is a celebration of the artistic process and the incomparable power of the art borne from it - of friendship, understanding and love" (from the dustwrapper).